QUALITY COMPETITIVENESS OF LATVIA AND STRATEGY TO IMPROVE IT

Abstract

Issues of competitiveness always have been important for countries and companies. Countries are looking for the ways to improve business environment so the companies within the country could develop and became more competitive which is very important issue especially in economical slowdown. And companies for their part search for different tools which will give them competitive advantage in internal and external markets.
Quality assurance and management has been very important issue for entrepreneurs since Japan showed to the entire world the power of quality and its place in competitiveness.
Today there are many competitiveness evaluations available with different methodology applied, for instance, World Economic Forum (WEF) every year is presenting Michael Porter’s Global competitiveness report and Lisbon review as well, European Commission publishes European Competitiveness Report, Observatory of European SMEs, EU industrial structure, EU productivity and competitiveness, EU sectoral competitiveness indicators and other informative and exploration reports.
These reports contain very much information about components of competitiveness and their importance. It is also a very good ground for further detailed research of the authors on the particular topic.
Authors in this paper will analyze overall competitiveness of world’s countries and Latvia by using different competitiveness reports. This will show principal comparison of main competitiveness indicators and will highlight main areas where improvements are needed.
As well as competitiveness comparison, authors in this paper will make quality competitiveness calculations and comparison of the Baltic States using method developed by Karl Aiginger. This method uses unit value of exports as the first main indicator on quality and that will help to make conclusions about quality of goods made in Latvia and also compare Latvia to other Baltic countries. Authors will also analyze different quality assurance and management issues in Latvia and make suggestions on necessary changes in Latvia’s competitiveness strategy.
Main methods used in this research include study of scientific literature, legislation, data mining and analyzing of already collected data.
The main results will contain analysis of current situation and recognition of main problems in field of business environment and quality competition. Based on analysis and results authors will prepare recommendations for business environment improvements and necessary competitiveness strategy, specifically to improve quality competition.