Neil Mackay

Speaker Notes

Innovate Conference - Breakfast Speech

Neil Mackay Chief Executive, Industry New Zealand.

March 7, 2002

Creating an Enterprise Culture

Good morning and thank you for coming along.

It's great to be back in Christchurch, and to be involved with a representative from one of the South Island's biggest businesses - Ngai Tahu Trust Board.

There is no question in my mind that an enterprise culture is the foundation of an internationally competitive nation.

Without that foundation all our efforts to improve our position internationally will be wasted.

It is fair to say that as a country we have considerable natural ability.

I was reminded of this at a powhiri I recently attended, when one of the speakers said, "Help us to be the entrepreneurs we used to be."

It's an interesting challenge, because it is easy to forget that this country's entrepreneurial spirit goes back not only to the first European settlers - but to its indigenous people.

Maori were our first explorers and entrepreneurs. They were natural traders and business people.

They were the ones who established and ran our first businesses - some of them very large and most of them very successful.

Settlers from a number of other countries also came for the opportunities here.

They too were entrepreneurs, improvisers and innovators.

So entrepreneurship is in the blood, and it's at the heart of our creative, clever, can-do spirit.

And that spirit shines brightly today.

A recent international study - the Global Entrepreneur Monitor, or GEM study - showed New Zealanders were second in the world in terms of enterpreneurship.

We beat the US, Italy, Australia and others - all of the countries we often benchmark ourselves against.

That's great...But it's not enough.

It's not enough because we consistently fail to effectively commercialise our great ideas. And as you will be acutely aware, if good ideas are not commercialised innovation has failed.

Too many of our businesses fail too quickly and too often. This is our "entrepreneurial gap", and it is costing us dearly. We've got to fill that gap, and fill it fast, if we are serious about lifting our economic performance and standing. Business assistance programmes like BIZ, Business Growth Service, Regional Partnerships Programme, and those offered by the Foundation for Research and Technology and TradeNZ are important factors in strengthening our businesses.

But the key to real long-term economic success requires a fundamental change in the way we think. We must broaden our thinking, and our horizons. Our future thinking should be guided by the art of the possible, and focused on creating a performance culture.

But how and why should we change the way we think?

Well consider this; talent, knowledge, and focus are the driving forces behind all modern dynamic and successful countries and economies. They are the assets most sought after by successful commercial and public sector organisations. And, they are the assets which we as a nation, you as individuals, and the government, must foster and grow if we want a bright, vibrant and successful future. Talented people have bright ideas; knowledgeable people know how to use ideas; and focused people understand how to get the maximum benefit from ideas.

These are the people who have the ability, and the desire to make a direct impact on how successful we are as a country. These are the people who we must nurture, encourage, support, reward and celebrate Why? Because these are the people who can turn commodities into high value products – the entrepreneurs who turn innovations into saleable products and services.

There are some wonderful examples of the type of enterprises that deserve our praise and support; SLAB International, Deep Video Imaging, Designline, Tait Electronics, Trimble Navigation to name but a few. And, importantly a number of our tertiary institutions are exhibiting the type of entrepreneurial spirit that we need to move our economy forward. We have no choice but to build an innovative enterprise culture that cherishes and celebrates entrepreneurship. A culture that fosters business excellence, that values a highly skilled work force. A culture that applauds business success as much as we applaud the success of our sportspeople. Our collective task is to create an attitudinal foundation on which to base our economic future. The building blocks of that foundation include valuing the pursuit of knowledge, encouraging smart risk taking, embracing creativity and developing a wide understanding that if we have strong businesses we will have a strong country.

And with a strong country comes a better life, in the widest sense.

The government can't make entrepreneurs; that would be a contradiction in terms.

But, what the government CAN do is work in partnership with business and tertiary institutions to create an environment where businesses can thrive, and where clever ideas will translate into successful businesses.

To that end Industry New Zealand has a number of programmes specifically designed to stimulate and support our entrepreneurs. Incubators mentor and guide entrepreneurial companies through their start-up phases and move them into commercial operation. We are not in the business of running incubators, but we do support their formation and operation. Overseas experience suggests incubators have a huge impact on the success of new businesses. Another critical factor in building this country's competitiveness is to ensure that our great ideas don't drift offshore

We don't want our highly creative fledging companies to wither and perish before they have a real chance. And, if our talent chooses to go overseas, we want to stay in touch.

To that end, you heard the Deputy Prime Minister announce yesterday the details of the World Class New Zealanders programme.It's a new initiative designed to help increase New Zealand's international competitiveness by giving entrepreneurs and high growth New Zealand businesses the opportunity to learn from the worlds best companies and brightest talents. It's a practical programme. It works directly with them to help build their capabilities.

The programme has two key components: international business exchanges, and international business missions. The aim is to increase exposure to global thinking, innovative best practice and leadership, and to encourage the development of international strategic partnerships.

The critical difference between companies that become world leaders and those that don't is attitude.

World leading companies are confident, realistic, and pragmatic.

And if we want to nurture those companies it is clear that we as a nation must change our attitude.

You wouldn't be here today if you didn't already believe that.

What you may not know is there is now a desire and mechanism for a business/government/tertiary partnership to make a real difference to our attitude to nurturing success for our innovative businesses.

That mechanism is the Enterprise Culture programme.

It's a programme designed to promote attitudes and values that are more supportive of entrepreneurial activity and business success in New Zealand.

I am delighted to be able to launch today the new Industry New Zealand's fund for Enterprise Culture & Skills Activities.

Through the Fund we will foster the development of enterprise skills as widely as possible, and broaden the net of providers involved in developing enterprise skills, attitudes and behaviour.

We will work in partnership with other organisations to complement the many excellent activities already up and running. These include programmes such as the Young Enterprise Scheme, the Primary Enterprise Programme, and the Great New Zealand Business Venture.

I invite private sector businesses and non-profit organisations to get involved, to submit ideas that will help with the creation of an enterprise culture.

Details of the programme can be found on our stand or on our website.

Ladies and gentlemen there is no doubt in my mind that the task ahead of us is big and challenging. But it is achievable.

Ongoing success starts with inspirational people. People who dare to dream of a great achievement. They inspire others around them to believe and share in the dream. We're not all inspirational innovators, but what we can do is develop an attitude that supports and nurtures the skill and brilliance of kiwi enterprise. By changing our mindset and establishing support structures, we could significantly increase the success rate of our young innovative companies, while at the same time tap into the considerable talent of established New Zealand expertise around the globe.Ultimately it's not the dollars that make the difference. It's how we think. The challenge for us is to draw together the talent, ideas and investment that creates great enterprises, and to harness it.

My goal is for Industry New Zealand to create strong, practical and pragmatic partnerships with, business, industries, regions and tertiary institutions so together we can stimulate, encourage and develop innovative individuals and companies.

By doing this we will ensure we generate world-leading ideas, and take the next step to commercialise those ideas so we can all reap the benefits.

Thank you and good morning.

End