There are terms that make sense at one moment. Then, through excessive use, they wear out. They become obsolete. In the end, no serious person takes them seriously. Such is the term ‘competitiveness‘. Thus, it is the theme of this, the 999th ‘Economalija’.
At the beginning of the century, competitiveness was in vogue. The concept promoted by American economist Michael Porter quickly spread across Europe. It reached Croatia as well. In 2002, the National Council for Competitiveness (NVK) was established. It was intended as a government advisory body. Its goal was ‘to create new development policies in response to the unstoppable process of globalization, to create an open and competitive economy, and to ensure long-term sustainable growth’.
Two years later, the publication ‘55 Recommendations for Increasing Competitiveness‘ was presented. The public eagerly awaited the annual World Bank ranking ‘Doing Business’, which was based on the idea of measuring competitiveness. The decline, growth, or stagnation of Croatia on the ranking was a subject of political squabbles. After discovering that the foundations of the ranking for 2018 were, to say the least, shaky, in 2021, the World Bank decided to suspend the measurement of competitiveness and freeze that publication.
Full of competitiveness
In Croatia, the Nacionalno vijeće za konkurentnost met until two years ago. Then it quietly ceased to hold meetings. The institution, composed of representatives from business, politics, unions, and science, simply withered away, and the new one announced by the government never started operating.
Interestingly, this decline coincided with the increasingly widespread use of the term ‘competitiveness’. Football coaches, from top league to municipal, began to use it in public statements. Struggling to rephrase the same five or six sentences, they now seriously declare: ‘Today we lost, but we will work on being more competitive in the next matches.’ They are followed by betting shop owners who advise their addicts: ‘By analyzing and understanding statistical indicators, you can gain a competitive advantage in your betting strategies.’ On the internet, it can be seen that competitiveness in sports is in and in the region. One might come across a title like ‘Competitiveness, new ideas, tradition, and approach, the foundation of BiH football as a global brand’. Or, at the level of the ‘big five leagues’: ‘Contracts worth 138 million euros for Atlético Madrid show strong competitiveness’.
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Then there are tips on how to be competitive in the labor market, with books titled ‘Competitive Identity’ and ‘Be Excellent, Be Competitive’. The list of examples could be endless.
Okay, as long as there are markets, there will be competition; and one must be as competitive as possible to survive and succeed. This applies to both individuals and states. According to the OECD definition, competitiveness refers to a country’s ability to produce goods and services that pass the test of the international market under free and equal market conditions… Already from that definition, it is evident how inappropriate the term has become for this time when there is neither freedom nor equality in global markets. A fashionable expression from a few decades ago, when globalization was on the rise, is no longer applicable today. Serious countries are seeking new concepts. In China, they are not encouraged by calls for greater competitiveness. They galvanize their business community with the goal of making China the number one global power. Even Donald Trump in the USA does not use the term competitiveness. They choose more challenging words.
EU out of time
Unfortunately, only the Old Continent still carries the fashion from many years ago. Thus, Mario Draghi’s study on the future of the European Union, the least bad document that the European Commission has for discussing the future, has in its title – guess which word. Of course, competitiveness. The title is ‘The future of European competitiveness’, and the first part is titled ‘A competitiveness strategy for Europe’.
Just placing competitiveness in the title of the document actually shows Europe’s lack of ambition compared to other global players. The goal is too general. And ultimately demotivating. Just as it is hard to imagine a serious coach coming into the locker room before a match and trying to motivate players with a line like: ‘Today we must be more competitive than last Saturday!’, European leaders will not motivate the business community in the EU by attempting to galvanize them by calling for the necessity of greater competitiveness.
Today, anyone at any level and in any field, from football to European politics, who starts their presentation with ‘we must be more competitive’, with exceptions, actually has nothing innovative and applicable to convey. Competitiveness has become a term behind which ignorance and lack of ambition often hide. When someone mentions competitiveness, a tree dries up.
