9th Place and Fading

According to The Economist magazine, America has dropped to 9th place in its Business Environment rankings.  Denmark, Finland, Singapore and Canada are 1-4 respectively. Where has America gone wrong?

From the article:  America’s business environment is expected to decline over the next five years due to mounting financial and macroeconomic risks, increased protectionism, security concerns and strained international relations.  The Economist Intelligence Unit’s business environment rankings for 2008-12 show America falling to ninth position, the lowest the country has placed since the launch of the business environment rankings in 1997.

America’s business environment remains attractive (deregulated labor markets, the high quality of infrastructure, leadership in technology) and the differences between countries at the top of the business environments league are fairly small.  Yet there are also signs of deterioration in key areas.  America is stagnating as others improve.

Unfortunately no presidential candidate will make a significant difference.  Only politicians are running.
The global business environment is expected to improve over the next 5 years despite the disappointing outlook for America.

The good news there will still be plenty of opportunities for leaders who understand employee performance management and a system for full employee engagement.