Impact measurement of the National Export Strategy through a

Balanced Score Card Methodology

Costin Lianu, PhD, Lecturer Spiru Haret University
Coordinator of National Export Strategy

Abstract
Measurement of strategic processes at company level has been in the center of international debates
and research since early 1990s when it became clear that modern companies should consider more
long-run targets of competitiveness in an fast changing global market place where competitive
advantages were difficult to get and even more difficult to keep. Intangible assets like human capital,
internal marketing and management of internal business processes, quality management, brand
building, making the difference in the new business environment were hard to be assessed in the
companies balance sheet . That was the background in which RS Kaplan and D.P Norton developed
balanced score card methodology for the measurement of strategies at companies level. They have
also assumed that what is true for companies is even truer for countries. This article is about the
way a balanced score card methodology has been conceived and applied at national level in
Romania for the impact measurement of National Export Strategy. Concept, practical experience and
management implications are taken into account. Implications of this experience in the new emerging
managerial culture of the Romanian society may go beyond introducing a modern operation tool.

Key words: National Export Strategy (NES), Export Council, (EC) Balance Score Card (BSC),
Private Public Partnership (PPP), impact measurement, management of strategic processes

Introduction
In the Romanian culture the word strategy is frequently associated with attempts or
decision makers to catch the eye of the public opinion with documents lacking
realism, relevancy and support or with wishful thinking regarding future objectives
to overpass constraints and needs.
Most of these exercises were either not followed by implementation efforts or even
impossible to be implemented the way they were formulated. Not to speak about
measuring impact, which was either a kind of mission impossible or done without
proper tools.
In this circumstances of mistrust about strategies in general, from which export
strategies were not an exception, to make a mentality shift towards a new way to
see a strategy, as a cyclical, self improvable process, attracting a large mass of
stakeholders in an institutionalized, structural manner was a major challenge.
It was clear in the first steps of elaborating the strategy that we cannot manage
what we cannot measure and we cannot measure what we cannot describe.
Therefore, o realistic description of objectives, initiative and targets to which impact
measurement tools has been also developed and described were crucial challenges

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of the strategy in the early stages of its design process. Another lesson learnt from
past experience was that a strategy made without consultation of broader groups of
stakeholders or without having an institution to manage the process may derail and
stop the process.
1. An institutional set up before a strategic process, an effective option in
the management of National Export Strategy in Romania
The design of a new approach type of strategy was a long process, which started
late 2003, but in the end it has been a successful exercise.
Starting with late 2003 it became clear among various stake holders that there is no
co - ordination of efforts and no harmonization of interests at national level for export
development and we need a PPP institution to solve this major constraint ;
Romania initiated late 2003 the process of consultation for designing an institution,
National Export Council (NEC), as a PPP, with main attribution to manage such a
complex process like NES and to address to major constraints in this regard. The
process ended with strong commitment from all stakeholders: public and private
sectors and civil society to form NEC. Thus EC was legally established in April 2004
to ensure the elaboration of NES and its effective management. Before designing
a NES in PPP we designed and institutionalized a NEC.
In May 2004 a core-team was formed (a structure within EC named Commission for
Strategy, Competitiveness ,Marketing and Branding) and started to work, with a
legal mandate to do so from the newly formed NEC.
In November 2004 , in a National Symposium the case for NES was made and
endorsed by exporters community and stake holders.
Since then till December 2005 400 stakeholders from public and private sectors
were involved in its design and formulation, and have committed to implementing its
specific initiatives.
Main challenges in the strategy design were:
Getting commitment, both political and business
Getting people on board: creating teams
Building and monitoring the enthusiasm
Leadership and management of the process
Prioritization (sectors, and cross-sectors)
Identifying resources and accepting that resources should not come only from
one group stake holders
Achieving consensus amongst a wide stakeholders group
Formalizing the strategy as a legally recognized document
Since December 2005 we succeed to have a legal document called NES 20052009 and we entered most difficult part; to show that we have a different kind of
strategy, able to be implemented and with a measurable impact, able also to be
adjusted.

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2. Adaptation of a BSC methodology to a national strategic process like

NES
The task of transferring knowledge and adapting of BSC conceived to measure
impact of strategy at company level to a national strategic process was taken by a
research team conducted by the International Trade Centre in Geneva, starting
with January 2005.
Since we were part of the research team, as national coordinator of NES in Romania
and promoter of export councils as efficient institutions, it was an excellent timing to
integrate and apply in Romania, for the first time in the World, a BSC for a national
strategic process, export oriented.
As it was initially conceived by Norton and Kaplan starting with 1992, the BSC
method is introducing angles from which the vision of a strategy may be perceived
and measured by the management of the strategy at company level. From each of
these perspectives derives objectives, initiatives and targets. Each initiative is
scored, results are gathered first per each objective, than per each perspective. The
aggregate results per each perspective are than weighted in percents according to
the importance attached to each perspective by the managing unit. Weighting
percents must reach a total of 100%. (x+y+z+w= 100%)
In a nutshell the following perspectives were introduced:
Tabel 1. Kaplan and Norton`s BSC
Perspective

Financial (how you sell the strategy to shareholders, how you

Weight/
Importance
X%

want to be perceived by them)

Client or customer ( how you want to be perceived by or

strategy sold to customers)

BPO Business Operation Processes ( improvement of
internal processes and internal marketing of the strategy)

Learning and Growth (how we change ourselves in the
organization in order to increase our abilities and competencies)

Y%
Z%
W%

As may be noticed the perspectives are value and human resources oriented and
with a deeper understanding of marketing towards value addition to the clients. Even
more, values transmitted to the clients is an important function of the strategy ,
making the vision sellable to various stake holders.
Inspired by BSC method, ITC research team suggested transformations of the
perspectives to match to a national strategic process export oriented. The new look
of BSC taken into the Romanian experience, among other choices, was the
following :

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Tabel 2. Adaptation of BSC approach to the needs of impact measurement of

NES
Perspective

Development (how you sell the strategy to the authorities at

national and regional levels, private or public, to politicians,
media and other stakeholders concerned with the role of the
export in development and how you want to be perceived by
them: is the strategy relevant for the development agenda ?)

Client ( how you want to be perceived by or strategy sold to
the exporters: is the strategy significant for them ?)

Sector competitiveness ( how the strategy is significant to
the export sectors)

Institutional (how we have to change ourselves as service
providers organizations, networks and PPP institutions in order
to increase our abilities and competencies for the benefit of the
exporters)

Weight/
Importance
X%

Y%
Z%
W%

The Romanian working groups for the strategy design were consulted about different
options of measurement by the national coordinator of the strategy design and
implementation and , after internal debates, has accepted BSC approach during
2005. Therefore the strategy is incorporating this method in the managerial
framework (see also the attachment) and is clearly indicating how to measure and
who will measure the impact based on this method.
3. Highlights of NES
Overall strategys objective is to improve the competitiveness of Romanian
exporters thus contributing to the countrys socio-economic development. The
strategy has a clear vision, clear objectives and a comprehensive managerial
framework. It contains a detailed 5-year Action plan and outlines cross-sector and
sector specific strategic considerations in an integrated and coherent document.
Main focus of the strategy is on:
- Capacity building and value addition, retention and creation;
-

Quality of business environment and improved services and skills;

Image building and branding.

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NES is a document made with exporters and their associations in partnership.

Targets and initiatives were set out with them in 23 working groups (see first part of
attached English synopsis, crucial paradigm of PPP in the NES design process).
As per the document, the SWOT analysis of the Romanian economy, a synopsis of
the SWOT analyses of the working groups, outlines the following conclusions:
- The future of Romania depends a great deal on its capacity to exploit its
strengths, mainly at the levels of human resources and natural resources,
traditions and cultural heritage. This requires a change in mentality,
towards more transparency, cooperation, competence, trust and other
virtues having to do with social capital in economic life;
Therefore human resource development represents a critical success factor
for Romania's future competitiveness.
- Increased level of coordination between companies, business
associations and private organizations and the public sector is the only
way to exploit opportunities, to overcome constraints and threats and to
capitalize on advantages.
As one may notice our vision is not a quantitative one. Instead of setting overall
export growing rates targets for the next years, main aim is to shift the pattern of our
way to participate in international trade, based now mainly on comparative
advantage given by cheap labor force or overexploitation of natural or energy
resources. Therefore we bet on comparative advantages centered on enhanced
competencies, higher quality, good turning into account of bio or cultural diversities,
of our traditions, creativity or natural conditions. We put everything into one vision
statement: To achieve greater economic well-being for all citizens through
enhanced competitiveness in international trade resulting from quality,
diversity and excellence.
We will rather not link this vision to a certain export rate growth. However, we
expect that export growth rate of goods and services with high value addition to
increase in the NES years till 2009, changing the pattern of our exports, and its
overall performance. If so, NES will make its contribution in stimulating better
positioning of Romania in international trade, as a catalyst of higher performance
for exporters.
The only viable way to get were we want to be is through stimulating and
amplifying the capacity of enterprises to capture, create and retain more
added-value inside the country, in a durable, sustainable manner(see our
future generic value chains).
Cutting the vision into reachable objectives, initiatives and targets is a critical issue
for strategy makers in Romania. We made it together, in partnership for the first
time. As one may notice in objectives sections we are targeting quality management,
improving legislation and market framework conditions, stimulating clusters and
investment, innovation and competencies, value addition, social capital and many
others under four perspectives: clients, strategic sectors, development and
institutional building perspectives. Quantitative targets are as mentioned like
doubling the number of quality certified exporters or number of trained exporters.
Qualitative targets are also relevant : better networking, better structural dialog,
stimulating synergies among sectors at local level, improved legislation.

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The Government will make its contribution in NES by allocating higher amounts of
money every year in export development schemes financed from the budget and
through more efficiency and focus in its export promotion activities in various
ministries and institutions. Better business climate and better legislation friendly for
strategic sectors will be another major contribution. However, things wont be
changed if exporters and associations will not act to reach targets in quality
management, branding products, competency building, protecting properly their
intellectual property rights, managing risks etc.
We are differentiating this strategy from the past in important ways:
- Priorities, targets, objectives, action were reached based on a modern
methodology to manage the design process of NES and agreed before
among stakeholders through consultative cycles involving public and
private sector;
- We have an institutional structure in place to manage not only the design
of NES but also its implementation, monitoring and even impact
measurement through a Balanced Score Card, specially created for NES.
This structure is the Export Council, a PPP with a legal mandate to make
strategy rolling;
- We have commitments to act like that from the Government , Export
relevant businesses and other important stakeholder.
In terms of objectives the strategy is targeting value chain improvements on
some traditional export sectors like furniture, apparel, industrial good, chemistry and
new value chains emerging sectors or sub-sectors like IT&C, automotive component
and industrial outsourcing, organic farming, audio-visual, events industry, design. It
is also targeting synergies at local level between different export areas (tourism,
wine, food, handicraft etc) and specific cross sector issues like export finance, trade
information, managerial skills and competency or capacity building, networking,
branding, clusters, R&D and innovation or trade facilitation (see also annex 1,
managerial framework).
4. Perspectives, strategic considerations and objectives of NES and BSC
methodology applied in impact measurement
During consultations many stakeholders showed preoccupation regarding the way
the strategy is prioritizing, monitoring, implementing and measuring the various
initiatives. The question of management of the NES after its adoption became a
crucial subject for strategy makers. The strategy starts with implementation of NES
document is not the end of NES management.
The Core Team members fully endorsed the Balanced Score Card (BSC)
methodology, recently developed by the ITC as a management tool for strategy
monitoring and impact measurement. The BSC method utilized by the ITC is an
adaptation of Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Nortons method to measure and
monitor the impact of strategies at micro, company level. It is effective because it:
clarifies the way a long term vision may be converted into medium term
strategic action;

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ensures cohesion among different strategic objectives and identifies

measures by which to determine the extent of their achievement;;
sets targets and aligns with strategic initiatives and programs;
enhances feedback and learning.
In NES document we have four perspectives from which to monitor and
measure the impact towards achieving the strategic vision. The four
perspectives are:
1. Development Perspective, with the broadest relevance among
stakeholders, with three strategic considerations, namely:
- development gear issues with focus on the enhanced well-being of the
country;
- economic concentrations and clusters;
- investment promotion and export oriented FDI;
2. Sector Competitiveness Perspective, with greatest sector relevancy, has
four strategic considerations related to the specificity of each sector:
- the value chain;
- border-in issues focusing on supply development;
- border issues focused on reducing transaction costs;
- border-out issues focused on market penetration and development, export
promotion and branding.
3. The Client Perspective with the highest relevancy for clients specific
needs, has six strategic considerations :
- client segmentation (existing exporters, aspiring exporters, potential
exporters) relevant for the 3 different segments of the community of national
exporters;
- Quality Support services for specific standards and needs;
- Competencies;
- Trade Finance;
- Trade Information ;
- R&D, Innovation and technological transfer;
4. Institutional development Perspective, network relevant, with 2 strategic
considerations:
- Strategy Support Network;
- Service Delivery Network.
After approaching each perspective, the NES is weighting in percentage the
importance of each perspective in the overall impact of the NES. That means that
each set of initiatives attached to each perspective will have its specific share during
the measurement of the NESs impact. Below is the general framework for strategy
management.

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Romania has a National Export Council, a PPP with a legal mandate to elaborate
NES. This is a major advantage for the country because we already have an
institution legally set up to manage the whole process which consists of:

drafting, designing the NES;

endorsement;
monitoring implementation;
impact measurement;
updating and revising the NES

The EC is the body that is mandated to monitor the implementation of the NES and
to ensure its effective management. Through its four commission structure, among
which one is for strategy and one for monitoring export promotion and development
initiatives, the EC has the institutional capacity to manage the process. Moreover,
the EC has at its disposal the Secretariat in the Ministry of Economy and Trade, with
the General Directorate for Export Promotion. This ensures coordination with the
right Governmental institution. The sector and cross sector structure of EC
composition, following the strategic consideration issues of NES document is further
advocating for its central role in the management process.
However, EC or the ministry are not acting alone in the management process, since
the strategy is based on:
23 sector strategies which, independent for NES, are programmatic
competitiveness documents for sectors. Even more, these documents are the
result of working groups prom private and private sectors, tending to become
permanent strategic focal points for the sectors;
activity of core team members, which made also important contributions to
the project.
In conclusion, a network of strategy makers is already formed and gravitating around
EC and the strategy groups, some of the under a process of institutionalization, will
make their contribution to the management.
Management of NES will not end at the end of the 4 years period since, afterwards a
new strategy cycle has to start.
5. Monitoring and Impact Measurement
Monitoring and measuring impact are essential parts of NES management process.
Yet, impact measurement of NES is not an easy job.
NES is targeting more than classical export promotion planning was doing so far.
The focus is considerably extended on:
major roots of export competitiveness, located not only border out, but also
border in, border or development;
critical cross-sector issues like finance, competency, facilitation, quality,
branding, information and innovation ;
neglected segments of exporters like aspiring or potential.

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Balanced Score Card methodology will be applied in impact measurement and

each perspective has its weight in the total. The weights were established in
consultation by navigators engaged in the process as follows:
Tabel 3. Weighting of perspectives, BSC method, applied to Romanian NES
Perspective
Development
Sector
Client
Capacity development

Weight/Importance
20%
30%
30%
20%

In the action plan of NES document following elements are listed:

objectives, which are trying to answer to define where we want to be, according to
the vision and from the angle of a specific perspective among the four;
initiatives which are further defining how we plan to stimulate, to act, to
interfere in order to reach defined objectives in different four perspectives;
responsible institutions for implementation;
resources needed to act;
targets, which are defining quantitative or qualitative goals for a certain
initiative;
impact measures, which are defining modalities to measure the initiatives in
order to gauge its impact.
According to BSC methodology, each initiative will be scored from 0 (did not start),
1(below target), 2 (met target) to 3 (over the target) and the total sum (set of
initiatives) will be finally weighted according to a/m percentages.
The final score will be out of a maximum of 100 and the general impact
assessment will be:
Exceeding expectation between 80-100 points;
Meeting expectations to slightly exceeding them between 52-80 points;
Below expectation to unsatisfactory below 52 points.
Monitoring and measurement unit
According to the text of the NES the overall task of monitoring and measure impact
of the document is in EC responsibility, through its monitoring unit. However, all
institutions with responsibilities in implementing the strategy, either private or public,
will have to bring their contribution in reporting about status of initiatives undertaken.
The monitoring and impact measuring team of the strategy was formed and
coordinated by the commission of strategy of the NES together with the Secretariat
of the EC which lies in the General Division for Export Promotion (GDEP) in the
Ministry for SMEs, Commerce, Tourism and Liberal Professions. In the process of
monitoring and impact measurement the working groups of the strategy reported
about the stage of the initiatives to a management unit of GDEP formed by 3 people.
GDEP management unit, members of the strategy commission of EC and working
group navigators were involved in the process.
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6. Measuring impact after one year: main conclusions

The National Export Strategy (NES) and its Task Plan have been approved by the
Governmental Decision no. 1828 dated December 22, 2005.
The 1st year of implementation has been completed in December 2006. Measuring
the impact with a balanced score card, we reached the conclusion that the strategy
is applied at the level of expectations. Romania has indeed a realistic, written, and
relevant National Export Strategy (NES) that is working. Even more, we succeeded
to adjust the strategy, mainly reconsidering some measure in the action plan which
proved to be either not clearly defined, either too redundant.
The Export Council, has analyzed during its meeting dated November 28, 2006 the
NES Action Plan fulfillment stage, one year after its approval, based on the NES
monitoring and impact measurement methodology.
The document that has been submitted to the EC was a result of the monitoring and
assessment process that has been accomplished in November 2006 by the
Department of Foreign Trade together with the coordinators of the 23 sector and
inter-sector fields who participated to the drawing up of the NES.
The debates pointed out that the objectives and initiatives fulfillment with due date in
2006 fits with the expected level. Such conclusion is sustained by the fact that from
a total of 397 Action Plan initiatives, in 2006 have been started or accomplished a
number of 257 initiatives.
Tabel 4. Initiatives, attached to each perspective, and measured in the first
impact assessment, year one of NES
Development
P1

20%

Sector
competitiveness
P2
30%

Clients
P3

30%

Institutional
P4

20%

(80 initiatives
(192 initiatives
(104 initiatives (21 initiatives
with targets after onewith targets after onewith targets after with
year)
year)
one year)
targets after one
year)

Results for each perspective are as follows:

 P1, development 58 points from max 171=33,9%,weighted with 20%=6,8% from
total;
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 P2, sector competitiveness, 245 points from max 450=54,4%,weighted with

30%=16,3% from total;
 P3, client, 222 points from max 264=84,1%,weighted with 30%=25,2% from
total;
 P4 , institutional capacity, 33 points from max 54=61,1%,weighted with
20%=12,2% from total.
Main conclusion: initiatives are implemented at the level of expectations with a total
score of 60,5% after one year(6,8%+16,3%+25,2%+12,2%), but adjustments has to
be done.
Main achievements in implementing objectives of NES in the first year may be
summarized as follows:
Increased funds from the budget and introduction , through change of
legislation, into the national schemes of export promotion , of new
instruments for export promotion like trade portal, export promotion inside the
country and others
Branding export sectors : first collective export brand, Romania IT, has been
launched ;
Extension of export promotion event on new markets and target market
financing quality certification costs for export companies and marketing and
promotion costs.
Capitalization of Eximbank and adaptation of its instruments to the needs of
the exporters (new instruments has been introduced);
Agreements between Eximbank and commercial banks to develop full
packages of support for companies;
Alliances between designer associations and producers associations in
furniture and textile;
Developing linkages between suppliers and producers on the value chains
through contacts and seminars in local fair events in textile and furniture;
new emerging sectors into the national schemes for export development and
export promotion (fairs, catalogues): organic farming, rural tourism. IT niches,
audio and film industry, automotive industry and plastics;
transparency and better selection criteria for the companies benefiting fro
support from the budget schemes in fairs, exhibitions, trade mission;
regional approach, extension of EC at regional and county level and starting
elaboration of regional export strategies in line with the national one;
Program Export in the counties 2006-2007, meetings with the local business
communities;
harmonization of national schemes with EU and coordination with EU on
market access issues;
training for export promotion service suppliers both from private and public
organizations in order to enhance their skills and competencies;
creation of national networks for trade support ;
increased number of commercial attaches abroad and better management of
trade information flows;
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Strengthening of the export Council (amendment of legislation giving him the

power to decide about distribution of budget resources in instruments for
trade promotion and to approve programs of support each year).

Mentioning achievement the evaluators pointed out also that:

 some of the initiatives were not measurable because they were not correctly
defined and described ;
 some of the initiatives were overlapping;
 there were difficulties in starting initiatives in some strategic considerations areas
(clusters, business alliances, innovation, R&D, trade facilitation);
 there were difficulties in getting the data from stakeholders and strategy network;
 -there were difficulties in communicating in the regions for data gathering;
 initiatives related to the new status of Romania, as EU country like market
access cooperation were not tuned with the NES.
Taking into consideration the strategic role of the export in the economic
development of Romania, the EC members have considered as a necessity to
update the NES Action Plan till the end of 2006, in order to facilitate further growth of
the export volume, to improve the export structure, to enhance the correlation with
law regulations of the fields related to and to update the due dates and the targets
related to its objectives and initiatives.
In order to accomplish operatively this action the governmental and nongovernmental institutions, the employers and professional associations responsible
for NES implementation, have been asked to submit concrete proposals for updating
the Action Plan and to enhance the co-operation for its fulfillment.
The same time the EC decided to inform the counties associative structures, settled
as County Export Councils concerning the fulfillment stage of the NES Action Plan
and to ask them to present own initiatives concerning the NES main objectives, to be
included in the first revision of the NES Action Plan.
The new updated Action Plan included also activities like: co-ordination of the
initiatives for export
development and market access with the European
Commission ones; adapting sustaining practices for export promotion to the
European ones; implementation of the sector branding strategies for the main export
sectors; extending EC activity at county level, developing regional export strategies
aligned with NES etc.
Further to this,
 A new action plan was approved, adjusted to the results of the evaluation;
 Better communication and capacity building in the network in providing data;
 New initiatives has been introduced for the development perspective and
regional dimension of the NES.

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As a conclusion, first exercise of impact measurement and adjustment of NES after

one year of implementation showed that the strategy is working and is generating
positive effects on the export development. Furthermore, indicated were adjustment
should be done in order to be a more efficient strategy. Impact measurement had
strengthened the PPP, the role of EC and the export strategy network.
7. Measuring impact after two years: main conclusions
By the end of 2007, a new impact measurement took place together and a new
adjustment of the strategy has been accomplished. Based on information gathered
by the monitoring team of the strategy, comprising the navigators of the process of
elaboration but also other entities able to deliver useful data, a new application of the
balanced score card was made.
Main conclusion after two years was again that initiatives are implemented at the
level of expectations with a total score of 68,6% for 294 initiatives, slightly higher that
the one measured in the first year, of 60,5%. Still adjustment has to be done.
Here are the main measurement results for each perspective:

Tabel 5. Initiatives, attached to each perspective, and measured in the second

impact assessment, year two of NES
Development
P1

20%

Sector
Clients
competitiveness
P3
P2
30%

(58 initiatives (117 initiatives

with targets aftwith targets
year 2007)
year 2007)

30%
(108 initiatives
with targets
year 2007)

Institutional
P4

20%
(11 initiatives with
targets year 2007)

Results for each perspective are as follows:

 P1, development 81 points from max 174=46,5%,weighted with 20%=9,3% from
total;
 P2, sector competitiveness, 253 points from max 351=72,1%,weighted with
30%=21,6from total;
 P3, client, 246 points from max 324=75,9%,weighted with 30%=22,8% from
total;
 P4 , institutional capacity, 25 points from max 33=75,7%,weighted with
20%=15,1% from total.

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As one may notice aggregate results per each perspectives in the second
measurement, after two years (9,3%+21,6%+22,8%+15,1%) against measurement
after one year( 6,8%+ 16,3%+25,2%+12,2%) indicate that most of the gains in
strategy implementation are located in the sector competitiveness perspective while
the client perspective remained also relatively strong in contribution terms in the
implementation. Indeed, after two years sector level achievements in branding
export sectors , quality management or promoting new export sectors made a
difference while client level achievements for potential or aspiring exporters at
regional level were also vigorous.
Comparing year one with year two a decrease of number of initiatives to be
measured from 294 to 397 can be also noticed. That is the result of the decision
taken by the Export Council at the first measurement exercise in November 2006,
to make a non-redundant, less overlapping and more measurable action plan which
entered into force in January 2007. Indeed, main gain in this regard was that the
new plan of action was more precise and concise.
Main results on each perspective for the year two of the strategy were the
following ones:
Development perspective:

Development of the plantations with high quality Romanian varieties in wine

industry and better access to market information for wine, beverages,
agriculture and food producers;
New synergies at local level between wind, food, handicraft ant tourism
sector;
Training of human resources for fill industry and development of marketing
networks for selling the movies;
Participation of potential and existing exporters, with support from the budget,
for the first time with a national pavilion in an international fair (Cannes 2007);
Awareness and consultancy for emerging clusters in IT and furniture;
Alliances between academic institutions and business associations to change
curricula in universities for the needs of IT outsourcing industry;
Set up of regional design centers for handicraft industry in the development
regions of Romania;
Training for improving managerial skills for export managers.

Sector competitiveness perspective

Adapting export offer to the EU quality and ecological standards for furniture ,
electrotechnical , textile and plastics industries;
Seminar for introducing and developing CMMI standards in IT industry;
New labs for testing quality in agro-food industry ;
New measures to improve efficiency of participation in international fairs;
Seminars and training dedicated to the exporters of organic/ecological
farming products;

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First events abroad (fairs) dedicated to emerging export sectors (organic

farming, plastics or audio-visual);
Marketing of communication for the first Romania export brand (Romanian IT)
and 3 more branding strategies developed for textile, furniture and
shipbuilding industries.

Client perspective

Stimulating Romanian designers to improve their skills and links with the
industries;
First year when designers were promoted abroad in fairs;
More awareness at client level in local areas and counties about the export
strategy vision and objectives, about the offer of public and private offer of
support services and about modalities of access to different national and EU
support schemes of assistance;
More potential exporters and new exporters getting access to promotional,
consultancy and training and other support services;
Better communication and support from the business associations and
capacity building at their level for professional business services to the
companies;
A trade portal to serve better the needs of trade information for the export
clients has been designed and its structure approved by the Export Council,
paving the way to have this new tool operational in 2008;

Institutional perspective

Increased role of the Export Council in coordinating local and regional trade
networks and increased capacity to communicate with the local business
environment;
Setting up local export councils at county level which represents informal
PPP connected with the main national body;
Greater representation of the export community from the Export Council by
including as members new associations and public institutions dealing with
export promotion in tourism and audio-visual.

The EC members, which met in December 2007 agreed upon results of the
second measurement of NES and have considered as a necessity to update again,
after two years , the NES Action Plan . In the new Action Plan for 2008 some other
initiatives have been included like :
Measurement of external promotional events not only in the first
months after event but alos after six months in order to better gauge
the impact of the event at the participant level in terms of export
revenues;
Finalizing the trade portal;

103

Continuation of the sector branding initiatives in order to cover almost

all export sectors of Romania;
Continuation of the presence in the territory and starting the program
Export 2008
Design, endorsement and finalization of two regional export strategies
aligned with the national one and creation of PPP structure for export
competitiveness at regional level;
Integration in the action plan of activities and initiatives taken at EU
level in its market access strategy and Market Access Advisory
Committee (MAAC) of the European Commission;
Further refinement of NES during the year 2008 after a first evaluation
of Romanian export potential and trade competitiveness in the first
year of EU accession and after elaboration of the first two regional
strategies;
Turning into account positive aspects of Romanian experience in
management of national, sector and regional strategies in its technical
cooperation policy towards developing and transition countries.

8. Double reality check: Romanian statistics on export performance

showed steady growth and elements of sustainability, diversification and
value addition
Good strategies should not set quantitative visions. Even more, to measure NES
impact through export performance growth may raise reasonable doubts:

First, how do we know that the strategy only and not the overall market
forces made thing better or worse ?

Second, objectives and initiatives in better education, better training,

awareness about changing mentalities in doing trade, greater capabilities,
abilities and competencies are of a kind to have an immediate direct impact on
next day, month of year of export performance.
Understanding a strategy at national level as an additional process to catalyze and
facilitate free market initiative clear the water because you better know the limitation
of the job of strategy maker and stick to the essentials. That means do measure your
initiatives and do not pretend being a God !
However, is worth making a double reality check looking at the export figures and
find their good reasons to show your strategy is working or not in line with the
market.
In Romanian case, first reasonable assessment is that implementation of the NES
initiatives contributed also to an export increasing in 2006 with 16,2% compared to
2005 and with a rate of 13,0% in 2007 (first 11 months figure) compared to the
same period of 2006. This is excluding export of services, from which the dynamics
of IT&C was more that 30% during 2004-2007. Second reasonable assessment is
that products and services which scored important export growths are the ones
which also have been targeted by NES and are contributing to higher value addition.

104

In terms of structure of the exports there are clear statistical data showing that
groups of products targeted by the export strategy are the ones to have growth
during and qualitative changes during 2005-2007. This is the case for industrial
equipments, automotive industry, shipbuilding industry, electrical products. Matter of
fact more than one third of Romania exports are based on industrial outsourcing
and exports of finished industrial or automotive industry goods or components, which
became the first large export group.
During the years of strategy implementation 2005-2007, textile industry lost its
position of export leader form 30% in 2005 to less than 20% in 2007, especially to
the decrease in cut and trim type of export and moving on the value chain towards
full business export based on own brand design and collections. Less exports but
more value addition. Same goes for furniture for wood exports which grew gradually
while unprocessed or low processed wood exports of wood decreased. More export
of furniture based on design and brands instead of raw and unprocessed wood,
confirm the strategic considerations of the strategy.
Chemical industry as a whole, plastics, pharmaceutical or tires also made progress
to a better share of 9 % of total export in 2006 compared with 5% in 2004.
New emerging export sectors like organic farming, rural tourism or audio-visual
confirmed the strategic approach on them by becoming an export reality durinf
2005-2007.
Regarding the reduction of the incidence of cut and trim type of export , statistics
are indicating a gradual reduction of the total share of these exports by 3% each
year, from 48% in 2005% to around 42% in 2007. This indicates that more and
more exporters are considering to base their future business more on competitive
advantage, on new skills and value addition instead of counting on unstable and
less rewarding cheap labor force advantage.
More increased growth during 2005-2007 , with 25% per year, of the medium and
high technology goods export, of high complexity and value, shows the continuous
improvement trend of the competitiveness of the exported goods. More increased
growth was registered also to the export o service, especially IT solution which
reached more than half a billion Euros last year, being now considered the pride of
the new export portfolio of Romania.

Conclusions
After more than 5 years of experience in this long journey we may say that we
brought our contribution to the new way to see a strategy as an efficient process to
do thinks better together, in partnership between different groups of interest aiming
at sustainable export development. We tried also to transmit new values to our
clients, the exporters, potential or existing, because this is the most effective tool to
win in competitions. We will continue to this way in the future too.
Management of a national strategic process of export competitiveness by a PPP
institution through a clear methodology to monitor implementation and measure the

105

impact became a gain in the new landscape of managerial culture. Design an

management may have some failures in the first cycle, EC as an institution may
have some limits, but the process in imbedded. We are convinced that the show
will go on even better in the future strategic cycles because a strategy is a journey,
not a destination.
We also see great potential and scope to adapt the BSC method to other strategic
processes at national at regional level, if the culture of institutionalized PPP will get
momentum . Just now we are working on applying BSC methodology to other
related strategic processes like branding strategies for export sectors or regional
export strategies but this may be continued with other suitable processes because
BCS method is adaptable to any type of institution which wants to add value to its
clients.

Annex :
1. Managerial framework of the strategy
2. Main impact measurement document which has been elaborated by the
impact measurement team in October 2006 and November 2007 .
Abbreviations:
NES - National Export Strategy
EC - Export Council
BSC - Balance Score Card
PPP Private Public Partnership
MAAC Market Access Advisory Committee
Bibliography
1. The Balanced Score Card, RS Kaplan, DP Norton, Harvard Business School
Press, Boston, Massachusetts, 1996, page 9;
2. Owen Skae and Executive Forum Team; Measuring Impact of National Export
Strategy, Integrating ITC`s NES Template and the Balanced Score Card
Approach, paper presented in Executive Forum Montreux, Switzerland,
September 2004;
3. Costin Lianu, Establishing an Export Council in Romania : Constraints and
Solutions, paper presented in Executive Forum, Montreux, Switzerland,
September 2004;

4. Costin Lianu, Management of national, sector an regional export strategies,

Bucharest, Editura Economica 2008, 160 pag.

106

Annex 1
The Process: Management Framework

The Development Perspective

The Development component
To achieve the vision, how must all key stakeholders (including civil society and the business community at large, taxpayers,
politicians, government ministries, labor unions, NGOs and the donor community) perceive its relevance to their specific concerns
and priorities? What are the implications for the strategys design?
Investments and FDI promotion
Export Economic Concentration- Clusters

The Vision
statement
for Romania
is: To
achieve
greater
economic
well-being
for all
citizens
through
enhanced
competitiven
ess in
international
trade
resulting
from quality,
diversity and
excellence.

Comparative
Weighting of
Perspectives

Strategic
Objectives
Initiatives
Targets
Performance
and Impact
Measures

The Sector Competitiveness Perspective

To achieve the vision, how must business and export associations and advocacy groups, potential investors (domestic and foreign)
and prospective buyers/importers in high priority export sectors perceive the vision in terms of reinforcing the export communitys
capacity and competency, strengthening the national business environment and increasing prospects for market development and
diversification? What are the implications for the strategys design?
The operational, Border
Value Chain and Sector Priorities
component of the strategy
The foreign or Border-Out
component
The domestic or Border-

Priorities
The Client Perspective

Quality management

To achieve the vision, how must current, potential and aspiring exporters and other key enterprises and players in the countrys
priority sectors/value chains perceive the vision in terms of developing their commercial objectives (value retention, addition and
creation) and satisfying their needs for support? What are the implications for the strategys design?
R&D, Innovation and technological transfer
Segmenting clients into
potentials, aspiring and current
Trade information
Competency Development
Trade finance

Resources

The Institutional Perspective

The Services Delivery Network

To achieve the vision, how must each member of the strategy support network, (public and private) perceive the vision in terms of
consolidating/reinforcing its position, facilitating its work and enhancing its capacities?
What are the implications for the strategys design?
The Strategy Support Network

Strategic
Objectives
Initiatives
Targets
Performance
and Impact
Measures

Strategic
Objectives
Initiatives
Targets
Performance
and Impact
Measures

Strategic
Objectives
Initiatives
Targets
Performance
and Impact
Measures

107

Annex nr. 2/a. NATIONAL EXPORT STRATEGY EVALUATION - 31.X.2006

PERSPECTIVE

IMPORTANCE

INITIATIVES
WITH TERM
2006

INITIATIVES
WITH
RESEULTS

MAXIMUM
SCORE

ACHIEVED
SCORE

FINAL
SCORE
I

VIABLE
INITIATIVES

MAXIMUM
SCORE

ACHIEVED
SCORE

FINAL
SCOR
II

2O %

80

35

240

58

24,2

4,8

57

171

58

33,9

6,8

30%

192

138

576

245

42,6

12,8

150

450

245

54,4

16,3

30%

104

104

342

222

71,2

21,4

88

264

222

84,1

25,2

20%

21

15

63

33

52,4

10,5

18

54

33

61,1

12,2

100,0%

397

257

1191

558

49,5

313

939

558

Development

Sector
competitiveness

Client

Institutional
capacity

TOTAL

60,5

108

Annex nr. 2b. NATIONAL EXPORT STRATEGY EVALUATION - 10.X.2007

PERSPECTIVE

IMPORTANCE

INITIATIVE S
FALLING ON
2007

INITIATIVES
WITH
RESULTS

MAXIMUM
SCORE

ACHIEVED
SCORE

2O %

58

45

174

81

46.5

9.3

30%

117

113

351

253

72.1

21.6

30%

108

94

324

246

75.9

22.8

20%

11

11

33

25

75.7

15.1

100,0%

294

263

882

605

FINAL SCORE
I

Development

Sectors

Client

Institutional
capacity

TOTAL

68.6

109