Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/716217
exporTing Canada's besT TeChnology abroad i f you are a successful Canadian de- fence company, the odds are, you are successful in other sectors (ie. infrastructure, aerospace, or auto- motive) and/or you are exporting. We were thrilled to work with Michael and his team at Avascent earlier this year on an industrial analytics study that sur- veyed the Canadian defence market. The study found that over two thirds of Canadian businesses in the defence sector generated less than 25 per cent of their business from defence. It is extremely rare (and I would argue, an unwise busi- ness strategy) to focus solely on the Ca- nadian market. My financial auditor re- fers to it as "business concentration risk". Risks tend to serve as bright red flags to stakeholders that could limit growth and progress; whereas driving exports is a way to achieve continued growth, es- tablish diversified, longer term revenue sources and improve our trade balance. In short, this is how you really stimulate an economy. While it seems pretty obvious, it still can't be ignored - exports bring tremen- dous benefits to both a Canadian busi- ness and the Canadian economy. They create substantial growth at the company level which, in turn, leads to increased in- vestments in technology, innovation and expansion. These investments can deliver strong and sustainable growth to the Ca- nadian industrial base over the long term, especially when a Canadian business is given a "Global Product Mandate" from a large foreign corporation. I believe that for part or most of these reasons, the Canadian Government is now emphasizing the importance of gov- ernment contractors to drive exports for Canadian industry. Under the new value proposition requirements for instance, bidders' will not only be assessed based on the price and technical capability of their product, but also on the economic benefit that will be delivered to Canada as a result of the contract, with "exports" having played a significant role in recent RFPs. This requirement presents a clear opportunity to build up Canada's intel- lectual property and technologies. Many Canadian companies do not know where to start when considering ex- porting their products and services glob- ally. However, various resources exist in Canada that companies can consult. You should consider working with the Cana- dian Commercial Corporation (CCC), which is a Crown Corporation that I am a Board member of, that was established to advance international trade between Canadian industry and government mar- kets. Additionally, OMX specializes in connecting suppliers with government contractors for the purpose of fulfilling offset obligations. Often, Canadian com- panies can be included in these contrac- tors' global supply chains as a result of their work in Canada. Partnering with local firms Further, if your company is exporting globally, you will likely encounter in- dustrial participation and offset policies 42 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2016 www.vanguardcanada.com T TecHnOLOGy WATCh by nicole Verkindt Two-thirds of canadian businesses in the defence sector generated less than 25 per cent of their business from defence.