COPHEN HAGEN: Transparency, good environment for investment and great market opportunity leads Denmark as the best country in the world for business, according to Forbes magazine here the other day.
The Forbes ranking returns Denmark to the top spot that it enjoyed for three straight years between 2008 and 2010.
“Denmark’s business climate is extremely positive. It scored highly across the board, finishing in the top 25 in each of the 11 categories we considered with top five showings for personal freedom, technology and low corruption,” Forbes wrote.
The magazine pointed to Denmark’s ‘flexisecurity’ model, which allows employers to easily hire and fire workers while also allowing for generous unemployment benefits and job training for those who are out of work.
“The model encourages economic efficiency where employees end up in the job they are best suited for. It allows employers to quickly change and reallocate resources in the workplace,” John Weis, an economist at Moody’s Analytics, told Forbes.
Forbes also highlighted Denmark’s fostering environment for entrepreneurs, where a streamlined process allows individuals to quickly get start-ups off the ground.
But despite Denmark’s top position in the report, Forbes writes that “Denmark’s economy has struggled in recent years”, pointing to the government’s decision just last week to cut its growth predictions for 2014 and 2015. The American business magazine blames much of the country’s problems on the struggles of the rest of the European Union.
“Denmark relies on the core of Europe for their export demand and they are struggling to fill that void right now,” Weis told Forbes.
The Forbes Best Countries for Business report ranked 146 countries on eleven factors: property rights, innovation, taxes, technology, corruption, freedom (personal, trade and monetary), red tape, investor protection and stock market performance.
Denmark’s Nordic neighbours Sweden, Norway and Finland were also among Forbes’ top ten countries for business.
