SUSTAINABILITY AS A COMPETITIVENESS FACTOR: A QUANTITATIVE CROSS-COUNTRY ANALYSIS

Abstract

That sustainability is an essential competitive advantage is a common dictum in politics and some areas of academic research. The past few decades have made more and more dispersed ‘hard’ and soft data available, indicating not only more details on the economic performance of countries, but also on their sustainability performance. This study aims to examine whether there is a relationship between sustainability performance and national competitiveness by analysing economic, environmental, and social indicators from four data sources, including economic and sustainability data from G-20 countries for the period 2010 to 2019, representing 73% of the global GDP in 2020. The research design is based on several stepwise regression analyses to explore the pooled data set. The data analysis concludes that the effects of sustainability on competitiveness are hardly confirmed or rejected, contrary to classic economic predictors.