Competitive Alternatives

Competitive Alternatives

Selecting the best site for a business operation requires comprehensive consideration of many financial and non-financial factors, examined from both a business and personal perspective. The relative importance of these factors will vary significantly; not only for different industries, but also for individual firms within a particular industry.

From its inception in 1996 to its final edition in 2016, KPMG's Competitive Alternatives study provided independent analysis of the major costs and other factors that impact the site location decision. The MMK Consulting team was instrumental in the development of this major international study and managed most aspects of the Competitive Alternatives series on behalf of KPMG, through to the completion of final obligations to all study sponsors in 2018.

Released in March 2016, the final edition of Competitive Alternatives offered detailed analysis of business location factors in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In various previous editions of Competitive Alternatives, MMK Consulting professionals were involved in analyzing business competitiveness in all of the following countries:
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Brazil
  • Canada
  • China
  • France
  • Germany
  • Iceland
  • India
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • Luxembourg
  • Mexico
  • Netherlands
  • Singapore
  • Sweden
  • Russia
  • United Kingdom
  • United States

Copies of all Competitive Alternatives publications, from 2002 through to 2016, are available here in the Study Archive.

Competitive Alternatives Special Report: Focus on Tax

Focus On Tax 2008 Focus On Tax 2010 Focus On Tax 2012 Focus On Tax 2014 Focus On Tax 2016

As part of the Competitive Alternatives studies from 2008 through 2016, on behalf of KPMG, MMK Consulting developed a special report focusing on comparing tax burdens in major cities in leading countries.

These studies calculate and compare the Total Tax Index and Total Effective Tax Rate, including corporate income taxes, other corporate taxes, and statutory labor costs for each country and city.

Click here to view the final edition of this report.

CompetitiveAlternatives.com Cost Model

As part of the Competitive Alternatives project, on behalf of KPMG, MMK Consulting developed and maintained this sophisticated web-based application which allowed users to perform customized analysis of the costs of operating different types of businesses in more than 130 cities around the world. The model was licensed to economic development agencies, to assist them in performing powerful "what if" analysis based on the business plans of their clients. While this model is no longer licensed to clients, MMK Consulting continues to have access to the proprietary model for undertaking customized analyses.

Tax Costs in Ontario

Between the 2008 and 2010 editions of Competitive Alternatives Special Report: Focus on Tax, on behalf of KPMG, MMK Consulting developed an update of this study, to assist the Ontario Ministry of Finance assess the impact of various tax changes being implemented in Ontario in 2010.

A copy of this special report is available on the Ontario Ministry of Finance website.

Adelaide's Business Cost Competitiveness

MMK Consulting, in conjunction with KPMG, completed a project for the Government of South Australia that benchmarked business costs for Australia, including four Australian cities, against the 2006 Competitive Alternatives results.

Building upon this analysis, a further study, for the Australian federal Department of Transport and Regional Services benchmarked business costs in a total of 28 Australian cities.

Click here to view this study.

Business Costs in Iceland, A Comparative Study of 87 cities

Business Costs in Iceland Using our experience from the Competitive Alternatives project, MMK Consulting assisted KPMG Iceland in undertaking a detailed comparison of business costs in Iceland, as compared to the cities included in the Competitive Alternatives study. The results of the study found Iceland to be favorably positioned in terms of business operating costs for many types of high-technology businesses and for service operations in general.

Click here to view this report.


Location Sensitive Cost Analysis for Data Centres

On behalf of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), MMK Consulting completed an analysis of data centre operations using the Competitive Alternatives methodology of location sensitive business costs comparison.

The study assessed both physical characteristics and infrastructure requirements of typical data centre operations, and the detailed business costs for operating a prototype facility in a total of 71 international cities.

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