PwC Herald Talks - Changing Markets

New Zealanders changing the rules and having no respect for the status quo are just some of the reasons the country is doing so well on the world stage, although this needs to be talked about more says Sir Ray Avery.

Founder and chief executive of Medicine Mondiale, Avery was the keynote speaker at this morning's third PwC Herald Talks event at SkyCity on Changing Markets.

Panelists Avery, Tenby Powell from Advaro Finance, Mai Chen from Chen Palmer, Nigel Morrison from SkyCity and Greg Doone from PwC, emceed by Fran O'Sullivan from NZME, discussed strategies around adapting and changing business to keep up with the market, as well as being customer, rather than product-focused.

In his speech, Avery highlighted the importance of looking to what customers wanted for inspiration, rather than just improving on products. He illustrated this with a number of major organisations that had failed due to being product-focused, or to having bad timing.

Film giant Kodak which developed the first digital camera in 1975 but then failed to capitalise on its early start and subsequently went bankrupt, was one such company.

Clarence Birdseye who developed flash-freezing in a time when most people did not have refrigerators so couldn't use the technique, was an example of how important timing could be.

The changing market landscape was also discussed with Chen saying businesses needed to start to leverage off the changing ethnic make-up of the market to better serve it's other communities.

"The title of this morning is changing markets but the market has already changed," Chen said. "I think we can leverage off this already changed ethnic superdiversity in the Auckland market and we can recruit these people to our [business] to help us be more adaptable because we are now in a market where it is faster, quicker and changing all the time."

Avery also promoted the importance of the power of observation, saying that observation was the key to innovation. When he was a child, school was difficult for Avery - he was dyslexic, short sighted and had undiagnosed glue ear, however he said this also made him more observant so that he could keep up with what was happening. These observations have also resulted in Avery being one of New Zealand's most respected and talented scientists and philanthropists through Medicine Mondiale.

Prior to the event, the 400 odd guests mingled and networked over breakfast and barista coffee. The fourth and final PwC Herald Talks event for the year will be held on December 9th at Skycity.

PwC Herald Talks - 'Growth'
December 9th
7.00am - 9.00am
SKYCITY Theatre
Tickets available on iTicket