REPLIES

Global competitiveness: South Africa vs Germany

Both countries do badly on labour market flexibility, but how do they rank on other measures?

 

South Africa

Germany

 

Rank

Score

Rank

Score

GCI Global Competitiveness Index 2011-2012

50

4.34

6

5.41

 A Basic requirements SubIndex

85

4.32

11

5.83

A.01 1st pillar: Institutions

46

4.36

19

5.27

A.01.01 A. Public institutions

52

4.09

20

5.24

A.01.01.01 1. Property rights

27

5.18

16

5.67

 1.01 Property rights

30

5.29

18

5.73

 1.02 Intellectual property protection

30

4.97

13

5.55

A.01.01.02 2. Ethics and corruption

66

3.33

21

5.04

 1.03 Diversion of public funds

81

2.95

14

5.58

 1.04 Public trust of politicians

88

2.4

37

3.67

 1.05 Irregular payments and bribes

48

4.64

22

5.87

A.01.01.03 3. Undue influence

52

3.73

11

5.34

 1.06 Judicial independence

35

4.97

7

6.33

 1.07 Favoritism in decisions of government officials

114

2.48

19

4.35

A.01.01.04 4. Government inefficiency

38

4.1

32

4.33

 1.08 Wastefulness of government spending

69

3.18

40

3.71

 1.09 Burden of government regulation

112

2.73

88

3.05

 1.1 Efficiency of legal framework in settling disputes

16

5.03

19

4.93

 1.11 Efficiency of legal framework in challenging regs

19

4.72

12

5.01

 1.12 Transparency of government policymaking

34

4.84

28

4.97

A.01.01.05 5. Security

110

4.1

27

5.8

 1.13 Business costs of terrorism

33

6.11

55

5.79

 1.15 Organized crime

112

4.16

33

5.89

 1.16 Reliability of police services

95

3.63

21

5.89

A.01.02 B. Private institutions

27

5.17

16

5.38

A.01.02.01 1. Corporate ethics

51

4.36

14

5.9

 1.17 Ethical behavior of firms

51

4.36

14

5.9

A.01.02.02 2. Accountability

3

5.98

33

4.86

 1.18 Strength of auditing and reporting standards

1

6.49

36

5.35

 1.19 Efficacy of corporate boards

2

5.8

17

5.23

 1.2 Protection of minority shareholders' interests

3

5.84

31

4.84

 1.21 Strength of investor protection, 0-10 (best)*

10

8

77

5

A.02 2nd pillar: Infrastructure

62

4.02

2

6.35

A.02.01 A. Transport infrastructure

33

4.59

5

6.27

2.01 Quality of overall infrastructure

60

4.51

10

6.16

2.02 Quality of roads

43

4.76

10

6.15

2.03 Quality of railroad infrastructure

46

3.36

5

5.74

2.04 Quality of port infrastructure

50

4.7

10

6.13

2.05 Quality of air transport infrastructure

17

6.14

6

6.45

2.06 Available airline seat kilometers per week, millions*

24

1,152.64

5

4,641.00

A.02.02 B. Electricity and telephony infrastructure

97

3.45

4

6.43

2.07 Quality of electricity supply

97

3.72

11

6.69

2.08 Fixed telephone lines/100 pop.*

100

8.43

8

55.41

2.09 Mobile telephone subscriptions/100 pop.*

71

100.48

30

127.04

A.03 3rd pillar: Macroeconomic environment

55

4.96

30

5.43

3.01 Government budget balance, % GDP*

104

-5.71

64

-3.27

3.02 National savings rate, % GDP*

72

19.96

53

22.81

3.04 Interest rate spread, %*

36

3.37

21

2.67

3.05 General government debt, % GDP*

54

35.74

122

79.99

3.06 Country credit rating, 0-100 (best)*

48

63.3

3

93.3

A.04 4th pillar: Health and primary education

131

3.96

23

6.27

A.04.01 A. Health

129

4.14

20

6.88

4.01 Business impact of malaria

103

5

1

N/Appl.

4.02 Malaria cases/100,000 pop.*

90

67.37

1

(NE)

4.03 Business impact of tuberculosis

135

3.44

16

6.52

4.04 Tuberculosis incidence/100,000 pop.*

141

971

8

4.9

4.05 Business impact of HIV/AIDS

132

3.01

26

6.11

4.06 HIV prevalence, % adult pop.*

139

17.8

21

0.1

4.07 Infant mortality, deaths/1,000 live births*

111

43.1

19

3.5

4.08 Life expectancy, years*

130

51.62

22

79.94

A.04.02 B. Primary education

125

3.78

26

5.66

4.09 Quality of primary education

127

2.4

36

4.6

4.1 Primary education enrollment, net %*

118

84.65

25

97.63

 B Efficiency enhancers SubIndex

38

4.44

13

5.18

B.05 5th pillar: Higher education and training

73

4.03

7

5.73

B.05.01 A. Quantity of education

84

4.24

1

7

5.01 Secondary education enrollment, gross %*

51

93.87

20

101.7

5.02 Tertiary education enrollment, gross %*

97

15.41

n/a

n/a

B.05.02 B. Quality of education

112

3.3

32

4.75

5.03 Quality of the educational system

133

2.33

17

4.93

5.04 Quality of math and science education

138

2.08

48

4.44

5.05 Quality of management schools

13

5.43

36

4.78

5.06 Internet access in schools

100

3.37

41

4.86

B.05.03 C. On-the-job training

35

4.55

7

5.44

5.07 Availability of research and training services

47

4.44

3

5.98

5.08 Extent of staff training

27

4.65

16

4.89

B.06 6th pillar: Goods market efficiency

32

4.66

26

4.79

B.06.01 A. Competition

28

4.8

30

4.76

B.06.01.01 1. Domestic competition

22

4.81

28

4.67

 6.01 Intensity of local competition

49

5.15

9

5.8

 6.02 Extent of market dominance

37

4.29

3

5.73

 6.03 Effectiveness of anti-monopoly policy

7

5.33

23

4.86

 6.04 Extent and effect of taxation

28

4.06

80

3.3

 6.06 No. procedures to start a business*

34

6

94

9

 6.07 No. days to start a business*

84

22

63

15

 6.08 Agricultural policy costs

37

4.23

76

3.77

 6.05 Total tax rate, % profits*

36

30.5

100

48.2

B.06.01.02 2. Foreign competition

62

4.72

35

5.07

 6.09 Prevalence of trade barriers

51

4.68

49

4.73

 6.11 Prevalence of foreign ownership

34

5.23

47

5.05

 6.12 Business impact of rules on FDI

55

4.85

72

4.61

 6.13 Burden of customs procedures

62

4.23

37

4.67

 6.14 Imports as a percentage of GDP*

108

31.36

81

39.91

 6.1 Trade tariffs, % duty*

72

5.92

4

0.85

B.06.02 B. Quality of demand conditions

41

4.38

21

4.84

6.15 Degree of customer orientation

67

4.64

18

5.35

6.16 Buyer sophistication

31

4.13

21

4.32

B.07 7th pillar: Labor market efficiency

95

4.06

64

4.41

B.07.01 A. Flexibility

119

3.94

125

3.83

7.01 Cooperation in labor-employer relations

138

3.28

22

5.12

        7.04 Hiring and firing practices

139

2.47

132

2.8

7.02 Flexibility of wage determination

138

3.04

136

3.07

7.05 Redundancy costs, weeks of salary*

46

24

102

69

7.03 Rigidity of employment index, 0-100 (worst)*

90

35

112

42

B.07.02 B. Efficient use of talent

63

4.18

17

4.99

7.06 Pay and productivity

130

2.98

38

4.31

7.07 Reliance on professional management

18

5.49

13

5.67

7.08 Brain drain

48

3.8

31

4.4

7.09 Women in labor force, ratio to men*

76

0.76

39

0.87

B.08 8th pillar: Financial market development

4

5.48

39

4.54

B.08.01 A. Efficiency

23

4.51

33

4.19

8.01 Availability of financial services

3

6.33

18

5.8

8.02 Affordability of financial services

39

4.87

23

5.11

8.03 Financing through local equity market

4

5.13

41

4.05

8.04 Ease of access to loans

36

3.26

54

2.97

8.05 Venture capital availability

44

2.93

37

3.02

B.08.02 B. Trustworthiness and confidence

2

6.46

51

4.88

8.06 Soundness of banks

2

6.62

87

4.93

8.07 Regulation of securities exchanges

1

6.36

52

4.52

8.08 Legal rights index, 0-10 (best)*

8

9

39

7

B.09 9th pillar: Technological readiness

76

3.6

14

5.61

B.09.01 A. Technological adoption

37

5.39

35

5.48

9.01 Availability of latest technologies

39

5.69

20

6.18

9.02 Firm-level technology absorption

30

5.54

14

5.93

9.03 FDI and technology transfer

41

4.96

92

4.32

B.09.02 B. ICT use

102

1.8

12

5.74

9.04 Internet users/100 pop.*

105

12.3

12

81.85

9.05 Broadband Internet subscriptions/100 pop.*

96

1.48

9

31.59

9.06 Internet bandwidth, kb/s/capita*

112

0.21

15

60.75

9.07 Household with a computer, %

86

18.33

11

85.74

B.10 10th pillar: Market size

25

4.81

5

6

B.10.01 A. Domestic market size

24

4.71

5

5.83

10.03 GDP (PPP)*

25

523.95

5

2,940.43

10.04 Exports as a percentage of GDP*

97

26.85

56

45.2

10.01 Domestic market size index, 1-7 (best)*

24

4.71

5

5.83

B.10.02 B. Foreign market size

38

5.12

3

6.5

10.02 Foreign market size index, 1-7 (best)*

38

5.12

3

6.5

 C Innovation and sophistication factors SubIndex

39

3.93

5

5.53

C.11 11th pillar: Business sophistication

38

4.32

4

5.66

11.01 Local supplier quantity

47

4.99

3

5.86

11.02 Local supplier quality

31

5.16

4

6.04

11.03 State of cluster development

46

3.92

13

4.86

11.04 Nature of competitive advantage

97

3.01

4

6.06

11.05 Value chain breadth

100

3.11

4

6.09

11.06 Control of international distribution

26

4.61

4

5.3

11.07 Production process sophistication

41

4.32

3

6.33

11.08 Extent of marketing

31

4.94

10

5.63

11.09 Willingness to delegate authority

32

4.27

15

4.81

C.12 12th pillar: Innovation

41

3.53

7

5.39

12.01 Capacity for innovation

46

3.38

3

5.73

12.02 Quality of scientific research institutions

30

4.67

10

5.59

12.03 Company spending on R&D

36

3.56

5

5.5

12.04 University-industry collaboration in R&D

26

4.62

13

5.16

12.05 Gov't procurement of advanced tech products

103

3.26

29

4.18

12.06 Availability of scientists and engineers

111

3.4

41

4.47

12.07 Utility patents granted/million pop.*

42

2.3

9

150.58

 

136

2.51

32

5.63