The case study capability utilizes a new dynamic and intuitive web interface to enhance the customer experience. The announcement of the introduction of case study capability on http://www.global-arena.com extends the company’s business location ranking methodology that was initially developed at the University of Ghent. The new case study capability enhanced economic data and leverages a new ability to broaden the way locations to compare are selected.

1. Global-Arena.com Introduced Case Study Capability on its Website with an
In-depth Analysis of Business Location Alternatives
The case study capability utilizes a new dynamic and intuitive web interface to enhance the
customer experience. The announcement of the introduction of case study capability on
www.global-arena.com extends the company’s business location ranking methodology that was
initially developed at the University of Ghent. The new case study capability enhanced
economic data and leverages a new ability to broaden the way locations to compare are
selected.
(PRWEB) August 29, 2011 -- Enhanced functionality and dynamic interaction is now available on www.global-
arena.com to assist organizations in making decisions about where to locate a business facility. Global Arena,
based in Zurich (Switzerland), makes it easy for its users to evaluate and compare business locations by
providing all relevant information in one place.
All business, large or small, crosses geographic boundaries. No matter how many emails, tweets, and
conference calls are written, read or heard, it will always be necessary to have a physical business location in
various parts of the world. In fact, reviewing location decisions is a continuous activity. Evaluation of business
location alternatives obviously occurs when a company thinks about expansion. In addition, M&A activity
causes reexamination of the combined location portfolio, cost structure changes result in movement of factories
or shared service facilities. National or local taxation changes impact existing or planned offices. Business
enters new markets or different parts of the world. In short: evaluation of location options is an on-going
process.
Except for the occasional political issue, organizations generally want to use fact-based, objective criteria to
make a location decision. This is not easy. At a high level, Information needed to rank candidate locations
might include: local labor costs, labor productivity, employment costs (e.g mandated social contributions),
corporate income tax rates, employee availability, educational resources, workforce flexibility, political stability
and Infrastructure quality. There is no single source for this data. Moreover, even when a source is located, it is
always necessary to validate accuracy and consistency. Finally, once the data has been collected, there is no
straightforward way of objectively ranking locations across multiple dimensions.
A multivariate statistical model was developed at the University of Ghent to help businesses make objective
business location decisions. It relies on 3rd party data series and statistical correlation and analysis to create a
comparative analysis of business locations. At the recent Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) that took place in
the United Arab Emirates, this model (now owned by Global Arena AG of Zurich) was used to analyze the
comparative advantages of a mix of developed and emerging economies.
Global Arena’s newly announced enhancements have extended the model with several additional data sources
that are utilized to compare and contrast a varied set of potential locations. The results of this new case study
capability can be experienced on the Business environment analysis "Human capital driving high growth
countries".
Business Location Decisions
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2. The Business Environment analysis “Human Capital driving High Growth Countries”, carried out by Global-
Arena.com with the sponsorship of PwC and CLS Communication, compared the following countries as
business locations: Azerbaijan, Germany, Georgia, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Malaysia, Poland, Qatar,
Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates,
United Kingdom.
The locations were compared against 11 location factors: Labor market cost Labor productivity Education
Labor Availability Labor Market Flexibility Socio-political stability Environmental performance Corporate tax
rate Business risk
Business hub DNA Ease of doing business
The model allows the user to determine the relative importance of the location factors. In the simplest case, all
factors are weighted equally.
A country scoring 50% (in this case South Africa) finishes in the middle of the locations being compared. The
analysis shows a clear advantage for the developed economies in general. However, the model is flexible, it can
be used to see if the results are robust – i.e. do same countries continue to perform well when the relative
importance of the evaluation factors are changed. Several such scenarios are depicted below.
* The Knowledge-based Economies
One alternative was based on PwC’s 14th Annual Global CEO survey “Growth re-imagined”). It indicates that
as global companies transition to a knowledge-based economy, they place increased emphasis in the areas of
talent and innovation. Moreover, this transition is already underway. The model was used to focus attention on
a location’s performance in talent and innovation by increasing the relative importance of factors most related
to talent: Talent Supply, Labor Productivity and Labor Availability while simultaneously deemphasizing all
other factors.
The results show a stunning improvement for South Korea. In fact, under these conditions, South Korea
becomes the highest ranked location. There were also substantial improvements made by Poland, Turkey and
Romania. These locations rated well because they have a combination of low labor cost, reasonable
productivity and a focus on tertiary education.
* The Governance factors
The items that are important factors in making a business location decision will vary depending on the
objective. A company that wants to build a call center will naturally focus on labor costs, labor availability and
education – which makes it easy to understand the attractiveness of India (and now China and The Philippines).
There will be a different set of priorities if the company wants to establish a regional headquarters site. During a
meeting that I had with the CEO of a very large technology company, I was told that “we will never locate
anything in France, it is impossible to get out”. The most important factors for his decision were labor market
flexibility, gateway capabilities and political stability. When those factors are emphasized, Singapore,
Switzerland and Hong Kong are very highly rated.
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3. What matters
Because the Global Arena ranking model is very flexible, visitors to the website have the ability to adjust the
relative importance of the economic factors that are used to compare locations. The newly announced case
study technology is intuitive and dynamic.
No company will decide on business investments solely on the basis of a statistical model. Not only do
potential locations go to extreme lengths to attract investment, there are often good reasons to override
objective analysis. For example, China is currently offering nice incentives to companies that agree to establish
factories in the interior; these incentives could outweigh the advantages of being in a business hub like
Shanghai or Beijing.
In spite of these considerations, the model can and should be used to objectively identify a short-list of
candidate locations.
The results of the model depend on the data fields that are used in the study. The raw data results must be
consistently defined and determined for each location, thus it is important to use a single 3rd party provider for
each data series. To cater for this requirement, Global Arena uses data from organizations like the World Bank,
the World Economic Forum, the United Nations, PwC and others.
For details, please explore the Business Environment Analysis: Human Capital driving High Growth Countries.
About Global-Arena.com
Global Arena is based in Zurich, Switzerland. The company makes it easy for its users to evaluate and compare
business locations by providing all relevant information in one place. The company helps people and
organizations identify growth opportunities and understand business environments in the global economy. The
Global-Arena.com platform is unique because it connects visitors directly with business locations that are
relevant for their business and shows all the capabilities the location has to offer. For further information, visit
us at http://www.global-arena.com/en/about-global-arena
For more information, visit us at http://www.global-arena.com
###
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4. Contact Information
Dan Martin
Global-Arena.com AG
http://www.global-arena.com
+41 44 503 9550
Online Web 2.0 Version
You can read the online version of this press release here.
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