We are nearing the end of our tour of France. I feel like Chevy Chase in that movie heading to Disneyland with his family and mother-in-law in the back seat – except our dear Melva is safe back home in Victor Harbor.
Our trip began with the TGV (high speed train) from London to Paris for meetings with colleagues at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and elsewhere to soak up the latest thinking in regional, trade and industry policy.
But the standout observation is that France is still just as bureaucratic and obtuse as ever. Our Cockatoo members there say that France’s economic stagnation is actually a function of the nation’s innate conservatism and indifference to the world around them.
Perhaps President Hollande and his team were thinking the same thing when he announced in September an audacious plan to pursue 34 projects to seal France’s ‘industrial renaissance’ e.g. fast trains, ecological boats, driverless cars, digital hospitals, green chemistry, cloud computing, robotics etc. Around 90 percent of the costs are expected to be met by the private sector since the government is basically broke.
The problem for the French is that major technologies need to pay their way, and they’re unlikely to interest the developing world in the short to medium term.
From our perspective the wiser approach for France might be to follow the OECD’s suggestion to concentrate on building global value chains (GVCs) in traditional products for the new growth markets. In this regard, there is a large body of international thinking for the GVC approach because it injects companies into new global relationships reflecting their competitive advantages.
In the case of the French, their competitive advantage lies in aviation, automobiles, engineering, health, agrifood etc. It thus makes more sense for them to be forging collaborative trade and investment alliances in these fields, rather than in driverless cars.
Collaboration with the French
The French are very good at planning both big and small communities, and in connecting different types of infrastructure to create the foundations for clusters of economic activity. As a result they have distinct regional advantages in places like Toulouse, Lyon, Toulon, Marseille, Strasbourg and other regional cities. The thought that occurred to us as we drove around these places was how Australian companies could be aligned with these clusters. The idea is not new because the Howard Government was aiming to implement a Global Opportunities Program to build industry alliances as part of major multi-country public projects (defence, telecoms, health etc.). But the incoming Rudd Government scotched it. I’m willing to bet that Industry Minister Macfarlane will revisit this.
There is also a huge opportunity for Australia-France at a more mundane level. To explain, although France is an industrial powerhouse it is well behind Australia in lots of day-to-day things that we take for granted e.g. bathroom fittings, plumbing, ticketing systems, service delivery and kitchen appliances. I’m absolutely convinced that we could really help the French in these areas because our tacit knowledge is greater. The trick is in finding a way to get our tradies, industrial designers and technical experts working side by side with the French in these fields. I will elaborate on this next month.
Exchange program with French regional governments?
France has 27 regions and 96 prefectures, and they are in the happy position of having taxing powers and higher levels of responsibilities and clout than their Australian counterparts. We had an impromptu meeting with the Nice Prefecture about its tourism promotion, road traffic control and environmental protection efforts, and I raised the possibility of a four week exchange deal each year with an Aussie council facing similar issues e.g. Waverley (Bondi), Randwick (Coogee-Clovelly), Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast.
This struck a real cord and we agreed to flesh out a proposal for the Mayor of Nice. If this appeals to any councils you might drop me a line. I should stress that the same concept could be applied to other areas of local government e.g. road engineering (gee the French are good in this field), environmental planning (where we might be line ball), small town planning (where we would benefit), and health administration (fruitful area). Again this is about the transfer of tacit knowledge to our mutual benefit.
Sydney Airport security guards
These fellows must be taking their cues from Basil Fawlty – ‘grumpy buggers’ is the only way to describe them.
Fast forward a day to Singapore and there are pleasant people everywhere. One security chap is cracking jokes, and the food outlets and information kiosks virtually implore travelers to rate the service being provided!
The airport experience is often the first and last impression left with travellers. Tourism authorities in Australia might ponder this.
Aussie politics
It was interesting to watch things unfold from afar. Good to see Ian Macfarlane assume Industry Ministers job, and Barnaby Joyce is an inspired choice as Agriculture Minister (DAFF needs a shake-up!). Barnaby is on the money with his proposed tightening of foreign investment in agricultural areas. Treasury will be arguing for no controls, but his new department will hopefully be developing a pragmatic approach. Can you imagine the French allowing open slather?
Rod Brown is a Canberra-based consultant and lobbyist specialising in industry/regional development, investment attraction and clusters, and accessing federal grants. He also runs the Cockatoo Network.
Phone: (02) 6231 7261 or 0412 922 559
Email: apdcockatoo@iprimus.com.au
Blog: www.investmentinnovation.wordpress.com (750 articles)
