This chapter has presented and analyzed the results of the Global Competitiveness Index 2014–2015, a tool that assesses the competitiveness of 144 economies across all geographies and stages of development. The GCI aims at capturing the complexity of the phenomenon of national competitiveness, which can be improved only through an array of efforts in different areas that affect the long-term productivity of a country, which is the key driver of economic growth.

In the current economic context of uneven recovery across advanced economies and renewed risks for emerging economies, the current edition of the Report has highlighted the need for more structural reforms and enhanced smart investments in both advanced and emerging economies in order to accelerate robust economic growth, create productive jobs, and boost inclusive growth with more and better opportunities for all segments of the population. At present, the pace of change remains uneven, and more determination and shared commitment among all stakeholders is urgently needed in order to build strategic public-private collaborations. Building this type of collaboration, as the ongoing World Economic Forum’s project on the Competitiveness Lab and the Competitiveness Practices Collection shows,³⁰ can yield significant results if properly designed and implemented. See Box 4 for more detail.

Since its introduction in 2005, the GCI has been used by a growing number of countries and institutions to benchmark national competitiveness. The clear and intuitive structure of the GCI framework is useful for prioritizing policy reforms because it allows each country to identify strengths and weaknesses of its national competitiveness environment and pinpoint those factors most constraining its economic development. More specifically, the GCI provides a platform for dialogue among government, business, and civil society that can serve as a catalyst for productivity-enhancing actions. Over the years, the GCI has proved to be a very useful tool for advancing competitiveness across countries and for brokering strategic public-private collaborations aimed at boosting national competitiveness.