Introduction

• Author: Lloyd G. Waller/Densil A. Williams/Omar E. Hawthorne/Donavon Johnson
• Profession: Head of the Department of Government at The University of the West Indies, Mona. His research focuses on research methodologies; governance and public policy; and digital transformation/Professor of International Business at the UWI/Lecturer of International Relations and a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Leadership and Governance at ...
• Pages: 15-25

Doing business in most places around the world today is dependent on many

different variables. Traditionally, these variables have included ‘expected

relative rates of return, risk diversication, market size, technological

advantage, market failure, oligopolistic rivalry, liquidity, currency strength,

political instability, tax policy, and government regulations’ (Lizondo 1990, 1)

among other things. To determine these variables, businesses, governments,

and international organizations have generally relied on examining several

critical documents located in various parts of the world. In the post-industrial

world, however, doing business in most places around the world is becoming

more dependent on the World Bank’s annual Doing Business report (DBR).

The DBR quantitatively measures the factors that improve business activity,

is the ‘Ease of Doing Business Indicator’, which ranks the ease of doing

value) suggests better or less hectic regulations for businesses and rmer

ranking also means that the regulatory environment of a country is conducive

to business operation. The Doing Business index (DBI) scores and ranks a

country based on how its environment allows for foreign direct investment

(FDI) (Piwonski 2010). Simply stated, the DBI indicates which countries make it

easier for investors to set up and run their business(es).

The DBI emerged from a need to classify and measure the state of ‘doing

business’ in a particular country. The DBI uses a total of 11 measurable

dimensions which is applied across 189 (or 190 in some years) countries. The

dimensions include: starting a business, dealing with construction permits,

getting electricity, registering property, obtaining credit, protecting minority

investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and

(2012), Doing Business focuses on laws and regulations and uses data that are

based on actual requirements and practical observations.

Introduction