World Masters of Business Seminar

LOGAL CAMPBELL CENTRE
AUCKLAND

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome and good morning.

I congratulate the organisers and sponsors of this forum.

You have assembled four of the global giants distinguished in the field of leadership.

Distinguished guests, welcome to New Zealand.

Welcome to the home of the America's Cup.

I hope that it helps some of you feel at home.

Lee Iacocca, General Schwarzkopf, Ricardo Semler, Stephen Covey - never have so many great motivators of people-power been gathered in one venue at one time in New Zealand.

You each have vastly different experiences and insights to share at today's forum.

I am sure your audience will emerge with an embarrassment of riches.

Lee Iacocca, I'm sure most of the people here today have been inspired by your account of turning round the ailing Chrysler company and restoring it to market leadership.

New Zealanders will be fascinated to hear more of your prescription.

We've managed our share of corporate turnarounds here, not least in the former State trading enterprises that have now been unleashed to deliver vastly improved service to New Zealand.

General Schwarzkopf, your achievement in the Middle East marked a turning point in history.

And it was one in which New Zealand proudly played a small part.

When my Government was elected in 1990, we faced an economic crisis that demanded urgent action.

While we confronted that, I'm proud to say the nation also joined the Coalition Forces of Operation Desert Storm.

Today, I'm one New Zealander with a keen interest in your comments on coalition building and management.

Ricardo Semler, you've shown that to succeed you sometimes have to throw away the rule book.

There are no rules for new territory; you have to anticipate the conditions and adapt to new factors as you go along.

Forming a new Coalition Government late last year I can empathise with that.

And Stephen Covey, your book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" has inspired business people all over the world.

Distinguished guests, as you will have learnt in your short time here, we may be "down under" but our business sector is second to none in seeking new ways to succeed.

That attitude is a geographic and historical imperative.

Anyone who flies into Auckland after a long haul across the Pacific knows all too well the tyranny of distance that separates us from our trading partners and markets.

To overcome it, New Zealand has had to develop an edge.

We've long had to exhibit what Americans call the "can do" attitude.

Down here, we call it Kiwi ingenuity.

Now, on the edge of a new millennium, we in New Zealand are equipping ourselves with the knowledge that victory in business does not automatically go to those with the best natural resources or the advantage of close markets, but to those who concentrate on removing constraints and regulations which prevent the maximum use of our greatest resource - people.

History tells us that people have an infinite capacity to improve and do things better if they are not prevented from doing so by outdated attitudes or rules of play.

In the New Zealand of the 1990s we have responded to challenges of global trade not by subsidies, but by removing subsidies - removing the distortions created by Central Government to allow the emergence of a true market not a false one.

We are small and distant, but we know our prosperity lies in free, fair and open commerce.

If I have a concern it is that while many countries have now adopted the language of open and fair trade, far fewer practice it.

Even our near neighbour and CER partner Australia is being tempted by a senior business leaders' proposal to support and subsidise Australian industry to the tune of billions of dollars.

There is no such thing as a free lunch, so my request to our distinguished speakers is that wherever you go urge political and business leaders to support, by policies as well as speeches, the goal of open unsubsidised world trade.

Our credentials for making such a call is that we in New Zealand are putting in place what we preach.

Be it in the WTO, APEC or in pursuing free trade agreements with other countries and other regions, we will promote the benefits of open trade.

Today, no nation goes it alone.

Our economic future is inextricably linked with global ties of trade, investment, expertise and initiative.

Events such as this forum today reflect a desire to learn from the success of others.

I congratulate you all for recognising that there is always more to learn.

Have a great forum and may it lead to even greater success for businesses, and for New Zealand.

I wish our visitors well during their short stay with us.

ENDS