The Economic Competitiveness of Trinidad & Tobago

Is Trinidad & Tobago competitive? With the globalization of markets, the increased mobility of corporate assets, and the need for productive human resources, this question has become all the more complex to answer. This report was prepared to tackle this question by focussing on certain fundamentals: financial performance and labor productivity. In the former case, we are essentially interested in the degree to which firms operating in Trinidad & Tobago have fundamentally different financial structures and performance compared to firms located elsewhere. With respect to this view of competitiveness, if one were to invest or operate in Trinidad & Tobago, how would the firm’s asset structure likely vary compared to a firm operating in some other country in North America or average location in the world? In Trinidad & Tobago, do firms typically hold more cash and other short term assets, or do they concentrate their assets in physical plant and equipment? On the liability side, do firms operating in Trinidad & Tobago have a higher percent of payables compared to other firms operating in North America, or do they hold a higher concentration of long term debt? The structure of the income statement is also telling. Do firms operating in Trinidad & Tobago have relatively higher costs of goods sold, operating costs, or income taxes compared to firms located elsewhere in the region or the world in general? Are returns on equity higher in Trinidad & Tobago? Are profit margins greater? Are inventories held longer? Chapters 2, 3, 4 and 5 are designed to answer these and similar questions that naturally affect one’s decision to invest or operate in Trinidad & Tobago. In many instances, people make all the difference. In addition to financial competitiveness, this report considers the extent to which labor deployment and productivity in Trinidad & Tobago differs from regional and global benchmarks. In this case, we are interested in the amount of labor required to operate a typical business in Trinidad & Tobago and the likely returns on this human investment. What is the typical ratio of short-term and long-term assets to employee? What are typical capital-labor ratios? How different are these ratios to those in North America in general and the world as a whole? What are the average sales and net profits per employee in Trinidad & Tobago compared to regional benchmarks? Again, these and over 50 other measures of labor productivity are considered in Chapters 6, 7, and 8. The goal of this report is first to assist managers in gauging the competitive performance of Trinidad & Tobago at the global level. With the globalization of markets, greater foreign competition, and the reduction of entry barriers, it becomes all the more important to benchmark Trinidad & Tobago against other countries on a worldwide basis. Doing so, however, is not an obvious task. First, one needs to