According to Knut Vareide Oslo have had varying results in the past. In 2004, Oslo was all the way down in 12th place among the counties. In 2000, Oslo was number two, behind Akershus. This was actually the best position Oslo ever had before winning first place.
The Business Norway championship is presented by Næringslivets Hovedorganisasjon, and Knut Vareide by Telemark University has developed the rankings. The index ranks counties based on the proportion of firms with positive earnings, proportion of companies with revenue growth and establishment rate. The counties' results for these three indicators are transformed to a scale from 0 to 10, then added together.
– Oslo wins primarily because of the many start-ups. Oslo has always had many new businesses, and is far ahead of other counties on this indicator, Vareide says to Oslo Business Memo.
In 2009, the business community in Oslo scored above average on profitability and growth, thus Oslo has the top overall score. The toughest competitor is Rogaland which scores far lower on new developments, but has the most profitable businesses.