Business News

The Interview: Stephen Snedden

New Zealand Manufacturer recently asked Stephen Snedden, the inventor, where he finds his inspiration and when it all began. NZM: When did you become an inventor? SS: As a young boy tinkering in my father’s shed with go carts and motor bikes and school projects. Dad was always working out solutions for problems as a self-employed electrician in his good old kiwi Shed. NZM: What was the first thing you made? SS: At high school doing workshop technology I was encouraged to do night school Jewellery class with Peter Hook. During the School C year we had to make a flint lock pistol, a knife, and pouch and brass cannon. It became a competition between all the class mates to do the best job. I managed to get top in my school for the School C year for workshop technology and technical drawing must say the ability to investment cast small parts helped a lot, NZM: What is your latest project? SS: My latest project is a rotational mould for a boat trailer body that can carry my boat but is also multi use as it can be used for a Jet Ski trailer or as a kids Slide on the water’s edge. It can float and be used as a floater to play with or for accessing boats on the water. It has 500 kg of flotation and can easily carry 3 paddlers, as a canoe. I have noticed after researching that no one’s supplying floating jet ski trailers worldwide so I’m going to see if I can make the market, NZM: What are you passionate about? SS: My family. I’m passionate about being able to create what we can dream of, being able to vision a product and draw it and then simply apply this to make it […]

SME growth coming off record highs

Growth among New Zealand’s small businesses has levelled off in the last six months with the economy entering a more stable phase, according to a nationwide survey of small business operators. Thirty-two per cent of SMEs saw revenue increase in the 12 months to February – down from a five-year high of 39 per cent in September – according to the latest MYOB Business Monitor. More SME operators are reporting stable revenue, however, up from 38 per cent to 44 per cent in the latest survey of over 1,000 business owners and operators from around the country, conducted by Colmar Brunton. MYOB New Zealand General Manager James Scollay says the latest survey shows that the SME economy has reached a point of more manageable growth. “While we’ve come off the highs reached through mid-2014, the level of stability we are seeing off the back of that period is encouraging,” says Mr Scollay. “Rather than the brakes going on, the SME economy looks to be settling into a period of sustained growth – especially when you take into account businesses’ projections for growth this year as well as the work they have on in this quarter.” According to the March MYOB Business Monitor, 40 per cent of SME operators expect their revenues to increase in the next 12 months, while a further 43 per cent are projecting stable revenues. Just 11 per cent are expecting revenues to fall in 2015. In the current quarter, 37 per cent of SMEs are reporting more work or sales in the pipeline, while 13 per cent are seeing less. Regions settling back While the widespread effects of the rebuild continue to push Christchurch SMEs to the top of the growth table, revenue increases in the city have fallen off somewhat in the last 6 months. […]

Kiwi WorldSkills team gets set for the trade equivalent of the Olympics

Twenty-six young Kiwi are preparing to compete against the best of the best competitors from Canada, India, Malaysia, China, Australia and Korea in the inaugural WorldSkills Oceania regional competitions to be held April 13-17 at Wintec in Hamilton. So far, 105 international competitors are registered to compete in a total of 30 different skill categories at the Oceania competitions. The NZ WorldSkills team will compete in 18 skill categories ranging from aircraft maintenance to the various auto and engineering trades, carpentry, joinery, plumbing and heating and go through to floristry, hairdressing, restaurant trades and web and graphic design. Competition will be intense for the under-23 year olds who are at the top of their respective trades for their age in the country. They will pit themselves against demanding international standards to battle it out to win one of 18 spots in the final WorldSkills NZ Tool Blacks team that will go to Brazil in August to face off against competitors from 71 other countries. Each competitor has a personalised, hands-on mentoring programme to ensure they have the best shot at winning a medal. This includes “mental toughness” training developed exclusively for WorldSkills NZ competitors. Rural and provincial New Zealand is well represented in the 26-strong national team. One of the gifts of WorldSkills competitions is the confidence the kids gain in their own abilities. It’s helped by receiving the endorsement of a positive peer and skill group that’s with them every step of the way. How you can help support the Tool Blacks: • Come along and cheer the team on at Wintec in Hamilton,Thursday 16 April and on Friday 17 April from 9am –12noon. . • If you are interested in fundraising or sponsoring or donating to help get the Tool Blacks and their Skill Managers to Brazil in […]

Companies need more scale to tap into India’s fast-growing economy

Indian billionaire Nandan Nilekani says scale is a problem New Zealand companies need to overcome to crack the growing Indian market. Nilekani has been twice named by Time magazine as one of the world’s 100 most influential people and is the former chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) which is providing all 1.2 billion Indian residents with a unique identification number. He is also co-founder of Infosys Technologies, which has 100,000 employees. Nilekani understands scale, even in his philanthropic efforts. After losing a bid to get into politics last year, he’s poured US$10 million into a not for profit initiative, ekStep, which is developing a platform based on gamification to change the way primary school education is taught in India. The first iteration of the platform will be released next month and Nilekani said while it was aimed at resolving India’s literacy and numeracy problems, it could easily be rolled out in other developing countries. In his first visit to New Zealand, Nilekani said what struck him about the Kiwi companies he’d talk to was they weren’t used to dealing with scale because of the country’s small population. “Scale is not something you do after you have built your solutions. If you’re going to have an impact in India, you have to have scale, and solutions need to be made differently so they’re highly automated, low-cost, and developed so they can be used anytime, anywhere,” he said. New Zealand companies tend to be low volume and high cost and it needs to be the other way around to do business in India, which is a “price sensitive” market, he said. Developing scale is a mindset, said Reuben Abraham, chief executive of Indian think tank the IDFC Institute who, along with Nilekani, was in Auckland for the India […]

Continued expansion

The services sector continued to show healthy expansion for February, according to the BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index (PSI). The PSI for February was 55.6. Although this was 2.2 points lower than January, it represents ongoing growth in the sector (A PSI reading above 50.0 indicates that the service sector is generally expanding; below 50.0 that it is declining). BusinessNZ chief executive Phil O’Reilly said that the positive economic climate at present has assisted many businesses in ensuring steady income flows, as well as new opportunities for expansion. “Comments from respondents point to customers and clients remaining confident as they continue to have money in their pockets to spend. In addition, a number of service sector businesses continue to adapt by way of new products and opportunities to expand their sales base, including offshore”. BNZ senior economist Doug Steel said, “The PSI reading shows that the service sector expansion remains fit and healthy. It bodes well for overall ongoing economic growth.” All five main sub-indices were again in expansion, with activity/sales (62.1) leading the way for the first time since November. New orders/business (58.1) dipped 2.9 points during February, while supplier deliveries (51.4) dropped 3.6 points. Both stocks/inventories (52.8) and employment (52.7) were at similar levels of expansion, with the latter back to levels of expansion seen towards the end of last year. Activity remained positive and healthy throughout the country. In the North Island, the Northern region (55.4) was up 2.9 points from January, while the Central region (59.0) experienced very similar levels of expansion compared with the previous month. In the South Island, the Canterbury/Westland region (59.1) recorded its highest level of expansion since April 2014, while the Otago/Southland region (60.9) remained above the 60 point mark. The seasonally adjusted BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Composite […]

IPENZ awards for two academics

Two University of Waikato academics picked up awards at The Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) Fellows and Achievers Dinner on Friday, March 13. Engineering Professor Janis Swan won the Skellerup Award for Chemical Bioprocess and Food for her distinguished contribution to the food, biopress and chemical engineering in New Zealand. Electrical Engineering Senior Lecturer Nihal Kularatna has been awarded a Fellowship of the Institution for his contribution to the advancement of engineering knowledge and innovation in the creation of technological products. This annual event is held to recognise IPENZ members’ technical achievements, contribution to the advancement of the profession and commitment to the Institution. IPENZ is the professional body representing engineers in New Zealand.

Back in the game

The manufacturing sector experienced improved levels of expansion during February, according to the latest BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI). The seasonally adjusted PMI for February was 55.9 (a PMI reading above 50.0 indicates that manufacturing is generally expanding; below 50.0 that it is declining). This was 5.2 points higher than the previous month, and similar to the level of expansion seen in November last year. BusinessNZ’s executive director for manufacturing Catherine Beard said that the pick-up in expansion levels for the sector was pleasing to see. “After the January results that showed lacklustre expansion, the increase in February was more in line with what we’ve seen over the last two years. Although all sub-indexes were positive, the fact that new orders recovered to show its highest value for over a year should flow through into PMI results in the coming months”. BNZ senior economist Craig Ebert said, “It’s a relief to see the PMI rebound from last month’s oddly low result. Both production and new orders jumped back up to healthy expansion territory. These were the main culprits for bringing the overall index down in January.” All five seasonally adjusted main diffusion indices were in expansion during February. New orders (61.5) led the way with its highest result since November 2013, while deliveries (58.2) experienced its highest value since September 2014. Finished stocks (54.3) dropped two points from January, while both employment (52.5) and production (51.8) improved from the previous month. All four regions went back into expansion during February, with similar results across most parts of the country. In the North Island, the Northern region (54.9) experienced similar levels of expansion to the Central region (55.4). In the South Island, the Canterbury/Westland region (55.8) improved 7.5 points from January, while the Otago-Southland region (60.7) recovered from […]

Do stakeholders really care about corporate social responsibility?

A public lecture in Wellington by a visiting Professor of Marketing will focus on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and whether it matters to stakeholders. There is worldwide consensus that a company’s commitment to maximising long-term societal and environmental well-being through its business practices is a strategic imperative, says Professor Sankar Sen, Professor of Marketing at Baruch College, City University of New York. This is because of its ability to not only do good, but also elicit company-favouring responses from important stakeholder groups. However, polls reveal that most companies are still struggling to optimise their CSR efforts. Professor Sen will draw on his own research and that of many others in this area to focus on three questions that all managers engaging, or hoping to engage, in CSR must answer: 1. What is CSR? 2. Why do, or should, companies engage in CSR? 3. How can a company optimise its CSR efforts to create value for both itself and society? About Professor Sankar Sen Professor Sankar Sen has held positions at Temple University, New York University, Boston University, and the Sasin Institute of Management at Chulalongkorn University. His research interests lie in the areas of consumer decision making and corporate social responsibility. In particular, he investigates when, how and why consumers and employees respond to companies’ corporate social responsibility/sustainability endeavours. He has lectured extensively on this topic in academic, company, and industry forums in North and South America, Europe and Asia, and his book, Leveraging Corporate Responsibility: The Stakeholder Route to Maximizing Business and Social Value, was published by Cambridge University Press. His research has appeared in both academic and practitioner-directed journals and been cited in leading media outlets, and he has consulted with various companies. Professor Sen teaches marketing classes at undergraduate, MBA/MS, Executive MBA/MS and PhD levels, and has […]

Uptake of energy efficient products saves New Zealand millions

Uptake of energy efficient products saves New Zealand consumers and business more than $96 million in a one-year period, according to analysis of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority’s (EECA) Products Programme. EECA’s Energy Efficient Products Manager Eddie Thompson says EECA calculated the energy savings for the year ending March 2014 by tracking improvements in the energy efficiency of products through sales information, as well as analysing how much businesses and households are avoiding in energy costs by using more efficient appliances.“These electricity savings are the equivalent of the electricity used in a year by over 130,000 New Zealand homes. ”Mr Thompson says nearly eight million energy efficient products have been sold over the year (about 1.6 million large consumer and industrial products and 6.3 million lighting and small electronics), an increase of three percent compared to the previous year. Forty seven million energy efficiency products have been sold since 2002, bringing total savings to $450 million, he says. “New Zealand products are becoming increasingly energy efficient, mainly as a result of minimum energy performance standards developed jointly with the Australian Government. Minimum energy standards allow New Zealand to make gains in energy efficiency, at low-cost to government and industry, with little impact on consumer choice.” Improved energy efficiency standards, along with New Zealanders choosing more energy efficient Energy Star qualified products, have resulted in national benefits, Mr Thompson says. “Energy Star qualified fridge/freezers, which use up to 40 percent less energy than a standard model, are a good example of the opportunities for consumers to save on running costs. These energy savings at a household level translate into major savings for the New Zealand economy.” Mr Thompson says minimum energy performance standards work in combination with consumer education, with the Energy Star mark and energy rating labels making it […]

CERA bullish on Chch CBD projects

Acting chief executive John Ombler told parliament’s finance and expenditure committee the CBD projects are worth an estimated $1.1 billion, and more projects are being announced to rebuild the heart of Christchurch. CERA’s initial focus was on ensuring residential properties were rebuilt and repaired, and in recent years it’s put greater emphasis on key CBD projects to renew the South Island’s major centre. The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority, which was tasked with overseeing the rebuild of the country’s second biggest city, is upbeat about the prospects for anchor projects in Christchurch’s central business district, but won’t provide business cases for the developments until commercial contracts have been signed off. “One of the questions on people’s minds after the central city was demolished and people moved out to the suburbs was ‘would they move back?’,” Ombler said. “What we’re seeing here is that for many people they’ve got confidence and are investing in the central city.” Last year, a survey of senior leaders in Christchurch was critical of the way major projects were being procured and managed, something Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee took on the chin, saying he would work to ensure stakeholders had confidence in the rebuild. When asked whether CERA would release business cases for anchor projects so the public could have input, Ombler said the agency wouldn’t publish those reports until commercial terms had been agreed with partners. “I would be surprised if we were able to release the business case with full commercial details prior to any commercial agreements being finalised,” he said. Deputy chief executive of implementation Warwick Isaacs told policymakers all of the projects and horizontal infrastructure, such as water and roading, were assessed to ensure the taxpayer received value for money, but that quality was also a concern. Under questioning from Green Party MP Eugenie […]

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