Redefining trade promotion is a theme I firmly believe in and
one in which my organization has invested substantial efforts.
In the context of today's super-competitive world and the
radical changes being brought about by the new information
technologies, all of us at ITC are convinced of the prime
importance of redefining trade promotion. However, we realize very
well that alone there is only so much (or so little) we can do. A
year ago, in order to measure the importance they attach to the
subject, we invited 50 senior government officials, business
leaders and specialists from trade promotion organizations,
academia and international organizations to our first Executive
Forum on National Export Strategies. They came to brainstorm the
subject with us in Annecy, France. I would like to share the five
most important conclusions of our Forum.
Integrate export strategy in economic
planning
A national export strategy must be comprehensively integrated
into the overall economic planning framework. It should not deal
simply with offshore market development and promotion, but should
encompass the longer-term onshore challenges of establishing a
national competitiveness environment, creating an export culture, a
national consensus and developing new export industries.
Understand the client's mindset
The strategy must redefine trade promotion. The strategy-maker
must define the country's markets both onshore and offshore. Who
within the business community is the client? What are their needs
versus their demands? The strategy must promote clustering and
networking. It must emphasize not just exporting but the
internationalization of the firm: in other words, ensuring that the
opportunities for the firm's growth are maximized in the foreign
market, in the shortest possible time. This can be done through
partnerships, joint ventures, subcontracting, licensing agreements,
as well as traditional exporting.
Create a competitive environment
Countries must seek to develop and sustain a viable national
competitiveness environment. This should include:
• a stable, predictable macroeconomic environment for enterprise
development: low budget deficits, tight inflation control and
competitive real exchange rates;
• an outward-oriented, market-friendly trade and industrial
regime;
• a proactive foreign investment strategy;
• sustained investment in human capital at all levels;
• comprehensive technology support for quality management,
productivity improvement and technical services for small and
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs);
• access to industrial finance at competitive interest rates;
and
• an efficient and cost-competitive infrastructure for air and sea
cargo, telecommunications, electricity and Internet access.
Some will say that they have heard all of this before. Yet for
many countries, both developing and developed, the need to provide
a competitive environment remains a major challenge, requiring
constant effort. Trade promotion in the absence of a competitive
environment is pointless; global competitiveness is increasingly
recognized as the key to prosperity at both national and firm
levels in the quickly changing economic environment.
Incorporate feedback
Effective trade promotion strategies are based on a continuous
process of design, implementation, monitoring and evalu-ation,
feedback and refinement. This activity does not end with the design
of the strategy. The strategy-maker must be involved in all phases
of the strategic planning cycle.
Again, one can say, "We know this!" Yet few trade support
institutions engage in serious export strategy evaluation until
there is a crisis of confidence. Then they seek, or are forced, to
hurriedly assess the relevance of their strategies. Sometimes, it
is already too late.
Encourage public-private sector partnership
All stakeholders in the export process - that is,
representatives of both the public and private sectors - have to
come together in a strategy management team.
One of the lessons learned by successful exporting countries is
that, while the public sector is the catalyst in the strategy
development and management process, to be effective the strategy
must be 'owned' by the private sector. Strategy design is therefore
most effective when its development and refinement come from the
bottom up, with industry representatives and managers working
directly with public-
sector officials in establishing priorities.
A national strategy must be supported by a structure -
encompassing both institutions and institutional and functional
linkages - to provide leadership and concerted action. Although no
single model will suit all countries, or a single country at all
times, a general principle is that there must be a link between the
three principal stakeholders in the national export development
effort: government, the private sector and labour.
There will be different sets of linkages at the three major
stages of the export strategy process:
• planning and consensus building;
• implementation and efficiency building; and
• performance monitoring and assessment.
There needs to be a central coordinating or lead mechanism
during each of these stages: for instance, a national export
strategy council for the first stage and a trade promotion
organization (TPO) for the second and third stages. The council may
include: ministries of planning, finance, trade and agriculture,
and the TPO; private-sector associations of manufacturers,
exporters and others in the trade; and labour representatives.
Also, it is recognized now that the TPO is just one of several
trade support institutions that should be involved in this
process.
As noted in my first point, a national export strategy must be
comprehensively integrated into the overall economic planning
framework. Consequently, it impacts on, and is influenced by, most
aspects of overall national development. The national export
strategy process therefore involves a broad range of functional
linkages. These include:
• trade and industry;
• trade and investment;
• trade and education; and
• trade and science and technology.
The five conclusions are, I believe, the most important points
to consider in the development of a national export strategy.
E-trade: An opportunity for change
On a different, but very much related, subject, I encourage you
to visit the ITC web page on this year's Executive Forum, held in
Montreux, Switzerland in September 2000. Eighty senior
policy-makers, business leaders and experts from 24 mostly
developing and transition economies gathered for the Forum. They
were joined by nearly 600 other participants from 86 countries
through an e-discussion on the Internet. Over three full days, they
exchanged views on the developing world perspective for Export
Development in the Digital Economy. This year's theme followed
logically on that of last year and was selected for two reasons.
The first is our conviction that the new information technology and
its e-trade dimensions will have a profound impact on all
economies, including those of the developing world. The second is
the need for this impact to be positive on the export trade of
developing countries and economies in transition. The nature of the
digital economy is a key factor to be considered in preparing a
national export strategy.
Subjects discussed at the Executive Forum included: new
commercial opportunities in the digital economy; coordination of an
effective national response; promotion of e-trade competency within
the business sector; and the role of trade support institutions.
The debates during the Forum were intense and, at times,
passionate. As was done for the Executive Forum 1999, a publication
is being prepared, and ITC's magazine will highlight the results.
Meanwhile, a summary of the main conclusions of the meeting and
ample background material are available on the ITC web site:
http://www.intracen.org/execforum
J. Denis Bélisle is Executive Director, International Trade
Centre.