InsightThe best industry thinking and M&M insight

Feature

National competitiveness

The barometer of success is the Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index. 2009s Index sheds light on the changing balance of global power.

 Globalisation has brought with it an acute awareness about who are the economic powers of the future. This trend has been accelerated by this years’ global fi nancial crisis. Economic powers are shi ing, and new markets mean new opportunities.

All eyes have been on the BRIC markets (Brazil, Russia, India and China), which are all battling to improve the internal issues, most notably governance and infrastructure, which have been barriers to their global standing in the past. On the 2009 Anholt-GfK Nation Brand Index (NBI), these markets sit clustered together in the mid to high twenties, and all have risen at least one place over the last year.

A look at the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) shows that Russia is losing its edge. Only Brazil, India and China (of the BRICs) will not see their levels of competitiveness damaged by recession. Placed in an international context, the only other nations whose prospects are not aff ected are Australia and Canada – helped by their persisting attractiveness as countries to live and work in.

Other than the US, which jumped from seventh position to fi rst, China and Egypt are the biggest risers on the NBI, both up six places. For China, the advance has been spurred on by improved scores in exports, people and tourism. To consolidate its place on the world stage, China needs to move on from its reputation for mass production, to delivering quality brands – as Japan and Germany did 60 years ago. The emergence of brands such as Haier and Lenovo is starting this trend. According to the GCI, China’s business environment is also improving in sophistication (up fi ve places to 38th), as is its capacity to innovate (up two to 26th). When so much of nation branding is about creating awareness of your country, China also does well on this front.

Egypt’s advance has been more under the radar, but its key strength is in the investment and immigration sector. Here it is up eight places on this year’s NBI. Being listed in Goldman Sach’s ‘Next 11’ has obviously had a positive eff ect on the market, but so too is its growing reputation as an outsourcing centre.Indeed, Egypt is being perceived as a threat in this respect to government offi cials in India. And if India’s growth trajectory is anything to go by, this could be a good move for Egypt as a nation brand.

Romania and Turkey are both up four places on the NBI, and Poland is up three. Two have recently joined the EU, the other is campaigning to, which has helped their awareness. Perhaps more signifi cant is that this move has brought about more stringent fi nancial policies and improvements in both governance and infrastructure, all of which boost reputation. On the NBI, it is their scores on these counts: people, governance and investment that have improved. Romania has also launched a tourism project this year to improve its perception.

The only other markets to rise more than two places on the NBI are at its bottom end: the United Arab Emirates is up four places, and Saudi Arabia is up three places. The governments of both are making concerted eff orts to drive foreign investment, as well as tourism.

Finally it is worth looking at two Asian players: South Korea and Malaysia. South Korea was determined to take a massive leap from its spot last year, although Simon Anholt warns that the art of nation branding can take upwards of 20 or 50 years to make a relative small diff erence. Its strategy is being led by a presidential council, set up to foster stronger relationships with the private sector – gaining from the strength of international brands such as Hyundai, LG and Samsung. Meanwhile Malaysia has been investing signifi cantly in tourism, through its ‘Truly Asia’ campaign and has seen its scores in the tourism, culture and people sectors rise noticeably. However, whilst success will only come if all areas of Anholt’s hexagon are covered off , improvements in one area will often be catalysts for advances in others. In 2009 national brand strategies have become even more important due to the shifting global balances of power.

For more information on the full Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index 2009 go to: www.nationbrandsindex.com

Poland            30/27