“Having analyzed a national environment in terms of its performance, strategy, and context, country analysis turns next to relating these data to one another.” – Professor John Rosenblum
Country analysis is indeed quite relevant if not vital to the global economic environment that is morphing continually every day. In an analysis of a countries economic performance through history, a benchmark is set an available for compare to other countries. Measures produce differing marketability for nation states. Economic data, organized into a format that produces a prediction on the viability of the economy compared to the entirety of the market can be used for decision making purposes in myriad scenarios. For example, a firm deciding to relocate a headquarters to another country to take advantage of better corporate tax rates and/or to evade taxation domestically. This also applies to the availability of cheaper capital such as lower labor rates.
Any form of foreign direct investment must consider an incredible amount of data to hedge risk. While the data is vast and a great deal of variance is involved, the data can be used to play out different investment scenarios. Economic instability can have incredibly detrimental effect on attracting foreign capital. Modern examples abound that show the intricate ripple effect as market turmoil in one country seethes to the market as a whole:
2010: Greek national debt being downgraded to junk status sent global markets downward
2014: Russia annexed a portion of Ukraine, the spot light was put on the profoundly negative effect a regional dispute can have on the worldwide economy
While country analysis is most useful in the prediction of short term trends, it produces benefits across medium and long term time horizons. The incremental output on invested capital considers historical ROI. This can show the direction of a country’s GDP ratio and help explain where a country is applying resources. Data could then be used to decide balance of