American management guru Tom Peters and top US design expert Tim Brown are heading this way next month. Their practical “business bootcamp” will help CEOs of exporting companies get to grips with using design to leverage market demand and price premiums.
Better by Design 2005 is itself designed with useful takeaway in mind. Offshore expertise is matched with local examples of how theory is successfully applied in the practice by companies such as Fisher & Paykel, Icebreaker, Formway and Macpac.
Alongside Peters and Brown (who heads influential design company IDEO) offshore input comes from such people as Designworks USA founder Chuck Pelly who has won numerous awards for innovative design, German design consultant/author Peter Zec, influential Finnish design professor Yrjo Sotoma and John Heskett – design professor at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University who acts as consultant to range of public and private organisations.
The conference will be held at the Sky City Convention Centre in Auckland from March 29-31. More information is at www.betterbydesign.org.nz.
Agri experts warn New Zealand’s food and fibre future could arrive by default rather than by design
Management Editorial Team
June 24, 2026
Despite near universal optimism in the rural sector, a panel of New Zealand’s leading food and agri minds say the sector must be intentional about its future path if it’s to successfully navigate the social, economic, environmental and technological forces impacting its operating environment.
