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International Competitiveness Essay

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International Competitiveness A country’s “international competitiveness” refers to its ability to sell its goods and services in domestic and international market at a price and quality that is attractive in those markets. The UK fell from 9th to 12th place in The Global Competitiveness Index between 2007 and 2008. The factors causing the decrease can be divided into price and non-price factors. In order to improve the international competitiveness the firm can raise productivity and the government can imply a variety of supply-side policies. Competitiveness is determined by a variety of factors but one of the most important is a country’s real exchange rate, which is nominal exchange rate adjusted for changes in price levels …show more content…

They include quality, innovation, design, reputation…… The quality of products is quiet a important one. For two products of the same price, the one with the better quality of products is definitely popular. Therefore there is a high demand for this product of this brand and the international competitiveness for this brand will increase. For example Topshop clothes competes well in the clothing market because of its excellent quality of clothes and design. Unfortunately the UK performs poorly on this measure. Perhaps part of the reason for this is that the UK tends to export products that use lower technology. However, it is always difficult to quantify the quality of products. Perhaps each consumer has different definitions of quality, some may think the quality of this product is good while other may feel the other product is better. But one way of doing it is to measure value per ton of exports in the car market. For a given weight of cars, if the quality of the exported cars is high then the value will be high relative to the weight of the exports. Moreover, when the exporters cut profit margins, a rise in exchange rate might not decrease the competitiveness. The country can cut their export prices when selling in overseas markets and therefore accept lower profit margins in order to maintain competitiveness and market share. Now we will attempt to evaluate the strategies that can be employed by

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