Designing a GIS-based regional competitiveness evaluating system

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to propose a GIS-based regional competitiveness evaluating software system. With a regional competitiveness evaluating software system, researchers can compare their studies with each other, so that more generally accepted concepts, models, and evaluating methodologies can be obtained. Furthermore, such a system can facilitate researchers to conduct studies more efficiently and effectively, so that a deep insight into regional competitiveness can be achieved. Design/methodology/approach - Based on the system theory, a thorough investigation into the nature of a region and its competitiveness are conducted, so that the software designing demands are identified and a client/server and browser/server architecture is proposed for the system. In addition, the Delphi method is employed to improve the performance of the software system, while a primary experimental study is conducted to verify its effectiveness. Findings - Developing such a software system, the GIS and database techniques should be harnessed, while Delphi method should be employed to improve system performance. Research limitations/implications - Identifying evaluating index set and obtaining corresponding data are the main limitations of the system working. Practical implications - The ideology of designing a regional competitiveness evaluating software system is proposed. Originality/value - An efficient and generic methodology of evaluating regional competitiveness is devised.