3.1.1. Competitiveness Assessment Tools

A Comparison of Competitiveness Assessment Tools

Tool	Description	Strengths	Weaknesses
Labor Adjusted to GNP	Contribution of GNP/percent of work force employed in sector	Quick measure of relative importance and potential employment effect	Does not measure competitiveness factors; does not directly consider global competitors; assesses past, not potential, importance of sectors
Boston Matrix	Assesses local industry growth and market share against global market share	Relatively quick reasonable proxy for more detailed tools; assessment data can easily be collected for secondary sources	Does not directly address factors influencing competitiveness; assessment is based on historical data, not potential
Porter's Five Forces and Porter's Diamond Framework	Based on five interacting factors critical for an industry to become and remain competitive	Assessment based on factors influencing industry competitiveness; assessment suggest location of driving constraints to industry competitiveness	Assessment is complicated and, where information is not readily available, it can take time to collect data; substantial analysis required before industry selection
End Market Informants	Interviews with highest-value end-market buyers regarding future trends and their procurement strategies	End markets define the universe of market opportunities; global buyers are knowledgeable of the competition and factors and trends likely to influence the market--information that is critical to assessing competitiveness	Requires knowledge of the end-market buyers; this information is not available in-country; subjective
Investor Road Maps	Maps opportunities, constraints and risks to investment with an emphasis on the business enabling environment, and the existence and quality of critical infrastructure and services	Complementary to value chain analysis, high level of detail on identified opportunities and constraints	Costly as an industry selection tool; does not consider industry efficiency resulting from vertical and horizontal coordination; does not consider global competition