The Effectiveness of Trade Missions: How Communication Benefits Played a Role in the 2015 Dutch Trade Missions to India and China

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The Effectiveness of Trade Missions: How Communication Benefits Played a Role in the 2015 Dutch Trade Missions to India and China

Master Thesis By: Wim Out S1378430 27-2-2019 Words: 14.246

Department of International Relations Supervised by: Prof. dr. I.G.B.M Duijvestijn

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Making businesses run better is, and always has been, one of the top priorities of many governments. One of the tools they use to help businesses thrive are export promotion programs (EPPs) (Lederman et al, 2006, p. 1). Supporting businesses via EPPs is growing in popularity (Lederman et al, 2006, p. 1). Exemplifying this is the number of export promotion agencies in the world, which have tripled in the last few decades (Lederman et al, 2006, p. 1). It is, however, unclear if EPPs indeed have the intended effect of making businesses more successful. Much of the research on the effectiveness of EPPs is performed by using database analysis with details of thousands of organizations of many different countries. A method that is frequently used in researching the effectiveness of EPPs employs the gravity equation: an analysis of a simulation of trade. A gap exists in research on the performance of EPPs at the organizational level (Gencturk & Kotabe, 2001, p. 66). To complement cross-country regressions, case studies are needed (Lederman et al, 2006, p. 24). This thesis endeavors to fill this gap of lacking organization-specific data. It does this by examining the goals, motives and experiences of organizations that have participated in two Dutch trade missions in 2015, to India and China. By focusing on a single EPP tool, the trade mission, this thesis aims to uncover new, qualitative data. To answer the question: "To what extent are Dutch trade missions to China and India effective as an export promotion program?" this thesis explores how Dutch organizations operating in China and India use trade missions and other EPPs and attempts to uncover potential benefits and issues that are typical for trade missions. To do this, eight interviews with representatives from five organizations were conducted. Findings from this thesis indicate that trade missions are helpful for organizations seeking communication benefits. Especially benefits that are hard to quantify, that can be summarized as networking, information and publicity benefits are found to be derived from trade mission participation. Knowing that these benefits can be derived from trade mission participation further underlines the effectiveness of the trade mission as an important EPP, and offers new avenues of research into these typically hard to measure benefits.

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4 2. Methodology

Defining EPPs and trade missions

EPPs are tools that governments use to increase their export by offering companies, and sometimes other organizations such as universities, different kinds of benefits. EPPs are associated with the state from which they receive funding. They are effectively part of a national or regional administration. For example, one goal of EPPs is to find markets for either current or potential exporters and provide these exporters with a better understanding of a market to meet the demand in that particular market (Lederman et al, 2006, p. 2). EPPs can perform these tasks abroad, via organizing trade missions or trade fairs, or from the state they are funded by via, for example, market research (Lederman et al, 2006, p. 2). EPPs can also operate exclusively abroad, and build their own international network to support international businesses. The economic detachments of embassies that states use to increase trade in an area are an example of an EPP operating exclusively abroad.

Trade missions are another example of an EPP that operates exclusively abroad. They are frequently organized by either the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or by municipalities. This ministry or municipality, from here on referred to as the organizing party, first chooses a state to visit. The organizing party then gathers a group of representatives that are interested in expanding their business in, or to, that state. The organizing party often provides a program for the participating representatives, with for example matchmaking events, workshops and presentations, all aimed to contribute to the businesses of the participants. Larger trade missions, as researched in this thesis, organized by ministries often have high-level representation, such as a minister, as the figurehead of a trade mission. Trade missions organized by municipalities are almost never led by ministers, and often have fewer participants than trade missions organized by ministries. They are often headed by either a mayor, or they have no clear figurehead. One of the goals of this thesis is finding out why participants chose to join a large trade mission organized by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, led by the prime minister of the Netherlands, instead of joining a smaller trade mission, and if organizations participate in both smaller and larger trade missions. Trade missions differ from most other EPPs in the sense that they always take place abroad, and that they are short, event-based EPPs. Typically, trade missions last two to three days, the two trade missions researched in this thesis both had an

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agenda of three days. Trade missions differ from business conferences by often having high-level political representation associated with them, and by being organized exclusively abroad. In the data analysis section, I will elaborate on how the organizations of the representatives use trade missions and other EPPs.

Research overview

This thesis comprises the analysis of multiple organizations that participated in the Dutch trade missions to India and China in 2015. Data was collected via interviews. This data was complemented by quantitative organization-specific data gathered from, for example, annual company reports. Organizations were selected based on their participation in the trade missions. Two missions were chosen to examine, to be able to compare them. It is less likely that organizations review trade missions they participated in negatively, as this might reflect poorly on them. By letting the representatives of the organizations compare two missions their organization participated in, differences between the missions could be more easily brought to light. No comparison between two different EPPs was chosen to measure their effectiveness, as each EPP has its own goals with their rate of success measured in a unique way (Geldres-Weiss & Monreal-Peréz, 2017, p. 670).

The quantitative data was used to help to measure the level of activity before and a few years after the trade mission. For example, if the number of company assets in a state remains low or drops a few years after the trade missions, it might be a sign of the trade mission participation not having had the desired effect. Quantitative analysis was conducted first, in preparation of the interviews. The interviews were semi-open, were structured using a topic list with time allotted for additional questions to account for the complex nature of the subject. A baseline sample topic list can be found in Appendix A. The interviews were primarily conducted in person. If this was not possible, they were conducted via telephone. Some examples of questions that always were asked are if the representatives considered their participation in the trade mission successful, what the result of their participation was and if they have joined other Dutch trade missions after the 2015 trade missions. The baseline topic list as it can be found in Appendix A was used as a baseline and was adapted to each interview with the already gathered quantitative data.

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The eight interviews with representatives from Elsevier, FMO, ING, Meijburg en Co and Wageningen University Research were conducted from November 2018 to January 2019. 17 representatives from seven organizations were invited for an interview. Two representatives declined participation and seven did not respond after sending multiple invitations for an interview. More interviewee information can be found in Appendix B. ING was the only organization from which representatives were interviewed that did not participate in both trade missions. ING had no China delegation in 2015. The reason ING was included in the research was because ING has a large presence in China and not a large presence in India. It seemed almost contradictory to not participate in a trade mission to an already important country for your organization while participating in a trade mission to a country with comparatively little investments made in it. ING, however, chooses to prioritize trade mission participation in new markets, such as India, while it seeks to organize its own events during trade missions in an established market such as China. The interviewees said that China participation for ING is unlikely if they are unable to organize their own events. I will elaborate on this in the additional findings section. The two trade missions in 2015 were chosen to select cases from as the timing of these trade missions was useful from a methodological standpoint. They both happened in the not too distant past. Therefore, participants were still able to recall details about the trade mission, while the trade missions should already have borne fruit. If nothing happened three years after a trade mission, it is hard to argue that the trade mission was an unequivocal success. The trade missions both went to large, important and upcoming markets. Therefore the interest of the organizations in these states was both serious and high-level and it makes the two missions easier to compare to each other. To safeguard the interests of the interviewees and their respective organizations, identifying information was partially anonymized and interviewees were able to review this thesis before it was submitted. The method of data collection via interviews was chosen to be able to uncover qualitative data linked to trade missions. As other researchers have already performed ample quantitative research, qualitative was deemed to currently be more likely to be more useful to the field. Focus groups were also considered as another method of qualitative data collection, but as possibly sensitive company-specific was to be discussed among potentially rival organizations, one-on-one interviews were deemed a more effective way to collect information on the organizations in question.

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Limitations

A possible limitation of this approach is its limited external validity, which is typical of qualitative data collection. The data collected in this research is meant to complement quantitative data already collected, that points towards EPPs being effective, as elaborated on in the literature review section. This qualitative data could, for example, be used as a guideline to improve simulations employing the gravity equation or to provide new avenues of research. Another issue with interviews on events that happened multiple years ago is that interviewees might not have remembered the details of the trade mission correctly. Most of the questions, however, are based on how their organization currently cooperates with the partners they met on the 2015 trade missions, so they can use current knowledge to answer most questions. The answers of the interviewees were also cross-referenced with the data from other interviewees from the same organization and with quantitative data where possible. After cross-referencing the answers, no major discrepancies between the statements of different representatives from the same organization were found.

Another limitation is that most interviewees have only participated in one of the trade missions, and not both, even though their organization participated in both trade missions. From the 122 organizations listed in the 2015 China and India mission booklets, only six participated in both trade missions and were thus eligible for examination. From these organizations, only one individual, from the Dutch investment bank FMO, participated in both the trade missions. The other five organizations had separate India/China teams, which led to participants only having knowledge about one of the two trade missions their organization participated in. So, for most interviews, it was impossible to let the interviewees compare the trade missions their organization participated in. The interviewees were, however, not overly positive about their trade mission participation. All interviewees offered criticism on trade missions as an EPP, and all could think of ways to improve them. This makes this safeguard installed within the methodology of this research both impossible to execute and not as important for the internal validity of the research. Another limitation, however, resulted from the prioritization of only including organizations that participated in both trade missions. Only large organizations participated in both trade missions, making it hard to say anything decisive on how small organizations experience trade missions.

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8 3. Literature review

First, I will give an overview of the academic field on EPPs. Most of the research on EPPs is carried out by economists. This is likely the reason why there is much econometric research done on the subject of trade missions. This study complements the results from these econometric studies and uses qualitative data to find out what aspects of trade missions are most important for the effectiveness of a trade mission. Scholars that argue that EPPs are effective tools for increasing the export of a state are referred to as optimists in this literature review. Scholars that argue to the contrary are referred to as critics. In this field, there are more optimists than critics. Especially strategies that entail export promotion via embassies (Rose, 2007, p. 22), information exchange via for example trade-seminars (Gencturk & Kotabe, 2001, p. 57) and free trade agreements (FTAs) (Baier & Bergstrand, 2005, p. 72) are found to be effective. There are also disagreements about some EPPs. For example, the usefulness of World Trade Organization (WTO) and General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) membership is disputed (Rose, 2004, p. 98), as is which type of organization benefit most from EPPs. Some authors argue that especially small-medium-sized companies benefit most from EPPs (Gil et al, 2007, p. 140) while others argue especially large companies benefit from EPPs, especially large companies that have not started exporting (Lederman et al, 2006, p. 3). Optimists often try to confirm the effectiveness of EPPs by presenting cases in which EPPs were successful in achieving their goals. Within the optimist school of thought, a working EPP is defined as an EPP that increases export. Increased export is not necessarily linked to welfare benefits in a state; it is almost impossible to link these two concepts (Lederman et al, 2006, p. 6). Some authors, like Wilkinson & Brouthers, do seem to think that such a link exists (2000, p. 731). This is a point of contention in the optimist school of thought. The authors that claim that this link exists, however, do not offer satisfactory evidence to prove its existence. Critics often draw attention to poorly functioning EPPs, and pose arguments why governments should spend less on EPPs. It logically follows from their arguments that EPPs are not linked to welfare benefits in a state, this is thus something most optimist and critical scholars can agree on.

The gravity equation

In many of the articles covered in this literature review, authors use the gravity equation to calculate the effects of EPPs. The gravity equation is a tool economists use to simulate and

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calculate trade in a system (Chaney, 2013, p. 150). The gravity equation was formulated by Tinbergen in 1962 and is analogous to Newton's universal law of gravity (Chaney, 2013, p. 150). It describes patterns of bilateral aggregate trade flows between any two countries as proportional to the gross national product of those countries and inversely proportional to the distance between them (Chaney, 2013, p. 151). This basic equation can be augmented to account for extra controlling variables, adding different actors and factors that might be positive or negative for trade to simulate a specific system of trade (Rose, 2004, p. 99). When using this equation, many authors noted that some parts of an economic system were not accounted for in their calculations, making their simulation dissimilar to real-world trade (Baier & Bergstrand, 2005, p. 92) (Spence, 1999, p. 95). Especially the role of distance in trade remains hard to simulate (Chaney, 2013, p. 150). This pattern of caveats associated with the gravity equation reveals how it is unable to perfectly simulate trade. The gravity equation is thus useful for getting an idea about how trade systems work, but it is not a perfect tool. Qualitative data could inform economists to improve their gravity equations. I will now elaborate on the articles, starting with optimist scholars and concluding with critical scholars.

Optimists

The optimist school of thought is characterized by researchers checking the effectiveness of EPPs in different ways, and finding that EPPs do positively influence the export of states that employ this tool. Some optimistic authors write comprehensive overviews on the effectiveness of EPPs such as Oudalov and Geldres-Weiss & Monreal-Peréz, while others are interested in the effectiveness of state-specific EPPs such as Spence. Other authors are interested in details about specific EPPs. For example, Olaru seeks to explain EPPs via their perceived link with trade promotion offices. The main point of contention in the optimist school of thought is if EPPs, because they increase the export of a state, also have welfare benefits associated with them. Authors like Wilkinson & Brouthers and Culbreath-manly et al that argue that EPPs do have welfare benefits for a state, do not solidify their claims with relevant data. Most authors in the optimist school of thought do not argue that EPPs have welfare benefits, mainly because this is hard to prove (Lederman et al, 2006, p. 6, Head & Ries, 2010, p. 733). As mentioned before, this is something most optimist and critical scholars could agree on: there is no proof that EPPs have welfare benefits associated with them. The articles from the optimist school of thought are

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broadly dividable in three groups. There are authors that focus on a single EPP in their article, those that focus on multiple EPPs and descriptive articles. Descriptive articles are not necessarily on EPP effectiveness, but rather on concepts that are linked to how EPPs function, and what other effects they might have. For example, Wilkinson & Brouthers are interested in the link between foreign direct investment (FDI) and EPPs. I will first elaborate on articles that focus on a single EPP.

Research on single EPPs

Research on the effectiveness of FTAs between bilateral partners indicates that FTAs increased trade between bilateral partners by around 100% in ten years (Baier & Bergstrand, 2005, p. 72). A first important point of discussion, however, is if FTAs should be considered EPPs. I would argue they are, as FTAs are a governmental tool with the intention to increase trade. They are, however, due to their inherently cooperative nature, different than other EPPs. Baier & Bergstrand argue that due to standard trade flow equations in the gravity equation, the impact of FTAs are underestimated (2005, p. 74). To solve this issue, they argue for the use of a theoretically-motivated gravity equation using panel data with country-and-time effects (Baier & Bergstrand, 2005, p. 74). Another way to solve this would be using differentiated panel data with country-and-time effects in a gravity equation (Baier & Bergstrand, 2005, p. 74). One caveat is that this paper did not account for trade between non-members (Baier & Bergstrand, 2005, p. 92). This paper is typical of the pattern that is visible in the work of optimist authors. Extensive and complex mathematical equations are performed on trade data with the intent of measuring the effectiveness of EPPs, but due to some unforeseen external variable, the results of a study are not as internally valid as they could have been, leading to no definitive statements on EPP effectiveness. It is also typical for the field that the authors try to solve this issue by further elaborating on the gravity equation, in this instance adding country-and-time effects as new variables. The smaller scale, organization-focused research of this paper is intended to offer additional clarity on papers like these, possibly opening new avenues of research.

The gravity equation has also been used to find out if Spanish regional agencies increase trade, and results suggest that they do (Gil et al, 2007, p. 139). Creation of these regional consular embassies is found to be mainly in favor of small-medium sized companies, especially if the

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state's intention is to increase export (Gil et al, 2007, p. 140). In more recent studies, this effect has been confirmed, but before the 2000s this effect was disputed (Gil et al, 2007, p. 140). There is little to criticize in this short paper, due to its limited, solely Spanish scope. Research similar to the Gil et al research that had similar results is described in the Rose article. Rose is also interested in the role of agencies abroad (2007, p. 22). Embassies were historically a way to communicate quickly with other states (Rose, 2007, p. 22). Due to the rise of the internet and other communication methods, embassies are now mainly used for export promotion (Rose, 2007, p. 22). While checking for reverse causality, Rose found that especially the first foreign embassy increased trade (Rose, 2007, p. 23). 22 States were studied as part of this article, most of which are Western states (Rose, 2007, p. 35). For example, no African states were part of this research, somewhat mitigating how generalizable the findings of this article are. The author also seems reluctant to operationalize the findings of his research. If these tools "work", as Rose argues (2007, p. 35), it seems strange to not advise states to use EPPs.

In his one-pager, Higgins, at that time the CEO of NEPIC, reflects on a trade mission. In this paper, the importance of meeting the "right companies" is highlighted, and with this the importance of the difficult to measure networking process (Higgins, 2017, p. 43). Higgins does not explain what he means with the "right companies". Presumably, he means companies that have been most useful for his own business conduct. Higgins thinks that the trade mission he joined sped up the exporting process to India by around a year (2017, p. 43). He uses trade missions to get information about performance, capabilities and sometimes about health/safety issues (Higgins, 2017, p. 43). This insider view gives some initial qualitative data into why trade missions might be effective EPP tools. Much of the information Higgins gives would have followed from questions I would have asked him in an interview about the trade mission he joined, this paper was thus a helpful inspiration for the topic lists. Especially his focus on the benefits of information retrieval and networking are parts of the EPP process that are hard to measure in the often-used gravity equation. One downside of this article that somewhat mitigates its applicability is the fact that this insider view is potentially biased towards a positive result, as a failure of this trade mission might reflect poorly on the company he represents.

There is a lack of studies examining the United Kingdom (UK) overseas missions (Spence, 1999, p. i). To fill this gap, Spence researched 190 small and medium-sized enterprises

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(SMEs) in 12 UK trade missions from 1996-1997 via questionnaires filled in before, and six months after the trade mission (1999, p. i). The study demonstrates how SMEs that followed an export diversification strategy prior to the trade mission often get better results than SMEs that didn't, and that participation in trade missions is important to obtain a thorough understanding of a new market (Spence, 1999, p. ii). Spence also stresses that SMEs are learning companies, contact between SMEs, the public sector and educative organizations is helpful (1999, p. ii). Other advice that follows from this study is that SMEs looking to export should develop an export-oriented culture with internationally acquired managers (Spence, 1999, p. 205). Spence also monitored sales numbers up to 24 months after the trade mission and found success for SMEs participating in trade missions (1999, p. 180). Spence does note that the sampling design of this study was a major limitation of this study (1999, p. 205). Only 54% of the respondents expected any results from the trade mission after six months (Spence, 1999, p. 95). To overcome this shortcoming, 24 months after the trade mission the estimated performance of the companies that participated in the trade mission was measured (Spence, 1999, p. 95). However, this was decided after the initial data was already collected, potentially biasing the results (Spence, 1999, p. 95). Finally, Spence argues for more qualitative research into the effectiveness of trade missions and argues that researchers could also learn much from cross-country comparisons of trade mission performance (1999, p. 95). The findings of Spence align with the studies of other optimistic authors in the sense that Spence finds that trade missions work, but that it is unclear in what circumstance they function best. My main criticism of this article is already acknowledged by the author, the changed sampling design considerably limits the internal validity of this research.

The final article is a broad overview of trade missions, it is mainly on why trade missions are organized (Oudalov, 2013, p. 3). Findings indicate that sector preference in the home country and the size of the budget of trade mission organizers influence the propensity to organize trade missions (Oudalov, 2013, p. 3). Oudalov argues that trade missions are important, as they facilitate the internationalization progress for companies (2013, p. 7). The main limitations of the study are its poor external validity. It only researches one case: a trade mission to South-Korea (Oudalov, 2013, p. 54). A longitudinal design is suggested to mitigate the issues of this study (Oudalov, 2013, p. 54). The general comments about trade missions having a positive effect on trade makes Oudalov an optimistic author, but Oudalov makes no strong statement for either side

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in this article. The lack of a good research question probably led to the general and sometimes not necessary to prove conclusions. For example, Oudalov's findings point out that higher budgets for trade offices lead to them functioning better (2013, p. 54). It is, however, to be expected that with a bigger budget, most offices would get more work done.

Research on multiple EPPs

Lederman et al researched export promotion agencies, showing via the gravity equation how every single dollar spent on export promotion, companies made 40 dollars (2006, p. 1). However, effects differ widely for different export promotion activities, and there are strong diminishing returns when investing in export promotion agencies (Lederman et al, 2006, p. 1). Even though these numbers seem impressive, Lederman et al point out that welfare assessment of export promotion activity is difficult, which is why most papers solely take into account export numbers (2006, p. 2). Lederman et al find that export promotion activity is more successful if (1) the personnel employed in offering this to organizations are composed of a mix of government/business personnel, (2) if there is a focus on large companies that have not yet started exporting and (3) if there is a focus on non-traditional export (2006, p. 6-24). Staffing multiple smaller agencies abroad has diminishing returns; it is most cost-effective to establish one large agency per foreign state (Lederman et al, 2006, p. 3). The authors of this paper pose as a caveat that this model does not wholly simulate the complexity of trade, case studies further examining what was found in this study would be a useful addition to the academic field (Lederman et al, 2006, p. 24). This large-scale study is an important starting point when examining export promotion activity, as it encapsulates many different ways to promote export. This is however also its main drawback. As the authors touched on themselves, it is difficult to generalize the findings of this article (Lederman et al, 2006, p. 2). It is also typical in the sense that a gravity equation was used, and that it was not able to perfectly simulate the complexity of trade. Companies were not individually asked what they found to be the most useful EPPs, which also adds to the aforementioned difficulty in generalization.

A different way to research EPPs is to observe a sector from a specific country. Geldres-Weiss & Monreal-Peréz performed extensive market research on trade missions and trade fairs involving 641 Chilean exporters from 2011-2015 (2017, p. 660). They found that trade fairs increase export, while trade missions only help inexperienced exporters (Geldres-Weiss &

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Monreal-Peréz, 2017, p. 660). Geldres-Weiss & Monreal-Peréz argue that their research mitigates the typical shortcomings of cross-sectional EPP research by looking at specific EPP tools and export activity (2017, p. 660). Their data reveal that the researched EPPs not necessarily increased export sales, but improved the competitive position of the firm using the EPPs as marketing and information platforms (Geldres-Weiss & Monreal-Peréz, 2017, pp. 662-663). They conclude by confirming the importance of trade fairs and trade missions, but also by noting the importance of choosing how to measure the effectiveness of different EPPs (Geldres-Weiss & Monreal-Peréz, 2017, p. 670). As the objectives of each EPP are different, their success should be measured differently (Geldres-Weiss & Monreal-Peréz, 2017, p. 670). They also admit that the scope of this study is limited (Geldres-Weiss & Monreal-Peréz, 2017, p. 670). For example, FDI was not accounted for (Geldres-Weiss & Monreal-Peréz, 2017, p. 670). Especially the idea that different EPPs with different goals should have their success measured in a different way was important for this study and is a reason for not directly comparing trade missions to, for example, trade fairs.

There is at least one other author that performed qualitative research on trade missions. Culbreath-Manly et al performed qualitative research to develop a five-stage model of dynamic relationships in a trade mission (2016, p. 3). This study argues for promoting social change by preparing SMEs for export (Culbreath-Manly et al, 2016, p. 3). Applying these findings can be used to support the development of SME export activity (Culbreath-Manly et al, 2016, p. 3). Culbreath-Manly et al also argue that increasing export also entails welfare benefits, as they argue that EPPs lead to increased wages and increased tax revenues (2016, p. 3). Interestingly, Culbreath-Manly et al do not consider EPPs an umbrella-term for everything a state does in export promotion (2016, p.27). They, for example, do not define economic development organizations and SME internationalization programs as EPPs (Culbreath-Manly et al, 2016, p. 25). In the interviews, verbatim transcription was used to note audible breaths and long pauses to apply depth to the interpretative process (Culbreath-Manly et al, 2016, p. 166). The article culminates in five recommendations: (1) performing a test of readiness, (2) having a rights and responsibilities agreement, (3) having an acceptance program, (4) identifying possible support for the SME and (5) identifying possible partners for the SME (Culbreath-Manly et al, 2016, p. 168). This study is easily categorized as one that belongs to the optimist school of thought, as it does not only argue for the positive effect of EPPs but also argues that they have welfare benefits

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associated to them (Culbreath-Manly et al, 2016, p. 3). Other authors are reluctant in making this connection, as it is hard to empirically prove it exists (Head & Ries, 2010, p. 733). Culbreath-Manly et al give no explanation why this connection would exist, which is a considerable oversight. This study is also ambitious in its setup. Creating a new scientific model from just 22 cases seems overly ambitious. The questions and interview setup from this study are, however, useful for this research, as they are one of the few authors that have performed qualitative analysis of something linked to EPPs. For example, the questions used in the interview served as inspiration for the questions that were asked during the interviews.

Descriptive articles

Gencturk & Kotabe are even more positive about EPPs than other optimistic authors: they argue that EPPs are important for the export success of any state (2001, p. 51). The effectiveness of these programs is determined by the dimension of the considered EPP (Gencturk & Kotabe, 2001, p. 51). The activity of a company in a region also matters for the effectiveness of the considered EPP (Gencturk & Kotabe, 2001, p. 51). Gencturk & Kotabe define five levels of intensity for companies active abroad: passive, exploratory, experimental, active and committed (2001, p. 54). Different factors are used to calculate the activity of a company abroad, such as the number of physical assets deployed in the area by the company (Gencturk & Kotabe, 2001, p. 54). Export assistance generally comprises communication/learning and participation in missions and trade shows (Gencturk & Kotabe, 2001, p. 57). As mentioned before, Gencturk & Kotabe argue for more company-level research into EPPs, as enough large-scale cross-sectional research has been done (2001, p. 67). The steps Gencturk & Kotabe have taken to differentiate company activity show that they are aware of the considerable complexity of company operations abroad. They are, however, perhaps overly optimistic. They do differentiate in company activity, but they do not differentiate in the goals of different EPPs, consequentially perhaps oversimplifying their results.

Research has also been done on how EPPs are established. One of these articles examines the role of trade promotion organizations (TPOs) laying the groundwork for EPPs (Olaru, 2014, p. 163). The aim of the paper is to outline the procedures and methodology to find the needs of exporters (Olaru, 2014, p. 163). TPOs offer assistance to companies via, for example: doing

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studies on what products to promote and deciding what markets have the largest potential growth (Olaru, 2014, p. 163). Two approaches for TPOs are outlined: (1) an integrated approach in which special services and advice is offered to client companies via trained staff and (2) the specialist approach, in which these services are offered by a group of specialists (Olaru, 2014, p. 164). Olaru argues for these approaches by saying that the quality of business relies on timely decisions, which is where a TPO can provide (2014, p. 169). However, it remains unclear on why TPOs and not EPPs should offer these services, and it remains unclear what the difference is between the two. The main difference between the two seems to be that TPOs lay the groundwork for EPPs, but it remains unclear why TPOs must lay the groundwork for EPPs. I see no reason why an EPP cannot lay the groundwork for a TPO. Perhaps this is intuitive for the Hungarian system, which this research is based on. The two approaches proposed by Olaru also seem interchangeable. She does not explain the difference between "trained staff" and "specialists". Without a clear difference between the two, little remains to even identify these different approaches. This research attempts to explain what EPPs need to function and tries to explain this via TPOs, but it fails to explain the perceived connection between the two. Olaru does seem convinced of the positive effects of EPPs, which places Olaru in the optimist school of thought. Due to lacking definitions, and lacking evidence of links between the subjects discussed, this article is of limited use.

Wilkinson & Brouthers observed at the link between FDI and export promotion activity, and suggest that states that want to attract more FDI should concentrate on activities that draw investments after performing activities that promote export (2000, p. 725). In their research, Wilkinson & Brouthers statistically analyzed FDI and high-tech exports before and after trade missions and trade fairs (2000, p. 727). States with comparatively more FDI show greater success in the use of trade missions to increase their FDI even more (Wilkinson & Brouthers, 2000, p. 725). States that are not predisposed to this should increase export promotion, to get to the level from which it starts to be useful to perform activities that draw investments (Wilkinson & Brouthers, 2000, p. 726). This strategy of first focusing on export promotion and then focusing on investments is especially helpful to attract high-tech export (Wilkinson & Brouthers, 2000, p. 726). Another conclusion of this study is that via FDI, states have two powerful tools to increase wages and employment: trade shows and trade missions (Wilkinson & Brouthers, 2000, p. 731). This final conclusion firmly puts these authors in the optimist camp, as they are not only

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convinced of the positive FDI and export increasing effects of trade shows and trade missions but also of their perceived welfare benefits. One major point of criticism is that the authors skip over this perceived link between an effective EPP and welfare benefits. As other authors have mentioned before, the existence of this link is almost impossible to prove (Lederman et al, 2006, p. 6) (Head & Ries, 2010, p. 733), Wilkinson & Brouthers oversimplify this matter. They also do not disclose how exactly they gathered FDI numbers. This is suspect, as states are often secretive about the exact numbers of FDI they invest and receive, making me interested in how the authors actually obtained the data. This research is interesting because they link FDI to trade missions, and are seemingly one of the few authors that approach trade missions from this exploratory angle.

Critics

The critical school of thought is characterized by authors being unconvinced of EPPs increasing export. Most authors in this school of thought criticize specific EPPs. For example, Rose criticizes WTO/GATT membership, while Cassey is critical of overseas trade offices. Other authors in this school of thought criticize specific aspects of EPPs. For example, Schuler et al are critical about the selection process of US trade missions. Critical authors do not necessarily agree on which EPPs, and what aspects of them, are ineffective. Most of the articles of critical scholars are just on the EPP they criticize in the article; they rarely, if ever, mention other EPPs. Presumably, critical scholars are in favor of spending tax money on other things than EPPs, if they are indeed ineffective. That the EPPs researched by critical authors have no welfare benefits associated with them follows logically from the arguments of critics; if they fail to be beneficial for businesses there is no reason why they would offer other benefits. Surprisingly, I have found no examples of critical scholars arguing against EPPs due to there being no proof of them offering welfare benefits. Focusing the attention on the fact that there is no empirical proof for EPPs offering welfare benefits could be an interesting way for critical scholars to criticize EPPs, as it is something even most optimistic scholars agree on.

While Rose is positive on embassies and their ability to promote trade (2007, p. 22), he is critical of world trade organization (WTO) membership and general agreement on tariffs and trade (GATT) membership (2004, p. 98). Rose, using the gravity equation, finds that WTO/GATT membership is not associated with more export (2004, p. 98). He does, however,

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find that an organization similar to WTO/GATT, the generalized system of preferences (GSP), is effective in increasing export in the EU era (Rose, 2004, p. 98). It doubled trade in some areas in the post-war era (Rose, 2004, p. 98). He does pose two caveats to his findings. This study examined total trade. If import and export were researched individually, results might have been different (Rose, 2004, p. 111). The second caveat is that de jure accession to the WTO/GATT might not be the same as practical accession, with benefits of membership only emerging years or maybe even decades after de jure accession (Rose, 2004, p. 111). This study only researched de jure accession to the WTO/GATT and gives no clues on how to measure if a state has practically acceded to the WTO/GATT (Rose, 2004, p. 111), making this, in my opinion, the most important caveat. The explanation Rose gives for the perceived ineffectiveness of WTO/GATT is that they do not have significant policy impact (2004, p. 112). Individual states might still prefer trade with local non-WTO partners above WTO-partners due to simple geographical reasons (Rose, 2004, p. 112). WTO-membership would not be enough of a tiebreaker to affect the flow of trade (Rose, 2004, p. 112). Rose thus gave some reasons why his conclusion might be flawed, but also came with an interesting explanation as to why he might be right: WTO/GATT membership having no significant policy implications. I think it is unlikely that companies let WTO/GATT-membership being the tiebreaker on where they are going to export. One point of criticism is that Rose does not differentiate between the WTO and GATT enough in this article, while they are different tools with different goals. A focus on either the WTO or GATT would have made his argument more concise, and consequentially possibly more persuasive.

Other scholars do not focus on collective membership like Rose but instead focus on the effectiveness of Canadian trade missions (Head & Ries, 2010, p. 754). Head & Ries found that Canadian trade missions, also if they are headed by cabinet members, have small, negative and mainly insignificant effects on trade (2010, p. 754). The results extend to service trade and FDI but do not take into account the hard to measure social capital that might be obtained from trade missions (Head & Ries, 2010, p. 755). Head & Ries's results are more negative than those of other authors in the same field (2010, p. 772). A possible reason for this is that they tried to take into account that policy might follow trade, and not the other way around (Head & Ries, 2010, p. 772). The idea that government agencies that implement EPPs are interested in easy successes and invest their time and attention to trade relations that are already effective might be a reason for trade missions being less effective EPPs. This happening, however, is difficult to measure.

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This reasoning about trade missions does not extend to non-bilateral EPPs. An EPP supporting the marketing section of a global company is not focused on a specific state, so would be unable to follow bilateral trade. The points raised in this article are purely on trade missions, and trade missions are bilateral EPPs. The findings if this article directly contradicts the findings in the Geldres-Weiss & Monreal-Peréz article. A reason that Head & Ries might have different results than Geldres-Weiss & Monreal-Peréz might be due to Head & Ries using lagged dependent variables and country-pair fixed effects (Head & Ries, 2010, p. 772). Delving into qualitative data on trade missions might give clarity on if trade missions offer the hard to measure social capital often associated with trade missions.

Some scholars researching EPPs are interested in which organizations get to use certain limited EPPs, and why. Schuler et al researched the selection process that determines which US companies are allowed to join US trade missions, and especially looked at how important dubious campaign contributions for the party holding the White House are in this process (2002, p. 6). That there is a US selection process for trade missions is already somewhat notable. For example, The Netherlands lets any Dutch company participate as long as their international responsible entrepreneurship rating (IMVO) is not too low (e.g. not zero). Some argue that tickets for trade missions were exchanged for party contributions for the Clinton campaign, but government officials argued that the competitiveness of firms was the main driver in the selection process (Schuler et al, 2002, p. 6). This article provides empirical evidence that supports both claims: competitive companies were six times as likely to be selected for missions while companies offering large soft money donations were five times as likely to be selected for missions (Schuler et al, 2002, p. 6). Soft money donations have the advantage of not being limited in size by US law. Hard money donations differ from soft money donations in the sense that they are limited by US law, making soft money donations potentially much larger than the regulated hard money donations (Schuler et al, 2002, p. 26). This result is notable, but perhaps not as alarming as it looks. This study was limited by not being able to research rejected companies as those companies are not officially listed (Schuler et al, 2002, p. 26). This results in there being no control group for this study. Schuler et al also cannot confirm that the donations are given on a quid quo pro basis (2002, p. 27), further weakening any potential causal links. The authors do recommend companies that want to be selected for US trade missions to diversify their strategy by both trying to be competitive, and giving soft money donations to incumbents (Schuler et al,

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2002, p. 28). This article unveils a darker side of trade missions. The selection of companies for trade missions via a mechanism that can be described as bribery goes against the idea of equal and free trade. The mechanisms described in this article are not relevant for Dutch trade missions, due to the aforementioned IMVO selection criteria, and the lack of other selection criteria. It almost never happens that companies are rejected for Dutch trade missions. It is, however, important to be mindful of possibly malicious selection mechanisms. One important omission in this article is that the size of both soft money and hard money donations is not taken into account; it makes sense that the size of a donation matters for possible benefits that are to be derived from them. It is difficult to categorize this article in either the optimist or critical schools of thought. From the one hand, the authors seem convinced of the fact that trade missions "work", but on the other hand, they focus on a negative side of trade missions. The main focus of the paper is on the negative side effects of trade missions, making it a more critical than an optimistic article.

From 1997-2006, US governors led more than 500 trade missions to states outside of the US (Cassey, 2016, p. 547). Cassey developed a model of public investment, that predicts a positive relation between missions and export to that destination (2016, p. 547). There are, however, conflicting results when checking these findings for different states (Cassey, 2016, p. 566). It seems that export after trade missions increase the most when the US already has a significant trade relation with the foreign state (Cassey, 2016, p. 566). Cassey argues that empirically, this does not make a lot of sense, measurement issues might be the problem (2016, p. 566). Offering more qualitative data for expansive models such as Cassey's could help resolve the data issues authors like Cassey are having. Cassey also researched a natural experiment that occurred in California. The Californian budget crisis of 2003 caused California to close all overseas trade offices, this allowed for a natural experiment to research their effectiveness (Cassey, 2012, p. 641). In 2012, when this article was written, they were not yet reopened (Cassey, 2012, p. 641). There was an estimated 2-3% increase in exports when the offices were open, Cassey calculated this using a difference-in-difference estimator (2012, p. 641). This result was not statistically significant; therefore there is no statistical evidence that Californian overseas offices increased exports (Cassey, 2012, p. 641). These offices offered market research, free of charge, but were not mandated to search for FDI opportunities (Cassey, 2012, p. 642). Cassey argues that this brings into doubt the effectiveness of all overseas US trade offices (2012, p. 650). This article clearly falls in the critical camp. An important thing to note is, however, that the

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activities Cassey described in this paper are very narrow. The offices only offered market research, and no other services such as organizing trade fairs, organizing trade missions and looking into FDI opportunities (Cassey, 2012, p. 642). Offering these services might improve the effectiveness of overseas offices. Perhaps Californian overseas trade offices were hampered in their mandate or funding which led to their low calculated impact. Cassey's findings in this article fall in line with the conclusions of his 2016 article. He seems generally critical of EPPs and has found some examples of EPPs performing poorly that are interesting to take into consideration when measuring the effectiveness of trade missions.

No critical scholars offer convincing evidence that trade missions are indeed ineffective EPPs. They, at most, offer evidence that some parts of EPPs are not as effective as optimistic scholars would want. One example of this is how Cassey found that Canadian overseas trade offices were not significantly impacting Canadian trade (2012, p. 641). In the data analysis section, I will elaborate on the data I gathered, which offers further arguments against the critical position that EPPs are not at all effective.

4. Data analysis

To present the data, it is first important to describe the trade missions that were used to select cases from themselves. After that, I will go into the data gathered during the interviews. I will first elaborate on the Chinese mission, as it chronologically took place before the India mission.

China

The 2015 Dutch trade mission to China took place from the 23rd until the 28th of March 2015. The Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte led the trade mission and was accompanied in the diplomatic delegation by the then state-secretary of Infrastructure and the Environment: Wilma Mansveld. Roughly 70 organizations accompanied Rutte in the business delegation. There were trade-mission related events in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The main focus was on dairy development, even though there were many different kinds of organizations participating in the trade mission. The main highlight of the program was the Boao Forum for Asia, a yearly conference for politicians, journalists and scientists. There was no royal delegation as part of this trade mission. It was the second visit of Mark Rutte to China is his role

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as Prime Minister, his first was in November 2013. Secretary-general Xi Jingping then visited the Netherlands in March 2014, and in this visit, secretary-general Xi Jingping invited the Dutch royal family to visit China. On the 25th until the 29th of October in 2015 King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima visited China as part of a state visit, on invitation from Xi Jingping.

It is interesting to see how there was an intensification in Dutch-Chinese economic relations starting in 2013. Before this 2013 visit, no Dutch prime minister visited China in five years, after this visit there was a quick succession of multiple Chinese-Dutch visits. Also the number of organizations that accompanied the official delegations rose from 2013-2018. As mentioned before, roughly 70 organizations participated in 2015, while almost 150 participated in 2018. Because the number of organizations participating more than doubled, different types of organizations (e.g. health or water organizations) had different programs. The amount of trade between China and the Netherlands also increased in this period. This, however, happened in a period of relative global economic growth, so is not per se an indicator of the trade missions having their desired effect. From an economic perspective, China is currently more important for the Netherlands than India. The Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC) reported that in 2016, 2.5% of Dutch export went to China in 2016, while only 0.5% went to India (2016). China is also more important for the Netherlands from an import perspective. 9.1% of Dutch import had a Chinese origin in 2016, while only 0.8% had an Indian origin (OEC, 2016). It, however, seems that Indian-Dutch diplomatic cooperation is prioritized, as the Netherlands backs Indian permanent Security Council representation. The Netherlands is also important for India from an accessibility perspective, as I will elaborate on in the next section.

India

The Dutch trade mission to India took place three months after the trade mission to China; it was from the 4th until the 6th of June 2015. The diplomatic delegation attached to the Indian trade mission was more high-level than the China mission. Prime Minister Mark Rutte was accompanied by the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Ploumen and the Minister for Agriculture Dijksma. This is in line with the perceived more diplomatically focused nature of cooperation between the two countries. A number comparable to the China mission of organizations accompanied Rutte on the trade mission, roughly 70 organizations participated in the 2015 trade mission to India. Its main focus was on water cooperation. The Netherlands, for

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example, offered a contribution to the National Clean Ganga project, which makes sense with its expertise in water management. This project is still ongoing. Another important focus is Indian access to the European market. In 2016, 20% of the Indian export to Europe went through the Netherlands on the way to each destination. Dutch infrastructure, for example, the airport Schiphol and the docks of Rotterdam, are an important part of this current arrangement.

Similar to the Chinese-Dutch relations, also between India and the Netherlands an intensification of economic cooperation is visible. One marker of this intensification is the number of organizations that participated in the 2018 trade mission. In 2018, more than 130 organizations joined Rutte to India, making it the largest Dutch trade mission to India ever. This is, however, not exemplified in the number of royal visits to India. The last time a monarch of the Dutch royal family visited India was in 2007 when Queen Beatrix visited New Delhi and Bangalore.

Communication benefits

The benefits all interviewees reported from trade mission participation are all linked to communication and can be summarized into three categories: (1) networking benefits, (2) information benefits and (3) publicity benefits. All interviewees were generally positive regarding trade missions; they all came up with more benefits than problems with trade missions. Most of the participants were able to give examples of successes linked to their participation in the 2015 Dutch trade mission to India and China. All of their organizations also already participated in other trade missions since 2015; they also all expected their respective organizations to participate in more trade missions in the future. I will now present the data on a theme-by-theme basis, further elaborating if additional relevant points came up when discussing these themes.

Main advantages of trade missions

Trade missions were most commonly characterized by the participants as (1) prime networking opportunities. One interviewee said: "The main reason we go is networking opportunities and exposure". Trade missions are unique networking opportunities due to the large variety of business partners a representative could meet. As opposed to business conferences, they also give the opportunity to get in touch with high-level government officials and local

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companies from a specific country. Trade missions are somewhat rare; they are often annual or bi-annual events. This also adds to the chance that most relevant partners will be attending a trade mission when it takes place. When participants mention trade missions opening doors for them that normally stay closed, they often mean getting the possibility to communicate with high-level government officials. Contact with these officials is an opportunity to bring relevant trade barriers to the attention of a government, resolve visa issues and sometimes get contracts directly from a government. Contact with high-level government officials is even more important in states with top-down bureaucratic systems such as India and China than in less top-down states, such as the Netherlands. This is because high-level representatives in states with top-down bureaucratic systems comparatively wield more power than their counterparts in less top-down systems. One interviewee mentioned that: "Established organizations often have issues that they want to see solved. Contact with high-level representatives can help to solve these issues". Via the matchmaking sessions, new participants can often meet multiple potential local partners in just a few days, easing the process of market introduction, and enable what participants often called a "soft landing" abroad. Another interviewee mentioned how: "Trade missions give participants an opportunity to cherish their relationship with local partners". Participants in trade missions are often allowed to sign one memorandum of understanding (MoU) or contract with a local partner. Being invited to sign an MoU or contract with a minister or prime minister present shows a local partner that they are likely the most important local partner in that country for the trade mission participant. This is a message that an organization on its own is unable to deliver. This often makes trade mission participation a milestone in international business relationships. So, they offer both new and established organizations the opportunity to network with a multitude of partners. For new organizations, matchmaking opportunities are generally the most interesting while for established organizations; contact with high-level officials is.

Closely linked to networking benefits are (2) information benefits. In addition to meeting business partners and being able to voice your concerns directly to higher levels of government, these contacts are also valuable sources of, for example, market information. Trade mission events themselves are great sources of information, as often all MoU and contract signings are public. They also aid organizations in discovering what they do not know yet. One example of an organization discovering something that they did not know yet was that they were not aware that a consulate is a great place to get information on a local finance system. Participants also

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mentioned how they learned about how membership of transnational organizations such as VNO-NCW or DTIB India, and that they could benefit them. Finally, courses on business culture are also often part of trade mission participation, which can be useful for new organizations orienting themselves in a new country. Sometimes, information benefits and networking benefits are hard to differentiate. However, the amount and politically high-level and diverse nature of information that can be gathered on a trade mission is unique, making this distinction important.

Large delegations traveling abroad also offer (3) publicity benefits, as both local and international media often report on ministers and prime ministers leading the trade mission. Since participants are associated with high-level political representatives during trade missions presents, these participants are viewed as the top of the industry of the visiting country. Participants, especially established exporters, also often organize workshops or other events as part of the trade mission. When participants host a government-sanctioned workshop, their proficiency in the sector is accentuated, which is something local partners are keen to notice. These publicity benefits are more often associated with larger and established organizations than with smaller, newer organizations. This is also linked to how smaller and larger organizations often have different goals in their trade mission participation. For larger organizations, these publicity benefits are more easily attainable; one reason for this is that they are more likely to have the resources to organize events during trade missions. These established organizations are aware of this and take this publicity into account when formulating their goals for trade mission participation. One interviewee said: "Exposure benefits our brand, and it can help us to get to know even more local partners". Smaller organizations, however, will often focus more on the matchmaking opportunities during a trade mission.

Main disadvantages of trade missions

While the participants gave relatively homogenous answers on the question of what the main advantages of trade missions are, they sometimes disagreed on the disadvantages of trade missions, and the issues that are linked to these disadvantages. Often, participants mentioned issues linked to trade missions which are not necessarily an issue with trade mission as an EPP, but rather issues associated with how organizations use trade missions. For example, seeing a trade mission as a part of the export process and not just a goal in itself was often mentioned as a common mistake of new trade mission participants. One interviewee said about this that: "Some

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trade mission participants participate without a long-term plan; this often does not work out". However, this is an issue that stems from perhaps lacking management on the side of the participant. Seeing EPP participation as a goal on itself, and not as part of a broader plan, would be an issue with any EPP, not just with trade missions. Another issue that is also often reported is the trade mission being too short. For example, the 2018 Dutch trade mission to India visited three cities (Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore) in three days, letting the participants sleep in airplanes while in transit to the next city. An interviewee mentioned how they had: "Only two hours to have talks with ten potential partners". Time constraints can lead to missed opportunities with a potential business partner. When more time is allotted for matchmaking opportunities, this could lead to a less superficial matchmaking process. This is, however, also not an inherent issue that is unsolvable within the framework of a trade mission but is linked to how the Dutch governments and other governments organize their trade missions. Participants also commented on the Dutch government seemingly not having a long-term plan to foster trade to the states they visited with a trade mission. Trade mission destinations are seemingly chosen on an ad-hoc basis, with the availability of ministers being sometimes more important than strategic or economic considerations. This is, however, an alleged issue with how the Dutch government organizes trade missions and not an inherent issue of trade missions as EPPs. The only inherent issue participants raised on trade missions is that sometimes the organizing municipality had too little to offer to the country they were visiting because their scope was too small. I will elaborate on this in the "How important is high-level political representation on trade missions?" section. I will now continue exploring the themes that were discussed in the interviews by elaborating on some specific questions.

Did your organization sign any memoranda of understanding (MoU) or contracts during the 2015 Dutch trade missions to India or China, and what was the follow up on these MoU's and contracts like?

This question was meant to deduce what concrete business leads the trade missions had offered the representatives. Especially after the first interviews, I was interested to learn what the reported networking, information gathering and publicity had led to, as it is hard to prove the benefits of networking by just describing the start of a networking process. Most of the information on the MoU's and the contract listed here can be found online. Between the five

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organizations of which representatives were interviewed, four MoU's and one contract were signed as part of one of the 2015 trade missions. one organization reported no signed MoU's or contracts, all other organizations reported the signing of at least one MoU in one of the 2015 trade missions. Some organizations also reported MoU's and contracts being signed as part of trade missions in the 2018 Dutch trade missions to India and China, and some even linked these trade missions together.

One of the most notable examples of business being done as part of a trade mission is the contract that was signed between the Chinese dairy company Yili and Wageningen University Research (WUR). WUR and Yili signed the contract as part of the 2015 China mission, and with this further formalized their cooperation. Before this mission, Yili and WUR had already signed an MoU to announce their cooperation. In September 2018, Yili opened an innovation center in the Plus Ultra building in Wageningen in the Netherlands, owned by WUR. There is thus a clear progression visible from MoU, to contract, to intensive on-site cooperation. However, it is important to note that WUR interviewees thought that this contract would have also been signed without a trade mission. So, even though the 2015 China trade mission seems to be part of the successful Yili-WUR cooperation, their representatives do not believe that their participation in the trade mission was a necessity for business success. Another example of WUR cooperation as part of a trade mission is the formation of the Partners in Business (PiB) Dairy that was formed after the 2015 India trade mission. The PiB program is a Dutch policy initiative that forms consortia based on a specific industry, in this example dairy. The Dutch government brought WUR, and other dairy companies together to discover how Dutch dairy producers and researchers could contribute to the Indian National Dairy Development Board, a plan that aims to double Indian dairy production. As the Netherlands is a leading innovator in the field of dairy, Dutch-Indian cooperation seems potentially beneficial. The partners got to know each other during the Indian trade mission, as part of a networking meeting. However, after its formation, the consortium quickly disintegrated. The WUR representative I spoke to attributed this to the different members of the consortium having different objectives, which led to coordination issues. Reportedly, the Dutch government did not intervene to coordinate the consortium. Currently, no active Dutch PiB Dairy exists. The WUR representative did not think that this failure of the consortium was linked to the trade mission. He explained how he thinks that the

The Effectiveness of Trade Missions: How Communication Benefits Played a Role in the 2015 Dutch Trade Missions to India and China

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