Usually reliable sources suggest the Government is trying to keep the South Canterbury Finance investigation tightly under wraps. The media, or those competent to chase the story, are having trouble getting access to interesting information, even through Official Information channels.
While tax depreciation allowances on building structures will no longer be claimable from April, companies that own their own premises will still be able to claim significant depreciation on commercial and industrial buildings services or “fit-out”.
Welcome to the first edition of NZ Management magazine’s Executive Update for 2011. In this issue we take a look at how the economy is shaping up, what will be in store for us in the opening ceremony of the event of the year – the Rugby World Cup – and the product launch of the year so far, Robert Murdoch’ s new interactive digital newspaper. On the management front, Hay Group outlines how top organisations foster leadership at all levels, and recent surveys reveal we need more focus on improving middle management skills and on testing the robustness of corporate strategies.
Talking of the Rugby World Cup, even if you don’t like the sport there’s no doubt that it will be the event of the year in 2011, already having pushed the election out until late November. It’s about much more than just a rugby tournament. The first of many opportunities for NZ Inc will be the opening ceremony on September 9 – here’s a taste of what will be in store for a worldwide television audience expected to number in the hundreds of millions.
Iwi are exploring new governance models in a post-Treaty settlement world.
A bunch of businesses are benefitting from having tikanga Māori principles at their core.
Power is about getting things done. Louisa Walker explains how to cultivate positive political power at work.
Generation Y is nimble, tech savvy and keen to take the reins, but their casual approach to commitment and work style may be a barrier to their professional development.
New Zealand businesses are needing to put more focus on improving middle management skills judging by the findings of recent surveys. One of these undertaken by global recruiters Robert Half International has found that Kiwi finance and accountancy middle management professionals lack capability in areas such as communication, management and interpersonal skills.
US President Obama recently announced that he is going to work to cut $US100 million of spending out of the Federal Budget over a 90-day period. A college student demonstrates what a feeble piece of posturing this is. While the presentation lacks the polish of a seasoned economic commentator, it’s worth spending one minute and 38 seconds to watch this should you need any convincing of America’s parlous financial state.
Creating a winning strategy is a struggle for most companies. The results of a recent McKinsey survey suggest one reason: just 53% percent of executives characterise their companies’ strategies as emphasising the creation of relative advantage over competitors; the rest say their strategies are better described as matching industry best practices and delivering operational imperatives – in other words, just playing along.
Top organisations foster leadership at all levels, incentivise collaboration and gain value from cultural diversity, Hay Group has found in its sixth annual Best Companies for Leadership Study.
Roll on the Rugby World Cup. The Treasury and others, no doubt, are counting on the economy picking up later in the year on the back of it, along with higher commodity prices and Christchurch’s rebuilding. However, the economic data remains sobering as Executive Update’s economic correspondent Bob Edlin outlines.
Information Leadership’s director Sarah Heal shares insights on how to make your information work for rather than against you.
International connectedness is key for Claire Szabó, chief executive of English Language Partners NZ and 2010’s NZIM/Eagle Technology Young Executive of the Year.
• By David Grant • Random House New Zealand • RRP $45 The life and times of former New Zealand trade union supremo Ken Douglas effectively parallels the life and
• By Shawn Achor • Random House New Zealand • RRP $36.99 This book is better than chocolate. It tells me not to drop fun times with friends and whanau
PUBLISHER’S LETTER INBOX: New and views FOCUS: Top 200 photos AS I SEE IT: Claire Szabó, English Language Partners MANAGERS ABROAD: Brent Hansen NZIM: strategy to attract international Kiwi managers.
Current initiatives to rebalance our economy are no way to shake off debt.
Companies with codes of ethics perform better and are more admired by their peers, says Philippa Foster Back, director of the UK Institute of Business Ethics.
NZIM courses see page 55 www.shortcourses.ac.nz 8-9 Negotiation Skills. Christchurch. Organisation Development Institute. www.brightstar.co.nz 13-18 Company Directors’ Course. Wellington. Institute of Directors. www.shortcourses.ac.nz 14-15 Project Management. Queenstown. University of Auckland
A new study has highlighted how an empty desk or two might just be the tip of a very large iceberg when it comes to calculating the true cost of ill health in your workplace, reports Peter Tynan.
Shelley Campbell The Sir Peter Blake Trust has appointed Shelley Campbell as its new chief executive. former chief executive of Waikato Primary Health Organisation, Campbell is member of Cancer Council
Michael Stedman knows what can happen to an organisation when the handbrake of mindless bureaucracy is released. He talks about vision, belief and how to avoid becoming a one-trick pony.
Suppose the ‘normal’ working week lasted for 21 hours. Not 35 hours, not even four days, but 21 hours. It’s flexible and variable, but it’s normal and generally expected, by
New Zealand employers can now access highly skilled Kiwis overseas more easily through new online tool just launched by the Kiwi Expat Association (Kea). The Kea Job Community (www.keajobs.com” target=”_blank”>
The NZIM Foundation is asking individuals and corporates for their financial support. Set up 10 years ago, the NZIM Foundation helps develop New Zealand’s young leaders by providing scholarships and
Despite great deal of energy spent on trying to balance the gender make-up of senior management teams, men still receive more promotions than women. But you can overcome the odds,
Spending time on quality activities pays off. That was one of the messages from David Hensher, professor of management at the University of Sydney, and the founding director of Australia’s
Are you missing out on the power of women at work? Firms fronting up to issues associated with gender diversity are locking in key driver towards improving their business success.
Dear Editor While, like Colin James in his November column (NZ Management magazine, ‘From the edge of the world’), I would be delighted if New Zealand were to produce economist
Brent Hansen has built a high-profile international career on a distinctively Kiwi management style. Here he explains the benefits of ‘New Zealand-ness’.
New Zealand should focus on developing international entrepreneurship and management skills, according to the New Zealand Institute’s (NZI) latest discussion paper released at the end of last year.
Is the Prime Minister John Key the trader or John Key the manager of traders? In that distinction lies a clue to his prime ministership.
Our lucky country has the potential to provide all citizens with quality of life that we once all took for granted. For many people such standard of living is rapidly
Why do so many business partnerships crash and burn?
The most interesting product launch so far in 2011 would have to be Rupert Murdoch’s new baby – The Daily digital newspaper with video, 360-degree photographs and the kind of interactivity you would expect media to offer on a tablet. The debut cover story was a report from Egypt, “Falling Pharaoh”, tailor-made for the medium, given the compelling images coming out of the region.
The government-appointed Savings Working Group’s report released this week has endorsed the concept of “nudging” in preference to compulsion when it recommended that all employees be signed on as KiwiSaver contributors, but with the right to opt out if they wish. Economics correspondent Bob Edlin investigates the reasoning behind this approach.
To improve our living standards, businesses need realistic and achievable goals.
Dedicated to the Inaugural Alumni Scholarship Supporters and the Leadership New Zealand class of 2010.
It’s the time of year to think about rewarding staff and planning team building and incentives for 2011. We’ve found great examples of the best in learning/team building experiences, luxury get-away venues, fine-dining and champagne – everything you need to uplift or wind down.
2011 will be another roller coaster year of threats and opportunities. Amidst currency wars and defaulting nations, there will more opportunities than ever for creative brands and entrepreneurs to deliver on changing consumer needs, says global consumer trends monitoring firm trendwatching.com. It outlines what it considers will be 11 crucial consumer trends for 2011.
WikiLeaks drip-feeding of a huge stash of American diplomatic cables to the world was one of the big news stories of 2010, with the promise of some big corporate leaks to come in 2011.The digital revolution and the rise of social networking make it all but impossible for companies to keep complete control of their data, The Economist warns.
The export sector, a shining beacon in 2010, is upbeat and determined to increase its exports in the year ahead, according to Export New Zealand’s inaugural Export Outlook survey. Eighty percent of those surveyed are expecting to increase their orders across all markets. “Kiwi exporters are looking forward to 2011 with confidence borne of experience and self belief,” says Catherine Beard, executive director of Export New Zealand.
New Zealand’s most significant economic challenge “is increasing national savings and reducing our heavy reliance on borrowing from overseas lenders”, says Finance Minister Bill English. Budget 2011 will ensure the Government plays its part in improving the country’s national savings by controlling spending increases and setting a credible path back to budget surplus, he says.
From BP to Facebook, shabby behaviour by companies got plenty of headlines in 2010. Forbes Magazine has ranked its 10 biggest corporate gaffes in 2010… and there’s no prizes for guessing which company came in at No 1.
Don’t expect 2011 to herald a sudden economic transformation – in fact the snail-like recovery is expected to continue for at least the first quarter of the year before growth perks up. That’s the message from New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER)’s latest quarterly economic consensus forecasts released this week.
As another hard year for many companies grinds to an end perhaps we can take comfort from some perversely prophetic forecasting by ANZ Bank’s chief economist Cameron Bagrie early this year: “If 2010 is a tough year, then I’ll be euphoric over prospects for the subsequent five.”
Workplace unrest in New Zealand, described as alarming six months ago, has eased with fewer employees now considering actively looking, applying for or changing jobs, according to the latest workplace L.E.A.D. Survey of Leadership Management Australasia (LMA). But the survey showed that half of all employees are still considering changing jobs.
In this issue, two of New Zealand’s most esteemed business leaders, Sir Stephen Tindall and Sir Ron Carter, discuss what they think are the key ingredients required for New Zealand businesses to be successful internationally … the NZ Institute’s latest chapter in its “Plugging the Gap” series adds its thoughts and suggestions on this subject … and we discover many of our fast growing tech companies are already punching above their weight globally.
Advice to the Government on savings was included in yesterday’s Monetary Policy Statement from the Reserve Bank. Essentially, it was that it’s easier for a Government to clean up its act in the savings department than it is to persuade the public to change their savings behaviour, says economic commentator Bob Edlin.
New Zealand businesses have again punched above their weight in the annual Asia Pacific Deloitte Technology Fast 500 index of the region’s fastest growing tech businesses, with 50 making the list. Leading the list of New Zealand’s businesses was online accounting system provider Xero, headed by high profile entrepreneur Rod Drury, which was ranked eighth on the index, with a staggering 2,250% growth. The is the first time a Kiwi business has made the Asia Pacific Tech Fast 500’s top 10.
Business leader and chairman of Kea, Sir Stephen Tindall, wants to do more to harness the full potential of the powerful global network of Kiwi expatriates – not only abroad but at home as well. Kea has a searchable database of more than 25,000 expats working in 187 countries around the world. “But not many home-based Kiwi businesses know about that,” he says.
A decade-long research project, which has surveyed more 10,000 firms in over 20 countries and interviewed hundreds of CEOs to identify some basic practices that every manager should follow, has boiled down the essentials of successful management to three key things: rigorous monitoring, the setting of challenging targets and effective rewards and incentives.
Sean Plunket took time out from his role as joint MC at the 2010 Deloitte/Management magazine Top 200 awards to interview Ebos’ Mark Waller, winner of the Executive of the Year award, and Keith Reynolds, chief executive of Beca, Company of the Year award winner.
Can educators help businesses increase their innovation and improve company performance? A group of New Zealand institutes of technology thinks so. They have established Innovating New Zealand – an initiative designed to increase the transfer of knowledge and technology from institutes to industry.
Kiwibank’s new chief executive likes to listen in when customers call his bank. He sees it as part of his job. He talks about his marketing roots and the bank’s next incarnation as a challenger brand.
An analysis of the Deloitte/Management magazine 2010 listing of New Zealand’s Top 200 businesses shows that revenue performance was flat but pre-tax profits recovered a significant amount of the ground that was lost in 2009.
Engineering consultancy Beca Group – one of New Zealand business’ global success stories – was named Company of the Year in the 2010 Deloitte/Management magazine Top 200 Awards. In other major awards, Mark Waller, managing director of Ebos Group, won the Executive of the Year title, Alison Paterson became the first woman to receive the Chairperson of the Year award, and New Zealand business legend Douglas Goodfellow, now in his 90s, was recognised as Visionary Leader.
Engineering consultancy global success story Beca Group is an oustanding example of the new model of intellectual and personal competency exporter that New Zealand needs “to deliver the country’s economic future” the Top 200 award judges said.
While Mark Waller has been around a long time, he is very much the face of the future of New Zealand business. As managing director of Ebos Group, he heads one of a growing number of “smart” companies which have developed a highly successful business model in New Zealand and then expanded internationally.
Restructuring an organisation is one of the hardest tasks a chief executive can face – yet Claire Szabo has done it twice since she was appointed CEO of English Language Partners (formerly ESOL Home Tutors) at the age of 27.
Being the first woman to receive QBE’s Chairperson of Year award is another significant achievement in a long and impressive list of accomplishments for Alison Paterson.
“I’m a believer that regardless of the circumstances, whether there be a recession or a boom, it makes absolutely no difference to the management style you need to adopt,” Mark Waller, Deloitte/Management magazine’s 2010 Executive of the Year.
This week’s Executive Update focuses on the annual Deloitte/Management magazine Top 200 Awards which were announced last night before a business who’s who of 750 guests at SkyCity Convention Centre in Auckland. We look at why our winners have done so well in what has been another challenging year for business.
Restructuring an organisation is one of the hardest tasks chief executive can face – yet Claire Szabó has done it twice, putting her organisation in great shape over tough period
There was wide variation in performance from the business sectors covered by our Top 200 list again this year but, generally there were few signs of increased optimism until well
Being the first woman to receive QBE’s 2010 Chairperson of Year award is another first in long and impressive list of accomplishments for Alison Paterson. She won this Top 200
Top 200 Cover Story Bold conversations As part of this year’s Deloitte/Management magazine Top 200 campaign ‘Understanding the New World’, NZ Management analysed six major contemporary issues and opportunities for
Over the past year since the last Deloitte/Management magazine Top 200 Awards we have experienced only very modest recovery from the “Great Recession”. At the end of 2009 we were
TOP 200 JUDGES Roger J Kerr is director and shareholder in Asia-Pacific Risk Management, an advisory firm specialising in interest rates, debt, foreign exchange and corporate treasury management, and ETOS,
In tougher times, it seems we turn to fast food outlets for sustenance. The recession, admittedly along with some other more constructive strategies and actions, proved something of god send
Vodafone’s commitment to responsible and ethical governance is entrenched. The company’s founding ethical principles are enshrined within its written Business Principles which, in turn, reside within the Vodafone Code of
New Zealand’s largest companies improved pre-tax profits despite lower revenue in 2010. It was, in the words of the Deloitte/Management magazine Top 200 Awards judges, a year of consolidation.
Given this year’s Top 200 Awards “new world” theme, there could hardly be more fitting Company of the Year winner than our own, home grown engineering consultancy global success story,
As part of this year’s Deloitte/Management magazine Top 200 campaign “Understanding the New World’, NZ Management analysed six major contemporary issues and opportunities for business.
NZ Management magazine’s listing of New Zealand’s largest organisations includes New Zealand subsidiaries and local branches of overseas companies, producer boards, cooperatives, local authority trading enterprises and state-owned enterprises that
While Mark Waller, the Deloitte/Management magazine Executive of the Year, has been around long time he is very much the face of the future of New Zealand business. As managing
The 2010 Designworks Top 200 Visionary Leader, William Douglas Goodfellow OBE, has followed in his father’s footsteps as one of New Zealand’s truly visionary businessmen and generous benefactors. His father,
Scott Bradley is the CEO of the new retail voucher smart-phone venture, VoucherMob, launched last month.
Hill moves to consulting firm Currently CEO of the Commerce Commission, Nick Hill is joining Martin Jenkins, consulting firm which works on organisational performance, public policy and economic analysis, and
Changing workforce demographics means many organisations need older workers more than ever, say management lecturer Professor Peter Cappelli and HR expert William Novelli. The pair say older workers transfer knowledge
Beca’s Christchurch office is winner in the health stakes – with an incredible 79 percent of staff signing up to bike to work as part of the New Zealand Transport
A joint study by global consultancy Accenture and the United Nations confirms that chief executives care about sustainability although their investors do not. The study shows today’s CEOs are more
When employees love going to work every day, companies find it easy to attract and retain staff, say the organisers of the JRA Best Workplaces Survey 2010. And confectionery giant
A new organisation to help businesses move through change has been set up in Auckland. Changeability is backed by parent company Connect SR, not-for-profit which has been successfully using an
The head of the international jewellery retailing chain, Michael Hill is strong supporter of classical music. • Bach Solo Sonatas and Partitas by Monica Huggett This is complex music that
Only 18 percent of Kiwis always lock their mobile phones and the rest are risking identity theft, according to new research from Unisys. “Employers need to realise that it isn’t
The NZ Open Source Awards 2010 celebrated and rewarded the best and most innovative in New Zealand’s open source software at gala event on November 9 attended by more than
In these tough economic times, many organisations don’t understand the capabilities of the people they have, says Iain Fraser, CEO at Project Plus. In general, he says the business world is still ‘jittery’ about investing
A third of job candidates exaggerate in interviews, 10 percent lie about their past salary, and 17 percent stretch the truth about their experience in interviews. But employers can be
The new “Hobbit” legislation has once again highlighted the uncertainty that exists in determining who is an employee and who is a contractor.
Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi, has some suggestions for tackling commercial opportunities thrown up by sporting events such as the Rugby World Cup.
It’s the time of year to think about rewarding staff and planning team building and incentives for 2011. We’ve found great examples of the best in learning/team building experiences, luxury get-away venues, fine-dining and champagne – everything you need to uplift or wind down.
The New Zealand Institute of Management is working with Auckland-based behavioural consultancy TetraMap to enhance the effectiveness of NZIM training and development programmes. TetraMap founders Yoshimi and Jon Brett talk about their approach to reducing conflict in organisations.
Rip-offs and amateurism in business damage capitalism just as surely as child-abuse accusations damaged the Catholic Church
