Creating Countertrade Opportunities in Financially Distressed Developing Countries: Framework and Nigerian Example

This article addresses the question of how firms interested in identifying and exploiting business opportunities in less developed countries (LDCs) can use countertrade exchange mechanisms to accomplish their objectives. Key dimensions of this issue are illuminated using a business development model. To highlight critical interactions between countertrading and the business analysis model, the case of Nigeria (an African economy bedeviled by economic problems and external debts) is examined. Several issues suggested by the case analysis are generalised into “do′s and don′ts” for prospective LDC countertraders. The article concludes with predictions, regarding the type of countertrade most likely to be utilised by LDCs and identification of several LDC countertrade‐related issues on which additional research would be useful.