Economic and Technological Aspects of the European Competitiveness: A Multicriteria Approach

Competitiveness constitutes a primary goal of each country for the accomplishment of its economic and technological targets. The evaluation of competitiveness is considered as a major problem that has risen during the last years due to the globalization and the rapid changes in the socio-economic and technological environment. Therefore, it is interesting to investigate the economic and technological aspects of the competitiveness of the European countries. The present study uses a sample of 14 countries-members of the European Union, as well as United States and Japan for comparison reasons. Taking into consideration several technological and economic indicators and using data from a recent study of the European Committee, this paper presents the evaluation of the competitiveness of the countries using a multicriteria ranking methodology (the PROMETHEE II method). The results of this paper contribute to the determination of the most and least competitive as well as technologically developed countries.