Between 2015 and 2020, Bpifrance has supported over 400 firms to build their international strategy and has helped them to go abroad through international missions. IFOP – the French Institute of Public Opinion – made a study to measure these missions’ impacts on the accompanied companies’ exportations. Here’s a sum up of the key results.

Bpifrance has initiated a survey on the international missions organised by the export development team between 2015 and 2020 and their impacts on the participating companies’ exportations. To guarantee the impartiality of this study, Bpifrance requested IFOP, a French polling firm, to contact the companies and to lead the survey.

Some key figures to remember:

• 87% of our clients believe that worldwide development is a key for their company’s growth.
• 99% of them will turn to the French Public Investment Bank to develop their activities globally. Indeed, they have chosen Bpifrance to support them because it is a trustworthy partner which offers relevant solutions.
• The societies appraises the programs and gives them an average grade of 8.5/10.
• 80% of them have identified clients and potential partners on the targeted area thanks to these immersive missions.
• 61% have overcome barriers to their exportations and 64% have initiated business negotiations.
• French regions are open to the world: 3/4 of the firms who participated to the international missions are based in regions.
• In terms of size, 70% of the societies were small and medium sized businesses, which makes sense because Bpifrance remains the bank of SMB before everything else.
• 2 fields were particularly visible: the French industries represented 39% of the participating companies, alongside French tech companies with 27%.
• La French Touch, the community for French cultural and creative industries, and the green rooster community, representing companies operating in ecological transition, only make up 12% and 7% of the accompanied companies, which can be explained by their recent creation in 2020.

This kind of study is important for our Export Development teams in order to adjust their strategic lines and their support methods. 

Find the whole results on our article in French on bpifrance.fr.