Competitiveness Research Centre

The mission of the Centre is to be an internationally recognised centre of scientific research on microeconomic competitiveness, especially the competitiveness of the Hungarian business sector.

Since 1995, the Institute of Business Economics of Corvinus University of Budapest has been conducting research on the competitiveness of Hungarian firms within the framework of the programme Competing with the World – Micro-foundations of the International Competitiveness of the Hungarian Economy. We prepared for the programme by reviewing international competitiveness research, including Michael Porter’s 1990 seminal book (Competitive Advantage of Nations) and the results of research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The start of the programme was signalled by a partnership with the US Competitiveness Council. In addition to the Institute’s own staff, faculty members from the Institute of Marketing and Media and the Institute of Management have been actively involved in the research from the outset. The Competitiveness Research Centre has been organising and coordinating the research programmes since 1999. A key element of our empirical research is the questionnaire survey, which is carried out regularly (every 3-5 years). We contact hundreds of companies. In 2019, the Centre became a member of the Harvard Business School’s Microeconomics of Competitiveness (MOC) network.

The research agenda for our 2024-2027 programme is based on digitalisation and sustainability as they are key drivers of future’s competitiveness. In addition to these factors, local-regional challenges (e.g., workforce, productivity) and several global trends (e.g., (de)globalisation, supply chain resilience) will be analysed.

Attila Chikán, director

Erzsébet Czakó, co-director

Dávid Losonci, research director