Testing of APEC Countries’ Competitiveness Dynamics Through Fuzzy Clustering Analysis and Some Findings

Competitiveness structures of countries have an important impact on production, export and growth of countries. Porter’s Diamond Model presents a comprehensive framework on the competitiveness dynamics of a country. The purpose of this study is to assert the similarities of competitiveness dynamics between APEC member countries. In this study, fuzzy clustering analysis was used. APEC countries except New Zealand, Mexico and Brunie clustered differently. It has been observed that USA, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore are in the same cluster in 2008, 2010 and 2012; Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan are in the same cluster in 2008, 2009 and 2012. Malaysia and Chile, Russia and Vietnam, Peru and Philippines are in the same cluster in all years. So it can be said that these countries resemble with regards to competitiveness dynamics.