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Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The authors of the 2009 World Competitiveness Report are the first to say it: “Recessions do not respect calendar years!” Economies remained strong for the first half of 2008, then began their tailspins. As a result, the US remains number one in the annual survey published by IMD business school in Lausanne, there were few changes in the top 10. Singapore moved from second into third place, swapping positions with Hong Kong, and Switzerland remained in fourth place.

Austria, Luxembourg, Ireland and China, among the next 10, all slipped.

This year IMD added a new measuring tool to the package, producing for the first time a “Stress test on competitiveness” where the rankings show some surprising shifts.

Britain and France fare relatively poorly, the United States not much better but Denmark, which in the regular competitiveness report fell from fifth to twelfth place, sails into first place. Switzerland is in a comfortable sixth place in this latest indicator of countries’ economic health and all the Nordic countries appear in the top 10.

The “Stress test on competitiveness” published 20 May along with the World Competitiveness Report ranks countries in “an analysis of which countries are better equipped to fare through the financial crisis and improve their competitiveness in the near future. In other words, the test is future oriented – it focuses on exposure, readiness and resilience in a period of world recession.”

Denmark does well because of its long-term stability and the government’s and business world’s resilience. In general, small northern countries do well while larger, export-oriented countries fare less well. France, Italy, Spain and the UK all suffer from having large infrastructures that are relatively rigid.

The new stress tests differs from IMD’s popular annual World Competitiveness Report in several ways, the school notes. “The scope and the time frame are not the same. The ‘Stress test’ is just a test and uses a selection of 20 criteria, very much forecast and future-oriented. The World Competitiveness ranking is based on 329 criteria, two-thirds of which are hard data and one-third opinion survey. It also takes into account the established history of competitiveness of nations accumulated over the years (for example in infrastructure and technology).”