CONFERENCE ON: “Trade Wars As Opportunities”



Professor Jorge Sá (PhD Columbia University; MBA Drucker University; Jean Monnet Chair; Peter Drucker speaker) gave last week a conference on:

“Trade Wars as opportunities: Finding the best niches among 140.400 alternatives (5400 niches x 26 european countries) for deals and list of importers”

This conference had two distinctive characteristics:

  • First: it focused on trade wars as an opportunity, not a risk; and
  • Second: for firms in detail: business deals.

Using Brexit as an example, the opportunities created for businesses are twofold:

  • First: substitution of UK exports to the EU, being the question: which products (niches) the UK 1) exports a lot 2) to which EU-26[1] countries, but 3) our company exports (coincidently) little to them 4) although a lot to other parts of the world?
  • Second: substitution of a firm’s exports to the UK, being the question: which EU-26 countries 1) import a lot from the world, 2) excluding the UK, 3) the same products (niches) that our firm exports a lot to the UK, 4) but those EU-26 countries import very little from our company?

And by detail is meant:

  • Rather than working at industry level or segments (and there are 88 industries defined at two digits and 615 segments defined at four digits by the Eurostat), one works at niche level (six digits of the Eurostat) of which there are 5.400 in each economy; that is, very narrow defined activities.
  • And given that each country’s economy has 5.400 niches and there are 26 EU countries (EU28 less UK less the country of our company), every firm has 140.400 alternatives (5.400 niches x 26 countries) to select from for both types of opportunities;
  • Thus the goal: which are the 10/15 best opportunities for a company to focus on among 140.400 alternatives regarding the two types of opportunities above: substitution of UK exports to the EU and/or substitution of our exports to the UK.

The output of this conference’s methodology was a list with the name of the main importers / potential clients, niche by niche, country by country, regarding the best 10/15 opportunities for a company to focus on and the value in euros of each opportunity.

The output varies depending upon a firm’s characteristics but the methodology is always the same.

And so, from this conference the audience learned:

  • What are the lessons of Brexit for the forthcoming trade war with China; and
  • How did many companies take advantage of Brexit to increase many times their exports and can do the same in the forthcoming trade war with China.

The talk was based on Professor Sá’s new book “Trade Wars as Opportunities” which was published this summer (cover, index and back cover below):


[1] EU28 less UK less our country.


1. Jorge Sá is an expert on Peter Drucker and Philip Kotler, founders of modern management and modern marketing, respectively, with whom he studied and who offered letters of recommendation for his books and endorsements for his work.

2. Has a master’s degree from the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management in California and a doctorate(PhD) in Business Administration, from Columbia University, in New York, where he was research, teaching assistant, and graduated with honors (always Dean’s list, Beta Gamma Sigma). Also holds two undergraduate degrees (in business administration and economics) and a graduate degree in Macroeconomics.

3. Was awarded the Jean Monnet Chair by the Jean Monnet Foundation in Brussels, and his books translated into twelve languages: English, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese (Mandarin), Russian, Ukrainian, German, Lithuanian, Thai, Korean, Norwegian and Iranian, received endorsements, among others, from Peter F. Drucker, Cecily Drucker, Al Ries (author of the bestsellers Marketing Warfare and Positioning), Don Hambrick (Professor at Columbia University and The Pennsylvania State University), Karl Moore (Professor at Oxford and McGill University), Peter Starbuck (President of the London Drucker Society) and Philip Kotler.

4. Besides nearly forty articles published in blind refereed academic reviews and journals of economics, business administration and medicine, he has addressed conferences and given seminars at several institutions including TED USA (https://youtu.be/SOkjPVi1Fts), London Business School, Drucker University, IESE, Glasgow Business School, ESSEC (France), ESSAM (European Consortium of Business Schools), Manchester Business School, George Washington University, Oxford, etc. Has also addressed conferences and presented articles in academic and non-academic meetings, such as Academy of Management, Western Economic Association, Peter Drucker Society of Europe, at the European Commission, etc.

5. Has worked as private consultant, non-executive director or taught in the executive programs of multinational companies such as: Coca-Cola, SHELL, Unisys, IBM, Price Waterhouse, KPMG, Glaxo, British Petroleum – BP, Dun & Bradstreet, Deloitte & Touche, Makro (Metro group), Systéme U, I.F.A, Intermarché, Mini Prix Bonjours, Accenture, Watson Wyatt, Cap Gemini, Cesce, Scottish & Newcastle, Sara Lee, Total, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Logica, Indra, Grandvision, Jafep, Euler Hermes, Cosec, Pestana Group Hotels, Tivoli Hotels & Resorts, Millennium Bank, Julius Baer, SGG, Henkel, Abencys, Broadbill, Volkswagen Group, McDonald’s, MiTek, United Steel Products, Base Group, UnitedHealth group, Inapa, Vodafone, IDC, Merck, BPI Bank, Milestone, Fijowave, Foxpak, ND Sports, LLR-G5, Horan, Prodieco, Dennison, Grid Finance, Bluemetrix, European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, Microsoft, etc.

6. His hobbies are History (wrote several books on the lessons of military campaigns for management) and football (degree as a professional coach). He speaks and writes (by alphabetical order) English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish. He lives between Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro. And the office, Vasconcellos e Sá Associates (www.vasconcellosesa.com), provides support for research and other activities.


For more information on this conference please check our website at: www.vasconcellosesa.com or contact us at associates@vasconcellosesa.com .

– Peter Drucker expert

– Speaker on Peter Drucker

– European liberal economist

– European right wing economist

– European libertarian economist

– European conservative economist

– European liberal speaker

– European right wing speaker

– European libertarian speaker

– European conservative speaker