Amidst the constant talking over necessary development measures, meaning primarily investments from foreign corporations, the International Institute for Management Development shows that Greece must work really hard to see progress any time soon.
The results of this year’s study were published by the Federation of Industries of Northern Greece (SBEE), putting Greece at the 58th ranking, the second to last. Last year, Greece was at 56th place, showing that growth indicators dropped significantly within the last 12 months. Back in 2010, the respective position was the 46th.
According to IMD data, the degradation was rather expected due to the ongoing financial crisis. Greece is only ahead of Venezuela (59th), which has been receiving the same ranking since 2004.
Venezuela placed last among the 59 countries due to its lack of “an effective legal environment” and lack of “competency in government,” according to IMD, which is based in Lausanne, Switzerland. Greece ranked 58th, scoring lowest in executives’ perceptions of “competency of government” and “research and development” culture.
The challenges facing Greece include the need to “establish institutional reforms to shrink the size of the public sector” and to “eliminate corruption” and re-establish confidence in the political system, IMD said in the report.
Despite what the international media may present regarding the three other debt-ribbed EU countries, it appears that they are not facing the same problems in regard to competitiveness. Ireland and Portugal, countries that have also received financial assistance since the financial crisis began, ranked 20th and 41st in the survey, with Ireland advancing by four places from last year and Portugal falling by one. Spain was in 35th position.
The rankings are partly based on data taken from national and international organizations, private institutes and partners, while one third of the 329 ranking criteria come from an exclusive IMD survey of more than 4,200 international executives.
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