international contracting survey june 2010
TRANSCRIPT
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International Contracting - market comparisons
June 2010
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©IACCM 2010. All rights reserved Page 2
Table of Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 3
Demographics ......................................................................................................................................... 4Results ..................................................................................................................................................... 6
Overall experience of doing business with customers, suppliers or partners in other countries (1
(very difficult to do business with) 5 (easy to do business with))....................................................... 6
For each country that a respondent identified as ‘difficult’, they were asked to indicate the areas
of business that represent the biggest problems. The following slides show the percentage of
respondents who had both identified a country as ‘difficult’ and had experienced problems the
stated area of business. ...................................................................................................................... 7
Appendix 1; Results by region ............................................................................................................... 12
Appendix 2; Results by Industry ............................................................................................................ 14
Appendix 3; SSON’s interview with Tim Cummins, CEO, IACCM .......................................................... 16
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Introduction
The International Contracting Survey was conducted in June 2010 and drew input from 221
participants across a wide range of industries and regions, assessing the relative ease of doing
business in almost 50 of the world’s major markets.
The study asked members with direct experience of negotiating in overseas countries to rate their
experiences on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 was especially difficult and 5 was positive. IACCM then
asked the participants to identify which of 9 categories of ‘issue’ they had encountered. These
categories were:
Ethics / business culture
Contract or negotiation skills / understanding
Problems with payment
Demands for performance bonds or guarantees
Dealing with licenses Local laws or regulations
Maintaining rights to assets or property
Language
Enforcing contracts
The survey has three major purposes:
1. For the overseas negotiator: the findings will assist in anticipating some of the risks and
issues they need to address or overcome. Of course, it may even mean they decide against a
market entry at all.
2. For the domestic negotiator, the survey offers insight to external perceptions of theircountry and equips them to think about how they may adddress the fears that their
counterpart may have in doing business with them.
3. For government agencies, the findings represent an agenda for improvement.
IACCM plans to dig deeper into the initial results and to capture specific issues. For example, if a
country scores badly on local laws and regulations, what are the precise concerns or experiences
that have generated this rating?
The study has already generated a high level of interest from professionals and the media. It is
anticipated that it will become an annual study to ensure continued awareness for international
negotiators, to provide advice on possible solutions and to monitor progress on improvements.
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Demographics
Aerospace /Defense, 8%
Banking /
Insurance /
Financial, 4%
CPG / Retail, 1%
Electronics, 2%
Engineering /
Construction / Real
Estate, 9%
Healthcare /
Pharma /
Chemicals, 2%Legal, 5%
Manufacturing /Processing, 6%
Oil / Gas /
Minerals /
Utilities, 20%
Public Sector /
Government, 4%
Services /
Outsourcing /
Consulting, 13%
Technology /
Software, 14%
Telecommunicatio
ns, 8%
Transportation
/ Logistics, 1%Other, 6%
What industry do you work in?
South/Central
America, 4%
Europe, 31%
Middle
East,
9%
Africa, 3%
Asia, 13%Australasia, 5%
North America,
35%
What geographic region are you based in?
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43%
33%
24%
Please indicate the context in which you are answering
this survey
I mostly perform or supportSales Contracting / Commercial
negotiation or contract
management
I mostly perform or support
Procurement / Sourcing
negotiation or contract
management
I perform or support both Buy-
Side and Sell-Side negotiations
or contract management
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Results
Overall experience of doing business with customers, suppliers or partners
in other countries (1 (very difficult to do business with) 5 (easy to do
business with))
0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00 4.50
Angola
Nigeria
Congo
Ukraine
Russia
Kazakhstan
Venezuela
ChinaSaudi Arabia
Indonesia
Israel
Kenya
Turkey
India
Egypt
Vietnam
Mozambique
Brazil
Argentina
France
PolandTaiwan
Mexico
United Arab Emirates
South Africa
Thailand
Japan
Italy
South Korea
Philippines
Czech Republic
Malaysia
Spain
Germany
Norway
Finland
Denmark
Switzerland
Sweden
United States
United Kingdom
Netherlands
Australia
Singapore
Canada
Rating Average
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For each country that a respondent identified as ‘difficult’, they were asked
to indicate the areas of business that represent the biggest problems. The
following slides show the percentage of respondents who had both
identified a country as ‘difficult’ and had experienced problems the stated
area of business.
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
S i n g a p o r e
U n i t e d S t a t e s
U n i t e d K i n g d o m
D e n m a r k
C a n a d a
A u s t r a l i a
N o r w a y
T h a i l a n d
S a u d i A r a b i a
J a p a n
F i n l a n d
S w e d e n
S o u t h K o r e a
S w i t z e r l a n d
M a l a y s i a
G e r m a n y
I s r a e l
N e t h e r l a n d s
F r a n c e
U n i t e d A r a b E m i r a t e s
S o u t h A f r i c a
T a i w a n
M e x i c o
S p a i n
K a z a k h s t a n
P o l a n d
T u r k e y
C z e c h R e p u b l i c
I t a l y
C h i n a
V i e t n a m
K e n y a
E g y p t
A r g e n t i n a
R u s s i a
I n d o n e s i a
N i g e r i a
B r a z i l
I n d i a
M o z a m b i q u e
U k r a i n e
P h i l i p p i n e s
A n g o l a
V e n e z u e l a
C o n g o
Ethics / business culture
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
S i n g a p o r e
U n i t e d S t a t e s
U n i t e d K i n g d o m
D e n m a r k
C a n a d a
A u s t r a l i a
N o r w a y
T h a i l a n d
S a u d i A r a b i a
J a p a n
F i n l a n d
S w e d e n
S o u t h K o r e a
S w i t z e r l a n d
M a l a y s i a
G e r m a n y
I s r a e l
N e t h e r l a n d s
F r a n c e
U n i t e d A r a b E m i r a t e s
S o u t h A f r i c a
T a i w a n
M e x i c o
S p a i n
K a z a k h s t a n
P o l a n d
T u r k e y
C z e c h R e p u b l i c
I t a l y
C h i n a
V i e t n a m
K e n y a
E g y p t
A r g e n t i n a
R u s s i a
I n d o n e s i a
N i g e r i a
B r a z i l
I n d i a
M o z a m b i q u e
U k r a i n e
P h i l i p p i n e s
A n g o l a
V e n e z u e l a
C o n g o
Contract or negotiation skills / understanding
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0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
S i n g
a p o r e
U n i t e d S
t a t e s
U n i t e d K i n
g d o m
D e n m a r k
C a n a d a
A u s t r a l i a
N o r w a y
T h a i l a n d
S a u d i A
r a b i a
J a p a n
F i n l a n d
S w
e d e n
S o u t h K o r e a
S w i t z e r l a n d
M a
l a y s i a
G e r m a n y
I s r a e l
N e t h e r l a n d s
F
r a n c e
U n i t e d A r a b E m
i r a t e s
S o u t h
A f r i c a
T
a i w a n
M
e x i c o
S p a i n
K a z a k
h s t a n
P
o l a n d
T
u r k e y
C z e c h R e p u b l i c
I t a l y
C h i n a
V i e t n a m
K
e n y a
E g y p t
A r g e n t i n a
R
u s s i a
I n d o
n e s i a
N
i g e r i a
B r a z i l
I n d i a
M o z a m
b i q u e
U k r a i n e
P h i l i p
p i n e s
A
n g o l a
V e n e
z u e l a
C
o n g o
Problems with payment
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%40%
45%
50%
S i n g a p o r e
U n i t e d S
t a t e s
U n i t e d K i n g d o m
D e n
m a r k
C a
n a d a
A u s
t r a l i a
N o
r w a y
T h a
i l a n d
S a u d i A
r a b i a
J
a p a n
F i n l a n d
S w
e d e n
S o u t h K
o r e a
S w i t z e
r l a n d
M a l
a y s i a
G e r m a n y
I s r a e l
N e t h e r l a n d s
F r a n c e
U n i t e d A r a b E m i r a t e s
S o u t h A
f r i c a
T a
i w a n
M
e x i c o
S
p a i n
K a z a k h s t a n
P o l a n d
T u r k e y
C z e c h R e p
u b l i c
I t a l y
C
h i n a
V i e
t n a m
K
e n y a
E g y p t
A r g e
n t i n a
R
u s s i a
I n d o n e s i a
N i g e r i a
B r a z i l
I n d i a
M o z a m b i q u e
U k
r a i n e
P h i l i p p i n e s
A n g o l a
V e n e z u e l a
C
o n g o
Demands for performance bonds or guarantees
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0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
S
i n g a p o r e
U n i t e d S t a t e s
U n i t e d
K i n g d o m
D e n m a r k
C a n a d a
A u s t r a l i a
N o r w a y
T h a i l a n d
S a u
d i A r a b i a
J a p a n
F i n l a n d
S w e d e n
S o u
t h K o r e a
S w
i t z e r l a n d
M a l a y s i a
G e r m a n y
I s r a e l
N e t h e r l a n d s
F r a n c e
U n i t e d A r a b
E m i r a t e s
S o u t h A f r i c a
T a i w a n
M e x i c o
S p a i n
K a
z a k h s t a n
P o l a n d
T u r k e y
C z e c h
R e p u b l i c
I t a l y
C h i n a
V i e t n a m
K e n y a
E g y p t
A r g e n t i n a
R u s s i a
I
n d o n e s i a
N i g e r i a
B r a z i l
I n d i a
M o z
a m b i q u e
U k r a i n e
P h i l i p p i n e s
A n g o l a
V
e n e z u e l a
C o n g o
Dealing with licenses
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Local laws or regulations
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0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
S i n
g a p o r e
U n i t e d
S t a t e s
U n i t e d K i n g d o m
D e n m a r k
C
a n a d a
A u s t r a l i a
N o r w a y
T h a i l a n d
S a u d i A r a b i a
J a p a n
F i n l a n d
S
w e d e n
S o u t h
K o r e a
S w i t z e r l a n d
M
a l a y s i a
G e r m a n y
I s r a e l
N e t h e r l a n d s
F r a n c e
U n i t e d A r a b E m i r a t e s
S o u t h A f r i c a
T a i w a n
M e x i c o
S p a i n
K a z a
k h s t a n
P o l a n d
T u r k e y
C z e c h R
e p u b l i c
I t a l y
C h i n a
V
i e t n a m
K e n y a
E g y p t
A r g e n t i n a
R u s s i a
I n d
o n e s i a
N i g e r i a
B r a z i l
I n d i a
M o z a m b i q u e
U
k r a i n e
P h i l
i p p i n e s
A n g o l a
V e n
e z u e l a
C o n g o
Maintaining rights to assets or property
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
S i n g
a p o r e
U n i t e d S t a t e s
U n i t e d K i n
g d o m
D e
n m a r k
C
a n a d a
A u
s t r a l i a
N
o r w a y
T h
a i l a n d
S a u d i A r a b i a
J a p a n
F
i n l a n d
S w e d e n
S o u t h
K o r e a
S w i t z
e r l a n d
M a
l a y s i a
G e
r m a n y
I s r a e l
N e t h e
r l a n d s
F
r a n c e
U n i t e d A r a b E m
i r a t e s
S o u t h
A f r i c a
T
a i w a n
M
e x i c o
S p a i n
K a z a k h s t a n
P
o l a n d
T
u r k e y
C z e c h R e
p u b l i c
I t a l y
C h i n a
V i
e t n a m
K e n y a
E g y p t
A r g
e n t i n a
R
u s s i a
I n d o n e s i a
N
i g e r i a
B r a z i l
I n d i a
M o z a m
b i q u e
U
k r a i n e
P h i l i p p i n e s
A
n g o l a
V e n e z u e l a
C o n g o
Language
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0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
S i n g
a p o r e
U n i t e d S t a t e s
U n i t e d K i n
g d o m
D e
n m a r k
C
a n a d a
A u
s t r a l i a
N
o r w a y
T h
a i l a n d
S a u d i A r a b i a
J a p a n
F
i n l a n d
S w e d e n
S o u t h
K o r e a
S w i t z
e r l a n d
M a
l a y s i a
G e
r m a n y
I s r a e l
N e t h e
r l a n d s
F
r a n c e
U n i t e d A r a b E m
i r a t e s
S o u t h
A f r i c a
T
a i w a n
M
e x i c o
S p a i n
K a z a k h s t a n
P
o l a n d
T
u r k e y
C z e c h R e
p u b l i c
I t a l y
C h i n a
V i
e t n a m
K e n y a
E g y p t
A r g
e n t i n a
R
u s s i a
I n d o n e s i a
N
i g e r i a
B r a z i l
I n d i a
M o z a m
b i q u e
U
k r a i n e
P h i l i p p i n e s
A
n g o l a
V e n e z u e l a
C o n g o
Enforcing contracts
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Appendix 1; Results by region
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
Overall experience of doing business with customers, suppliers or partners in other countries (1 (very difficult to do
business with) 5 (easy to do business with)) Regional Results
Europe
Middle East
Africa
Asia
North America
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0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
Overall experience of doing business with customers, suppliers or partners in other countries (1 (very difficult to do
business with) 5 (easy to do business with)) Regional Results
Europe
Middle East
Africa
Asia
North America
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Appendix 2; Results by Industry
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
Overall experience of doing business with customers, suppliers or partners in other countries (1 (very difficult to do
business with) 5 (easy to do business with)) Industry Results
Engineering / Construction /
Real EstateOil / Gas / Minerals /
UtilitiesServices / Outsourcing /
ConsultingTechnology / Software
Telecommunications
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0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
Overall experience of doing business with customers, suppliers or partners in other countries (1 (very difficult to do
business with) 5 (easy to do business with)) Industry Results
Engineering / Construction /
Real Estate
Oil / Gas / Minerals / Utilities
Services / Outsourcing /
Consulting
Technology / Software
Telecommunications
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Appendix 3; SSON’s interview with Tim Cummins, CEO, IACCM
SSON: IACCM recently conducted a worldwide study, where Canada emerged as ‘Top Dog’ when it
comes to world trade offering 'the most positive experience of doing business with customers,
suppliers or partners'. Can you tell us how the study was conducted?
Tim: The goal of this study was to look at the relative ease of doing business - broadly from a
contracting and negotiations perspective. We were trying to understand the primary risk
characteristics associated with doing business in major trading nations. We undertook the study by
going out to our members who are engaged in international negotiations and contract management.
All the members approached had direct contracting and negotiations experience and the study was
based upon their experiences - not their prejudices or ideas. We approached 4000 negotiation and
contract members of the association through sending out a web based survey. We weren’t only
looking at the general ranking of a country’s relative ease or difficulty to trade with, we also required
them to benchmark against nine specific criteria - such as business culture, problems with payment
and challenges with legal systems or regulations.
SSON: Where did the idea for the study come from and how did you select the criteria which
decided their ranking?
Tim: The idea originated from conversations I had with a senior Russian diplomat about the
challenges of doing business in Russia and the current political interest in making Russia a more
business-friendly environment for overseas companies. We compiled the nine criteria based on
follow-on conversations with IACCM members who deal with Russia - from the point of view of
commercial risk in terms of negotiation, culture and behaviors, but also based upon the integrity and
reliability of the underlying system. We also looked at local laws and regulations and the ability to
enforce contracts etc. The criteria form a series of very real and significant risk factors, which you
should be aware of if you seek to do business overseas.
SSON: Do you have any interesting examples or anecdotes you can share around the complexity
that sometimes exists when doing business with countries like Russia.
Tim: Some of the conclusions of the study were no great shock to people. These days countries
where you encounter problems like corruption and bribery are more visible and well-known. But the
scale of corruption and bribery can be dramatically different – in some places there may be a majorproblem with government officials; in others there could be corruption at lower level. Corruption
can be significantly cleaned up when it comes to senior levels, but there can still be an underlying
problem. For example - challenges of getting things through customs - if you don’t pay someone $50
your shipment will be delayed.
With other countries it has been surprising just how successful they have been in changing local
business culture. Belarus for example is a country which is autocratic; one would assume from many
of its facets and features that it would be rife with corruption, but in fact by presidential leadership,
corruption has been outlawed.
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Stories about Russia did not relate to bribery; they are more based on negotiators’ experiences that
may have resulted from the history of the country. For example, they perceive a fundamental lack of
trust, which can lead to quite erratic behaviors within negotiations - where you feel you have
established a good relationship and then suddenly it just plummets for no evident reason. A lack of
basic understanding of the principles behind contracting is another real challenge.
Another interesting story came from one of our members in the insurance industry. He explained
that regulation requires an insurance company to issue policies on watermarked paper, which you
can only get from a government supplier and is often in short supply! In addition to that, the physical
policy must be hand delivered to the policy owner and payment must be made in cash. These types
of local regulations represent quite significant barriers to getting business done. Cash payments also
lead to all sorts of problems when money needs to get to the bank.
SSON: Tim, who came last and were you surprised by the overall result -considering a lot of
organizations are currently moving East when it comes to reducing costs and adding value back
into business?
Tim: The list was made up of 50 countries. At the bottom of the list were three African countries,
with significant issues like bribery and corruption, ethics and a complex business culture. Contract
enforcement was another major issue in each of these.
Many countries in that region impose requirements on incoming Western companies, in order to
ensure a high level of local content. These Western companies are then forced to contract with local
companies, who may not have any particular competence and – in extreme cases - may just be a
front which funds money to government officials. These are the real barriers and obstacles that a
number of countries are wrestling to overcome.
To answer your question about surprise: no, nothing in particular shocked me in these results. But
we did find some interesting facts. For example, the US is struggling in some respects with people’s
perceptions in terms of local law and regulation. The litigious nature of US society, the no-win, no-
fee culture of the legal community, the highly publicized mega settlements – these make outsiders
very nervous and they question whether they want to be subjected to such a system.
I read an interesting article about how the UK has become the location of choice for governing law.
Apparently American companies are now increasingly using the English courts and their trading
partners are pushing them to do so, due to the unpredictability of jury judgments in the US. The
general perception is that the US is a higher risk place in which to reach a resolution on legal cases.
But let’s not exaggerate the problem – they still came in 6th place overall.
The study certainly should cause many who are ‘moving east’ to pause and question whether the
superficial costs are the real costs. Some countries in Asia are excellent choices – Singapore came
second in the survey. But others clearly do have hidden minefields for the unwary. This study helps
to expose some of those minefields and may help companies avoid them.
One of the challenges for the SSON community generally is that the typical driver for outsourcing
tends to be headline cost reductions. What this illustrates is: yes, you might have a dramatic drop in
the cost of transaction, but what is the cost of the relationship and the cost of the added
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management time? How much did the problem and resolution cost as a result of those outsourcing
decisions? These costs are often ongoing hidden costs. This can cause the relationship to lead to
disappointment and sometimes to fracture and even fail.
If we look at the behaviors of companies there is a tendency to move first and learn later. Hopefully
our findings will help to change that.
SSON: How did you select the countries which were in the study? I noticed that some of the most
obvious Eastern European countries for trade didn’t feature on the list.
Tim: We started off with a list of 202 countries. Some of the countries are so remote the chances are
that nobody has really had much experience of doing business with them. So we chose the countries
which we knew had a significant volume of international trade. To take an example, Hungary is one
of the countries that didn’t make the list, because the volume and diversity of its role in world trade
is too small. Obviously Hungary has become a significant place in terms of outsourcing, but isn’t that
significant in terms of other international business. We were looking for countries that featureheavily in terms of their import and export activity. Of course, if anyone has specific interest in a
country that was not on our list, the chances are we can establish a similar set of data for it.
SSON: Tim, did you see a big variation on the overall performance of individual states in the US?
Tim: A more detailed research study would probably reveal that to be true, but it was not something
we asked in this survey. I’m sure many people will have very strong preferences and they are
probably right to do so. New York is typically the state people tend to choose for international
contracting because it has more experience with international trade.
There was a very interesting study three or four years ago by a US university, which concluded that aforeign litigant is 30 percent less likely to have the court rule in its favor than a domestic litigant.
SSON: Tim, does this result really matter? Will people take this study seriously and think right I’ll
go to Canada now instead of Singapore?
Tim: The results matter because they generate an additional awareness and additional management
questions. Taking the nine criteria as part of your risk assessment when you’re looking to do
business will help you considerably. For the negotiator the study is an excellent checklist that they
should consider if they look at the commercial risk, opportunity and options of doing business in
different countries. If I was sitting in China and I wanted to do business with countries outside China,
I would certainly be interested in that list, as it reflects the perceptions and experiences that the
counter party may have already experienced.
The question is to what extent can each negotiator or each country address and overcome those
issues? There is real potential in the negotiation space. If you understand and anticipate the issue,
you can generally find a solution. But this survey will be of interest to quite a number of government
agencies as well as corporate management; yes, you can try and address this within a negotiations
context, or try to look at this as a more embedded list for capability change. The list will probably
gain some reasonable levels of attention in those countries which are serious about raising their
level of competitiveness.
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SSON: If government agencies within the countries which did not make it into the top 10 are
serious about improving their status, what can they do ?
Tim: Well, they’ll have to understand the issue in a bit more depth. This isn’t an in-depth study in its
current form. The next stage for any government interested in increasing their international business
trade status is to determine what specific issues and local regulations outsiders are encounteringwhich make them feel doing business with that particular country might be difficult or risky.
We are very happy to provide an in-depth study for any government should they be interested.
Governments generally understand that they are increasingly in competition with each other,
particularly at this time of economic uncertainty. Governments all over are recognizing that they
have got to be better at attracting internal investment and increased trade if they want to be
successful. This information was noted by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the UK. They are
now looking at re-emphasizing the role of the ambassador to drive British business. They also want
to recruit people from the business world into ambassadorial roles, in order to promote British
trade. The UK came number five; the government’s interest in loosening bureaucracy could push it
higher in the table.
Countries are seeking to address a lot of these points. We are trying to give people data and
information, that can take them beyond just talking and provide them with specific factual insights
on the specific issues that people find make trade difficult. India has been trying to tackle this and
the South African government is taking all the data seriously. The Central Reserve Bank in Brazil is
trying to improve their competitiveness. Not only will we see an interest, but continued action
because countries have to raise their competitiveness.
SSON: Finally Tim, which countries do you predict will increase their status over the next five
years?
Tim: Everyone will improve. But the differentiating factor will be; which countries are extremely
serious about increasing their status? I suspect there will be a lot of well established outsourcing
countries trying to up their game even more. But I’m sure a number of other countries will also be
eager and anxious to move forward.
Next week I’m going to the Czech Business Institute in Prague, because they were very interested in
improving the Czech international business trading status. They are currently number 15 on the list,
but want to raise that level even further. It’s going to be very interesting to see how different
organizations and countries react to this comprehensive table. There are other sources like
Transparency International who look at league tables from a corruption and bribery point of view, or
the WTO that explores legal integrity, but I know of no other that offers such a holistic and
integrated view of the commercial factors that impact business results.
What differentiates this study is that it does take a much wider range (nine commercial factors) into
account and builds them all into one specialist study as opposed to one specialist study focusing on
one subject.
SSON: Great, thanks Tim.