Indholdsfortegnelse for September 2018 i NZBusiness+Management

If you or a family member were unexpectedly stranded on the other side of the world with an illness, injury or unexpected calamity, there’s one person you can trust to come to your rescue, and that’s Craig Morrison – former US Marine Corps captain, seasoned business leader and 17-year veteran of New Zealand’s travel insurance industry, including 15 years running Southern Cross Travel Insurance (SCTI). OK, Craig won’t personally come to your aid, but his online travel insurance business Holiday Rescue certainly will – with a service comparable to a military operation. Holiday Rescue’s commander-in-chief has impeccable credentials for travel insurance, as does his team of six. It was a corporate posting to Auckland in late 1996 that triggered Craig’s love affair with New Zealand’s “no guns and centralist politics”…

Josh Comrie is an experienced entrepreneur and angel investor. He brought a founding team together about two and half years ago and they set to work, in a structured way, to decide what sort of company they wanted to build. That included finding the killer idea to build the company around. The team knew each other through business connections and once Josh and his two co-founders, Gareth Cronin and Tim Warren, had agreed to work together they set out to find that big idea. Josh is CEO and has already successfully established two major human capital companies, along with a substantial commercial property syndicate. He’s also a serial angel investor and businesses he has been involved with include Wherewolf, a tourism booking and loyalty management system; Youtap, a contactless mobile…

For Hadleigh Ford the first 20 years of his career was an ongoing series of dream jobs that took him to exotic locations worldwide. It began when, at just 17 years of age, he embarked on officer training in the merchant navy. The first container ship he trained on sailed around the world twice within six months. Then came the cruise ships – more his style – following the sun to exciting destinations such as the Mediterranean and Caribbean. The next dream job involved sailing a newly built 160-metre superyacht out of its home port of Dubai. As a qualified ship’s captain, he then found himself in Germany, helping equip and commission another superyacht owned by a Russian billionaire. It was there amongst all the yacht’s opulence that he noticed…

We are not about to give up on plastic. It’s too useful. Even in terms of sustainability, there are very good reasons to keep using some plastic for the foreseeable future. It’s lightweight. That means less carbon emissions for transport than heavier alternatives like glass. It excels at keeping goods fresh and safe. So it reduces waste in our long distance food supply chains. It is robust. It can create long lasting products. Many forms of plastic can be recycled and reused. So it’s going to be a while before we refill all the niches plastic has been poured into over the past 150 years. But we now know the extent to which our world has fallen victim to plastic’s success. It has contaminated all life on Earth. This includes…

European Union rules seem distant to most New Zealand business operators. Yet the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation has a long reach. The GDPR came into force in May and you must follow GDPR rules if you do business with European companies or consumers. The fines for failing are huge – up to four percent of your business turnover or €20 million. Even if your business isn’t in the EU’s sights, there’s a knock-on effect. Any business that keeps customer records or any other kind of personal data will need to lift its game. It’s worth taking notice of the GDPR at it is fast becoming the global standard for looking after personal data. People worry about their privacy and the way organisations use personal data. Their fears have grown…

The 2018 Institute of Directors and EY annual report on directors’ fees in New Zealand has found that while directors are working more hours, fees have remained relatively modest. IoD’s CEO KP Patterson told Management one of the important findings was an increase in the hours and time that directors are having to spend on their governance responsibilities. The growing complexity around issues such as cyber security, technological changes, AI, analytics and disruptive business models along with increased expectations around sustainability, much greater transparency and health and safety initiatives has seen an uplift in the number of hours directors spend on their governance duties. The median time spent on their governance roles has risen from 106 hours a year in 2017 to 127 hours per year in 2018. Back in…

In the second of WorkSafe New Zealand’s Insights series, Mai Chen, chair of the Superdiversity Centre (www.superdiversity.org) joins CEO Nicole Rosie to discuss the challenges of health and safety in New Zealand’s increasingly ethnically diverse workforce. The pair talk through some of the reasons why migrants and workers from different ethnic backgrounds are more vulnerable to being killed or injured at work, and what can be done to make these workers safer. New Zealand is already classified as being ‘superdiverse’ with large numbers of New Zealanders born outside of the country, and a vast spread of ethnicities. Mai Chen says in Auckland, 44 percent of people were born outside of New Zealand, and across the country the population is made up of more than 220 different ethnicities under the 2013…

The 2018 KPMG New Zealand CEO Outlook Survey Report found that the volatile geopolitical climate is impacting business confidence among some of Zealand’s leading CEOs. Some 68 percent of New Zealand CEOs surveyed identified a “return to territorialism” as the greatest threat to growth for their organisation. This sentiment was mirrored by offshore CEOs, in the KPMG Global Survey, albeit to a lesser degree. The New Zealand survey also showed a slight softening of confidence compared to 12 months ago. KPMG New Zealand’s chief executive Godfrey Boyce says in a media release that the country’s reliance on export-led growth perhaps underpins the slightly more cautious outlook. However he doesn’t see the results as a cause for alarm. The past year has seen global vagaries continuing to play out in response…

I WAS RECENTLY talking about the differences in menswear and womenswear with a client. She was lamenting that women’s fashion changed far more rapidly than men’s and that, as such, women had to spend more to keep up to date. If you read my columns regularly you’ll know I believe that staying current in your clothing choices keeps you looking current in other areas of your life too. Most notably your work. So, does menswear change? Is it still okay to be trotting out that sports jacket you bought nine years ago on sale? Surely it looks much the same as what you can buy now so would anyone notice how old it is? The answer to that is that although I agree menswear isn’t subject to the same ‘fast’…

“Who are these new superheroes? They are doctors, financial advisors, supply chain managers, retailers, cybersecurity analysts and innumerable other professionals. ” Because AI can ingest and curate massive amounts of data to augment performance, and generate better insights and actions, it has the potential to change how people work and live. Superpowers may no longer be completely fictional, thanks to AI. SUPERHEROES AMONG US Innovative employees are integrating data scientist-like capabilities with their own skills in more professions and occupations than ever. In fact, over time, these capabilities will be increasingly available and may become key performance differentiators that drive the way companies and workers compete. In that sense, AI can help employees become “superheroes.” Unlike humans who can easily become overwhelmed with complexity and data, AI does not. It…

YOUR BUSINESS RULES COMPLIANCE IS a major concern for Kiwi business owners with Ministries and Councils taking steps to ensure businesses comply with rules. Ninety percent of Kiwi businesses are small to medium enterprises (SMEs) and owners are responsible for making sure they operate within the rules and regulations. ComplyHub is a simple tool that brings everything together and helps protect businesses from legal trouble. What to do about a personal grievance claim? A serious work accident? What if a customer wants personal data from a loyalty programme? All information to stay legally compliant is in one place with ComplyHub’s content targeted at those without a legal background and written in plain English. With six core and 90-plus sub-topics including Employment, Health & Safety, Tax, Marketing, Companies, Products and Services,…

It’s unusual to see two people achieve close compatibility both in their personal relationship and chosen careers. But that’s exactly what husband and wife Joe and Lisa Byrne have done. Byrne Homes, based in the new Hibiscus Coast suburb of Millwater, has a mini-dream team in charge – Lisa designs the interiors; Joe’s the Master Builder who oversees the building projects. It’s a highly efficient and productive combination, producing a multimillion-dollar turnover and seven to nine houses annually utilising contractor partnerships. For Joe, building is in the blood. His dad was a builder. Growing up Joe spent many a school holiday on the end of a hammer. But when he turned 16, his parents’ ultimatum was: “building site or university!” It was an easy decision, Joe recalls – at uni…

PART 1: HARNESSING THAT STORY AND ‘WOW FACTOR’ TO IMPRESS AND CONVINCE POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS. Are you guilty of overstuffing presentations? Putting so much content on screen that there’s little the presenter can add? “Remember it’s not the presentation that people will deal with later on, it’s the salesperson,” says Stun’s Greg Ellis. “They need to have rapport with their client; to make the connection and seem capable and knowledgeable – not the presentation. “Slides act as headings to break up the flow of talk and introduce new points – not deliver everything.” Lots of slides don’t necessarily make a presentation boring either, he adds. “Plenty of well-crafted slides rich in images but containing only carefully chosen, minimal text are very effective. Keeping things moving through lots of quick slides gives…

Far from being the oft-rumoured ‘yesterday’s qualification’ the MBA and its derivatives are booming in New Zealand, with a new campus for Waikato University in Tauranga and all the institutions we surveyed adapting to the changing business environment and the personal circumstances of students. The words ‘flexibility’, ‘customer-centric’, ‘agile’, ‘disruptive’, ‘collaborative’,‘thriving’,‘teamwork’,‘high-performance’,‘individualising’, ‘emotional intelligence’, ‘cross-cultural awareness’ and ‘creativity’ all abound in discussions with those directing MBA studies in this country. Our local MBAs largely feature well above expectations internationally. AUT’s director of MBA and Professional Masters programmes, Ken Lee is rightfully pleased their approach to ‘Developing High Performing Teams’ was one of three finalists in the MBA Roundtable (USA) MBA Innovation awards, and the only paper from a business school outside the USA to make the finals. “We submitted a paper…

Nadine and Karl ToeToe, of Kohutapu Lodge and Tribal Tours, near the tiny Bay of Plenty town of Murupara, have a simple vision they have put into five words: “Change a town through tourism.” Once a thriving forestry and mill town, today Murupara has a high unemployment rate and has garnered a not-always-justified image of boarded-up shops, rampant graffiti and prominent gang associations. But Nadine told media at Tourism Industry Aotearoa’s annual TRENZ event earlier this year, it is a town of beautiful people with wonderful stories and, most of all, amazing children. It’s also on the doorstep of the natural wonders of the Whirinaki Forest Park with its lakes, waterfalls, ancient Maori rock art, and is the ancestral home of Ngati Manawa. The business, which they started four years…

Many of us don’t realise the power our words can have on the people around us. It’s even more the case for those of us who are founders and leaders of businesses – who inherently speak from a position of power. Over the years, we’ve all been told how comments made in haste or as an afterthought were taken to heart by staff, and ultimately had a lot more impact than was ever intended. The words we choose to use in order to communicate ideas make a difference – and the more senior we are, the more difference it makes. The way that we frame our thoughts, or the approach we take to telling our staff what we want them to do can mean the difference between staff becoming super…

WHAT HAPPENS when you have two target market customers? Can you even do that? I often come across businesses who say they have more than one target market customer; a fair argument when they can make a case for equal expenditure comparative to other customers. But what does this mean for your marketing and the resources you allocate to serving these customers? And, if you allocate time, resources and people to serving both are you looking after them less well than if you focused on one? These are just some of the challenges businesses face when making strategic marketing decisions regarding target market customers. Interestingly, I’ve found there seems to be a common theme to this debate. Typically one customer represents the way you have always done things, and the…

Findings from Strategic Pay’s annual 2018 Not-for-Profit (NFP) Remuneration Survey have offered insights into the potential financial impact of recent settlements and planned minimum wage increases for New Zealand’s NFP sector. In the wake of the 2017 Care Workers and upcoming mental health workers settlements, the latest NFP survey figures show unprecedented growth in median remuneration levels for lower-level workers across these parts of the sector, in some cases up by as much as 20 percent from last year. The company says in a media release that this boost comes in sharp contrast to median increases at a more senior level, which measured as little as 0.6 percent – significantly below the nation-wide median increase of 2.2 percent. Strategic Pay CEO John McGill says this difference is likely a result…

We’re living and working in interesting times. We have five generations in the workforce at the same time. Our organisations have never been so diverse culturally and needing to thrive in our globalised market place. We’re also grappling with the impact and effect robotics and automation are having on our workforces. AI needs to exist collaboratively and productively with humans, and vice versa. As the last three industrial revolutions have taught us – fear is not the answer, and the smart money is on leading inclusively and adopting a collaborative mentality where humans and robots work side by side. We won’t truly leverage the potential of AI if we’re not inclusive, resilient and adaptable in our approach. Focusing on inclusion starts with developing cultural intelligence – the ability to effectively…

We often hear the expression “fail your way to success” around business circles, which sounds rather glib and idealistic, but we rarely discuss the subject of failure in any detail to better understand why businesses fail, what steps entrepreneurs can take to avoid failure, and what lessons we can learn from the overall experience. We’ve decided it’s time to bring business failure out into the open – but first a few stats. According to MBIE, 58 percent of Kiwi businesses born in 2010, with no employees, ceased to exist by 2015. With up to five employees the figure was slightly better at 43 percent. It’s a fact that a large percentage of start-ups fail to move beyond start-up phase. Statistics NZ say only 37 percent of ‘micro’ businesses, or startups,…

“New Zealand is your testing ground for not only your product and/or service, but also the processes of your business. Some processes might need to be adapted when you move to an overseas market…” PART 8. USING NEW ZEALAND AS A PROVING GROUND In many ways New Zealand is an ideal place to develop and test new products and business concepts. New Zealand has a positive, ‘can-do’ culture, where most potential customers are receptive to new businesses and new ideas. Furthermore, we are effectively a small-scale model of many of the world’s larger economies. We have supportive government agencies in New Zealand, including NZTE, Callaghan Innovation and Kea, that are mandated to help New Zealand businesses succeed in international markets. We also have very active and approachable angel investor networks,…

It all began when a family kitchen needed renovating but the search to find someone to cut exactly what was needed became a struggle – the incredibly busy housing construction market in New Zealand over many years has meant it’s not always easy to find someone who can do exactly what’s needed, quickly, efficiently and to a high enough standard. A gap in the market was spotted for a contract cutting service to support the trades who wanted sheet material cut, edged and drilled for products such as kitchens, cabinets and shelves. And so the idea for Cutshop was born. The first factory opened in September 2009 in Mount Wellington, and was turned into a franchise business two years later. CNC machines and edgebanders are the primary ‘weapons of choice’…

My business Pure SEO began life in October 2009 from a laptop in a small rented apartment near Newmarket. The logo was developed by a friend, John Maloyd, for a bottle of Grey Goose vodka, and the website cobbled together for $200. Fast-forward nine years. The company has just moved into a 600-square-metre office in Northcote, has a team of 54 (growing almost weekly!), and operates in four offices across three countries. I’m often stunned by how far we’ve come as a team. Through sites such as LinkedIn I’m regularly asked if I can offer advice on running a start-up or on career progression and, if I’m able, I’ll give people an hour of my time. Invariably I’m asked how I built the company, and how we’ve managed to achieve…

For an example of unconscious bias at work, it is hard to go past a study of Fortune 500 CEOs cited by Professor Robert Wood and Jennifer Jones, who are leaders in the field of unconscious bias. The study found that of Fortune 500 CEOs, only 20 were women and of the 480 men left, 60 percent were taller than six ft (183 cm) and of those 36 percent were taller than six ft two inches (188 cm). But, and it’s a big but, only 15 per cent of American men are over six ft tall, and only 4.9 percent are over six ft two. Wood and Jones, co-founders and directors of Australian consultancy Cognicity, were brought to New Zealand jointly by BNZ and Air NZ to share research and…

Dressing beautifully, whether you are male or female, won’t make you a better leader, but it will make you feel more confident and may even change the perception people have of you. Stylist Jackie O’Fee, of Signature Style, sums up the importance of how we dress with a quote she has seen: “Never underestimate the power of a great outfit on a bad day.” In her Parnell-based business, Jackie has been working for the past 17 years helping both men and women dress and present themselves to make the most of who they are and their natural attributes. She offers full makeover programmes which include colour analysis, style analysis, an audit of your wardrobe; make-up lessons, hair makeover and a shopping service. Cathy Parker is the publisher of Adrenalin Publishing…

IT’S VERY easy to feel swamped, or even dismissive as new trends rise and shape workplaces. As a business school dean I hear a lot about disruption. The last international conference I went to had me feeling if I heard the word ‘disruption’ one more time, or that robots were about to eat my lunch, I might scream. Something has put paid to that feeling. Ironically it came through the invitation to speak briefly at the opening of Leadership New Zealand’s annual Dinner with a Difference. The theme was ‘awakened leadership in the future of work’. Despite being surrounded by experts with a focus on the future of work, I was what you might call asleep as to what awakened leadership might actually mean. An idea that has resonated with…

V is for Volatile – the first part of the acronym. The applicable dictionary description is “liable to change rapidly and unpredictably”. With an addendum in some “usually for the worse”. This applies in a business sense where external events may have a major and often unpredictable event on the business – think natural events such as storms or earthquakes, sudden changes in exchange rates or the share market (outside of general trends). The external event can be magnified if, for instance, a key supplier is taken offline by the event. The large Japanese tsunami for instance took out one of two plants of Renesas Electronics, a major supplier of automotive engine management chips, shutting down many automotive plants worldwide. In a New Zealand context the recent Kaikoura quakes shut…