NASA astronaut to attend science festival

  NASA astronaut Stephanie D. Wilson, a veteran of three space flights who has logged more than 42 days in space, will be making her next touchdown at this yearÕs eighth New Zealand International Science Festival taking place in Dunedin, from 30 June to 8 July 2012. Wilson was selected by NASA ... read more

Employment law changes positive

Recent events plainly demonstrate there is ample room for improving the bargaining processes leading to collective agreements, and the employment law changes announced today will go a long way towards achieving this, says David Lowe, Employment Services Manager for the Employers and Manufacturers Association. The changes will also re-instate an element ... read more

Marching in the right step

The service sector in April displayed further signs of expansion, according to the BNZ - BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index (PSI). The PSI for April was 56.7. This was up 2.5 points from March and the highest result for any month since November 2011. A PSI reading above 50.0 indicates that ... read more

NZ companies trading online risk being sued in Australia

Companies which accept online orders from Australia are being warned to tread carefully because they could be sued for infringing somebody else’s trademark. Intellectual property expert, Theodore Doucas of Zone IP, an intellectual property consultancy in Wellington (with an office in Sydney), says that in his experience – as a consultant ... read more

NZ companies need to look overseas for M&A opportunities

New Zealand companies need to be more active in undertaking cross-border mergers and acquisitions if we are to fully capitalise on our intellectual property, our clean-green image and the other advantages we have as a country. Martin Gray, Head of Lead Advisory for Grant Thornton New Zealand, said that New Zealand ... read more

Secret ballots for strikes a sensible step

The passing of the law requiring unions to conduct a secret ballot of their members before going on strike is a welcome step, says David Lowe, Employment Services Manager for the Employers & Manufacturers Association. “Virtually every time there is a strike the employers finds individual union members telling them they ... read more

Manufacturing drops back

Manufacturing activity dropped back into contraction after four months of expansion, according to the latest BNZ - BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI). The seasonally adjusted PMI for April was 48.0 (a PMI reading above 50.0 indicates that manufacturing is generally expanding; below 50.0 that it is declining). This was 5.8 ... read more

SMEs invited to pitch to government buyers

Around 430 small to medium-sized businesses from around New Zealand are being given a unique opportunity to pitch their products and services to government buyers at a free event in Wellington on 9 May. The Meet the Buyer event is being jointly run by the Ministry of Economic Development (MED) and ... read more

Ashburton Business Estate a powerful attraction

Electricity Ashburton Ltd's decision to move to the major industrial subdivision, Ashburton Business Estate (ABE) in mid-Canterbury, could not have come at a better time. The electricity network is developing a 2.65ha site at ABE that will house its 100 staff in three buildings covering administration, a workshop, a stores building ... read more

Workshops fast track business success

Auckland manufacturing businesses are getting a helping hand to grow their market share thanks to series of workshops designed to fast track them towards innovation and export. The Fast Track Business Series, an Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) initiative, targets companies in a development stage, wanting to take on ... read more