International Market Development Through Technical Assistance Partnerships: PCIAC's Thailand Project
Authors: Ridsdel John 
Published: March 2010

Introduction

As a result of the price declines of the 1980s, shrinking domestic markets for petroleum services and finite conventional reserves, our petroleum industry has increasingly joined with other Canadian industries in recognizing that Canada must compete in a world market in order to secure our long-term development.

In general, we are well-placed to meet this challenge. Canada is recognized as possessing both the leading edge technology and the leading edge management to compete effectively anywhere in the world. The international recognition, however, does not always translate into international business. Global competition in the petroleum industry, especially in the rapidly expanding markets of Asia, is crowded and highly charged. Canadians, although technically experienced, are relatively new to the game, often unsure of the markets and cultures they wish to enter, and inexperienced with some of the "softer" areas that are essential to cross-cultural marketing effectiveness and project implementation.

At the same time, developing countries around the" world are recognizing their own need for technological and human resource development. They are increasingly requesting technology transfer and training programs as part of Official Development Assistance from the developed world, and as part of the terms of commercial packages.

For aid agencies such as the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and Petro-Canada International Assistance Corporation (PCIAC), ibis development has caused an increased level of activity in technology transfer or technical assistance programs. It has also caused many international marketers to enter what, for engineering or capital-intensive industries, is a new field: human resource development, training and continuing education - and, to complicate matters, in foreign countries.

This paper describes one of the technical assistance projects of Petro-Canada International Assistance Corporation and discusses some of the principles and realities involved in this "new business". We believe the challenges being faced in this area are also presenting Canada with a wonderful opportunity. Our experience leads to the view that technical assistance programs may be one of the best mechanisms for developing overseas markets. It is a mechanism also available to the commercial sector - but it involves a new set of skills and approaches sometimes radically different from our domestic business experience. This paper concludes by sharing with you some of the principles we have learned through the Thailand Technical Co-operation Project.

Training & Education

The viability and strength of the Canadian oil and gas industry have-been predicated on the development of a pool of indigenous expertise drawn from an education system that provides graduates with a basic grasp of petroleum-related disciplines. Through the availability of university and other professional training, Canadian companies have enjoyed a ready source of skilled personnel to meet the needs of the industry. Basic education is enhanced and brought to maturity through on-the-job experience and related "in-house" training. Implementation of this kind of development is often supervised and encouraged by professionals who bring a great deal of relevant experience to, their work. More significantly, the entire infrastructure which supplies trained manpower to the petroleum industry has grown and matured as the industry itself developed, providing personnel with the specific technical and managerial skills through a vast variety of educational channels as the companies required them. This infrastructure plus the