Regional Competitiveness Indicators: A reassessment of method

This paper takes a fresh look at the important issue of regional competitiveness in the light of the recent publication of indicators of competitiveness by the DTI (1998). We set our analysis within the theoretical framework provided by Porter (1990) and our intention is to improve on these “official” indicators and also upon those of Gudgin (1996). Using a series of proxy variables which measure success in the areas deemed essential by the theory, we present evidence that the relative ranking of regions should be re-examined and provide a method which will allow policy makers to focus more directly on the specific areas that maximise regional performance.