Part four of the Project Auckland series looks at 'Prosperity and Profile'
Sitting on a veranda above Sydney's Circular Quay, the man behind the city's successful bid for the 2000 Olympic Games reflects on what he believes were missed opportunities during the event.
Rod McGeoch, former chief executive of the bid and director of numerous transtasman companies, says Sydney placed most of its focus on building infrastructure and running the Games.
The city didn't properly consider the long-term business opportunities that could have been fostered during the event, he says.
"What Australia did with the Sydney Olympics was use it to close down the century ... but I would have used it to start the next one."
McGeoch says New Zealand has more of a long-term approach to next year's Rugby World Cup (RWC). The same mistakes that were made in Sydney in 2000 don't appear as if they are going to be repeated on the other side of the Tasman next year, he says.
Various sectors of the New Zealand economy are already taking steps to make sure the 2011 tournament is bled of all the long-term business opportunities it may provide.
Auckland business leaders say many of the visitors in town for the tournament will want to investigate commercial opportunities in the city. New partnerships, foreign investment and customers will be the business legacy of the RWC, they say.
"As a small trading nation dependent on our ability to attract tourists, sell our goods and create partnerships, the chance for the world to notice us must be grabbed with both hands," says RWC Minister Murray McCully. An event, organised by ARC development agency AucklandPlus - held in Sydney at the beginning of September - saw Kiwi businesspeople gathering with their Australian counterparts to discuss the long-term commercial benefits for Auckland stemming from the RWC, as well as the the formation of the Super City.
At the event, Australasian business leader and former All Black David Kirk said Kiwi businesspeople needed to start thinking about how their firms can benefit from RWC visitors.
"The key is to build relationships to help New Zealand businesses grow more quickly after [the tournament]," he says. "Business growth is about finding new markets and distribution partners and new intellectual property."
Brett O'Riley, chief executive of information technology industry body NZICT, says his organisation will hold the Rutherford Hi-Tech Forum in Christchurch during the RWC.
"[The forum is] intended to be an inbound trade and investment mission - an opportunity for New Zealand [ICT] companies to showcase themselves to global partners, be they distribution partners, investors or customers," he says.
O'Riley says that over the next 12 months NZICT, with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and TechNZ, will work with ICT firms to make sure they are in top shape for next year's event.
He says the Government has indicated that ministers and senior government officials will be made available to support the New Zealand technology companies that get involved in the forum.
"How many small New Zealand companies would have the opportunity to have a senior member of government attend a meeting they have with a potential partner or investor?"
O'Riley says the ICT sector will also take advantage of the two-storey pavilion being built at Eden Park for next year's tournament.
"We're in discussions with the organisers to have a technology showcase [in the pavilion]."
Auckland's marine industry is also looking to take advantage of the Cup.
"The RWC works well for the marine industry because of [the event's] close proximity to the water," says NZ Marine chairman Mark Wightman.
He says the Auckland International Boat Show will be held during the Cup, rather than the beginning of the year when it usually takes place.
The biotech industry is also jumping on the bandwagon, with Auckland Regional Bio Industry Group chairman Peter Bradley saying the Cup is likely to attract deep-pocketed rugby fans looking for investment opportunities.
"It's the sort of event that attracts people with money," he says.
The Auckland Regional Bio Industry Group, with NZBIO, is organising an event to be held in Auckland during the RWC where local firms will have a chance to make contacts in the global biotech community.
Colin McKinnon, executive director of the NZ Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, says an investment summit will be held during the Cup to take advantage of the international visitors. "The RWC is a huge celebration event," he says. "There will be some [people involved in innovation and investment] that are in the country because of it."
NZ Winegrowers will also hold a series of special wine festivals and VIP dinners to fit in the with tournament schedule around the country.
Philip Gregan, their chief executive, says the event will target "high-net-wealth" RWC visitors and showcase Kiwi wine.
"Hopefully [the guests] will be good ambassadors for New Zealand wine and talk to their friends about it and consume it when they go back home," he says. "We know from our long experience that - 99 times out of 100 - when somebody tries a New Zealand wine they like it and they end up buying it, recommending it and in some cases wanting to participate in the [local wine] industry."
Another topic of discussion at the Sydney event was how Auckland business could benefit from the formation of the Super City later this year.
AucklandPlus acting chair Ross Peat says Australians are beginning to take investment in Auckland more seriously as the formation of the Super City, as well as the RWC, loomed on the horizon.
"We think that a unified Auckland is going to help make the city a better destination for business," he says. "I'm certainly a believer that this unified, integrated approach is very important for Auckland."
Peat says having a single Auckland council will lighten regulation and make doing business less complex.
O'Riley says the Super City will have long-term benefits for the technology sector. "I think the exciting thing about the Super City is that it creates scale. So for local New Zealand technology companies - suddenly you've got a city that's has a global scale about it."
McGeoch, an Australian, agrees that businesspeople on the other side of the Tasman are looking more seriously at investing in Auckland as the formation of the Super City approaches.
"The great thing about the Super City strategy of Auckland is that [the city's] leadership has said to itself 'we're going to take this city to another level'."
Just like a business, as city needs to stay focused on continuous improvement, ideas and creativity, he says.
"If cities stay complacent they end up like Athens and Rome - they were great once."
Opportunity for global business contacts
Rugby World Cup ambassador David Kirk says Auckland business people wanting to make international contacts with Rugby World Cup visitors would be wise to sign up to the online Business Club.
New Zealand 2011, which is funded and run by the Ministry of Economic Development, has developed the free online match-making service for businesses.
International rugby fans coming to New Zealand for the tournament can sign up online and provide details about where they are from, the type of organisation and sector they work in and whether they want to attend a business conference while in this country.
Kiwi businesspeople can also sign up to the website to make contact with visitors involved in similar sectors abroad.
New Zealand 2011 director Leon Grice says the aim of the website is to utilise the event to make New Zealand and its business people more globally connected.
"In Australia the nurseries for rugby are the private schools and the universities, in Japan it's the business houses and the universities, in the United States it's the ivy league universities that dominate rugby and in England it's the well-heeled that support rugby," he says. "So to get 85,000 people of that kind in our country all wanting to have an amazing New Zealand experience is an opportunity that we want to make sure New Zealand businesses can be in among."
