Journal of Competitiveness (Sep 2012)
The Knowledge Competitiveness of Macedonian Economy – Comparative Analysis
Abstract
When a firm or economy realizes a competitive advantage, actually it possesses something which others lack, and does something which others cannot do, or do not know how to do it. Firms’ competitiveness, mostly, stems from knowledge and competency. Basically, it is the accumulation of capital in the form of knowledge, in most of the firms’ constitutive systems. Competitivenessdetermines the productivity level of an economy, whereas the productivity level determines the sustainable prosperity level of an economy. The knowledge economy offers virtually unlimited resources, as human capacity to create is boundless. Taking into consideration the abovementioned facts, the aim of this paper is to provide responses to the following questions: Why should contemporary firms and economies invest in new knowledge? What is the knowledge competitiveness level of the Macedonian firms and economy? What is the knowledge competitiveness of the Macedonian economy in comparisonwith the knowledge competitiveness of innovation-driven economies and the remaining efficiency-driven economies? In order to obtain the answers to these questions, we will make use of some theoretical experiences, supported by a comparative empirical analysis which, in essence, is based on the composite indicators - Knowledge Index and Global Competitiveness Index.
