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IMD produces a yearly Smart City Index offering a balanced focus on economic and technological aspects of smart cities on the one hand, and “humane dimensions” of smart cities (quality of life, environment, and inclusiveness) on the other. In this sixth edition, survey answers to the question “Is finding housing with rent equal to or less than 3…

From AI-powered bookings to strategic technology investments, discover how top companies fuse AI with authentic experiences—and why loyalty is your ultimate defense against disruption.

On 12 March 2025, new and expanded tariffs on aluminium, steel, and downstream “derivative” products come into force. This briefing shows that derivative products alone represented $151 billion of imports in 2024, with 27 foreign economies each having over $500 million of exports at risk. Tariffs on derivative products target parts for cars and …

Trade conflict is costly to all parties. Canadian and Mexican trade retaliation can deny tariff-related wins for American workers. Blunt retaliation could go so far as to eliminate all the take-home pay gains in 40 U.S. states and make whatever gains occur elsewhere barely noticeable. Tariff-induced higher prices are a further drag on American f…

Many American politicians contend that Chinese imports delivered a blow to manufacturing jobs, especially in the Rust Belt states. President Trump wants to fix the employment loss by raising import tariffs. Simulating the job, wage, and inflation effects of his three most prominent campaign pledges for tariffs on the politically sensitive manufa…

In today’s rapidly changing world, the urgency to maintain focus on sustainability has never been greater. While the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution demands immediate action, new challenges such as geopolitical conflicts, inflation, energy security concerns, and the rapid rise of AI technologies threa…

As demand for executive education soars, a new IMD report argues that calculating the return on investment is critical to justifying the spend in time and costs.

In an era of rising economic nationalism and intensifying rivalries, business leaders with extensive cross-border operations must develop sharper agility and foresight. Their ability to make informed decisions in this volatile environment hinges on the strength of their so-called geopolitical radar – their capacity to effectively track and proac…

Accelerating integration of Generative AI (GenAI) will drive massive productivity gains, potentially adding trillions to the global economy. But even as organizations look to leverage its promise, the imperative to address bias in training data, algorithms and outputs is becoming more urgent.

With stagnant import volumes since 2021, and import prices at levels below those suggested by fundamentals, foreign exporters face an uphill battle to convert access to the Chinese market into revenues. Notably, the volume stagnation predates the recent growth pessimism in China, diverges markedly from emerging market peers in East Asia, and is …

World exports of goods and services enjoyed boomtime growth in the 1990s and early 2000s. Since 2008, trade in goods – specifically manufactured goods – have plateaued; services exports have not. Services trade continues to ride the go-go growth path it has been on since the 1990s.

This year China has been repeatedly accused of resorting to export-led growth (as if that were a crime), flooding world markets with goods, and exacerbating trade tensions. In this briefing I provide a measured, evidence-based review of recent Chinese export dynamics, considering volume and price effects as well as benchmarking Chinese export pe…

The trade policy stance of foreign governments to China’s goods exports is reviewed here. A balanced approach is taken— examining new import reforms facilitating sourcing from China as well as new import curbs. Further perspective is provided by contrasting the treatment of Chinese exports with those from a peer group, the ASEAN nations. This ye…

On the campaign trail, Mr. Trump slammed subsidy-driven approaches to attracting foreign investment in U.S. manufacturing. Putting tariffs on imported goods and saving subsidy outlays was his preference. Since 2017, the United States has seen two regimes for attracting greenfield foreign direct investment. One involved carrots (subsidies) and an…

Already certain American trading partners have received tariff threats to their exports, prompting questions as to how best to respond. Drawing on the lessons from the first Trump Administration, statements made by the President-elect and his circle, and the existing pattern of global trade flows, this briefing recommends a hard-headed assessmen…