Towards a Taxonomy of International Competitiveness

Abstract

Purpose: A wide range of approaches to defning, modelling, and measuring international competitiveness can be found in the scholarly literature across various felds of management and economics. Such number of perspectives enhances scientifc research, but confuses public debate. Despite certain defnitional ambiguities, there is a consensus that international competitiveness is a multi­ ­faceted concept that should be analysed at different levels of aggregation: company level (micro), industry/cluster level (mezzo) and national level (macro). This paper addresses international competitiveness at all three levels and tracks the interlinkages between them with the aim to fnd a common ground for understanding this economic phenomenon in a systemic perspective: as a complex whole.

Methodology: The paper constitutes an in­depth literature review, forming a basis for a new approach to categorizing the main perspectives on international competitiveness. A synthesis of the latest international competitiveness literature sources has been performed in order to categorize the existing approaches to defning, modelling, and measuring international competitiveness. Following Chandhuri’s and Ray’s (1997) two­dimensional classifcation approach (the level of analysis and the variable), the paper introduces new insights into the existing taxonomy of international competitiveness.

Findings: Based upon the developed taxonomy, the paper offers an interdisciplinary, multi­layered model of international competitiveness.

Originality: The offered fndings enhance the active shaping of modern competitiveness research directions to support the competitiveness policy on the regional and national level.