Department
Barowsky School of Business
Document Type
Article
Source
Quarterly Review of Business Disciplines
Publication Date
8-2021
ISSN
2329-5163
Volume
8
Issue
2
First Page
115
Last Page
134
Abstract
Business competitiveness in the global marketplace is dependent upon the stability, infrastructure, policies, and practices of the nations with which it does business. A nation’s competitiveness is fundamentally interconnected with its businesses and while on the world stage, it is tied to its globalist and nationalist strategies. There are objective approaches to measuring various dimensions of national outcomes of competitiveness from economic, political, and social platforms. Many internationally recognized indices seek to offer standard-based, objective perspectives and associated data on what constitutes nation-state greatness. These indices are based upon a globalist perspective, acknowledging that a nation’s competitiveness is in relationship with other nations. The paper utilizes the constructs of business competitiveness in the context of several of these internationally accepted indices. This study operationalizes the USA’s global competitiveness from three dimensions: economic, political, and social, by analyzing indices recognized as valuable to assessing a nation’s outcomes. Further, it considers the international business competitiveness of the USA over four decades of the presidential administrations, from Carter to Obama, to advance the country’s international commerce and determine if there is alignment with the international standard measured by these indices. Also, each presidential business competitive policy and their concomitant outcomes, are analyzed based on the theoretical underpinnings of both nationalism and globalism and posit which posture best supports USA’s international competitiveness on the macro level. The paper concludes that both globalist and nationalist strategies in a globalized world have advanced the USA's international business competitiveness.