International Competitiveness

Information on the coursework

Semester 2, academic year 2008/2009

The coursework (about 10-15 pages) will be presented by selected group of students (max.

3 people in one group). Each group will present a report on the:

I)

specific topic (from the list below), explained from theoretical perspective and in the

context of concrete experiences of foreign country or group of countries,

-

Methodology and measures of international competitiveness

-

Economic disparities: convergence and divergence of national and regional

economies

-

Globalization and international competitiveness

-

Endogenous factors of the competitiveness of the region/country

-

Institutions and economic systems. Government efficiency, quality of institutions

and mechanisms

-

National Innovation Systems. Innovation policy and performance.

-

Determinants of technological competitiveness

-

Processes of international technology transfer and diffusion of innovation

-

Institutional infrastructure supporting innovation performance

-

Networking and clusters of competitiveness

-

Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) and Transnational Corporations. The impact on

host and home economies’ competitiveness and innovativeness. Company

competitiveness

-

Human resources and knowledge

-

Accumulated wealth and infrastructure

or:

II) international competitive position of selected foreign country from one of the following

regions:

-

America like US, Mexico, Argentina,

-

The European Union (e.g. the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden),

-

non-EU European countries (e.g. Russia, Norway, Switzerland),

-

East Asia (e.g. Japan, India, Malaysia).

The coursework on international competitive position of selected foreign country should

include most or all of the following elements:

•

evaluation of selected country’s competitive performance from a comparative

perspective (analysis of the region’s prosperity measured by overall economic

performance, the level of GDP/GDP per capita, indicators concerning the level of

innovativeness and competitiveness, etc.)

•

analysis of determinants of selected country’s competitiveness

-

assets - the availability of resources (labor, capital, technology and innovation) and

their allocation (productivity)

-

institutions (contextual factors) - political and social factors, economic system (e.g.

level of economic freedom, quality of business environment, current economic

policy, etc)

•

presentation of country’s competitive position in external relations (regarding e.g.

trade flows and Foreign Direct Investments (FDI))

•

evaluation of foundations of future country’s competitiveness

-

innovative capacity, entrepreneurship - can the country gain advantage in the

future?

-

education, training and labor market efficiency - are inhabitants equipped to

prosper in the 21st century?

-

energy - how the region will fuel future growth?

Special emphasis should be put on innovation system and performance of the selected country

since innovativeness is regarded as the key driver of competitiveness in global knowledge-

based economy (KBE).

Each topic will be prepared by selected group of students (max. 3 people in one group).

The groups should be selected before 3

rd

lecture (4.03.2009) – it is the deadline for submitting

the names of members of the group with the topic selected by the group.

The report should be submitted before the date of the lecture, together with the presentation

(preferably in Power Point), which will be presented during the lecture by the group of

students.

The Coursework will be assessed. The grade for the coursework counts for 20% of the overall

grade for this course.