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This question was closed without grading. Reason: Other
French to English translations [PRO] Bus/Financial - Economics / Foreign trade / national accounts analysis
French term or phrase:problème de filières
This is a French (NATIXIS) study analyzing the relationship between product range level (upmarket, mass market, etc) and export price elasticity, comparing French vs German manufacturing. The immediate context is: "Pour l’ensemble des secteurs agrégés, l’élasticité-prix des exportations en volume est presque deux fois plus élevée en France (0,74) qu’en Allemagne (0,43). [...] Pour les secteurs pris individuellement... les régressions sectorielles satisfaisantes sont concentrées dans les classes sectorielles 7 et 8 (machines, équipement de transport, matériel informatique et télécommunications et divers biens manufacturés). Cette concentration élevée pourrait révéler un **problème de filières**." Before anyone asks, the immediately following section goes on to something different, so there is no further context that I can provide to help. "Filières" is one of those words with umpteen meanings depending on context and, often, what seems the author's inventive whim. My own thoughts are it could be: --"a classification issue" (ie, how activities are organized into "sectors") as the study uses the Standard International Trade Classfication (SITC). --something like "business channeling", ie, how companies combine their products & services (internally or with partners) for export. --something like "getting their act together", ie, how efficiently focused various sectors are on the export market. --or...? --- Any thoughts? Many thanks as always :-)
--"a classification issue" (ie, how activities are organized into "sectors") as the study uses the Standard International Trade Classfication (SITC).
Your ST is highly unlikely to be any kind of treatise on the merits or absence of merits of various statistical methods. Which still leaves more than one option....
Ah... ok, apologies, I think I understand what you're saying, it's an interesting interpretation. Let me think about it. The problem is it would not be in keeping with anything else in the paper, as I implied in my initial comment about context. To accept your interpretation I feel there would need to be material further argument in the paper about the failure of other sectors to chime into missed opportunities.
Ok, given that it's an academic paper (I'd thought that it was probably a research note for investors), then wouldn't it be likely that the author(s) would discuss the topic if the meaning was how companies combine their products or how certain sectors are more or less efficient at exporting. You could say that they should probably also discuss why sector grouping (classification) should result in the observed results, but as the classification is based upon a standard they might just want to treat it as an artifact. Or maybe they have no idea why it has happened?
It's an academic paper, so, of course, they are offering alternative explanations for the observed correlation. They are not saying that the correlation is a problem, they are saying that a possible explanation for the correlation (apart from the expected correlation) may be "x", which Phil agrees may mean "classification issue" (as "problème" often simply means "issue/factor" as it often does in English).
Yes, my error - trying to do too many things at the same time. What is the correlation between? Price-elasticity and export volume? In any case, I'm not getting why having correlations that satisfy the conditions of the analysis is a problem for them, unless it's because they should have had similar correlations for the other sectors. I guess without the data I'm lost with one...
Perhaps you're confusing the meaning of "satisfaisantes" -- it doesn't mean satisfactory (=good, positive) , it means satisfying (= satisfying the conditions of the analysis)
It depends a bit on what "Cette concentration élevée" means. You have high price-elasticity of exports in volume for France, and then that satisfactory sectoral regressions are concentrated in sectors 7 and 8. So what does "concentration élevée" refer to? The sectoral classes, I guess, but I'm not wholly convinced of this. If you have them maybe the figures help with understanding the text? In any case, it's not the first time that Natixis has comment about the high price-elasticity of exports for France, e.g.: http://cib.natixis.com/flushdoc.aspx?id=69059 and another: http://cib.natixis.com/flushdoc.aspx?id=63900
Explanation: As you say,there are many different possible answers. The reference (an article in an economic journal ) describes a 'filiere' both as a supply chain and as the subsidiary which enables the principal company to control the supply chain. So 'subsidiaries ', a common translation of filieres, may well be the right one here. Especially as subsidiaries in different industrial branches or sectors from the main company do pose problems for economic analysis.
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