Imagine a running event. There are many different types of running events; any of them could serve as an example.

Let’s take the 400 metres hurdles. 

In Wikipedia, we read: 

“On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once around the stadium. Runners stay in their lanes the entire way after starting out of the blocks and must clear ten hurdles that are evenly spaced around the track. The hurdles are positioned and weighted so that they fall forward if bumped into with sufficient force, to prevent injury to the runners. Although there is no longer any penalty for knocking hurdles over, runners prefer to clear them cleanly, as touching them during the race slows runners down.“

The tracks usually have eight lanes and the hurdles for this distance, I read, are 91,44 cm high.

All runners have the same 400 m to run, the same number of ten hurdles and each hurdle represents the same challenge to the runners. 

Olympic races are designed to offer the same scenario to each participant, to provide them with an equal chance of victory. It does not matter if the runner is in the first or the last lane; the trophy will only depend on their capacities.

Now imagine that not all runners have equal chances. 

In lane one, the hurdles will be 55 cm high, and 128 cm in lane two. In lane three 90 cm, for only 20 cm in lane four but 200 cm in lane five. The runner in lane six is a lucky guy: he will only have to jump three hurdles, each of 80 cm. Instead, the one in lane seven will see the 7 hurdles missing in lane six to his challenge and will have 17 hurdles of different heights to jump over. In lane eight, to end with this race, the barriers will be positioned in the opposite sense, so that if touched, they will not fall, the runner will. In some of the lanes, we’ll plant trees.

In this crazy scenario, the runners will not have equal opportunities. Their victory will not depend on their shape. In fact, it will have little to do with their physical qualities. Their success will depend on elements upon which they have no control.

The race for competitiveness is a hurdle race with uneven chances for the runners.

Let’s keep imagining. Let’s now say that instead of eight athletes running on each lane, 150 companies from 150 countries are running on 150 lanes. And the hurdles are not equal either. On some lanes, bureaucracy will be very high; on other paths, very low or even unexistent. Some companies will enjoy flexibility when hiring and dismissing employees, while others will enjoy better infrastructures. In some countries, firms will have a hard time to find financing or suffer very unstable administrations or currencies; in some cases, even war. 

This hypothetical situation is what happens, in reality, to companies all around the world. And in extension, to the economy of their countries, to the well-being of their people. The government of each country is responsible for fixing the conditions on which their firms will compete. Some governments do it very well, and other governments do it very wrongly. 

Governments construct infrastructure, define the education standards, increase or decrease the levels of bureaucracy, establish the fiscal laws, decide the introduction of new technologies, fix minimum wages, assure the well-functioning of their health system, and much more. It is hard to understand is why so many states make things especially complicated for their development. They build diabolic bureaucratic structures; they oblige firms to decapitalize themselves thru excessive tax levels; they contradict the logic of the market and interfere with disproportionate minimum wages; governments disregard the necessary infrastructures; dedicate resources to guarantee their continuity in power, not the continuity of the country and its people. They become a burden for their country.

Companies also have a share of responsibility. They are responsible for the preparation of their runners, count on well-trained staff, invest in suitable means and know in advance the conditions they will be running on. They need to join forces, to organize, to become stronger, to capitalize, to invest in R&D, to talk to the Power in firm terms to correct the wrong decision that this could make. Still, companies often do not do much of this.

There isn’t yet a clear idea of what Competitiveness means. No matter how hard we try, we cannot go against the laws of Nature. Countries or firms that think that they can row against the current and use their resources for goals that have nothing to do with a healthy competitive evolution of their populations and commercial objectives will not go far. 

I believe that we will see the world polarizing between more and more competitive countries and more and more uncompetitive countries. The second group will end up depending on the first, from all points of view.