᭹ Improvements in technology, communication and infrastructure are driving aspects of globalization to new heights. In the light of this, there are interesting debates on the growth of the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) relative to the competitive advantage of the main OECD nations. This paper utilizes the framework within Porter's diamond of competitive advantage and develops a quantitative approach to determine the competitive advantage of a nation. ᭹ This approach has so far eluded most contemporary discussions surrounding Porter's diamond.This paper attempts to redress this balance by providing a more robust framework for assessing the relative global competitive advantage of a nation. Applying this approach to the BRIC nations, the UK and the USA has yielded some interesting results indicating that the UK is currently the most competitive nation and that China will soon position itself as a truly competitive one.analyse the competitiveness of a nation. In this respect, Porter's diamond (1990) has been the subject of much debate and discussion over the recent past. The fact that Porter's diamond only explored ten nations and that even within the ten countries, only significant clusters were explored, means that the diamond theory still has considerable potential for improvement and application. Studies such as Cartwright (1993) and Brouthers and Brouthers (1997) have focused on this area. Porter (1990) states that a nation's competitive advantage is not dependent on its natural resources alone; it depends on innovation and Strat. Change 15: 283-294 (2006) Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com)

To utilize the full potential of hydrogen energy in the UK a number of economic, technical and environmental factors must be considered. An important factor in replacing fossil fuels with hydrogen will be the practicality of storing a sufficient quantity to smooth out fluctuations in demand and provide a strategic reserve. This paper investigates the potential for large-scale underground hydrogen storage in the UK by considering the technical, geological and physical issues of storage, the locations of salt deposits, legal and economic aspects. In addition, reference is made to the equations of state applicable to this type of storage. The results of this investigation show that the UK has a number of potential locations where underground storage would provide a strategic reserve of hydrogen.

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