Government Launches two New Strategies For Business This Week

The Government is launching two major initiatives this week to take New Zealand business into the next century.

The first is the Government's new Biz Programme and the second is the launch of the 23 nationwide consultative forums.

"BIZ will be launched this week by the Prime Minister, Jenny Shipley and the Minister of Business Development, Peter McCardle," the Minister for Enterprise and Commerce, Max Bradford said.

"This initiative came out of an extensive research effort last year into the effectiveness of the old business development programme started by the Labour Party nearly 10 years ago. It was clear that programme had lost its way, and was not looking after the real needs of small enterprises.

"The real barriers to the success of small business were clearly identified as: inadequate management skills, access to good quality and relevant business information, and access to capital.

"The new Biz Programme is about solving two of those needs: management skills and good information. The other, access to capital is being dealt with by the forums which start this week."

"The programme is the first genuine partnership between local communities and central Government for business, and is the model I believe is the most appropriate for the knowledge-based economy New Zealand must become if our standard of living is to improve," Mr Bradford said.

"This week in Dunedin we also launch the first of 23 Regional Forums, to outline to the tertiary education, research, business and government sectors the 5 Steps Ahead programme to lead the economy forward, based around a knowledge-based strategy.

"We must look beyond the tired prescriptions of the past, which are encapsulated in the Labour-Alliance bloc approach to industry policy. Even the name they use - industry development - is a cry from the past, conjuring up smokestacks and enslavement to Charlie Chaplin's production line mentality.

"The future for New Zealand, and New Zealand business, is to harness the innovation and creativity of well educated kiwis. You don't do that by subsidising business from taxes, or increasing taxes to make that possible.

"The 5 Steps Ahead programme is about creating a genuine and relevant partnership between the economic sectors that drive growth and innovation. There are some excellent examples already, with small, motivated companies clustered around successful knowledge-based activities: for example boatbuilding, electronics, defence and film-making and fashion.

"5 Steps Ahead is about making five key drivers work for us, in conjunction with the new Biz Programme. "

"The five key drivers are :

lifting New Zealanders' skills and New Zealand's intellectual knowledge base;
better focusing the direction of the Government's effort in research and development;
improving access to risk and investment capital;
ensuring regulations and laws support, not frustrate, innovation ; and
promoting success, and building a supportive culture for creative and innovative New Zealanders.
"By July, when the results of the regional forums are collated, and the revised research funding proposals of the Government's Foresight Project are completed, New Zealand will have the opportunity to refocus its whole business strategy towards knowledge-based activities," Mr Bradford said.

"Only then can we hope to grow away from New Zealand's historical dependence on basic commodity products. That is not where our future, or the future of New Zealand business will lie in the 21st century," concluded Mr Bradford.

The locations and dates of the 2½ hour regional forums are: Whangarei - 4.30pm, 6 May
Auckland (Central) - 4.30pm, 12 May
Auckland (South) - 4.30pm, 11 May
Auckland (West) - 4.30pm, 26 May
Hamilton - 4.30pm, 24 May
Tauranga - 4.30pm, 21 May
Rotorua - 4.30pm, 13 May
Taupo - 4.30pm, 27 May
New Plymouth - 1pm, 10 June
Wanganui - 4.30pm, 29 April
Palmerston North - 4.30pm, 17 May
Masterton - 11.30am, 28 May
Gisborne - 5pm, 3 June
Napier/Hastings - 5pm, 20 April
Wellington (Central) - 5pm, 22 April
Wellington (Kapiti) - 4.30pm, 3 May
Blenheim - 4.30pm, 5 May
Nelson - 9.30am, 13 May
Greymouth - 10.30am, 10 June
Christchurch - 4.30pm, 6 May
Timaru - 11.30am, 30 April
Dunedin - 4.30pm, 14 April
Invercargill - 11am, 14 May
The forums will be followed by a conference in Palmerston North in July.