Despite heightened awareness of and interest in "national competitiveness," the concept is defined differently by different people, and an integrated definition has yet to be reached. At present, country rankings determined through a vertical comparison are generally used to express national competitiveness, but the result is often flawed due to the fact that it is often not supported by the use of a rigorous comparison model and appropriate methodology.

The vulnerability of existing studies on national competitiveness is compounded by the publication of competitiveness ranking of countries by overseas institutions that are unequipped with theoretical knowledge in national competitiveness or pertinent research methodologies. Yet, policymakers and stakeholders react sensitively to these publications, and sometimes make policy decisions based on the flawed results accepting them as fact.

Recognizing these problems in the existing reports, the Institute for Industrial Policy Studies (IPS) and the Institute for Policy & Strategy on National Competitiveness (IPS-NaC) have jointly published the "IPS National Competitiveness Research" founded on a new evaluation model since 2001.

The research moves away from the advanced nations' point of view, which has been the norm in existing reports, and uses a research methodology that can be applied to all countries. As a result, the research provides more comprehensive and objective study results as well as the latest information on national competitiveness which is both practical and reliable.