International Competitiveness Analysis
KPMG City Competitiveness Index
On behalf of Invest in Canada, in 2020-21 MMK Consulting played an integral role with KPMG in developing the modelling methodology and data
streams for an all-new City Competitiveness Index study, as a successor to the long-running Competitive Alternatives study series.
The City Competitiveness Index study consists of in-depth benchmarking of seven key factors for business location decisions – labour costs,
facility costs, transportation costs, utility costs, taxation costs, business environment factors, and intangible factors – for 53 North American
cities and 9 global cities. The study analyzes 12 different business personas, ranging from food processing to media/entertainment production.
Click here to view the 2021 study.
Alberta Report on Competitiveness
On behalf of Alberta Innovation & Advanced Education, MMK Consulting completed the 2010, 2013 and 2014 editions of a comprehensive assessment of the
Province of Alberta’s economic competitiveness. These studies include an
in-depth examination of more the 60 competitiveness factors and their impact on Alberta’s competitiveness relative to 14 other
state/provincial and national jurisdictions.
The report places particular emphasis on the connections between innovation, productivity, and sustained economic prosperity.
This report represents a baseline against which progress on future competitiveness initiatives can be assessed.
Click here to view the 2014 report.
Click here to view the 2013 report.
Location Matters, the State Tax Costs of Doing Business
MMK Consulting assisted the US Tax Foundation and KPMG with the methodology and model development for this extensive analysis of
corporate taxes and incentives across all 50 US states. These three studies, relased in 2012, 2015 and 2021, examine tax burdens for multiple different industries, and
separately analyze the taxes paid by both established (mature) enterprises and those paid by newly-located operations that may
be eligible to receive tax incentives.
Click here to view the 2021 study.
Click here to view the 2015 study.
BC Fact-Based Situation Analysis
On behalf of the BC Ministry of Jobs, Tourism & Skills Training, MMK Consulting completed a comprehensive study of BC's international
competitiveness in leading export sectors. The scope of the study covered both traditional resource-based sectors and selected
“new economy” sectors such as clean technology, digital technologies, pharmaceuticals/healthcare, and ICT.
The most recent 2013 study, an update and expansion of previous MMK work, assessed BC’s export competitiveness in 16 international
jurisdictions of significant interest. Through analysis and interpretation of Statistics Canada, OECD, and other data sources, this
study included the identification of the main competitors for BC exports into each country.
Alberta Quality of Business Regulation
On behalf of Alberta Treasury Board & Enterprise, MMK Consulting benchmarked the quality of business regulations in BC, Alberta,
Saskatchewan and Ontario. In association with the law firm of Blake, Cassels & Graydon, MMK surveyed lawyers, economic developers,
and industry specialists. The report compared jurisdictional findings in ten regulatory areas, from starting a business, through
operating regulations (labour, licensing, etc.), to winding down a business.
Click here
to view this report.
BC Technology Report Card
On behalf of the BC Technology Industry Association, MMK Consulting assisted KPMG in developing a 2012 report card of the BC high
technology sector. This report examined growth rates for the technology sector as a whole, as well as for a number of technology
subsectors – ICT, cleantech, digital media, and others – and included a comparison of BC to other competing Canadian provinces and
US states.
Click here to view this report.
Location Cost Analysis for Currency Exchange Operations
In conjunction with the BC Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation, and on behalf of the International Financial Center BC, MMK
Consulting compared operating costs of a representative foreign currency exchange trading house operating in each of 10 major
North American cities.
Competitiveness Analysis for North American Automotive Investments
In conjunction with KPMG, MMK Consulting completed a detailed review of the automotive sector in Ontario, as compared to key US
jurisdictions. Developed on behalf of Industry Canada and the Canadian Automotive Partnership Council, this study was originally
undertaken in 2003 and later updated in 2008.
The review was broad-based, encompassing a wide variety of competitiveness issues including business costs, business incentives,
labor force issues, logistics and border issues, and environmental considerations.
Comparison of Personal Taxes and Cost of Living in Alberta and the US
Commissioned by the Government of Alberta, this series of studies examined Alberta's competitiveness in terms of total cost of
living for high-tech employees at five different salary levels. The studies confirmed that personal taxation costs in Canadian
jurisdictions were higher than in the US, but also found that, at that time, this difference was largely offset by lower costs
in Canada for housing, and for the purchase of general goods and services.
This series of studies was conducted by MMK Consulting, in conjunction with
Runzheimer International, on an annual basis from 2002 through to 2005.
Other Projects and Studies
Many studies completed by MMK Consulting represent confidential studies that have not been publicly released. Examples include:
- A comparative analysis of operating costs for manufacturers in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and China.
- A study of the impacts and opportunities for BC firms resulting from the proposed Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
- A study of investment competitiveness in eight key provincial industry sectors, including a summary of best practices in other jurisdictions.
- A study of business costs in two specific subsectors of the agri-food industry in Canada and the United States.
- A market analysis of government procurement opportunities for BC firms in 10 international jurisdictions.