Benchmarking for international competitiveness: Lessons for public policy

Abstract

This paper presents the findings from a benchmarking study of Jamaica‘s competitiveness position viz-a-viz other similar small economies in the Caribbean. Using the Dual Double Diamond model and the Rank Xerox Benchmarking methodology as its guiding frameworks, the paper analyzed Jamaica‘s international competitiveness position in relation to Singapore, the most competitive small, open economy in the world.Comparisons were also made with three other small, open economies in the Caribbean and Central America, namely Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and Costa Rica. The findings revealed that Jamaica‘s weak competitiveness position relative to its benchmark country, Singapore, results from a number of factors, including but not limited to an unstable macro-economic environment, weak institutions, distrust for public officials, and poor factor conditions. These competitiveness drivers were present in Singapore in a positive way, thus leading to the economy being able to upgrade its diamond of national competitiveness. The lessons learned from the Singaporean story have implications for Jamaica and other similar small, open economies that are experiencing a decline in their levels of international competitiveness.