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Introduction
After the EU enlargement, the high level of competitiveness is becoming more important for Slovenian economy. If we take some Commission's studies we can see a benchmarking between the EU countries by indicators that show the stage of social-economic development. We want to know how good we are compared to other economies within the EU. Competitiveness is a concept, which tries to explain why some countries develop faster than others. By observing other economies, we can learn how to improve the development base at home. Since, Slovenia's integration into the EU, benchmarking is strongly implemented in the Slovenian economy. Today, it is more common to compare Slovenian economy with economies of some other EU countries, which allows us to find the most important development steps.
In the paper, I will evaluate the Slovenian competitiveness by quantitative and by qualitative methods. The main hypothesis is that the quantitative methods give us a better picture of competitiveness' position. From the view of qualitative competitiveness, Slovenia lags more behind the advanced EU countries. Infrastructure is such a case. From the quantitative view, Slovenia is in a better position. Density of the networks (roads, railroads) ranks these countries higher than qualitative indicators. Questionnaire indicators, such as "Are maintenance and development of infrastructure adequately planned and financed?" or "Is the distribution infrastructure of goods and services generally efficient?" rank Slovenia lower. Therefore, the management competitiveness' evaluation gave as a more modern view. The second hypothesis is that a quality of business environment is becoming more important in the studies of competitiveness. Questionnaire indicators allow us to evaluate the business environment better than with statistical indicators. Statistical indicators are very useful for macroeconomic assessment. The third hypothesis is that Slovenia needs to attract more foreign investors in the near future. Without these, it will be more difficult to reach the higher development stage.
A lot of economists tried to explain why some counties are richer than others. From the time of Adam Smith and David Ricarrdo, the theory changed many times. Studies on determinants of international competitiveness are mostly predicated on theories of international trade, which focus on the comparative cost of production, natural resources, and technologies. Since, each nation has different comparative advantages, scholars have not succeeded in finding...