Competitiveness and Its Impact on Sustainability, Business Environment, and Human Development of EU (28) Countries in terms of Global Multi-Criteria Indices

Dana Kiseľáková, Beata Sofrankova (), Miroslav Gombár, Veronika Čabinová and Erika Onuferová
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Dana Kiseľáková: Department of Finance, Faculty of Management, University of Prešov in Prešov, Konštantínova 16, 080 01 Prešov, Slovakia
Miroslav Gombár: Department of Management, Faculty of Management, University of Prešov in Prešov, Konštantínova 16, 080 01 Prešov, Slovakia
Veronika Čabinová: Department of Finance, Faculty of Management, University of Prešov in Prešov, Konštantínova 16, 080 01 Prešov, Slovakia
Erika Onuferová: Department of Finance, Faculty of Management, University of Prešov in Prešov, Konštantínova 16, 080 01 Prešov, Slovakia

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 12, 1-25

Abstract: In this paper, the following research problem was addressed: Is there a significant economic impact of multidimensional specified competitiveness within the EU (28) countries on the competitive business environment, human development, and sustainable growth? Based on the mentioned research problem, we formulated the aim of paper: To detect the significant interrelations among the assessment of global competitiveness, business environment as well as human development in the EU (28) countries for the period of 2006–2017. To address these problems, the methodology of global multi-criteria indices, namely the global competitiveness index (GCI), doing business index (DBI), and human development index (HDI), as well as panel analysis and non-linear regression analyses with ANOVA, were applied. The panel analysis results suggest that there is a direct linear relationship between the GCI and HDI. Moreover, the impact of the DBI on the change in the GCI score was not confirmed. We identified the main areas of countries’ interest, and important economic and statistical significant relations of competitiveness by creating three models: The GD model (constructed by GCI and DBI scores), GH model (GCI and HDI scores), and GDH model (GCI, DBI and HDI scores). Based on the results, all interrelations were confirmed. However, the highest extent of variability for the explanation of the selected data was recorded in the case of the GDH model (87.12%). We detected the impact of the business environment and human resources as competitive advantages on global macroeconomic competitiveness. As the business sector in EU (28) countries is represented mainly by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), enterprise activities play a key role in the process of sustainable competitive economic development. Moreover, human resources are considered to be another important driver of the internationalization of European SMEs.

Keywords: multi-criteria indices; global competitiveness; business environment; human development; regression modelling; small and medium enterprises (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:12:p:3365-:d:240733

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