Strengths and Weaknesses Dr. Helga Kristjánsdóttir of Sweden Dr. Helga Kristjánsdóttir helgakr@hi.is Introduction: The population of most of the Nordic countries is quite small, with Sweden the largest at only around 10 million. These countries are considered to be quite small relative to the rest of the world, and country size often regarded to limit potential economics of scale. The Nordic countries Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have all been found to be highly competitive in the past few years. These countries are very similar in some areas, while being dissimilar in other areas. This research is based on data derived from the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) ranking over 50 countries in the world by various factors. Total number of countries included in the dataset was 51 in 2003-2005, 53 in 2006 and 55 in 2007. The data used for the ranking is 2/3 hard data from international, national and regional organizations and 1/3 soft data taken from the annual Executive Opinion Survey. Sweden's strongest factor of Competitiveness is its Infrastructure and Business Efficiency, which is also fairly strong. Sweden has experienced strong productivity growth in the private sector, driven for the most part by deregulation and intensified competition. However in terms of Government Efficiency and Economic Performance, Sweden rank around and below the top 20. Source: IMD WORLD COMPETITIVENESS YEARBOOK (2007). Sweden and the other Nordics The Nordic countries have many similarities, they are all relatively small, open market economies with social safety and powerful business sector. They form somewhat an integrated market area and are closely interlinked. The Nordics cooperate in various fields, for example through the Nordic Hydrogen Energy Foresight. It is a strategic project, involving 16 organizations from the five countries. It focuses on moving towards a hydrogen economy within the next 20-30 years. The intention is among others to contribute to the competitiveness of the Nordic business sector and creating a Nordic market for knowledge. When considering similarities and diversities between the Nordic countries, a closer look at the 4 main factors of competitiveness reveals some important differences between them. It appears that even though the Nordic countries excel in some areas, they tend to be lagging behind in Economic Performance. Source: IMD WORLD COMPETITIVENESS YEARBOOK (2007). Summary In the past few years Sweden, Norway and Finland have been estimated to be the least competitive among the Nordic countries. However, current economic crises may cause Sweden to become increasingly more competitive than the other Nordics. There was a slowdown in the Economic Performance of Sweden in 2005 compared to the years before and after. Government Efficiency seems to have developed somewhat similar as Economic Performance with slowdown in 2005 and 2006. In terms of Business Efficiency, Sweden has been ranking from being at the 12th rank and the 15th rank between 2003 and 2007, ranking the highest in 2006. Source: IMD WORLD COMPETITIVENESS YEARBOOK (2007).