Chief executives' views

Ralph Norris

Managing Director, Air New Zealand

Challenge: Launch a $200 million rights issue. Get a cornerstone shareholder. Produce a profit to justify a $885 million Government bailout.

Reality: No airline management experience. Up against a ruthless Qantas. Some pollies hate a former Business Roundtable boss running their airline.

Theresa Gattung

Chief Executive, Telecom NZ

Challenge: Overcome the "Roderick Deane protege" label. Reinvent Telecom as a high-growth technology company - a growth stock, not just another telco dog.

Reality: Telecom faces rapid commoditisation of voice and data transmission services. Global competitors - like TelstraClear - are targeting profitable businesses.

Greg Muir

Chief Executive, The Warehouse

Challenge: Keep Stephen Tindall's juggernaut rolling. Bed in the Australian "red sheds" - get them turning strong profits. Keep rival Briscoes at bay.

Reality: Tindall got the basics right: minimised costs and prices, maximised volumes of value-for-money merchandise, but Australia is a much bigger market. It is also tough.

Craig Norgate

Chief Executive, Fonterra

Challenge: Achieve ambitious profit targets against falling commodity prices. Cement the Kiwi/Dairy Group merger. Tick off big deals like Nestle.

Reality: Australia is proving tougher than Fonterra directors and management thought. Dairy farmer shareholders will have to be kept sweet during declining dairy payouts.

Chris Liddell

Chief Executive, Carter Holt Harvey

Challenge: Manage through the cyclical highs and lows of the forestry sector. Keep investor confidence high - especially that of shareholder International Paper.

Reality: It is a tough market. Critics will judge whether the launch of a raft of new entrepreneurial companies benefits CHH - or is a management distraction.

Ralph Waters

Chief Executive, Fletcher Building

Challenge: Capitalise on fillip to the building industry from increased immigration. Get Australia right and show FCL's problem children the door.

Reality: The building sector is notoriously fickle - particularly that servicing the boom-bust residential property market. The game will change if interest rates rise significantly.

Mike Daniell

Chief Executive, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare

Challenge: Permanently reverse F&P Healthcare's share slide. Double the business within five years on the back of innovative products dealing with problems like sleep aponea.

Reality: Growth has been below expectations. F&P Healthcare's best years lie ahead - if it can crack the enormous US health sector. It must get the PR right.