Competitiveness of EU Member States According to the Index Institute of Management Development

Purpose: The purpose of the research undertaken is to assess the degree of competitiveness of EU member states, taking into account the data published in the form of the IMD ranking, which measures the ability of EU economies to adapt digital technologies and the readiness to seek new applications of digital technologies as a key factor of economic transformation in industry, the public sector and wider social relations. Design/Methodology/Approach: In order to assess the degree of competitiveness of EU member states, the research used data published in the form of the IMD ranking, which measures the ability of EU economies to adopt digital technologies, a comprehensive research approach was used. The first step was to conduct a review of the scientific literature. This was followed by collecting secondary data from a variety of source data. To assess the competitiveness of EU member states in terms of the ability of their economies to adapt digital technologies, the coefficient of determination (R²), a measure to assess the fit of the regression function to empirical data, was used. Findings: the analyses conducted indicate that the competitive position of EU member states as determined by the IMD report is correlated with the ranking of countries determined by the GDP per capita index. Analysis of the dynamics of changes in the IMD index and GDP per capita for EU member states confirmed that with the increase in GDP per capita there was an increase in the IMD index reporting the progress of digitization and innovation in the economy. Practical implications: the article identifies the importance of the development of countries' economies as measured by the GDP indicator in the implementation of IT solutions resulting in the progress of digitization and innovation in the development of the economies of the studied countries. In addition, the article highlights the growing role of digitization in terms of sustainable development of EU countries. Originality: The article presents the benefits of using the Institute of Management Development index in shaping the competitive advantage of EU member states.