The Unite union warned BAE that cutting jobs too quickly could lead to skills shortages and called on the government to help the company win export orders.
To win export business it greatly helps to have foreign staff who understand local regulations and culture, says Paul Davis, who leads an architectural practice with a staff of 100 from a variety of countries.
The British authorities have been subject to sustained criticism for failing to prosecute companies which pay kickbacks to foreign politicians and officials to win export orders, while telling poor countries to stamp out graft.
We should make this decision not because it will help win export deals or get high-paying jobs, though maybe it will for some people, but because of strategic choice: this is where we live and these are the neighbours we need to understand.
The company sees the Belgrade plant as crucial to winning export markets in the Caucasus and Turkey.
She won export awards, showed Princess Anne around her factory and had tea at Buckingham Palace.
Not, that is, until "Shiri" invaded theatres in the south in 1999, becoming the most successful Korean film ever and winning export deals from Europe, America and Japan.
My company, IBM, produced PCs in state-of-the-art plants in Greenock and Havant, for which it won export awards and its chair got a knighthood.
In an era of specialisation, they're very good at building very complex ships - so specialised, however, that they're not so good at winning export orders for less sophisticated navies.
And as a British exporting success, what it says on how to win in export markets should probably be heard more widely (and see more on this from my colleague Kamal Ahmed).
