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GLOBAL BUSINESS

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A Pittsburgh company develops a simple technology to ensure that no surgical sponges get left behind

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The Naples Emergency Responders are tasked with protecting the city from the omnipresent volcanic activity of Mount Vesuvius.

Photographs by Emiliano Mancuso / Grazia Neri

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A Scottsdale, Arizona company finds a market for its "Smart Sponges", chemically-engineered filters that effectively — and cheaply — purify storm-water runoff

COUNTRY NAVIGATOR

  • United States
  • Capital: Washington D.C.
  • GCI Rank: 1 What's This?

Developed for the World Economic Forum by Professor Xavier Sala-i-Martin, the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) measures the competitiveness of nations using economic statistics and extensive polling of international business leaders.

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DOING BUSINESS IN UNITED STATES

Problematic Factors

  • Access to financing
  • Restrictive labor regulations
  • Foreign currency regulations
  • Inadequate supply of infrastructure
  • Inefficient government bureaucracy
  • Inadequately educated workforce
  • Poor work ethic in national labor force
  • Policy instability
  • Government instability/coups
  • Crime and theft
  • Corruption
  • Tax regulations
  • Tax rates
  • Inflation
  • 0 10 20 30
  • Percent of responses
United States

How is this data measured?

Note: From a list of 14 factors, respondents were asked to select the five most problematic factors for doing business in their country/economy and to rank them between 1(most problematic) and 5. The bars in the figure show the responses weighted according to their ranking.

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