BUSINESS ADVOCATE COLUMN JULY 2013

If our regional economy is to grow then existing businesses must develop and grow and new businesses must enter the market. Today’s businesses operate in an environment that requires disciplined financial management skills and a high level of business capability. Observations by many business commentators have identified that one of the key factors in businesses that have continued to grow during the Global Financial Crisis has been a focus of the owners and managers of these businesses on the development and training of themselves and their staff. In general terms there are two parts to a business with one being what your business does and the other being how you do it. The “how you do it” part would fall within business excellence models such as those used measure business performance such as used in the Westpac Northland Business excellence Awards. The “what you do” part is the business capability. The business capability encompasses what a business must know and be able to do so that the organisations goals can be achieved. What matters are that good processes and efficient use of resources accompanied by an increased ability and knowledge, leads to a more effective organisation. These capabilities could include among other things, marketing strategies, finance, business systems or governance. The good news is that New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) through its Regional Business Partner Programmes that it has in place throughout New Zealand can help businesses to grow their capability. In Northland this role is undertaken by the NZ Chambers of Commerce Northland and Northland Inc.’s Innovation and Growth Team. At no cost to a business they will assess your business and its capability needs and then prepare a development plan for you and provide advice, information and business assistance. Having done this they can then direct you to relevant resources and services to help fulfil this need and you grow your business. Finally through government support for this programme in many cases they can partially subsidise training and coaching services which can be accessed through a voucher system. With their support many Northland businesses are now better placed to achieve their strategic objectives through increased capability.