The Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), developed by the World Economic Forum, measures factors influencing productivity and long-term prosperity. The indicators are grouped into 12 pillars: Institutions, Infrastructure, Macroeconomic Environment, Health and Primary Education, Higher Education and Training, Goods Market Efficiency, Labor Market Efficiency, Financial Market Development, Technological Readiness, Market Size, Business Sophistication, and Innovation. The pillars are further organized into three subindexes: Basic Requirements, Efficiency Enhancers, and Innovation and Sophistication Factors. The weight assigned to each subindex in the overall index calculation depends on a country’s stage of development, determined by GDP per capita and the share of exports represented by raw materials.

Abstract

The Global Investment Competitiveness 2019 Survey was conducted June–November 2019 through 30-minute phone interviews in the primary business language(s) of the host economies. The survey captures the experiences and perceptions of MNE affiliates on global megatrends and investment climate factors in 10 middle-income countries (MICs): Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam. The survey was administered to senior executives of foreign-owned firms. Information was collected on the companies’ general characteristics, the importance and effect of global megatrends on business operations, contribution to the host economy, and the importance of investment policy factors and operational obstacles they face. The survey was designed to generate results that are representative at the country level and comparable across countries.

More information: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/competitiveness/publication/global-investment-competitiveness-report-2019-2020

Geographic coverage

Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam.

Analysis unit

Firm, affiliate of multinational company

Universe

Firms (affiliates of multinational company) in 10 middle-income countries (MICs): Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The survey represents experiences and perceptions of a representative sample of foreign-owned firms in each of 10 MICs: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam. Each country sample comprises roughly 250 foreign-owned firms with at least five employees. In each country, roughly 125 respondent firms operate in the manufacturing sector, and roughly 125 respondent firms operate in the services sector (see tables 1 and 2 in survey report provided as related documents). The only exception is Nigeria, where because of sampling frame limitations, the sample comprises 164 respon¬dents (55 manufacturing and 109 services). Thus, across the 10 target countries, more than 2,400 responses were collected.

Sampling frames comprising partially or fully foreign-owned businesses in the 10 MICs were constructed using commercially available and proprietary sources (Dunn & Bradstreet, Orbis/Bureau van Dijk, Sample Solutions, and others). The frames were de-duplicated and cleaned, and data quality was enhanced using standard sample framing and data manipulation techniques. In some sampling frames, all affiliates were contacted to reach the target sample size. In others, only select affiliates were contacted before the target was reached.

Sampling deviation

The only exception is Nigeria, where because of sampling frame limitations, the sample comprises 164 respon¬dents (55 manufacturing and 109 services). Thus, across the 10 target countries, more than 2,400 responses were collected.

Mode of data collection

Computer Assisted Telephone Interview [cati]

Response rate

The overall response rate for the survey was 9.3 percent. This response rate is consistent with the current expected range for phone-based business surveys. The main fieldwork of the survey leveraged lessons from empirical research in survey design and administration to implement the strategies described below to ensure high response rates.

The Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) 4.0, developed by the World Economic Forum, tracks the performance of 140 countries across 12 pillars of competitiveness: Institutions, Infrastructure, ICT Adoption, Macroeconomic Stability, Health, Skills, Product Market, Labor Market, Financial System, Market Size, Business Dynamism, and Innovation Capability. A country’s performance on the overall GCI and each of its components is reported as a ‘progress score’ on a 0-to-100 scale, where 100 represents the ‘frontier’—an ideal state where an issue no longer constrains productivity growth. The GCI 4.0 framework was introduced in the 2018 edition of the Global Competitiveness Report.

Abstract

This study is a two-stage survey that the World Bank conducted with the Enterprise Survey Organization of the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics. The first stage of the survey, carried out in 2001, covered 300 firms in each of five cities—Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Tianjin—for a total of 1500 firms. The survey collected detailed information on different aspects of corporate governance, financing, firm-government relations, innovation, technology, and labor. Most quantitative questions covered the period 1997–2000; most qualitative questions covered only the time of the survey.

The second stage of the survey, conducted in 2001–2002, covered the same set of firms, though a small percentage had disappeared since the first survey. The questionnaire covered investment climate constraints on the establishment, infrastructure and services, finance, labor relations, sales and supplies, business-government relations, conflict resolution and the legal environment, crime, capacity, innovation, and learning.

Firm-level surveys have been conducted since 1998 by different units within the World Bank. Since 2005-06, most data collection efforts have been centralized within the Enterprise Analysis Unit (FPDEA), which implements Enterprise Surveys across all geographic regions.

Geographic coverage

National

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The sample consists of both manufacturing and service firms. The industries covered include electronic components, autos and auto parts, clothing and leather products, electronic and communication equipment, household electrical goods, information technology services , accounting, auditing, and nonbank financial services, business logistics services, advertising and marketing services, and communication services. Within the sample, firms vary substantially by size and by type of ownership. The samples were randomly chosen given a predetermined distribution by city and broad industry and size strata.

An important caveat: the survey covers the five major cities of Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Tianjin, so the results should be interpreted as showing information about the investment climate only in these cities.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The current survey instrument is available: - Study of Competitiveness, Technology & Firm Linkages Questionnaire (Second stage, 2001-2002) and Productivity and the Investment Climate Private Enterprise Survey Questionnaire (First stage, 2001)

The Global Competitiveness Index 4.0 assesses the microeconomic and macroeconomic foundations of national competitiveness, which is defined as the set of institutions, policies, and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country.

The most important assessment tool that demonstrated the comparative situation of countries is Logistics Performance Index (LPI) created by World Bank. This index which has been prepared as a questionnaire consists of six dimensions. These dimensions are Customs: The efficiency of clearance process, Infrastructure: Quality of trade and transport related infrastructure, International Transportation: Capability of arranging competitively priced shipments, Logistics Competence: Competence and quality of Logistics Services, Tracking and Tracing: ability to track and trace your consignments, Timeliness: Carrying out the transports at scheduled time. In this research, moderating effect of Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) on each dimensions of LPI was measured. The moderating effect was measured by means of hierarchical regression method. As a result of the analysis, the moderating effects on three of the six dimensions have been found as statistically significant. These dimensions are International Transportation: Capability of arranging competitively priced shipments, Tracking and Tracing: ability to track and trace your consignments and Timeliness: Carrying out the transports at scheduled time. Due to not being any research based on the dimensions of two indexes (LPI and GCI) before, this research can be considered as a breakthrough in literature. The most important contribution of this research is that it allows evaluating logistics performance over the top as to increase the size of a country's global ompetitiveness index. In other words, according to the result of this research, if a country targets to the top level in GCI index, it needs to make important improvements in the following dimensions of logistics services: International Transportation, Tracking and Tracing and Timeliness.

Spearman’s correlations coefficient values for the synthetic economic anchor measure and the entrepreneurship index, New business density, Gross domestic product per capita and The Global Competitiveness Index.

Since 2003, the World Bank publishes the Ease of Doing Business (EDB) Index aimed at measuring the regulatory efficiency and institutional quality of key processes that affect the business environment in a given economy. While highly influential, particularly in the developing world, the EDB has also been faced with criticism and at times controversies. In 2020, the World Bank decided to interrupt temporarily the publication of the EDB report as a result of an audit that revealed politically motivated manipulation of EDB rankings. Over time, Canada’s relative rankings fell from 4th in 2007 to 23rd in 2020 with no significant changes in its business environments or policies. Canada’s rank fall can only be partially explained as other economies such as Georgia and Mauritius surpassed Canada with higher overall rankings. To understand the underlying causes of Canada’s rank declining, the Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) commissioned a study to look at Canada’s performance in all 10 areas of the EDB Index. The study also looked at other competitiveness and economic freedom indices (e.g. IMD World Competitiveness Index, World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness report and the Fraser Institute Index of Economic Freedom) and found no such decline in Canada`s performance.

Abstract

The Firm Analysis and Competitiveness Survey of India (FACS) is a joint undertaking of the Confederation of Indian Industry and the World Bank Group. The objective of the survey is to generate information that state governments can use to formulate policies that better facilitate business creation and operations. This is the third of such surveys being carried out in India. The previous two surveys took place in 2000 and 2002 in 12 states.

In 2005, 2286 businesses were surveyed. The study covered such industries as textiles, garments, pharmaceuticals, electronics, electrical goods, auto-components, metal products, food and agro processing, plastics and plastic products. As in the previous surveys, the goal of the study is to advise state governments on ways to change policies that hinder the start up of more businesses, their expansion and competitiveness in potential export markets.

Firm-level surveys have been conducted since 1998 by different units within the World Bank. Since 2005-06, most data collection efforts have been centralized within the Enterprise Analysis Unit (FPDEA), which now implements Enterprise Surveys across all geographic regions.

Geographic coverage

National

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The current survey instrument is available: - Firm Analysis and Competitiveness Survey of India 2005 Questionnaire.

The questionnaire has two parts. The first part is for the head of the business to respond to. It includes questions about the history and organization of the business, management, markets, supplies, access to technology, credit, skilled manpower, infrastructure, government policies, and business’ economic environment. The second part deals with production, financial, and human resource statistics and is to be answered by the accountant and the personnel manager.

The Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI) 2021 is an evolution of the 15-year-old Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) series, a flagship index of the World Economic Forum's Platform for Shaping the Future of Mobility. This revised index serves as a strategic benchmarking tool for policy-makers, companies and complementary sectors to advance the future development of the Travel and Tourism (T&T) sector by providing unique insights into the strengths and development areas of each country/economy to enhance the realization of sector potential and growth. Furthermore, it serves as a platform for multistakeholder dialogue to understand and anticipate emerging trends and risks in global T&T, direct policies, practices and investment decisions, and accelerate new models that ensure the longevity of this important sector. It is developed by the World Economic Forum (WEF), measures the factors and policies enabling sustainable and resilient development in the travel and tourism sector. It evaluates countries across five dimensions, 17 pillars focusing on aspects such as infrastructure, sustainability, socioeconomic impact, and demand pressures. The TTDI serves as a benchmarking tool for policymakers and stakeholders to inform investment decisions and strategic planning in the sector For further details, please refer to https://www.weforum.org/reports/travel-and-tourism-development-index-2021/in-full/endnotes

Abstract

The Partnership for Economic Inclusion (PEI) Landscape Survey 2019 - 2020 aimed to provide a comprehensive inventory of ongoing economic inclusion programs, or those that are in the development pipeline. For the purpose of the PEI Landscape Survey 2019 - 2020, the PEI management team (PEIMT) defined economic inclusion programs as multidimensional interventions that support and enable households to achieve sustainable livelihoods and increase their incomes and assets, while building human capital and promoting social inclusion.

To map the universe of economic inclusion programs, the PEIMT reviewed the World Bank financing portfolio as well as external sources. The first stage of the World Bank portfolio scan involved manually reviewing ongoing and pipeline programs from the Social Protection and Jobs (SPJ) Global Practice, listed in the World Bank Operations Portal, across all geographical regions. To determine whether a program focused on economic inclusion, the PEIMT reviewed each program's development objective and the component description included in its Project Appraisal Document (PAD) or, when a PAD was not available, its Project Information Document (PID), Project Paper (PP), or Project Information and Integrated Safeguards Data Sheet (PSDS).

Kind of data

Administrative records data [adm]

Sampling procedure

To map the universe of economic inclusion programs, the PEIMT reviewed the World Bank financing portfolio as well as external sources. The first stage of the World Bank portfolio scan involved manually reviewing ongoing and pipeline projects from the Social Protection and Jobs (SPJ) Global Practice, listed in the World Bank Operations Portal, across all geographical regions. To determine whether a program focused on economic inclusion, the PEIMT reviewed each project's development objective and the component description included in its Project Appraisal Document (PAD) or, when a PAD was not available, its Project Information Document (PID), Project Paper (PP), or Project Information and Integrated Safeguards Data Sheet (PSDS).

As a second stage, in order to validate each economic inclusion program and to speed up the mapping process, the PEIMT worked with the Text and Data Analytics (TDA) team from the Development Economics (DEC) department of the World Bank. Using a predefined set of keywords , the TDA team applied advanced text analytics to projects' summaries as well as to their PADs, PIDs, PPs, or PSDSs. They applied this technique to a total sample of approximately 1,200 projects (both active and pipeline) across all geographical regions under these Global Practices: Urban Resilience and Land; Social Development; Social Protection and Jobs; Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation; and Agriculture and Food. The team then ranked projects based on the number of keywords found. Any project that had at least one keyword could be considered an economic inclusion project. The PEIMT then compared the TDA-assisted selection with the manual selection for the SPJ projects and found that the results were accurate in correctly excluding projects. The TDA-assisted selection, however, also included far more projects than the manual review did.

To finalize the mapping of World Bank-financed economic inclusion projects, the PEIMT team manually reviewed the TDA-assisted selection of economic inclusion projects for the remaining Global Practices. The team assessed the relevance of a project based on project summaries, the types of words identified through the TDA techniques, and the frequency with which keywords came up in the project documents. In some cases, when a summary did not provide enough information, the PAD was reviewed to make a final decision. Overall, the TDA methods allowed the PEIMT to trim the number of projects for review by half. In total, the PEIMT identified 149 World Bank economic inclusion projects (representing 92 individual government programs in 57 countries ). Surveys were sent to these 92 unique identified programs, and responses were received back from 77 of them. The mapping of World Bank-supported projects was updated in June 2020 through a full manual review of nearly 50 projects from the Environment and Natural Resources Global Practice, which resulted in 17 additional projects and a total of 166 economic inclusion projects supported by the World Bank.

To map projects outside of World Bank operations, the PEIMT used the PEI's 2017 survey dataset to identify projects that were still ongoing as well as partners, including governments, NGOs, regional organizations, multilaterals, and other development partners involved in economic inclusion programming. Organizations were approached to self-identify programs that met a prescribed set of criteria, which had been developed based on the working definition of economic inclusion programs. Since the 2017 survey captured mostly non-government programs, in order to map other relevant economic inclusion interventions the PEIMT scanned several databases and inventories of social protection and productive inclusion programs, including ECLAC's database of labor and productive inclusion programs in Latin America and the Caribbean and Manchester's Social Assistance database. The number of projects identified outside of the World Bank portfolio totaled 146, from which 140 responses were expected and 127 responses were received.

Mode of data collection

Internet [int]

Abstract

The Global Investment Competitiveness Survey (GIC Survey) offers practical evidence to help policy makers design policies and prioritize reforms that investors value. It captures perceptions of international business executives on the role of investment climate factors in their FDI decisions.

The survey was designed to provide a broad understanding of corporate perspectives and investor behavior and was not intended as a benchmarking tool to compare countries. Results are not representative at a country level.

Geographic coverage

The survey was designed to provide a broad understanding of corporate perspectives and investor behavior and was not intended as a benchmarking tool to compare countries. Results are not representative at a country level.

Analysis unit

The Survey describes:

• Companies

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The sample frame consisted of nearly 8,000 eligible companies in the commercially available Dunn and Bradstreet database. The 754 respondents were investors with existing affiliates in at least one developing country. The interviews consisted of a screener phase, to ensure the eligibility of respondents. Respondents were a combination of executives at the global headquarters and executives at a foreign affiliate.

Mode of data collection

Computer Assisted Telephone Interview [cati]

Research instrument

Questionnaire available for download from the Related Materials section.

Abstract

The Firm Analysis and Competitiveness Survey of India (FACS) 2002 is a joint undertaking of the Confederation of Indian Industry and the World Bank Group towards better understanding of the investment climate of States. It follows upon a similar survey of 1200 firms that the two institutions carried out in 2000.

In 2002, 1827 businesses from 12 states were surveyed. The study covered exporting industries, namely, textiles, garments, pharmaceuticals, electronics, electrical White goods, chemicals, metal and auto-components. As in the previous survey, the goal of the study is to advise state governments on ways to change policies that hinder the start up of more businesses, their expansion and competitiveness in potential export markets.

Firm-level surveys have been conducted since 1998 by different units within the World Bank. Since 2005-06, most data collection efforts have been centralized within the Enterprise Analysis Unit (FPDEA), which now implements Enterprise Surveys across all geographic regions.

Geographic coverage

National

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The current survey instrument is available: - Firm Analysis and Competitiveness Survey of India 2002 Questionnaire.

The questionnaire has two parts. The first part is for the head of the business to respond to. It includes questions about the history and organization of the business, management, markets, supplies, access to technology, credit, skilled manpower, infrastructure, government policies, and business’ economic environment. The second part deals with production, financial, and human resource statistics and is to be answered by the accountant and the personnel manager.

Abstract

The Survey on Interest Rate Controls 2020 was conducted as a World Bank Group study on interest rate controls (IRCs) in lending and deposit markets around the world. The study aims to identify the different types of formal (or de jure) controls, the countries that apply then, how they implement them, and the reasons for doing so. The objective of the study is to advance knowledge on this topic by providing an evidence base for investigating the impact of IRCs on economic outcomes.

The survey investigates present IRCs in each surveyed country, the reasons why they have been applied, the framework and resources associated with their application and the details as to their level and functioning. The focus is on legal forms of control (i.e. codified into law) as opposed to de facto controls. The new database on interest rate controls, a popular form of financial repression is based on a survey of 108 countries, representing 88 percent of global gross domestic product. The interest rate controls presented in this dataset were in effect in 2019.

Geographic coverage

Global Survey, covering 108 countries, representing 88 percent of global GDP.

Analysis unit

Regulation at the national level.

Universe

Banking supervisors and Local Banking Associations.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Mode of data collection

Mail Questionnaire [mail]

Research instrument

Bank supervisors and banking associations were provided with a standard excel file with five parts. The survey was structured in five parts, each placed in a different excel sheet. Part A: Introduction. Countries with no IRCs in place were asked to only answer this sheet and leave the rest blank. Part B: Presented the definitions of controls, institutions, products and additional aspects that will be covered in the survey. Part C: Introduced a set of qualitative questions to describe the IRCs in place. Part D: Displayed a set of tables to quantitatively describe the IRCs in place. Part E: Laid out the final set of questions, covering sanctions and control mechanisms that support the IRCs' enforcement. The questionnaire is provided in the Documentation section in pdf and excel.

The Product Market Regulation (PMR) dataset, produced by the OECD and the World Bank, measures how public policies influence market competition across various sectors. It assesses regulatory restrictions both economy-wide and in 12 key areas, including electricity, gas, telecom, transport, water, retail, professional services, business start-ups, foreign investment, and governance of public enterprises.

​The OECD Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI) is a unique, evidence-based tool that collects information on services trade restrictions across major services sectors. The project has two distinct but complementary instruments: a services trade regulatory database and a services trade restrictiveness index. These instruments provide a rich source of information for trade policy makers, trade negotiators and researchers, and an instrument for impact assessment of trade liberalisation. The STRI further allows individual countries to benchmark their services market regulations against the global best practice, identify outlier restrictions and current bottlenecks.

For further details, please refer to https://www.oecd.org/trade/topics/services-trade/

Abstract

The World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) is a firm-level survey of a representative sample of an economy's private sector. The surveys cover a broad range of topics related to the business environment including access to finance, corruption, infrastructure, competition, and performance.

Geographic coverage

National coverage

Analysis unit

The primary sampling unit of the study is the establishment. An establishment is a physical location where business is carried out and where industrial operations take place or services are provided. A firm may be composed of one or more establishments. For example, a brewery may have several bottling plants and several establishments for distribution. For the purposes of this survey an establishment must make its own financial decisions and have its own financial statements separate from those of the firm. An establishment must also have its own management and control over its payroll.

Universe

The universe of inference includes all formal (i.e., registered) private sector businesses (with at least 1% private ownership) and with at least five employees. In terms of sectoral criteria, all manufacturing businesses (ISIC Rev 4. codes 10-33) are eligible; for services businesses, those corresponding to the ISIC Rev 4 codes 41-43, 45-47, 49-53, 55-56, 58, 61-62, 69-75, 79, and 95 are included in the Enterprise Surveys. Cooperatives and collectives are excluded from the Enterprise Surveys. All eligible establishments must be registered with the registration agency. In the case of Tanzania, registration was with Business Registration and Licensing Agency (BRELA).

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The WBES use stratified random sampling, where the population of establishments is first separated into non-overlapping groups, called strata, and then respondents are selected through simple random sampling from each stratum. The detailed methodology is provided in the Sampling Note (https://www.enterprisesurveys.org/content/dam/enterprisesurveys/documents/methodology/Sampling_Note-Consolidated-2-16-22.pdf). Stratified random sampling has several advantages over simple random sampling. In particular, it:

• produces unbiased estimates of the whole population or universe of inference, as well as at the levels of stratification
• ensures representativeness by including observations in all of those categories
• produces more precise estimates for a given sample size or budget allocation, and
• may reduce implementation costs by splitting the population into convenient subdivisions.

The WBES typically use three levels of stratification: industry classification, establishment size, and subnational region (used in combination). Starting in 2022, the WBES bases the industry classification on ISIC Rev. 4 (with earlier surveys using ISIC Rev. 3.1). For regional coverage within a country, the WBES has national coverage.

Note: Refer to Sampling Structure section in "The Tanzania 2023 World Bank Enterprise Survey Implementation Report" for detailed methodology on sampling.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The standard WBES questionnaire covers several topics regarding the business environment and business performance. These topics include general firm characteristics, infrastructure, sales and supplies, management practices, competition, innovation, capacity, land and permits, finance, business-government relations, exposure to bribery, labor, and performance. Information about the general structure of the questionnaire is available in the Enterprise Surveys Manual and Guide (https://www.enterprisesurveys.org/content/dam/enterprisesurveys/documents/methodology/Enterprise-Surveys-Manual-and-Guide.pdf).

The questionnaire implemented in the Tanzania 2023 WBES included additional questions tailored for the Business Ready Report covering infrastructure, trade, government regulations, finance, labor, and other topics. Furthermore, the survey also includes Tanzania specific questions covering issues related to mobile banking and digital payments and trade linkages among firms. The Tanzania specific questions were selected in collaboration with colleagues from other part of World Bank.

Response rate

Overall survey response rate was 40.7%.