PB25A: Dealing with Changing Obstacles in Trade Promotion

Methodology for Policy Briefs on Trade Promotion

This research was conducted by the lill Institute for Public Value and the Institute for Systemic Management and Public Governance at the University of St.Gallen.

The project compares qualitative interview data from 2025 with interview data from one year prior. From August to September 2024, individuals from 29 organisations were interviewed. We compare this data with 22 follow-up interviews with the same executives or their respective successors conducted throughout Mid-July and September 2025. 

Our qualitative study is based on two waves of semi-structured elite interviews with senior executives from export credit agencies and other EPOs. In the first wave (August–September 2024), we conducted 29 interviews to inductively identify EPO challenges. In the second wave (July–September 2025), we re-interviewed 22 of these individuals or their successors to assess how their organizations had responded to the previously identified issues and to uncover any new developments. One person was represented by a colleague.

This unique data set helps us explain shifts in their behaviour over time. Specifically, to understand the complex environment EPOs face, how the export finance landscape has changed in the past year, and what those shifts mean for different actors in export finance. The data was normalized prior to the analysis to account for slight differences in interview lengths. The qualitative analysis to determine the challenges was conducted deductively for the challenges identified for 2024. The challenges for 2025 were uncovered inductively.