The world of international trade is changing very rapidly. Even
in the international trade development environment of Geneva, it is
difficult to keep up with changes in the international business
environment.
Five years ago, most of us had not even heard of electronic
commerce. Now many believe that this will be the kingpin of future
of business-to-business relationships. A new vocabulary for
business is emerging, with formerly arcane terms such as
"out-sourcing" and "industrial clustering" becoming standard
terminology. In short, the world of international trade has changed
dramatically. The rules of the trade game are being refined,
markets are liberalizing and globalizing, international business
practices are changing and competition is becoming much more
intense.
Fast-paced change
Where does that leave the entrepreneur and business manager in
developing and transition economies? Like all other entrepreneurs,
no matter where in the world, they need to respond swiftly and
effectively to these changes if they are to remain competitive and
profitable - indeed, in many cases, if they are to remain in
business at all. Yet many are not currently equipped to do so.
Similarly, trade support institutions in both the public and
private sectors must respond to this series of challenges. This is
where the strategy maker comes in.
It is for these considerations that ITC invited public-sector
strategy makers and senior business executives to participate in
ITC's first Executive Forum. This event allowed ITC to explore new
approaches to trade promotion and jointly develop some basic
principles to guide a strategic response to trade promotion in the
new trading environment.
We assembled key individuals who design and implement the
national export strategy of their countries. We also invited
resource persons from specialized international organizations, as
well as academic experts and consultants. In order to help export
strategy makers, ITC is publishing a book on the views and ideas
expressed at the Executive Forum; it has also created a special web
site (http://www.intracen.org/execforum)
and is providing meeting highlights through this magazine.
National export strategies
I say "a national export strategy" on purpose. I am not
referring to national trade policy. Nor do I refer to positions
taken by governments in multilateral trade negotiations. These
provide the framework within which the national export strategy is
designed. Rather, we must focus on the process by which countries
arrive at effective national strategies to support exports and
competitiveness of the business sector. We must review how national
export strategies are devised, implemented and constantly
refined.
While traditional trade promotion services remain relevant, they
are no longer sufficient to promote exports and competitiveness.
Trade information, missions, exhibitions, generic publicity and
commercial representation abroad are not enough to generate export
success. National export strategies that confine themselves to
these operational programmes are, in our view, unlikely to meet the
challenges we now face - not to mention those around the
corner.
Put exports in the mainstream
A trade promotion strategy designed and implemented in isolation
from other economic and commercial initiatives in a country is
unlikely to succeed. Creating a national export strategy is by
definition a national issue involving all relevant players. While
trade is universally recognized as fundamental to economic
development, in the majority of cases, trade development is not
treated as a national, interdisciplinary and multi-sectoral
imperative. Export strategy formulation is all too often left to
trade ministries or trade promotion agencies, with only minor
involvement of key economic ministries and insufficient
participation by the business community. A solid national export
strategy has to include the effective participation of the
ministries of economy, finance and industry as well as experienced
exporters.
For a national export strategy to be effective, strong linkages
with other economic and developmental strategy initiatives are
required. Strategy makers must look beyond existing export capacity
and work towards ensuring that new export capacities are generated.
Promoting export-oriented foreign direct investment must go in
tandem with promoting exports in the international market
place.
Developing higher value-added export performance must be
directly supported through, for example, developing strong backward
linkages in industry and forward linkages in agriculture. Strategy
makers must look at "on-shore" domestic production issues, as well
as "off-shore" market development issues when developing their
future responses.
Trust-based partnerships
Finally, let me insist that for a strategy to work, the private
sector - perhaps the key player in implementing export strategy -
must be fully involved and committed to the overall process. The
private sector must "buy in" and feel responsible for the success
or failure of the strategy.
There must be a real and effective partnership between the
public and private sectors. But this does not seem to happen
easily. Mistrust between the public and private sectors has to give
way to understanding, trust and genuine collaboration.
We are all aware that there is no universally applicable
approach that can be applied by strategy makers worldwide. A
national export strategy must be tailored to the requirements and
conditions of each country. Each strategy will, therefore, be
unique. There are, however, many lessons that have universal
application and must be shared.
Our purpose in hosting the Executive Forum has been to analyse
these practices; help strategy makers clarify issues with which
they have been grappling; and in the final analysis, contribute to
stronger export strategy development and management.
J. Denis Bélisle is Executive Director of ITC.
This article is based on the opening address he made to
participants at the Executive Forum.