Document Type

Closed Project

Publication Date

Winter 2010

Instructor

Dundar Kocaoglu

Course Title

Decision Making in Engineering & Technology Management

Course Number

ETM 530/630

Subjects

International competition -- Public opinion -- Foreign students, Hierarchical Decision Model, Competition -- Assessment, Decision making

Abstract

This research is going to use Hierarchical Decision Model (HDM) to form a basic model that will optimize measures of some criteria to maximize a country‟s competitiveness. A generic country is chosen for this study because it is at the exploratory stage and it is the authors‟ view that a more broad-based perspective is necessary for a wider exploration. Gathering hard is generally very difficult and therefore using a more general approach could ease the hardship. This study seeks to answer two questions: What are the current drivers (criteria) of competitiveness? Which sub-criteria should a government give more priority to in order to meet the objective?

This assessment model did not use experts, but it must be noted that the participants were all professionals in their own rights, who have worked as professionals for years until very recently when they opted to further their respective studies in the U.S.A. This does not substitute the requirement for experts as demanded by the HDM, however. The participants‟ judgments would seem to concur with the model proposed by Schawb and Porter about the factor-driven model of innovation and one is tempted to ask if there were biases in the participants‟ responses since they were all deliberately selected from a known group of African students studying in the U.S.A. Such questions can only be properly answered by further probing. To explore the situation, more data gathering, analysis, and academic research is required.

The highest three sub-criteria are Domestic Economy, Institutional Framework and Employment. The lowest are all from the Business Efficiency criteria, which ranks last, and they are Attitude and Values, Labor Market, and Technology and Scientific Infrastructure. The Business Efficiency is supposed to provide for business freedom and a national market that encourages firm‟s profitability. The Business sub-criteria are a building foundation for a nation‟s ability to take part in global trade.

Rights

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Comments

This project is only available to students, staff, and faculty of Portland State University

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/23058

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