Porter's Diamond Iceland

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Porter's Diamond model applied to Iceland Factor Conditions: Iceland’s geography is made up of volcanic and mountainous terrain, as a result, their local physical resources are limited to geothermal energy and fish from the surrounding ocean. The local government has long encouraged higher education, from supporting graduate studies overseas in the 1960s to promoting 10 year post-secondary education. As a result, by 2007 Iceland was ranked as one of the top patenting countries per-capita. The country has a strong infrastructure, supported by an advanced telecom and IT industry, modernized roadways and ports along with geothermal resources heating homes and providing ample power. Access to capital resources has steadily increased over the years as the government deregulated banks. Demand Conditions: With a small population of approximately 308,000 residents, the demand for local products is limited and as a result many products are imported. Iceland is, however one of the world’s largest exporters of fish and freshly prepared food. In the 1960s the Icelandic government invested and expanded the fishing industry and devalued their currency to encourage exports. Iceland improved demand conditions by joining the European Economic Area in 1994 and then the European Union in 2004. Strengthening their alliance with Europe established what is called a double diamond, where factor conditions of another country or region’s diamond are tied to a local country’s competitiveness. Related and Supporting Industries: Iceland has several key supporting industries such as Energy and Production Equipment. The ample supply of energy has been leveraged by the Aluminum industry, internationally competitive companies such as Alcan and Alcoa benefit from one of the most ample and cost effective energy supplies in the world. The Aluminum industry has invested heavily in
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