The Transnational Research Consortium was established as a cooperative academic venture with the purpose of creating an Efficiency of Nations Index and applying that Index to both developed and developing nations. The Founding Entities of the Transnational Research Consortium are the School of Business at La Sierra University, the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University, and the School of Politics and Economics at Claremont Graduate University.

The Consortium brings together the intellectual assets that reside within portions of certain universities in the United States and eventually access assets in other countries. The Founding Entities collaborating in this project envision that the Consortium will enable all participants to better serve their students by conducting state-of-the-art research, by providing curriculum and project expertise, and by providing the outcome of research to the business and policy communities. The Consortium's joint intellectual resources will provide research capabilities which are superior to the services which could be provided by any participant acting alone.