For a corporation wanting to break into an overseas market where trade policies are open and the legal system is relatively transparent, Canada is the top destination this past year among the world’s 60 largest economies.
But when it comes to advancing research and development, businesses would be wise to stay out of the country for now, according to the Grant Thornton Global Dynamism Index (GDI) released Monday (September 21).
The GDI measures growth potential in countries among different categories, such as business-operating environments, technology, labour markets, market growth and financing environments.
Canada fell four spots this year to the No. 9 position out of the 60 largest economies measured when each of the categories are combined.
Its highest-place finish was No. 1 when it comes to its business-operating environment, which measures how open a nation is to foreign companies.
“Those economies at the top, such as Canada, Sweden and the Netherlands are stable, open democracies,” the report said.
“Mainland China’s relatively low score (No. 48) highlights the cultural and regional complexities of working…in the world’s second largest economy.”
Canada fared most poorly when measuring growth potential this past year in the realm of technology.
Its 20th-place finish fell behind that of mainland China (No. 16), Taiwan (No. 10) and Israel (No. 1).
"In today's business environment, you have to do more than just cut costs to stay competitive. Our businesses need to increase their R&D investments. We lag behind our neighbours to the south in this regard," Jean-Daniel Brisson, lead senior manager in Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton Strategy and Performance Consulting Group, said in the report.
The lowest-ranked countries in the tech category were Chile (No. 58), Argentina (No. 59) and Ukraine (No. 60).
