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Commercial Diplomacy and International Business
March 5, 2007. Commercial diplomacy is a significant factor in the on-going process of globalization, yet there is a shortage of empirical research on this activity. In this new Discussion Paper in Diplomacy by Michel Kostecki and Olivier Naray report on the results of an empirical study conducted among diplomats and managers. It identifies three dominant types of commercial diplomats: civil servant, generalist and business promoter. The paper shows how commercial diplomacy contributes to the promotion of international trade and corporate partnership, to the resolution of business conflicts and the marketing of a country as a location for foreign investments, R&D activities or tourist destination and "made-in". It presents the current trends in commercial diplomacy, examines the determinants of its value chain and service fees and makes a number of suggestions on how to improve performance given the growing willingness of governments to emphasize the business promotion approach. Read more »