Introduction

1The interdependence of world economies or, as corporate planners would call it, the mondialisation of the world market, is a reality of our time. This interdependence has accelerated the spatial flow of goods and services across frontiers that is known as export marketing.

2Increase in production has led to the intensification of competition among nations, each of which has to resolve the problem of what to do with the excess it produces, especially since any cut-back in production is likely to affect the domestic level of economic growth, employment, welfare, and political stability. Given such a scenario, the search for, as well as the conquest and control of, export market shares have become deliberate national policies of the advanced and export-dependent economies.

3Export activity is thus being given an additional push and provided the necessary logistic support. It is also being differentiated so as to increase the value-added content of exports in relation to the offerings and efforts by the competitors. In France, for example, the question is being constantly asked as to how both the export activity and the economy can be made to compete favourably with those of countries such as the USA, Germany, Britain, Japan and Brazil.

4Surrounding export marketing activity, there is "mega marketing". We can identify conceptually two separate environments for marketing efforts: environment 1 (export marketing) and environment 2 (mega marketing). Environment 1 represents the traditional export portfolio of an exporting firm while environment 2 represents all efforts, exogenous to a company, exerted on it to make it more competitive and combative in its traditional export portfolio. These efforts are export promotion strategies, public and private. In this study, we limit ourselves to public export promotion strategies, using France as a case study.

5Our decision to concentrate on public export promotion is explained by the following reasons:

1. it cuts across many export and potential export firms, thereby having great impact on the national and international economies;

2. the cost of its implementation represents an important percentage of annual national expenditure;

3. the public export promotion sub-sector is an important employer of labour;

4. it often includes considerations outside and beyond the ambit of economics and management because it includes lobbying, for example, which is within the domain neither of economics nor of management;

5. it demonstrates a synergic and symbiotic relationship between the state and the firm, with the former reinforcing the productive apparatus (the firm) while the latter assures the wealth of the state;

6. its popularity with almost all governments, its hyper-competitive impact, its often indiscrete nature, rising criticisms from GATT, and the existence of market blocks (USA, EEC), all make public export promotion an interesting domain for intellectual inquiry.

6The choice of France is by no means fortuitous. Among the Western economies, she has one of the most organised, ambitious and professionally structured public export promotion strategies. These enable her to occupy a comfortable 4th position (see table 1.) among the major exporting nations of the world.

Table 1: Leading Exporters in Words Merchandise Trade: 1973 and 1984.

7To appreciate the importance of France’s 4th position, one has to remember that she entered the export market race quite late. One should not forget also that the composition of her exports, which hitherto consisted of luxury products (such as fine wines, perfumes, fashion wear, cheese, etc.), has undergone considerable evolution. Indeed, finished and industrial goods now take pride of place in the composition of French exports. This change has been the result of France’s public export promotion strategies. It is the nature and characteristics of these strategies that constitute the main themes of this study. Before going into detail, however, it may be necessary to provide definitions of the key terms used here.

1. Definition And analysis of concepts: export promotion strategy

1.1. Export promotion

8Export promotion includes all the infrastructural assistance given to export or potential export firms in order to motivate them to compete in the national and international export economy and to increase their competivenes in the international markets.

9From this multidimensional definition, several important points stand out. Firstly, there is the fact that an export economy involves all the economic and non-economic structures aimed at differentiating and integrating the efforts put into exporting a product. There are two dimensions to the export economy: the national dimension where the structures (up-stream structures) are aimed at attaining the export objectives, and the international dimension (involving down-stream structures) which involves the techniques of adapting products to international markets (the "customerisation" dimension).

10The definition brings out the nature of the international market place which is competitive in the sense that there is a continuous struggle by all participants to occupy a better position in the market. This struggle does not involve the use of violence but the use of bargaining power based on each participant’s different advantage or resource. Also highlighted in the definition is the issue of infrastructural assistance, which consists of the material (e.g. subsidies given by governments) and non-material artifacts necessary to facilitate export trade and thus to sustain the economy.

11Lastly, we note that the definition places emphasis on the need to motivate export and potential export firms. Effective stimulus modifies the activities of firms by providing their basic needs (finance, information, management development, etc.). Motivation, stimulus and response imply that the stimulus has the force to elicit the desired response (i.e. export promotion strategy must be strong enough to achieve the desired objectives); the anticipated response is necessary to guide the choice of instrument; and the selection of instrument according to need becomes an operational imperative.

12We can now try to subject this definition to the parameters of the science of marketing from which the concept of promotion seems to have been borrowed.

13Promotion is one of the four marketing variables (product, price, place / distribution, promotion / publicity / communication) constituting the marketing-mix. Kotler1 defines sales promotion as a variety of tactical incentive tools designed to stimulate a target market response. The tools are meant to communicate a product or service to the target market, to give incentives or even an invitation, etc. For the American Marketing Association,2 sales promotion comprises all activities, outside publicity and personal selling, which stimulate consumer purchases and which reinforce the effectiveness of the retailers. According to the Association, promotion involves other selling activities considered non-repetitive and non-routine. This implies mat sales promotion comprises many variables and so demands great imagination in its conception and execution. This open-endedness fits into our definition. However, it must be pointed out that these marketing-rooted definitions lack a competitive orientation, stopping at the incidence of stimulation. In an international market environment, the incidence of competition is an imperative which must therefore be reflected in our definition.

14Our comprehensive view of export promotion can be illustrated with a real-life case:3

In 1970, the Department of Foreign Economic Relations and the National Centre for External Trade decided to launch a strategy aimed at penetrating the North American market. One of the motivating forces was the thinking that the capacity of a firm to penetrate such a far-away arid demanding market was evidently a measure of its competiveness. Another motivating factor was the constant imbalance of trade between France and North America. The Minister of Finance therefore decided to encourage a large number of French firms to enter this market that had been hitherto left untapped. Considerable resources were deployed for the purpose. Apart from the traditional methods used, there were also organised and collective trade missions, participation at international trade fairs, trade expositions, seminars, etc. The Ministry encouraged substantial financial support to private missions for feasibility studies. There were also different forms of assistance from French Embassies in the region. All those who were willing to undertake market feasibility studies were refunded a certain percentage of their transport costs, depending on the degree of success of their mission.

15We leave the reader to discover the different dimensions of promotion in this case.

1.2. Strategy

16Professor Merigot of the University of Bordeaux has referred to strategy as the choice of actions aimed at reaching the objectives a company’s management sets for itself. We note that the emphasis in this definition is on choice of action in response to defined objectives. Strategy in this sense is a deliberate, future-oriented action. Choice implies the existence of several feasible actions but economic rationality and management profitability demand that only the best alternative is chosen.

17Chandler defines strategy as "the determination of the basic long-term objectives of a company and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals".4 In our view, this definition is more about the process of defining a strategy than about strategy itself. However, it succeeds in evoking the concepts of courses of action in relation to a company’s defined objectives.

18For the Business Policy Group at Harvard Business School, strategy in management is the matching of a company’s skills and resources, the aspirations of management, and the opportunities existing in its environment. This definition, true to American tradition, is overtly optimistic, which is why it makes no mention of risks, forgetting that a strategy can be designed to neutralise risks existing in the environment.

19Ansoff5 and some other writers see strategy as a planned action of the firm to achieve a match, fit or alignment between the environment and the internal capabilities of the company. This definition integrates the elements of risk and opportunity.

20Some management theorists6 have tried to situate choice decisions (strategy) in terms of time horizon and levels of hierarchy within the company. Their observations have resulted in a classification of decisions of the company in the following manner:

1. Strategic decisions: these are decisions on the actions to be taken in the long term, which aim at influencing the future posture of the company.

2. Administrative decisions: these are choices of action concerning the administrative structure of a company, the relationship between different structures, etc.

3. Operational decisions: these are choices of action concerning the day-to-day operations of a company.

21The idea that emerges from these definitions is that strategy is the totality of the long-term actions taken by top management to crane the development of a company, from its present state to a future state, much ahead of time and of its competitors.7

22Strategy as a choice of action involving the future of a company implies a culture, a procedure and a process. We refer to this process as strategic planning and to the (official) product of the process as a strategic plan, while we refer to a management culture or orientation that uses these principles in order to reach a company’s objectives as strategic management.

2. Rationale For export promotion strategy

23National economies give additional force, inspiration and stimulation to the export economy for many reasons. We identify seven of them here.

2.1 Fierce competition in the international export market

24Production for export has increased considerably over the years and especially over the last two decades. This has pushed more and more countries, the industrialised and newly-industrialised ones in particular, into the export race, each of them struggling for a greater share of the market. Many economies are thus forced overtly or covertly to support their national companies.

2.2 Modification of transnational companies

25Multinational companies now adopt a low profile, having shifted to small and medium-sized firms as alternative forms of business organisation.8 This change can be traced to the need to adapt to, and be flexible in, a turbulent world economic environment. However, such small and medium-sized companies often lack the financial and logistic surface and cover to survive complex and costly international operations, thus needing government backing.

2.3 Economic linkage effects of export

26The export economy is a tonic to the rest of the economy. It encourages technical innovation and the search for new industrial organisation, creates employment, provides resources needed to finance imports, etc. Moreover, one successful export venture provokes the export of allied products. For example, the export of CALVET table wines to Nigeria may lead to the export of bottle openers, fine wine glasses, etc.

2.4 Rising protectionist tendencies in many national economies

27In the name of national interests, many countries tend to protect their economies through intricate structures (conditions for the entry of foreign capital, tax conditions, customs formalities, import licences, etc.) which block foreign products. Thus, while proclaiming free trade, many countries actually limit it, a practice that has been denounced by GATT.9 In order to circumvent these chains of protection or economic paternalism, therefore, most nations assist their firms overtly or covertly so as to enable them penetrate foreign markets.

2.5 "Me-too" attitude to export promotion

28Most countries tend to develop the attitude that if other nations, including the richest, are active in promoting their export economies, they should do the same. Thus a country like Nigeria may say that if the export insurance strategy is practised in France, Britain, etc., it should adopt the same policy10

2.6 Inability of developing countries to pay cash for their imports

29Most developing countries can acquire their infrastructural needs only on a long-term credit basis. This practice, if allowed to continue, can strangle the economies of industrialised countries. Thus, to avoid such a situation, the states concerned grant credit to their customers at very low interest rates, especially when it comes to trade in heavy industrial machinery and equipment.

2.7 The effect of the Declaration of the Principle of Free Trade

30After this treaty was signed, many industrialised nations had to watch helplessly as foreign goods poured into their territories. Since they could no longer stop imports, they tried to compensate by encouraging their own companies to export goods to other countries.

3. Analysis of French public export promotion strategies

31The discussion here adopts the systems approach, that is to say, it groups together different elements of promotion strategies oriented towards a defined objective. The systems used are the monetary and the non-monetary export promotions strategies. Each of them has sub-systems, some of which will be discussed in the following paragraphs.

3.1. Monetary export promotion strategy

32In France, one of the most intricate export promotion instruments is the monetary system, regrouped here into five sub-systems.

3.1.1. The export insurance sub-system

33This is the most popular and most cited promotions strategy in France, the reason being that, like all insurance undertakings, it deals with several export risks (economic, technical, political, finacial, and natural). It is piloted by COFACE (Compagnie française d’assurance pour le commerce extérieur) which has not only the power to pronounce on the degree of risk in any country in the world but also the capacity to insure these risks at a high price, as long as the risk is in line with national export and economic ambitions. This strategy accounted for 25 % of total French exports in 1970 (F. David, 1971: 257).

34Among other things, the export insurance strategy is intended to produce short-term export risk policies using country-by-country, product-by-product and activity-by-activity models; sell these policies to interested exporters; advise other public policy-making bodies on the export economy; and generate information for export policy formulation. The policy owner pays a premium in return for which the insurer undertakes to pay back a certain percentage of the amount insured should the anticipated risk occur. In France, the policy guarantees from 80 % to 90 % indemnity, depending on the type of risk (P. C. Lentdecker, 1984: 198).

35Briefly, the following are the activity portfolios of the strategy.

Pre-export activity phase

36During this phase, the activity portfolio of the strategy includes

1. export feasibility and new market studies

2. the transport costs incurred by the exporters during these preliminary studies

3. the maintenance of a salaried foreign representative for at least one year

4. the cost to exporters of running an office in a new market

5. the cost to exporters of promoting, advertising and demonstrating products

6. training the exporters to organise for their foreign agents in France

7. the exporters’ programme for modifying a product to suit a foreign market

8. the creation of an export department

9. the exporters’ programme of participation in international trade fairs abroad

10. the cost to the exporters of the feasibility studies carried out by an external consultant

37These are all market prospecting activities each of which constitutes an export insurance policy (premium, contract and indemnity).

Physical export activity phase

38Policies created and sold to customers during this phase cover:

1. the cost to the exporter of manufacturing a product for a market that became interrupted, i.e. cancelled contract

2. increases in prices not foreseen in the export sales contract

3. changes in exchange rate parities of the contracting parties11

Post-export policies

39The policies created and sold to exporters under this classification include:

1. policy cover for exporters against political risks (company nationalisation, confiscation, xenophobic attitudes to foreigners and their investments, abrupt cancellation of contracts, and all forms of group violence)

2. policy cover against natural risks

3. policy cover against commercial risks

Operational principles of the strategy

40Export insurance concerns markets outside the EEC. It deals with specified risks connected with export activities and reserves the right to refuse certain risks. The risks covered include:

1. manufacturing risks: risks manufacturers sustain when they adapt products to the terms of sales contracts but discover that the contracts have been cancelled

2. economic risks: increase in prices not foreseen in the sales contract, unfavourable changes in exchange rates between the markets, and illiquidity of the customers

3. political risks: instability of political systems resulting in the confiscation and nationalisation of foreign capital and assets, laws on transfer of funds, civil wars, aggression against foreigners leading to loss of economic interests, etc.

4. natural risks: flooding, earthquakes, eruptions of volcanoes, etc.

41The strategy does not cover the quality of a company’s products, its marketing techniques and general business ethics.

Export insurance policy and time horizon

42This brings us to long-term policy, defined by the Société Générale Bank as a policy covering a period not exceeding 18 months from the date the product reaches a French customs post.12

43The first step here is to categorise the risks according to certain characteristics: product (consumer goods, light equipment, heavy equipment, big civil construction projects, etc.); buyers (public and private); and payment (credit sales and credit purchase). Such categorisation helps to define the degree of risk specifically.

Modalities for credit purchase

44Credit purchase is a policy meant to cover banks or other financial institutions, usually French, that grant credit to buyers of French industrial goods. It covers up to 95 % of the premium paid by the banks, the remaining part being paid by the exporter. These costs of course reflect in the amount the buyer has to pay back. As for the supplier, he is freed from the risk of non-payment.

45The insurance policy is delivered only after consultation with the committee on long-term exports in the Department of External Economic Relations in the French Ministry of Finance. Thereafter, coface supervises the progress of the operations for which the cover is given.

Modalities for credit sales

46When he allows his customer some delay in payment, an exporter may have problems of liquidity and may go to his bank to try and mobilise funds based on the credit sales contract concluded with a foreign customer. There are different variations of credit sales: open / free credit (without intervention of the state, insurance guarantee or special concessionary rates of interest); administered credit (with state approval through the export insurance scheme but at a very low concessionary rate of interest); and pure guaranteed credit (granted with state approval through the export insurance scheme out without concessionary rates of interest).

47On the whole, therefore, the French export insurance strategy is central to the dynamism of the country’s export ventures. Indeed, it is the nerve center of public export promotion. This comes out very clearly in the figures given in the table below.

Table 2: Financial dimensions of French exort insurance strategy13

3.1.2. The export credit sub-system

48This is the second most popular monetary export promotion strategy in France. Its popularity is due to its ambition: to mobilise different frequencies or loans in order to facilitate export activities. Instead of protecting a firm’s treasury, the strategy aims at creating it, the overall aim being to increase the competitive edge of the exporting firms in international markets.

49All banks qualifiy to compete in the market for export credit. However, there are specific institutions which actually handle the execution of the export credit strategy. These are: the Bank of France (Banque de France) and the Export Bank (Banque Française de Commerce Extérieur, BFCI). The Bank of France plays a role in the export credit strategy because, as the regulator of the quantity of money in circulation, it has to verify that the credit given to exporters corresponds to its monetary policies. Otherwise, the duty of providing export credit falls on the Export Bank.

50The export credit strategy works according to the phases of the export activity: pre-export, physical export, and post-export. The procedures for granting credit can vary from a solo effort by the Export Bank to some collaboration with other banks. The intervention is on long-term basis.

Credit sales

51For its credit sales operations, the bank demands an insurance cover from coface. After clearance from the committee on long-term export, the bank grants the loan, using simple financial operations: on selling to a foreign customer, a firm takes insurance credit and, on taking delivery, the buyer sends a promisory note through his bank that becomes a liquid asset for the French firm, which can then ask its bank or the export bank to grant it credit on the basis on the face value of the promisory note. Many variables come into the transaction such as the importance of the market to the economy, whether or not the transaction is with a public or private buyer, the current interest rates, etc.

Credit purchase

52In this case, there is a contract between the exporter and the importer on the one hand, and between the importer and the banks in is country on the other. These banks must be acceptable to and recognised by banks in the exporter’s country. These transactions also are on long-term basis and must concern important markets or sales which can lead to further French exports.

Government-to-government credit

53The French government grants loans at friendly rates (about 6 to 9 %, according to F. David) to friendly nations, usually in developing economies, with which to buy their industrial development needs (from France). Commercial credits are meant to encourage the export of industrial goods and services, thereby stimulating the economy (this is a strategy of demand creation in developing economies). This is probably the most active export promotion strategy since the risks of non-payment, changes in exchange rates, the cancellation of markets as well as political risks are very much reduced. It is particularly effective in France since she has a large "protected market’’.14 The imf argues that pure financial assistance is preferable to this type of assistance.

Official Development Assistance (ODA)

54There is an official commitment on the part of the advanced economies to devote 0.7 % of their GNP to ODA for the benefit of developing economies. Of course, this money is not given in cash but tied to the import needs of the developing economies.

3.1.3 The currency devaluation sub-system

55When it devalues the franc, France makes its products cheaper, thereby giving a push to its exports. For this strategy to succeed, however, the demand for French products must be positively responsive to the cut in prices. Domestic production should also be capable of meeting the resulting high demand. Lastly, imports must be reduced so as to avoid internal price increases.

3.1.4 Industrial reconversion and modernisation

56Aid meant for industrial reconversion and modernisation can be considered as an export promotion strategy. A good example is the 1984/85 modernisation of the coal and the iron and steel industries in France which was to give them a competitive edge in international markets by enabling them to produce cheaper products.

3.1.5 The fiscal measures sub-system

57Here we have budgetary tools that are used to promote export. In France, the internal revenue law allows exporters the possibility of, among other things, accelerating the rate of amortisation of the cost of their investment, thereby reinforcing their liquidity and capacity to produce for export. The general revenue code authorises the suspension of the import tax on raw materials needed for the production of goods for export. It also allows the deduction of the cost of running an export office in foreign markets from a firm’s gross profit for three years. There is also the value added tax (vat). This does not concern products for export. However, there is the possibility of deducting vat incurred by the purchase of raw materials used in the production of goods for export. In situations where the volume of sales does not permit full deduction of vat, application for reimbursement of the excess is made to the revenue office.

58To conclude this section on the monetary system of export promotion in Frace, we must point out the policy implications of all these policies for a country like Nigeria; that is, export promotion policy should be given a wide conception or vision. This will enable it to weave its strategies into different strands of the economy.

3.2. The non-monetary system of export promotion

59Here we are dealing with non-monetary incentives. These take various forms and involve a number of institutions.

3.2.1. National institutions

60There is a network of public institutions to ensure that the export economy operates at the rate set by the government. These are

1. the Bank of France (which regulates export credit and fixes an advantageous interest rate for export credit sales)

2. the French Export Bank (which mobilises long-term export credit for exporting firms and mobilises credit for foreign customers of French products)

3. the Export Insurance Company (which guarantees export risk for its adherents, guarantees export credit for exporters, advises exporters on foreign market risks, etc.

4. the French Centre for External Trade (which produces information about foreign markets, passes such information to exporters, advises exporters on economic opportunities in each market and for each product in the world, etc.)

5. the National Commission for Credit (which advises on the merits or demerits of all long-term credit to promote export, i.e. staff service function)

6. the Central Tax Office (which facilitates all the procedures for export, interprets the tax laws on export, etc.)

7. regional departments of external trade (DREE)

3.2.2. Mass information

61The French have a policy of letting every citizen understand what their country can gain from the export economy. There is a call for physical and psychological movement towards international selling and marketing. This takes the form of exhortations such as: "Think export", "Look outside", "Move out and beyond the Hexagon". To reinforce these exhortations, specialised magazines and journals (moci and assexpot, for example) are produced.

3.2.3. Sectorial economic planning and redeployment

62This refers to the mobilisation of the skills and vision necessary to modernise and restructure the productive infrastructures so as to make them responsive to international market conditions. These conditions include: cost advantage, product quality research and development, marketing, and steady supply of goods and services.

3.2.4. Organisation of information

63The strategy here is to pool together economic, commercial and technical information necessary for the execution of export activities (buying habits of foreign customers, product use, attitude to packaging, distribution, publicity, negotiation price, technical norms, etc.). The exporting economies perfect communication circuits through which such economic and commercial information can be sent within a short time, thereby facilitating export activity.

3.2.5. Participating in and support for international dialogue on the liberalisation of trade

64As an industrial democracy, France favours the free circulation of goods and services, provided such circulation respects international and national laws. She therefore supports all international conferences and declarations in favour of free trade. This is tacit export promotion since she stands to gain from free trade.

3.2.6. Creation of the post of roving ambassador

65Initiated in 1986, this is the latest in French public export promotion strategies. The roving ambassador15 has the mission to sell French high-technology products (e.g. nuclear and power stations, arms, aeroplanes) to foreign buyers. He is a "hyper" salesman for the state, using some of the methods of an orthodox salesman.

3.2.7. Yearly export merit awards to the best exporters

66Instituted more than 30 years ago, this is a decorative award to honour companies which make about 50 % of their annual turnover from exports. A highly valued award, it is a sign of the quality of the products and combative management practice of a company.

3.2.8. Political stability

67There is political stability in France which serves as a form of export promotion since importers of French products can be sure that political instability will not disrupt the flow of goods. This should serve as a good lesson to developing economies.

3.2.9. Good political relationship with other nations

68Despite the difficulties inherent in such a policy, France tries to keep a good political relationship with other nations. This creates the background friendliness whicn encourages cultural and technical cooperation agreements that can become the pipelines for promoting exports.

3.2.10. Strategic management orientation

69This is probably one of the most powerful export promotion strategies and can be defined as management thinking and practice that tries to adjust the long-term export objectives of the French economy to the exigencies of the export environment. It is a conveyor belt for all the other elements of export promotion. Though intangible and invisible, it functions as an integrative force.

4. Perspectives of French public export promotion strategies

4.1. Perspectives in the short-term

70To be able to construct possible scenarios for the short-term, some preliminary environmental analysis appears to be necessary.

4.1.1. Internal economic, political and social factors

71In France, 2.4 million people (10.7 % of the 23.9 million active population) are unemployed. One way to tackle this problem is to increase the volume of export. France thus needs to continue with her export promotion strategies, especially gien the increasing presence of French companies on the international scene. It is also in the interest of France to promote exports so as to avoid trade deficits and external borrowing, both of which can dilute her national integrity and security.

4.1.2. Tendency towards less government intervention in the economy

72The public sector in France generates 48 % of the GNP (Businessweek, January 12, 1987, p. 7) but things are changing. Recently, there were privatisations and deregulations which may lead to a reduction in public export promotion. Added to this is the conservative government’s outcry over the cost of promoting exports. There may thus be a cut-back in direct export financing and perhaps a greater cut-back in non-monetary promotion.

4.1.3. International competition and the attitude of competitors to export promotion

73With all her competitors using public export promotion strategies, France is not going to abandon her own strategies, especially in the face of intensified competition from Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. She may resort to protectionist approaches as was done by the EEC which, on 18th December 1987, ended special tariff advantages for Korea. But such measures can only be temporary, more permanent ones consisting of counter-attacking by a more dynamic export drive. On the other hand, there has been a gradual opening of hitherto difficult or closed markets such as China and Japan. For instance, Peugeot established a car assembly plant in China in 1985. Finally, there is the risk involved in international operations, which is increasing in the developing world. None of these can leave any government indifferent.

4.1.4. Increasing indebtedness of developing economies

74The developing countries have huge foreign debts. At the end of 1986, for example, Brazil owed 109.2 billion dollars, Mexico 100.4 billion, Argentina 53 billion, Venezuela 34.1 billion, Philippines 28.3 billion and Nigeria 25.2 billion.16 Such indebted countries are unable to import as much as they might wish. This can have a significant impact on the economies of exporting countries and may force a country like France to continue to play a more active role in export promotion.

4.2. Perspectives in the long-term

75"Long-term" is used here to refer to a time interval long enough for major changes to be made in the structures and mechanisms of international trade practices and for such changes to modify export promotion, perhaps starting a new wave of thinking about export promotion. Some of the factors which may affect export promotion in the long-term are analysed here.

4.2.1. The pressure from international organisations

76Most international organisations such as GATT, EEC, OECD, and the IMF, resent public export promotion from the point of view of its multiplicity, diversity and, as is often the case, absence of transparence.

4.2.2. International harmonisation of all elements of export promotion

77There may be the need to hold international conferences to identify and harmonise all the material and non-material components of public export promotion. At present, the components differ in meaning according to countries and according to the moral and political integrity of those in government.

4.2.3. International attitude to international accords

78Most nations tend to give international accords wide interpretations at home and there is the need for more reciprocity and transparence.

79In view of these factors, two scenarios for the long-term can be logically proposed:

80a. a likely shift in public export promotion in France from a predominantly monetary to a softer and more discrete non-monetary strategy.

81b. a likely shift in public export promotion orientation in favour of "filialisation" or subsidiarisation.

5. Lessons for Nigeria’s export economy

82Our discussion here has been based on certain objective assumptions about Nigeria: that she is part of the international scene; the present state of under-industrialisation of her economy is a passing stage and has nothing permanent about it; she has oil-wealth, population, and high market potential; she uses a language of international commerce; she has decided to opt for a free enterprise system; and, finally, she is the most integrated African country in the international economic system.

83Given all these facts, Nigeria’s export economy can draw several lessons from realities about export economies and international markets. The realities include the following:

84a. the international export market is not homogeneous (there are numerous environmental needs to satisfy) and changes rapidly and profoundly under the influence of technology, communications, human conceptions and changes in the conceptions of the ultimate aim of the universe

85b. there is an intensified competition to satisfy human needs while some economies have better tools than others for the competition

86c. even when adequate tools are possessed, international competition involves risk, fatigue, victory, defeat, shock, etc.

87d. macro-economic planners are always ready to seize every opportunity to work towards protectionism

88e. the international market is, nevertheless, not a rat-race, but a world where there are rules and regulations, methods, defined actions, programmed and ordered ideas, which leave no room for chance

89f. reactions to these factors are by the means of policy, strategy and tactics

90g. the force of excellence is fast replacing the theory of profit maximisation

91Against this background, there is certainly the need to build enough internal motivation and conviction within the nation so as to appreciate constantly that:

92h. an export economy is a sub-economy and thus needs the necessary infrastructures for its construction, integration with other sub-systems of the national and international economies, and promotion

93i. the construction of an. export economy is a continuous exercise because, as one of the sub-systems of the national economy, it is likely to affect the entire economic system if it breaks down

94j. as a sub-system, the export economy has its own component parts and specific environment, of which export promotion forms only a part; the question therefore being to determine the sequence of the components and the place in which export promotion is situated in the construction chain

95k. given all the fundamental hypotheses posed earlier, the questions should be asked as to what export promotion is, from the point of view of Nigerians export economy objectives; whether we need a narrow definition, a broad definition, an aggressive, or a defensive definition, or some or all of these; what the coordinated choices of action are to convert Nigeria’s chosen visions of export promotion into reality; how these choices of action can be arranged in order of priority, and over time, so as respond to defined and desired realities; and how the responsibilities can be functionalised and achieve social consensus.

96Other questions could be asked but these should suffice since our objective is simply to use them to provoke profound reflection on the issue. Moreover, these questions can help us to propose some policy recommendations.

6. Recommendations for public export promotion strategy

97We recommend that policy makers in Nigeria should consider constructing future export promotion policies on three virtues: professional competence, intellectual ability and skill in strategy.

98Export strategies should be professionally designed, and all exporters or potential exporters should use easily, without needing first to understand the complex chain of events that resulted in the policy they are using. In other words, the exporters should be in a position to act straightaway instead of needing first to think of how to act.

99Necessary intellectual and conceptual infrastructures must be developed to form the framework of all other actions. For example, the definitional frame given to the concept of export promotion, export economy, etc., will form the framework of other actions. Other activities here may include: research and development, the necessary contribution of the Ministry of External Trade, the Export Council and the universities or other specialised institutes. The objective is to create operational skills which will be used as input factors in the export economy, and in export promotion in particular.

100The strategy employed should emphasise the continuity of long-term policy and see public export promotion as an investment and not an ad hoc project embarked upon for the purpose of debt rescheduling, for example.

Conclusion

101French public export promotion has been described as one of the most dynamic and sophisticated in the world. It owes this reputation to a graceful and elegant combination of monetary and non-monetary strategies which have been developed over the years within the contexts of national economy, national independence and national security.

102Nigeria has some lessons it can learn from France for her export economy and eventual export promotion strategies. These are:

1. the international export market is highly complex and competitive and, as a result, export promotions strategies must be equally complex and competitive;

2. complexity and competitiveness of strategies are achieved through a multi-disciplinary integration of economic policy, modern management orientation and national intellectual industry;

3. modern management gives these diverse disciplines a unified (systemic) sense of direction, continuity, dynamism and effectiveness.