Despite its apparent intuitive appeal, the notion of export competitiveness remains ill-defined, conceptually vague and subject to abuse. Economists accept that firms must be ‘competitive’ to secure the bottom line, but national competitiveness has been dismissed as a “largely meaningless concept...a dangerous obsession” (Krugman, 1994; p.41). For Krugman, the language of competition contravenes the win-win Ricardian exchange from which international trade derives is raison d’être, and erroneously implies that the wealth of nations is derived from international fortunes alone. Nonetheless, while nations may not be in direct contest, the goods and services they produce do compete for the affections of foreign consumers. To deny that domestic conditions are relevant to exporter’s relative success in this regard is in itself a dangerous misgiving: given the development challenges that persist on the continent, Africa can ill-afford the opportunity cost of failing to integrate with an increasingly globalised economy.