Evaluation of the competitiveness and the business environment of Russia.

Abstract

This dissertation refers to the competitiveness and the business environment in Russia and in the Black Sea region. In order to evaluate these two entities, two widespread indexes are used: the Global Competitiveness Index, established by the World Economic Forum, and the Ease of Doing Business index, developed by the World Bank. The main deduction which comes from this work is that despite the undoubted progress that has been made in the region during the last years, enough distance remains to be covered by the states of this area so as to get closer to the standards of the more sophisticated economies of Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific. Especially Russia needs to focus carefully on the most problematic facets of her economic environment and try to obtain a functional and effective institutional framework, as well as simplify the economic processes, thus lowering their cost and their duration.