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DUBAI / Emirates Business
The United Arab Emirates is most prepared for change among the Middle East and North African (MENA) countries, and the third most prepared in the world, KPMG’s 2017 Change Readiness Index (CRI) showed.
The leading global audit, tax and advisory firm, launched the 2017 KPMG International Change Readiness Index, ranking 136 countries for their capacity to respond and adapt to significant change, resulting from short-term events, such as natural disasters, and longer-term demographic, economic, social and technological trends.
The UAE climbed two spots from the 2015 CRI and topped the Middle East and Africa region coming in third in 2017, while Switzerland topped the charts. The country scored 1 on Enterprise Capability, 2 on Government Capability and 17 on People & Civil Society Capability.
The CRI provides deep insights into where countries can focus and invest to be prepared for the increasing pace of change worldwide—breaking down each country’s capacity across three key “pillars†of capability:
Enterprise Capability: the ability of private and state-owned organisations to manage change and grow within a dynamic economic environment; Government Capability: the ability of governmental and public regulatory institutions to manage and influence change; People & Civil Society Capability: the ability of individual citizens and the wider society to cope with change and respond to opportunities.
In 2017, every top-ten country, with the exception of Singapore, increased its Government and People & Civil Society Capability scores over those in 2015. Just four of the top 20 ranked countries saw a decline in People & Civil Society scores, whereas 25 of
the bottom 30 countries showed a decline in the rankings in this capability.
The 2017 index, like the 2015 index, indicated that countries dependent on natural resources and export incomes faced set-backs. However, the UAE and Norway broke the pattern and displayed strong performance in the CRI.
The study also provides sub-indicator rankings for each country. For the UAE, Government Strategic Planning & Horizon Scanning, Demographics, and Security were identified as Strengths while Enterprise Sustainability, Technology Use and Health were the Opportunities. “The CRI offers an eye-opening view of which countries are best positioned to weather and potentially benefit from inevitable change, and the factors
behind their preparedness.