Totem – Mind Your Own Business
An alternative to working at the end of the dining table or in the back of the car and holding business meetings in cafes, Totem on the Viaduct is Auckland’s newest business “meeting hub”.
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
World’s Finest Fleece
Canterbury-based Escorial Company, in conjunction with CSIRO (Australia’s Government science organisation), has produced the world’s finest bale of wool, registering a fibre diameter of 12.7 microns. “The finest bale up to now was 12.9 micron in raw…
Kiwi to Head Biggest British Milk Plant
A veteran of New Zealand dairy industry projects, Steve Satherley, will be at the controls when Britain’s single biggest milk manufacturing plant starts pumping its first milk in England next month. Mr Satherley as operations manager for United…
Kiwi Prof Named Head of International Federation of Accountants
Professor of Accounting and Public Policy at Victoria University, Wellington, Ian Ball named chief executive of the world’s top accountancy body, the New York based International Federation of Accountants. “Ian is ideally suited to lead IFAC during…
Triple Bottom Liners
Janet Street Porter gets down under with the finer points of NZ culture, including food evangelist Dick Hubbard and the socially conscious breakfast cereal. The Triple Bottom Line philosophy = the three Ps of People, Planet…
Stand and Deliver
NZ Post held up as successful post-liberalisation model which British Post could try to emulate. As a “beacon of public service in a privatised world”, NZ Post has remained dominant because, “it has the…
Man with the Hook
NZ-born Sam Chisholm, the man who spent more time in the boxing ring than class room at King’s College, who then went on to become deal maker and right hand man for both Kerry Packer and Rupert…
I See Red
A New Zealand company, Knights of NZ, wins the contract to make the Australian Olympic team’s opening ceremony coats for the upcoming Winter Olympics. Worth more than $3000 each, the coats are made from 100 per…
South Sea’s Start-up
Stephen “Warehouse” Tindall, (Forbes: “the Sam Walton of the South Pacific”) backs NZ technology innovation in Red Herring. Citing do-it-yourself Kiwi advances in biotech, multimedia and software (the world’s leading agricultural bio-tech research and the…
Flooring the Market
Forty-one companies, mainly from the US, confirm they will exhibit high-end Wools of New Zealand branded carpets at Surfaces 2002. The giant US flooring trade fair, which last year attracted more than 60,000 trade visitors…
NZ’s Edge-provoking Entrepreneurial Spirit
New Zealand has the second most dynamic entrepreneurial activity of 29 countries surveyed, according to a study conducted amongst others by the Kauffman Centre, IBM and the London Business School. New Zealand’s vibrant independent business culture composed of…
Frucor’s “V” for Victory
The fast-growing Kiwi success story Frucor is showing no signs of slowing. Forbes declares it among the top 20 small companies in the world – “the cream of the crop”. This international exposure garners international interest with…
Energetic Performance
Bringing energy to the Aussies, New Zealand super-drink V grows Frucor revenue 27%.
The New IT Kiwis
“We should be treating any skilled, IT-qualified immigrant to New Zealand like gold,” says Auckland Regional Chamber of Commerce head Michael Barnett.
Where Everyone Gets Some Shares
400 store managers at the Warehouse Group are to receive share options with a total value of $184 million, but Australian managers, working in newer, smaller stores will miss out.
Free Farming
New Zealand leads the world with a fully deregulated agricultural sector – but big players like the US still protect and subsidise farmers, talking the free-trade talk but not walking the walk.
Big Dollar Boys
New Zealand energy family the Todds become the first New Zealanders to make the Forbes 500 list of the world’s wealthiest people, coming in at 490 with a net worth of US$1 billion.
Big Cheese (and Milk)
Taking on the world’s food ingredients multinationals, New Zealand farmers vote to merge NZ dairy Group and Kiwi Cooperative Dairies to form Global Dairy Co., a company that will be the ninth largest dairy company in…
Milking Size
Global Dairy Co. New Zealand’s newly-formed giant dairy company looks to the Australian industry for further expansion. Also, we want to be fifth in the world, size-wise, says Global Dairy Company chairman John Roadley.
Donuts to the World
Krispy Kreme donut king, Kiwi Don Henshall talks cautious expansion for the American icon.
Talking Turkey
New Zealand farmer’s groups are a model of co-operation in preparing for the ups and downs of the agricultural sector.
Altitude Stable
A bit of turbulence on the ground, but Air New Zealand still makes the top ten in the air.
Insurance Chart for Safe Passage
Former New Zealand Shipping Company employee John Richardson’s 1979 The Merchant’s Guide to Documentary Problems has guided thousands of marine insurance under-writers through the shoals of incoterms, bills of lading, letters of credit and other tricky areas…
Calling Australia
Telecom New Zealand’s major stake in Australia’s 3G mobile network is just the beginning according to Telcom CEO Theresa Gattung.
Good Lovin’
“Trust has to change to love. There should be an air of mystery, sensuality and intimacy attached to the brand.” Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts spreads the loving word in Dubai.
Packing Their Bags
Britain’s agricultural troubles leaves farmers looking to New Zealand and Australia for a fresh start.
Kind of Milk
New Zealand Milk (Malaysia) looks to introduce “non-dairy formats” into the local market, following extensive R and D.
Thin Red Tape
A significant part of setting up a new business is time and money required to negotiate government red tape. New Zealand has the world’s cheapest procedures, encouraging innovation and entrepreneurs.
Designer Fruit
With the lifting of import restrictions, labelled and polished New Zealand apples have Hyderabad’s prestige fruit market cornered.
Angst in Oz
Australian business needs a hurry-up: “…even the New Zealanders are giving us a spanking in certain areas. Even the New Zealanders! Well I never…”
Still Flying High
Air New Zealand continues its good run, ranking in the top ten international airlines in a Zagat survey covering 31 500 flyers.
Castaway
A New Zealand consortium plans two lodges on Pitcairn Island, home to the descendants of the Bounty mutineers.
Bye-bye Brierley
New Zealand business legend Sir Ron Brierley steps down as director of the eponymous Brierley Investments.
Everybody on Board
“Kiwi Experience, a hop-on-hop-off backpacker bus service that was created in New Zealand in 1998 proved such a successful concept that it became a blueprint for imitators around the world.”
US Feels the Edge
The US needs a fillip if it is to maintain inventiveness and compete with up-and-coming centres of innovation like New Zealand.
Foot Gloves
More than 50% of mass-market shoes just aren’t made to go on feet, but a small New Zealand company is an oasis of comfort among the pinching, making shoes that “fit like a glove”.
Hey Prestwick! An Airport
High-flying New Zealand airport developers Infratil snap up Prestwick Airport in Ayreshire, planning to turn it into a low-cost travel hub.
Frucor on the Up
“One of last year’s hot floats” in Australia, Frucor, makers of headline energy drink V, have increased turnover by 55%.
Good Mooves
“New Zealand’s dairy industry enjoys a strong position from which to attain leadership status in the global marketplace, especially with the recently inked merger pact between its two biggest players,” says Alan Jackson of Boston Boston Consulting…
Blue Star Buyout
International book-giant W H Smith is in negotiations to buy Whitcoull’s, New Zealand’s largest book-sellers.
Major Milk Player
New Zealand’s newly-minted Global Dairy Company has the size to “become a serious challenger to the likes of Nestle, Danone and Kraft” in world diary markets.
Kreme de la Kreme
New Zealander Donald Henshall is the new president of international development for Krispy Kreme, makers of President Clinton’s favourite doughnuts.
Whistle-blowing
After ten years of play on an unregulated field, an umpire has been appointed for the New Zealand telecommunications industry.
Putting Meat on the Table
“Inexpensive frozen New Zealand lamb enabled Glaswegians to put meat on the table during the misery of the 1930’s. Galloway’s “Empire Lamb Shop”, at the end of Jamaica Street, was open just four days a week,…
First Time
Christchurch Casino has placed a clock in its gaming room – a first for the industry, which usually likes punters to forget the outside world exists.
Who Supervises the Supervisors?
New Zealand economist Tim Hazledine detects over-supervision – a proliferation in the ranks of “pseudo-managers monitoring their underlings”.
Dot.com Dream
Kiwi Victoria Davies is among the silicon dolls burnt by the dot.com crash. She’s now on a $100,000+ salary, but has less confidence in stock options, “I don’t look at it as my ticket to being…
Avalanche Warning
IT staffing company Avalanche plans to open a branch in New Zealand. The attraction? “English is a native language … and there is a first world infrastructure”.
Temping It
An influx of hard-working New Zealand and Australian temps has lifted industry standards in the UK.
Milk Flows South
Kiwi Milk, one of New Zealand’s big dairy players, has swallowed Kaikoura Co-operative Dairy Co. The merger will “assist with increased milk flows”.
