Strategies for the 21st century.

• Author: Smirnoff, Steve R.
• Position: International trade promotion - Access the World

As Anchorage evaluates the economic strengths that will carry it into the 21st century, two important questions need to be asked. First, what can local government and its agencies do to make certain that local businesses are aware of the rapid internationalization of the world's markets? Second, what tangible assistance can government offer to existing manufacturing and service sectors to help them in exporting their products and services overseas?

In the 21st century, economic development will not be measured solely by the number of new businesses brought to town. In fact, most new American jobs will come from existing industries which expand into global markets.

Providing meaningful municipal assistance to local industries interested in exporting will be a mark of a progressive administration. Those communities and regions that seize the opportunity early will significantly increase their participation in global trade.

Tomorrow's customers will be totally new international consumer groups, numbering in the hundreds of millions. Only those in American industry who clearly understand the coming massive changes in consumer markets and react quickly to bring goods and services to these millions of new consumers will become active participants in world commerce.

In very broad terms, the United States, Canada and Japan are on a downhill curve in terms of consumption of consumer goods and services, as their populations age rapidly in the next 10 years. By contrast, South Korea, Mexico and Brazil are rapidly growing as consumers of goods and services. China, with a population of 1.2 billion, an impressive younger population segment and a rapidly growing middle class, will soon translate into a consumer group approaching 800 million people.

In the next decade, we will see the emergence of new international trade and economic alliances outside the geo-political sphere. Free trade zones, enterprise zones, duty-free zones and similar creations will emerge. For example, the Chinese Province of Guandong near Hong Kong, designated as a foreign trade zone with all of its benefits, is today growing rapidly, with foreign trade volume...