NEWS FROM:
Location: Switzerland+
633 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10017-6706
212 599-5700 Ext. 1064
www.locationswitzerland.com
Switzerland ranks 3rd in Foreign Policy/A.T. Kearny Globalization Index,
4th in Economist Intelligence Unit's "E-Readiness" Index,
8th in 2005 World Competitiveness Yearbook and Global Competitiveness Report;
9th in the Global IT Report
NEW YORK, May 17 - Switzerland again
came in 3rd among 62 countries on the 2005 Foreign Policy Magazine/A. T. Kearny
Globalization Index reports Mario Brossi of Location: Switzerland, the
country's investment promotion agency. In a second study, the country moved to
4th from 10th place in the 2005 "E-Readiness" index developed by the
Economist Intelligence Unit and the IBM Institute for Business Value.
In other 2005 performance reports,
Switzerland moved all the way up to 8th from 14th place in the World
Competitiveness Yearbook published by the Institute for Management
Development. It ranks 8th in the Global Competitiveness Report and 9th in
the Global IT report, both published by the World Economic Forum.
The Globalization Index ranks
countries in 4 broad categories including economic integration, technological
connectivity, personal contact, and political engagement. www.foreignpolicy.com
The Economist Intelligence Unit's
e-readiness ranking of the world's largest economies is a measure of a
country's e-business environment: a collection of factors that indicate how
amenable a market is to Internet-based opportunities. Ranking criteria reflect
the increasing importance in determining e-readiness, such as broadband access
and mobile penetration. New metrics have also been added, such as innovation
and the penetration of public-access wireless "hotspots". www.eiu.com
The World Competitiveness Yearbook
looks at the economies of 60 countries, using 314 criteria focusing mainly on
hard data from international, regional and national sources. The remaining data
come from the Yearbook's executive opinion survey 2005. www.imd.ch
The Global Competitiveness Report
assesses more than 100 economies. It combines publicly available data with
survey data that capture the perceptions and observations of business leaders
in a given country. www.weforum.org
The Global IT Report looks at the
state of the networked readiness of 104 economies. It is a comprehensive
and authoritative international assessment of the preparedness of countries to
capture the benefits of participating in the networked world.
"According to the IMD
report," Mr. Brossi said, "the most important change over the
previous 12 months is Switzerland's renewed attractiveness. Based on
annualized estimates, the country attracted more than SFr 14 billion
($11.6 billion) in foreign investments in 2004, placing it in 12th position
worldwide."
Brossi went on to note: "It is
always satisfying to see Switzerland factor in the top ten, regardless of what
study is being used. The country is world competitive in all key aspects
and foreign investors are taking note." This was reinforced by
Professor Stephane Garelli, director of the IMD's World Competitiveness Center
who said "Switzerland is selling itself better in international markets,
and that the it offers something other than low cost - such as security, a
motivated skilled workforce and quality of life."
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Contact: John Williamson 908 730-9622 or johnhwilliamson@earthlink.net
