KEY POINTS:
The annual Mood of the Boardroom report, published today in the Herald, is always guaranteed to feature the beating of many of the same drums. Concerns over workplace skills and productivity are perennials, as are criticisms of regulation contained in the likes of the Resource Management Act. Likewise, no one will be surprised that over 90 per cent of the chief executives surveyed believe John Key would be the better Prime Minister to guide New Zealand through turbulent times.
Yet scratch beneath the predictable surface and there is an insight into emerging issues and trends that worry the business community and may not be getting the attention they deserve. This year, a major concern is this country's international competitiveness, and the fear that if New Zealand does not act, it will continue the drift to becoming a branch economy.
Mark Weldon, chief executive of the New Zealand Stock Exchange, is one of many to address this prospect. "We need a new mindset and to start aggressively competing with all the tools we have, instead of our nice and harmless Shetland pony approach," he says. Other chief executives stress the need for a visible "New Zealand first" policy, and aggressive policies that seek to attract and retain capital and labour. Foremost in their thinking is, of course, the need to compete with Australia, thereby making that country a less attractive destination for skilled New Zealanders. Increasingly, and realistically, the key to this is seen as specialisation in our strengths, notably through agriculture (the production of high-quality food) and tourism.
The rapid expansion of Australian companies into New Zealand and elsewhere has been underpinned by a funding pool provided by compulsory superannuation. The business leaders acknowledge the importance of such a source of capital by according the KiwiSaver scheme their top ranking in an analysis of the Government's signature policies. It surpasses even the free-trade agreement with China, the status of which has been muddied by Fonterra's tainted-milk woes. The New Zealand Superannuation Fund also wins a tick, as another plank in the Government's drive to embed a savings culture.
Deloitte chief executive Murray Jack takes this encouragement of savings a logical step further by examining how to marry it with other objectives such as expanding productivity and deepening New Zealand's capital markets. He urges a rethink of Government asset ownership policy. "There are good alternative models and it's time we, as a country, started debating them instead of being labelled some form of pariah if you mention the 'P' word," he says. Privatisation is off the agendas of both major parties, at least in the short term. But, as many chief executives note, that would not preclude the partial float of state companies such as Television New Zealand, power generators, NZ Post and Kiwibank.
This would leave the Government in charge, while providing relatively safe investments for the mums and dads who showed their taste for the concept by buying shares in the likes of Auckland International Airport and Vector. At the same time, it would aid company expansion, job creation and economic growth, as well as promoting a higher level of international competitiveness thanks to increased performance monitoring.
Past Mood of the Boardroom reports have dwelt on business leaders' enthusiasm for a single transtasman market. Now, however, the talk is not of a common currency and suchlike. It is more of placing New Zealand first and of not accepting the drift towards branch-office status. That is a welcome trend.
