Interpretations, Aspects and Levels, Decisive Factors and Measuring Methods of Competitiveness

The study deals with the interpretation, notion, and measurement of competitiveness, as well as with certain theoretical and practical approaches related to it. It sets out from the competitiveness of products and services, then analyses the competitiveness of corporations, finally considering certain aspects of the competitiveness of national economies. The study approaches its topic critically, presenting the confusion and misinterpretations of competitiveness concepts through the thorough analysis of numerous works. It especially criticises the theoretical principles and composition methods of competitiveness rankings very wide-spread in international practice, with special emphasis on the indices of the World Economic Forum and the Human Development Index of the UNDP. This paper is an attempt to a multidisciplinary and many-sided approach to the interpretation and measurement of competitiveness.