Transcript Competitive Advantages: Should the Country be Doing What it is

Competitive advantages of
Kazakhstan: are there any?
What is a competitive advantage?
• Competitive advantage refers to the condition,
which enables a party (an individual, a firm, or a
country) to operate in a more efficient or
otherwise higher-quality manner than the parties
it competes with, and which results in benefits
accruing to that party. Such conditions can be:
 production factors (land, mineral resources, labor);
 technology.
It means that the party should be
doing what it is best at or it could
become the best at 
Proven reserves, bbl
World
1.332.000.000.000
•
Saudi Arabia
266.800.000.000
•
Canada
178.600.000.000
•
Iran
138.400.000.000
•
Iraq
115.000.000.000
•
Kuwait
104.000.000.000
•
UAE
97.800.000.000
•
Venezuela
87.040.000.000
•
Russia
79.000.000.000
•
Libya
41.460.000.000
•
Nigeria
36.220.000.000
•
Kazakhstan
30.000.000.000
•
United States
20.970.000.000
•
China
16.000.000.000
•
Qatar
15.210.000.000
Daily Production, bbl
World
85.540.000
•
Russia
9.980.000
•
Saudi Arabia
9.200.000
•
United States
8.457.000
•
Iran
4.700.000
•
China
3.725.000
•
Mexico
3.501.000
•
Canada
3.425.000
•
UAE
2.948.000
•
European Union
2.676.000
•
Venezuela
2.667.000
•
Kuwait
2.613.000
•
Norway
2.565.000
•
Iraq
2.420.000
•
Nigeria
2.352.000
•
Brazil
2.277.000
•
Algeria
2.173.000
•
Angola
1.910.000
•
Libya
1.845.000
•
United Kingdom
1.690.000
•
Kazakhstan
1.445.000
In early 1990-ies, Kazakhstan’s government promised to turn
Kazakhstan into “the second Kuwait”.
Do you think Kazakhstan has achieved this goal? If it didn’t, can it really
become the second Kuwait given its oil reserves, or does it need to?
Kuwait
Area: 17,818 sq km
Population: 2,8 mln. (2/3 of expats)
GDP (US$ billions) 158.1
GDP per capita (US$) 45,920.3
Exports:
oil and refined products (92%), fertilizers
Source: CIA Factbook
Kazakhstan
Area: 2,724,900 sq km
Population: 15.5 mln.
GDP (US$ billions): 132.2
GDP per capita (US$): 8,502.1
Exports:
oil and oil products 59%
ferrous metals 19%,
chemicals 5%,
machinery 3%,
grain, wool, meat, coal
Ways to Enhance the Country’s
Competitiveness:
• Areas of potential advantage;
• Applicable technologies
Can tourism be an area of competitive advantage of
Kazakhstan? What does the country have to offer to
tourists and what needs to be done in this respect?
A slide from Michael E. Porter’s Presentation Kazakhstan’s Competitiveness:
Roadmap Towards a Diversified Economy
How can education contribute to raising
Kazakhstan’s competitive advantages?
12 pillars of competitiveness
(Kazakhstan’s GCI ranking in
parentheses)
•Institutions (86)
•Infrastructure (75)
•Macroeconomic stability (59)
•Health and primary education (80)
•Higher education and training (59)
•Goods market efficiency (84)
•Labor market efficiency (18)
•Financial market sophistication (111) (ease of access to loans, venture capital
availability, strength of investor protection, soundness of banks, regulation of
securities exchanges)
•Market size (69)
•Technological readiness (55)
•Business sophistication (88)
•Innovation (64)
As seen from the above, the worst indicator is the financial market
sophistication. In your opinion, what can be done to enhance it?
Potential Threats to the Country’s
Competitiveness:
– Internal risks
– External risks
Would the country’s accession to the World
Trade Organization contribute to its higher
competitiveness and, if so, why?
Competitive Advantage vs.
Diversification
The concept of competitive advantage suggests
that a country should be doing what it is best at
(given the country’s existing capabilities,
technological
development
and
resource
endowments) and leave other sectors to other
countries.
Diversification means extending the range of
goods or services to compensate for growing
competitive pressures in traditional markets and
avoid over-dependence on natural resources.
Do you think those two concepts contradict or
complement each other?
The Only Kazakhstani Brand on
Wikipedia 
Snow Queen Vodka