The United Kingdom Export Drive and the Future

Abstract

FROM the beginning of the Second World War until the present time, the study in Great Britain of markets has receded into the background and thoughts of industrialists, ardently led by Cabinet Ministers and other Government spokesmen, have been concentrated on production. This is inevitable in war and was especially so after Lend-Lease came into being. Our survival depended upon the output of guns, tanks, aircraft and bombs, and not on the exchange of goods with other countries: hence government departments and factory managers did their utmost to endow the workshops with the maximum enthusiasm for output. The nation was rightly proud of our total war effort which was achieved by the concentration of every man, woman and machine, on pure production coupled with a cut in exports of 71 per cent, and in civilian consumption of 21 per cent. The production aspect of our affairs thus overshadowed the commercial aspect and has done so for longer than most of us expected; in other words the sellers' market has had a long run. All this has led us to behave as though we were no longer a nation of traders and merchants, but a purely productive concern which has the good fortune to be sheltered from competition. It was therefore perhaps a natural corollary that the Export Drive should open with a rough and ready statement of production targets. This approach was as rudimentary as it was quick and easy. It had the unfortunate effect of giving the impression that we had only to produce more, and curtail civilian supplies, in order to overcome our difficulties, and some people are still talking as though this was the solution of the problem. Disillusionment on this matter is close at hand and it is well to remind ourselves that we rose to greatness as a nation of traders, that our commercial genius will have to be recaptured, and our nose for markets will have to be keener than ever if we are to pay our way. I am sure the crude announcement of the export targets must have raised doubts and anxieties in the minds of most of us, and they were probably quite different from the anxieties which appeared to be uppermost in the official minds. The chief official worry appeared to be whether the quantitative production would be large enough to enable the targets to be realized. Our worry was whether production would be concentrated on the right goods. The Government seem mainly concerned with a programme to tide over our immediate economic ends. We are concerned with supplying markets which have a long-term potential. May I elaborate these anxieties a little further. The announcement of the targets was accompanied by the statement that raw materials and labour would only be allocated on the basis of export performance and that firms unable to export sufficiently would have to go out of production. Such an announcement