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Those celebrated trade missions that received so much coverage in the 1990s and early part of this century may not have been as effective as governments professed. Pictures of former prime minister Jean Chretien striding the streets of Beijing with a posse of Canadian business executives looking for work did bring home deals but did they cause a permanent increase in bilateral trade? Two University of British Columbia professors have discovered that they didn’t.

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Andrew Yui This is not intended to provide views on "Team Canada Missions" as I am not in the position to do so. However, I would like to share my views on "trade missions in general". I hope that the article would encourage Canadian companies to carefully weigh the possible values of "trade missions in general" and decide if and how participation in trade missions would add values to their business plans. I would like to share my observations of "trade missions" below and sincerely hope that participants of trade missions in the past as well as other interested parties would like to share their comments and experience. 1/. Given the ongoing global economic headwinds, in particular, the slow recovery of Canada’s traditional markets, Canadian companies (including SMEs) are anxious to find potential destinations for their business diversification. However, these companies, especially SMEs, with limited resources, have to be rigorously strategic when devising their market diversification plans – not spreading their resources too thinly or wasting them. 2/. Some of the core pieces that these companies have to put together for the “puzzle” of market diversification include: (i) Obtaining real-time market intelligence; (ii) Finding qualified potential business partners; (iii) Going to the market in a strategic way; and (iv) Preparing a plan for the finance, logistics, legal, due diligence, and other related areas – areas that services providers can help 3/. For points 2 (i), (ii) and (iii), there are various ways for Canadian companies to proceed, and there are various sources of assistance and services that they can tap into. Trade missions would be one of the possible short cuts for these companies if: (a) The organizers of the missions can provide adequate advice, services and assistance to the delegates; (b) The programmes are devised and arranged for the business benefits of the delegates – i.e. adding the best possible values to assist the delegates in pursuing their business interests; (c) The delegate-companies, in advance, know clearly what the objectives of their participation in the missions are, and spend time in advance in making appropriate preparations – making full use of the services and assistance of the organizers “in advance”; and (d) The delegate-companies, after the missions, follow up diligently and closely on the promising leads, and if necessary, continue to leverage the services of the mission organizers, and at the minimum, keep the organizers posted of the progress 4/. In conclusion, I believe trade missions are useful platforms to facilitate Canadian companies to diversify their business and go beyond the traditional borders. However, Canadian companies have to be careful of selecting which trade missions are suitable for them to join – according to their resources, their needs, and reviewing who are the organizers, what kind of programmes are offered, what the costs are, what kind of services would be available in advance of as well as after the missions. Last but not least, trade is bilateral, the above not only applies to exporters, but also to importers as well.
  • 2010-08-22 11:52:16
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Andrew Yui This is not intended to provide views on "Team Canada Missions" as I am not in the position to do so. However, I would like to share my views on "trade missions in general". I hope that the article would encourage Canadian companies to carefully weigh the possible values of "trade missions in general" and decide if and how participation in trade missions would add values to their business plans. I would like to share my observations of "trade missions" below and sincerely hope that participants of trade missions in the past as well as other interested parties would like to share their comments and experience. 1/. Given the ongoing global economic headwinds, in particular, the slow recovery of Canada’s traditional markets, Canadian companies (including SMEs) are anxious to find potential destinations for their business diversification. However, these companies, especially SMEs, with limited resources, have to be rigorously strategic when devising their market diversification plans – not spreading their resources too thinly or wasting them. 2/. Some of the core pieces that these companies have to put together for the “puzzle” of market diversification include: (i) Obtaining real-time market intelligence; (ii) Finding qualified potential business partners; (iii) Going to the market in a strategic way; and (iv) Preparing a plan for the finance, logistics, legal, due diligence, and other related areas – areas that services providers can help 3/. For points 2 (i), (ii) and (iii), there are various ways for Canadian companies to proceed, and there are various sources of assistance and services that they can tap into. Trade missions would be one of the possible short cuts for these companies if: (a) The organizers of the missions can provide adequate advice, services and assistance to the delegates; (b) The programmes are devised and arranged for the business benefits of the delegates – i.e. adding the best possible values to assist the delegates in pursuing their business interests; (c) The delegate-companies, in advance, know clearly what the objectives of their participation in the missions are, and spend time in advance in making appropriate preparations – making full use of the services and assistance of the organizers “in advance”; and (d) The delegate-companies, after the missions, follow up diligently and closely on the promising leads, and if necessary, continue to leverage the services of the mission organizers, and at the minimum, keep the organizers posted of the progress 4/. In conclusion, I believe trade missions are useful platforms to facilitate Canadian companies to diversify their business and go beyond the traditional borders. However, Canadian companies have to be careful of selecting which trade missions are suitable for them to join – according to their resources, their needs, and reviewing who are the organizers, what kind of programmes are offered, what the costs are, what kind of services would be available in advance of as well as after the missions. Last but not least, trade is bilateral, the above not only applies to exporters, but also to importers as well.
  • 2010-08-22 11:52:16