Taiwan’s global competitiveness fell two notches to 14th place this year, its worst showing since 2008, because of lower rankings in terms of goods market efficiency, business sophistication and innovation, a World Economic Forum (WEF) report said yesterday.
The report said Taiwan’s “performance has been very stable over the past six years,” noting that its strengths include a capacity to innovate, highly efficient goods markets, world-class infrastructure and solid higher education and training.
“In order to enhance its competitiveness, Taiwan will need to further strengthen its institutional framework, whose quality is undermined by some inefficiency within the government and various forms of corruption and will also need to address some inefficiencies and rigidities in its labor market,” the Global Competitiveness Report 2014-2015 said.
As with other Asian countries, Taiwan can boost its competitiveness by encouraging and facilitating the participation of women in the workforce, the report said.
Taiwan’s ranking in goods market efficiency dropped four places, from seventh last year to 11th this year, because buyers in the local goods market are considered to make their decisions based more on prices instead of “a sophisticated analysis of performance attributes,” the report by the Geneva-based organization said.
Agricultural policy was also believed to be more of a burden to the efficiency of local goods market than a balance of interests among taxpayers, consumers and producers, the report said.
Taiwan dropped two places to 10th this year in innovation because domestic companies are believed to have spent less on research and development, and the government’s spending is considered not to be conducive to innovation in the private sector, the report said.
It also fell two spots — to 17th — in business sophistication because domestic companies are believed to have less control over international distribution and marketing, the report said.
Taiwan was ranked as the fourth-most competitive in Asia this year, behind Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong, the report said.
Switzerland placed first in the most competitive category, followed by Singapore, the US, Finland and Germany.
“The decline was partly because of recurring civil movements in Taiwan in recent years, which caused company managers who responded to the forum’s survey to have doubts about the nation’s prospects, economic condition and policy direction,” the National Development Council said in a news release yesterday.
“About 70 percent of the report is based on surveys. Hence, it is unavoidable that the civil movements in recent years will affect the results to a certain extent,” council analyst Hsieh Chung-tsung (謝中琮) said in the news release.
The report was based on 30 returned questionnaires, and the survey was conducted from January through the middle of June, Hsieh said. To prevent the report from being distorted by short-term events, the forum ranks every nation based on weighted scores computed from surveys conducted this year and last year, Hsieh said.
Survey respondents are chosen at random and are management officials in Taiwan working for foreign and domestic firms, Hsieh said.
The report ranks 144 economies around the world based on 114 factors in 12 categories.
Additional reporting by CNA
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
CONSISTENT COMMITMENT: The American Institute in Taiwan director said that the US would expand investment and trade relationships to make both nations more prosperous The US would not abandon its commitment to Taiwan, and would make Taiwan safer, stronger and more prosperous, American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said. “The US’ commitment to Taiwan has been consistent over many administrations and over many years, and we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan, including our opposition to any attempt to use force or coercion to change Taiwan’s status,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Friday last week, which was published in the Chinese-language newspaper yesterday. The US would double down on its efforts
RSS