Business competitiveness in Muslim World: role of governance and higher education

Mehar, Ayub (2008): Business competitiveness in Muslim World: role of governance and higher education.

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to compare Muslim countries with the rest of world in terms of the effectiveness and efficiency of the factors of competitiveness. Another objective of this paper is to determine the factors of competitiveness of the nations. The study has also assessed the impacts of improvement in political and corporate governances of the institutions, technological advancement and higher education on the business competitiveness. The World Competitiveness Index constructed by the World Economic Forum and World Banks statistics on aggregate savings and investment were used to estimate the regression parameters. It was hypothesized that Muslim world is significantly different from the rest of world in terms of the effectiveness and efficiency of the factors of competitiveness. The role of innovations and knowledge creating activities in determining of business competitiveness was not found statistically significant in Muslim world; it was highly significant in case of the rest of world. It was concluded that investment and technology readiness affects the competitiveness in Muslim countries in different ways. It was recommended that Muslim countries should improve their governance of the corporate and political institutions and the higher education to achieve the efficiency and higher targets of competitiveness.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Competitiveness; Innovations; Higher Education; Efficiency; Governance
• Subjects: F - International Economics > F5 - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy > F59 - Other; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O16 - Financial Markets ; Saving and Capital Investment ; Corporate Finance and Governance; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education and Research Institutions > I23 - Higher Education ; Research Institutions; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Innovation ; Research and Development ; Technological Change ; Intellectual Property Rights > O31 - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

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