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Advocate Article

28 Oct, 2014

 4th WEEK AUGUST 2014 Recent discussions among interested groups in Whangarei have raised the possibility of Whangarei becoming a Fair Trade district.  Fair Trade is a different way of doing business.  It is about making principles of fairness and decency mean something in the marketplace.  It seeks to change the […]

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Advocate Article

28 Oct, 2014

 2nd WEEK AUGUST 2014 Submissions for the Whangarei District Council’s innocuously titled “Plan Change 130: Bulk Format Retail Environment (Okara Park)” closed a couple of weeks ago with little or no fanfare.  I would imagine very few within our community were aware of it and based on its title, even […]

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Advocate Article

28 Oct, 2014

4th WEEK JULY 2014 Recent events in Northland and elsewhere around New Zealand have shown the devastating impact that natural or man-made disasters can have on businesses and the economy.  Disruption of business will affect your ability to maintain your existing market.  Some statistics suggest that 3 out of 5 […]

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Advocate Article

23 Jul, 2014

ADVOCATE COLUMN 2nd WEEK JULY 2014 The Westpac Northland Business Excellence Awards provides an opportunity to celebrate business excellence and the role business plays in our community.  Through business, countless individuals can apply their talents to achieve their own aspirations and provide service for others.  If we can celebrate and […]

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Advocate Article

23 Jul, 2014

ADVOCATE COLUMN 2nd WEEK JUNE 2014   Every action and decision we make in life is dictated by our politics, personal sets of economic values and our world view –or lack of it.  This how we as a community decide how we believe scarce resources are best allocated.  At a […]

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Advocate Article

23 Jul, 2014

ADVOCATE COLUMN 2nd WEEK JUNE 2014   As soon as you get it a car it seems like a great time to complain.  The driver in front of you is too slow, the driver behind you too fast, the traffic light sequence is all wrong; most drivers have never used […]

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Small Business Sector Report and Factsheet

14 Jul, 2014

MBIE has recently released the first ever Small Business Sector Report, which takes an in-depth look at how New Zealand’s small businesses are performing.  Small businesses, defined as enterprises with fewer than 20 employees, make up 97% of all enterprises in New Zealand and make a significant contribution to our […]

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Regional Economic Activity Report 2014

18 Jun, 2014

2014 Regional Activity Report The Regional Economic Activity Report presents comprehensive economic data on New Zealand’s 16 regions. The report, which is released annually, also identifies specific initiatives under way in each region through the Government’s Business Growth Agenda. It highlights the strengths and challenges each region faces and is a useful tool to support planning at all […]

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Ease of Business

11 Jun, 2014

CREATING A BUSINESS FRIENDLY CULTURE Whangarei needs transformational change if we are to develop a high wage, high growth economy.  This change can be facilitated and enabled by local government but also requires private sector to assist, invest and develop.  Business growth requires sufficient rewards to justify the risk and […]

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MBIE 2014 Regional Economic Activity Report

09 Jun, 2014

  2014 Regional Economic Activity Report releasedThe Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s latest report on regional economies has been released today – with a new interactive web tool.The published 2014 Regional Economic Activity Report brings together a comprehensive set of economic data on New Zealand’s 16 regions in one […]

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Observations on telephone survey HAC

06 Jun, 2014

Here are some observations in relation to the recent telephone survey on Hundertwasser Arts Centre As expected given the research methodology, people under 40 are significantly under-represented in the survey sample – comprising just 10% of the unweighted sample relative to what appears to be 30% of the population.  A […]

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Advocate Article

06 Jun, 2014

ADVOCATE COLUMN 4th WEEK MAY 2014   If creativity is a good idea then innovation is putting that good idea to use.   Within the business world this will generally relate to renewing, changing or creating more effective processes, products or ways of doing things.  While there are many other aspects […]

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