The role of support services in expanding manufactured exports in developing countries

Abstract

What institutional arrangements, policies, and external assistance can be expected to yield good results in the area of support services for exports? The three papers in this volume address this issue and provide useful answers. The usual approach, the authors all agree, has been a failure in developing countries. Most developing countries have public sector export promotion organizations that provide promotional, information, marketing, and other services to help expand exports and of which much international technical assistance has been channeled through. The authors offer sharply negative assessments of these organizations' practical contributions up to now. With rare exceptions, the authors contend, the services and assistance provided have been ineffective. They sketch alternative approaches recently developed by international assistance organizations for some of the aid in this field. These approaches typically involve bringing in consultants to work directly with enterprises, usually starting with the technical and supply problems holding exports back. The authors also put forward recommendations which focus primarily on getting export businesses to use private services to teach potential export suppliers how to produce what the market wants and needs.

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