In 2012 the Top 20 Countries for Business per a recent Bloomberg Study

In a recent Bloomberg study, they came up with the Top 20 Countries for doing business. While with large companies, when we looked at making investments and acquisitions, part of the screening/strategic planning process is country risk and business climate, and they were, and are, to be given major weight, followed by competitors, and market opportunity and growth. Before, it was hard to come up with this kind of information and we assimilated the information internally. However, now, these kinds of studies can help speed up the process in developing good investment screens.

The big surprise is that out of the BRIC countries, only China come in at 19th. Russia, India and Brazil were ranked 48, 49 and 50th, respectively, due to less developed consumer markets and  "intangible costs."

The 2012 list ranked the countries in this fashion around the parameters of: Economic Integration, Business Start-up Cost, Labor/Material Cost, Transport Cost, Less Tangible Cost, and Local Consumer Base (note the scale used is below the country rankings) [link to the original article is at the end of this artice]:

1)  Hong Kong
2)  Netherlands
3)  USA
4)  United Kingdom
5)  Australia
6)  Germany
7)  Japan
8)  France
9 & 10) Singapore & Austria (tied)
11) Switzerland
12) Canada
13) Belgium
14) Sweden
15) Luxembourg
16) Finland
17) Denmark
18) Norway
19) China
20) Italy

Top 20 Countries for Business: Best Countries For Business