Ms. Merkel said the euro zone's current crisis can't be solved overnight, because it is the product of years of diverging competitiveness.

WSJ: Merkel, in Speech at Davos,

For retail, healthcare and pharmaceutical companies that now rely on critical findings of Big Data analytics, performance slowdowns can compromise key aspects of competitiveness such as how quickly and where a product is brought to market.

FORBES: Bridging The Data Deluge Gap

Most economists and experts agree that economic competitiveness is tied to innovative technology development and new product commercialization.

FORBES: Inclusion: The Missing Link In Economic Competitiveness

The Global Competitiveness Report ranks countries both on hard economic data--such as gross domestic product, inflation, government debt, country credit rating and infant mortality--and on survey opinions from over 11, 000 chief executives and other high-ranking executives in 125 countries.

FORBES: The Cost Of Corruption