How the Analysis Works

How do you measure which country is more competitive?

Every country is evaluated on the same set of factors and scored against the same global benchmark — so you always see exactly where your country stands relative to the rest.

Each monthly report measures a country across 15 factors that drive manufacturing competitiveness — covering everything from labor and energy costs to trade access and feedstock margins. Every factor is evaluated across all 33 countries and converted to a 0–100 scale, where 50 represents the global average.

A score above 50 means the country performs better than average on that factor. Below 50, worse than average. This normalization is what makes it possible to compare very different dimensions — energy costs and logistics infrastructure, for instance — on the same scale.

Each factor also produces a rank from 1 to 33, where Rank 1 is the most competitive. For practical interpretation, think in thirds: upper third (Rank 1–11), mid-tier (12–22), lower third (23–33).

Will I see how my country compares to the rest?

Yes — comparison against all 33 countries is built into every subscription, regardless of how many countries you subscribe to. Your country is scored and ranked against the entire group on every factor, every month.

For each factor, you'll see:

• Your country's score on the 0–100 scale
• Your country's rank among the 33 countries
• How that score compares to the global average (the 50 mark) and to percentile bands showing the top and bottom of the distribution

The comparison is always there — it's the foundation of every report. Even with a single-country subscription, you're never looking at a country in isolation.

What do the general and industry-specific parts each cover?

The report is built in two layers: one captures the country's overall operating environment, the other evaluates conditions specific to each industrial sector.

The general part — Foundation Layer (9 factors):

These factors describe the structural cost environment that affects any manufacturing operation in the country, regardless of industry:

• Manufacturing Labor Costs — what it costs to staff and run a plant, and how productive the workforce is relative to other countries
• Construction Labor Costs — what it costs to build a plant, adjusted for workforce productivity
• Capital & Construction Costs — how expensive it is to build an industrial plant in the country compared to the rest of the group
• Energy & Utilities Costs — based on a composite Average Energy Price weighted by the country's consumption patterns. Individual utility prices (steam, compressed air, process water, and similar industrial inputs) are provided separately through the Utilities Costs tool on Advanced and Ultimate plans
• Logistics & Infrastructure — the country's supply-chain infrastructure — port capacity, road and rail networks, distribution systems (electricity, water, gas) — and the cost of moving goods domestically
• Freight Costs — the cost of shipping to and from the country, including both international maritime freight and inland transport
• Macroeconomic Environment — currency stability, inflation, and business climate
• Domestic Tax Environment — the effective tax burden on manufacturing
• Domestic Market Potential — how large and accessible the local market is

The industry-specific part — Industry Layer (6 factors × 7 sectors):

These factors are evaluated separately for each of the seven industrial sectors. They capture what's unique about doing business in a specific industry within that country:

• Commodity Prices — the market price of the primary products that the industry produces (for example, polyethylene and polypropylene prices in the Polymers sector — not the cost of the input feedstock, and not the price of the final consumer good)
• Feedstock-to-Product Margins — the spread between input costs and primary output prices
• Industrial Production — how much the country already produces in that industry
• Global Trade Integration — how connected the country is to global markets for that sector
• Tariff Protection & Market Access — trade barriers and preferential agreements affecting that industry
• Domestic Market Size — how large the local demand is for that industry's output

The Foundation Layer is the same for every sector — it's about the country. The Industry Layer changes depending on which of the seven sectors you're looking at.

Does the ranking change depending on my industry?

Yes — and this is one of the most important things to understand about the analysis. The report produces two distinct types of ranking:

• The Overall Competitiveness ranking is a single, fixed position for each country — it averages across all seven industries and does not change depending on which sector you're looking at.
• The Industry ranking is calculated separately for each of the seven sectors. This is where the sector-specific picture emerges, and where the same country can land in very different positions depending on the industry.

Why do Industry rankings vary? Nine of the fifteen factors (the Foundation Layer) are shared across all industries — labor costs, energy, logistics, and so on. That part stays constant. But the six industry-specific factors — output prices, margins, production volumes, trade flows, and market size — are evaluated per sector, and they can shift the Industry ranking substantially from one sector to another.

Can a country be strong in one industry but weak in another?

Absolutely. This is common — and it's exactly why the analysis evaluates each industry separately, producing a distinct Industry ranking for each of the seven sectors.

The general operating environment (labor, energy, logistics, tax) is shared across all industries — that part of the picture stays the same. But the industry-specific factors can diverge substantially:

• A country with cheap natural gas may have excellent feedstock margins for petrochemicals but no particular advantage in metals production.
• A country with a large domestic market for fertilizers may be small for polymers.
• A country well-integrated into global trade for aromatics may face high tariff barriers in another sector.

These differences are what make the industry lens valuable. The report doesn't just tell you whether a country is competitive in general — it shows you whether it's competitive for your specific sector.

What industry-specific factors does the report look at?

Six factors are evaluated for each of the seven industrial sectors. Together, they capture the economics of operating in a specific industry within a given country:

• Commodity Prices — the market price of the primary products that the industry produces. In the Polymers sector, for instance, this means polyethylene and polypropylene prices — not the cost of the input feedstock (ethylene), and not the price of the final consumer product (packaging). Higher output prices in a country can signal stronger local market conditions for producers.
• Feedstock-to-Product Margins — the spread between what it costs to buy inputs and what the primary outputs sell for. This reflects the operating margin environment for that sector.
• Industrial Production — how much the country already produces in that industry. Higher volumes typically indicate established infrastructure, supply chains, and workforce.
• Global Trade Integration — how actively the country participates in international trade for that sector's products. High integration means strong export channels and supply chain connectivity.
• Tariff Protection & Market Access — trade barriers and preferential agreements that affect imports and exports for that industry. This influences both competition and access to foreign markets.
• Domestic Market Size — how large the local demand is for that industry's output. A bigger domestic market means more opportunity to sell locally and less dependence on exports.

These six factors are evaluated separately for each sector — Olefins & Derivatives, Aromatics & Derivatives, Alcohols & Organic Acids, Polymers, Fertilizers, Inorganic Chemicals, and Metals — so the same country can show very different profiles across industries.

Is there one number that summarizes a country's position?

Yes — the report produces an Overall Competitiveness Score that consolidates all 15 factors into a single 0–100 value with a corresponding rank (1–33).

Here's how it's built:

• The 9 general factors (the Foundation Layer) are averaged into a single Foundation Score — this is the same regardless of which industry you look at.
• The 6 industry-specific factors are averaged into an Industry Composite — one for each of the 7 sectors. So a country has 7 different Industry Composites.
• For each sector, the Foundation Score and the Industry Composite combine at equal weight into an Industry Score — this tells you how competitive the country is specifically for that sector.
• The Overall Competitiveness Score combines the Foundation Score with the average of all 7 Industry Composites, giving you the broadest single measure of the country's manufacturing attractiveness.

In practice, the Overall Score is useful as a starting point — but the real insight comes from looking at individual factors and the industry-specific breakdown, where you can see exactly what's driving the number.

Will I see which countries rank above or below mine?

No — and this is by design. Peer countries are never identified by name in any report. You'll always see your country's exact rank position (e.g., Rank 7 out of 33), but the report does not disclose which specific countries hold the other 32 positions.

What you see instead of named peers:

• Global average — represented as score 50 on the 0–100 scale
• Percentile bands — the top 10% tier, the median, and the bottom 10% tier, so you can see where your country falls in the distribution
• Rank position — your exact rank among the 33 countries, for every factor

This approach — called anonymized benchmarking — protects the confidentiality of the analysis across the subscriber base while still giving you a precise picture of where your country stands.

How current is the data in each report?

Reports are published monthly, at the beginning of each month. How current the data is depends on which part of the report you're looking at:

Pillar scores and rankings reflect data from approximately four months before the publication date. A report published in early August presents pillar scores based on data through March. This gap ensures that all 33 countries have reported their final economic, trade, and industrial statistics before the analysis is run — without it, some countries would be based on preliminary estimates, making cross-country comparisons unreliable.

Tools data (Plant Construction Cost Index, Plant Location Factors, Labor Costs & Productivity, Utilities Costs) has no such gap. Tools reflect the most recent available period — a report published in August includes tool data consolidated through July.

Can I track how a country's position changes over time?

Yes. Every report includes month-over-month and year-over-year change tracking for both scores and ranks. You can see at a glance whether a country's position on any factor is improving, deteriorating, or stable — and how much it has shifted compared to the same month last year.

How far back you can look depends on your plan:

• Starter — 1-year monthly history
• Pro — adds 3-year quarterly history
• Advanced and Ultimate — adds 10-year annual history, plus full 10-year monthly data through the Excel Add-In, Power BI, and the API

This combination of monthly updates and historical depth lets you distinguish between short-term fluctuations and structural trends — which matters when you're making decisions with long time horizons.