Ireland Inc still near the top of the league

An Extract from an article in The Irish Times on August 14th

Ireland may not be the perfect place to do business, but it is better than 174 other countries, writes Karlin Lillington in The Irish Times.....

JUST AS so many people were getting their Schadenfreude (Malicious joy/gloating) thrill from the doom and gloom in the Irish economy, along comes the World Bank and International Finance Corporation to ruin the fun.

In their annual report, which measures how accommodating nations are for doing business and providing a supportive growth environment, Ireland came seventh out of 181 economies.

Singapore comes tops in the “ease of doing business” rankings, and we come in just after the UK and ahead of Canada. The top 10, in order, are: Singapore, New Zealand, the US, Hong Kong, Denmark, the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia and Norway.

We do even better when our ranking is calculated against the 27 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries: we come in fifth ................

We do seem to have a relatively solid foundation in areas that keep the State appealing as a business location. That won’t vanish overnight, as has been proven so far, despite some dire prognosticating as the recession began to bite.

Of real concern is that eternal negative streak that permeates the Irish business landscape, which is happiest when things go wrong and reacts to any positive report with disdain while trumpeting every negative one.

The World Bank report is an indication that we are doing quite well as a place for international companies to come and do business. What we need to address urgently is why this apparently accommodating business environment does not adequately nurture homegrown innovation, entrepreneurship and business growth.

Full article here http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2009/0814/1224252548367.html

Brendan Palmer MBA