Interrelations between competitiveness and responsibility at macro and micro level

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to emphasize that the growing of competitiveness at any level may be possible through more responsibility (business ethics) on the one hand and less corruption (as lack of business ethics) on the other. Design/methodology/approach – The objective of the paper is to identify the double‐way relationships between competitiveness and the responsible (beyond ethics) behaviour. In order to do this, the authors used correlation indexes CORREL and R 2 and the graphic representation able to illustrate the above‐mentioned interrelations. Findings – The authors observed that there is a strong and direct correlation between GCI, RCI and CPI – at national level, and six possible situations which reflect the interrelations between NP and FGP. Research limitations/implications – The paper may be continued with specific behavioural models of MNEs in different host countries – integrating different approaches of business ethics. Practical implications – The practical implications of the paper consist in offering some guidelines/starting points for firms in the search of global competitiveness through responsible/ethical conduct. Originality/value – The paper develops a new conceptual framework, which integrates two “obsessions” of nowadays (competitiveness and responsibility) into the concept of global performance – national and firm related.