The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Businesses need to take charge of external trade
At some point in a some previous decade, the idea took hold that government had primary responsibility to grow overseas trade from Scotland.
Both before and after devolution, commentary on our export performance came to rest on the assumption failures and successes in international trade should be ascribed to government and its agencies.
But why should the public sector take the blame or credit?
After all, government’s role is to create conditions for businesses to be born and to thrive.
The more you consider it, the more absurd it seems that the export performance of Scotland’s companies should be placed on the shoulders of public servants.
However well-motivated , hardworking and strong their commercial and regulatory knowledge, as officials they know less about our companies’ latest products, services and dynamic global markets than those whose daily bread depends on that knowledge.
It was this realisation and the need to try something different that gave rise to the Scottish Chambers Network’s International Trade Partnership.
Earlier this month, the Scottish Chambers hosted a dinner for the Chinese ambassador, Liu Xiaoming, in which we celebrated the success of our first major project.
Mr Liu congratulated the Scottish Chambers on the establishment of our first international trade office in the Shandong Province and promised further cooperation.
The event, which was attended by economy secretary Keith Brown MSP and 200 Scottish companies, has already given rise to opportunities to further the business-to-business engagement with China.
We need to change from continually demanding and expecting Scottish Government and its agencies increase the number of businesses that export.
It is the role of businesses to lead the way within this environment, managing our resources and expanding into new markets and letting Government know what practical export support is working and what can be improved.
It is only by playing to our respective strengths we will maximise returns.
Government’s role is to support, to signpost, to facilitate and to help disseminate best practice.
To his credit, Mr Brown is as unhappy as the Scottish Chambers is about the comparatively feeble amount of exporting being done by Scottish SMEs.
In his speech he noted that only 7% of Scottish companies exported, compared to 75% in Bavaria.
No economy minister worth their salt would be content with this and he clearly intends to make an impact.
Mr Brown has demonstrated leadership by trusting and respecting the role of the Scottish Chamber Network across Scotland, to support the chambers as it works with the public sector to develop new models of international B2B partnerships.
Our job is to deliver results through these partnerships, and we intend to see it through.