Executive Opinion on International Competitiveness - Essay Example

The EOS is a cross-country comparison of factors affecting economic competitiveness and growth and seeks to provide a benchmarking tool for businesses, governments, academia, and civil organizations. The questionnaire does a very good job of gathering information on the issues related to international competitiveness including macroeconomic environment, technological readiness, and public institutions. The construction of the EOS lends itself to gathering data on a wide range of topics. It provides executives with the opportunity to offer anonymous observations on the overall economy, as well as local government policies that support or infringe upon development. The tabulation of this data is particularly helpful in concluding specific in-country governmental policies that support competitiveness. The benchmark comparisons yield a clear view of which nations are facilitating growth and those countries can improve competitiveness and growth through policy adjustments.

My first recommendation is that the EOS be shortened in length. While it is a very thorough data collection tool, consideration should be given to the respondents. These members of senior management have significant duties and time constraints. The EOS would increase the likelihood of a higher response rate if it would permit the executive to complete the questionnaire in a shorter amount of time. Potential respondents, anticipating the amount of time needed to complete the survey, might simply refuse to participate due to the demands of their jobs.

My second suggestion is that the framers of the EOS change the quantitative data collection format. The current methodology is a question that asks the respondent to offer an opinion using seven levels of assessment. The information could be gathered with equal accuracy, and significant time savings, by offering a four-level method. Rather than posing a question and asking the executive to offer a seven-unit numerical valuation between the provided answers, the EOS could make a statement that framed the issue and ask the respondent to reply by strongly agreeing, agreeing, disagreeing, or strongly disagreeing. This would still allow for quantifiable data of reasonable accuracy while streamlining the process of time management. Further, this methodology would allow the data to be more narrowly tailored by the language of the question itself. In this way, accurate data could be gathered for comparison, while increasing the response rate.