Title: Commercial diplomacy: conceptual analysis and factors shaping its empirical impact on trade and investments

Authors: Panagiotis Tsitsoglou; Grigoris Zarotiadis

Addresses: School of Economics, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece ' School of Economics, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

Abstract: The activities and relevant means/instruments of conducting Commercial Diplomacy (CD) recognised by relevant literature need further clarification and conceptualisation. Scholars usually point out the agents (state/non-state actors) or the goals of the concept (exports/investments, business promotion), without stressing the instruments/means available to relevant actors, while conducting CD. This paper contributes to a better understanding of CD, since we propose - after a thorough theoretical and empirical literature review - two conceptual dimensions of activities and relevant instruments of CD, cognitive and political, which we also take into account in our proposed definition of the concept. Thus, we introduce a new holistic framework of CD, where next to the actors and the goals, the concept is additionally characterised by the activities and relevant means, both integrated into the aforementioned categories/dimensions, defined respectively. Last but not least, we point out specific qualitative factors that affect the impact of CD on international trade/investment flows.

Keywords: commercial diplomacy; definition; dimensions of activities; exports; investments; embassies; consulates; trade missions; export/investment promotion agencies; business support.

DOI: 10.1504/IJDIPE.2025.144001

International Journal of Diplomacy and Economy, 2025 Vol.11 No.1, pp.63 - 81

Received: 09 Jun 2023
Accepted: 12 Dec 2023
Published online: 20 Jan 2025 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article