Divided house misses the boat

By Yoke Har Lee

Between the lines

If there is one lesson New Zealand could have learnt after the heady Apec stuff that went on a week ago, it would be that we have few precious resources to waste.

The fragmented approach to how we insist on marketing goods and services was starkly exposed during Apec.

Ranging from trade exhibits to facilitating foreign businesses or investments, New Zealand is still uncoordinated and wasteful.

Two separate groups channelled different resources to market New Zealand to foreign businessmen.

The Apec CEO Summit, a purely private sector effort, and the New Zealand Trade Development Board, are to be credited for making an effort to grab the opportunities presented.

The CEO Summit produced a 100-page document, described by one colleague as having a 1970s-annual report feel, to shed light on how New Zealand can fit into the plans of those businesses seeking strategic global links.

One can argue that although the CEO Summit is separate and distinct from Trade NZ, which is Government-backed, both are selling the same thing.

Trade NZ's existing material, Invest in New Zealand, or Discover New Zealand, could have been used by the CEO Summit's Strategic Investment Group. Then the CEO Summit could have just focused on adding real value - in providing the venue and ambience for CEOs to meet and deal.

The companies featured by the CEO Summit's and Trade NZ's documents duplicated some of the innovative companies profiled.

During Apec, the Government had one good chance to help our small and medium enterprises showcase their products under one roof.

Trade NZ could have undertaken the task, supplementing its programme and winning much praise from those businesses by providing a venue, sponsored either by itself or corporates, for the display of products.

Instead, there was a failed trade fair organised by the World Trade Centre and a previous exhibit organised by Trade NZ when it had its Apec Business Symposium a few months ahead of Apec.

For all the hype about promoting exports, this was one big chance to sell them. But our exporters would not have been visible unless the intrepid Apec visitor explored the NZ Trade Centre, a privately run venue which has displays by 200 export companies. More pity the whole of the Trade Centre couldn't have been on display at the Heritage Hotel where most of CEOs stayed.

The NZ Trade Centre is privately run but showcases some of our best products. As a concept it is much under-used to market products.

When all the glitter of Apec settles to dust, let's get down to some serious thinking about how the local business community can organise itself to market New Zealand effectively. At the moment, we are still very much a house divided.