ANALYSIS OF THE GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS INDEX: KEY FACTORS FOR MEXICO

Abstract

The World Economic Forum created the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) to assess and compare competitiveness among nations, given that a competitive country tends to offer better living conditions to its population. The objective of this study was to identify the factors that influence a country's competitiveness according to the 2019 GCI and to conduct a specific analysis of Mexico. To this end, a cluster analysis was performed to classify all countries into low, medium, and high competitiveness categories. The possible reasons behind Mexico's poor performance in this index were investigated. The results revealed that innovation capacity and ICT adoption are key factors that distinguish the most competitive countries from the least. Although Mexico stands out for its economic stability and significant market size, it has significant deficiencies in areas such as education, innovation, and institutions. However, simply increasing the budget allocated to research and development does not guarantee greater innovative capacity, as adequate infrastructure and trained human capital are required to effectively implement innovation.