Winning over export markets with smes

In 10 years, the number of small and medium French exporters has declined worryingly. In its “SME and foreign trade” opinion of 11 July 2007, the Economic and Social Council already expressed its concerns about this inadequate presence in foreign markets, and made a certain number of recommendations to allow our SME to focus more on the international market.
Since then, voluntary measures have been taken by the public authorities in accordance with the spirit of these recommendations, but they have not been sufficient to reverse the situation. The poor performance of our foreign trade has worsened, with a trade deficit which reached, in 2011, the record level of €69.6B.
Of course, French entrepreneurial culture is not necessarily ideal for the international development of SMEs, unlike in Germany and Italy. Our assembly therefore considers that there should be more vigorous action to give company managers the confidence and will to develop export activities. To this end, it has identified four areas for priority action.