An international survey has put New Zealand ahead of Australia and the United States in terms of globalisation.
The globalisation survey carried out by Ernst Young and The Economist Intelligence Unit ranked New Zealand 21 of 60 countries in 2012, the same spot as the previous year.
Australia was ranked 24th and the United States was in 25th place.
Hong Kong took the top spot, with Singapore second and Ireland in third place.
New Zealand ranked highly in terms of movement of goods and services, capital and finance, the exchange of technology and ideas and cultural integration.
But the survey found the country performed poorly on the movement of labour compared with its developed counterparts.
Financial services firm Deloitte says an increased uptake of broadband from the current level of 30% of the population should push New Zealand further up the index and is predicting the country will climb to 12th position by 2016.
Globally, firms worry that weak growth and increased competition could prompt more protectionism in the next year.
Nearly half the respondents expect an increase in protectionism in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) as well as developed countries.
But the survey suggested countries like Turkey, Mexico and Indonesia are emerging as strongly growing economies, while Peru, Malaysia and Vietnam are considered the best places to invest.
