Sounds pretty like the huge hyped-up Knowlege thing that Labour put on a few years ago. That was an absolute fizzer. Suspect this may be too. It was stacked with governement reps(what would they know about making a buck through blood ,sweat & tears ?), union reps (same), CEO's of the big companies (who are removed from the workers needs /wants) and a few would be's if they could be's ! A couple of education providers(University's), 1 or 2 SME's (the backbone of our economy) ,no IT companies etc . At the end of the day its only tough love that will help. As the saying goes, when times get tough the tough get going ! And those who have been prudent will rise through things very nicely (as has been done before). The Y generation who are used to their lattes and unlimited credit will just have to learn ! A rationalisation of how we live/work was long overdue. But the government does have to become more businesss friendly with good incentives for growth which is what NZ needs desperately

As past policies, and academia? Can only say: "Chicken coming home to roost!"

Another 'ambulance at the bottom of the cliff' panacea?? Too little, too late perhaps??. Though I applaud the proactive position of the Govenment, it really needs to be engaging with the back-bone of NZ's economy ie.the small, business enterprise, amongst whom exist some of NZ's cleverest and lateral thinking individuals.

The summit should have also placed emphasis on goal setting ie. Priority and longer term. Priority is for small business to retain key staff. The paradox apparantly overlooked by the summit is that in any well run business, all staff are 'key'. The 'nine day fortnight' does not go far enough. Small business needs the flexibilty to be able to reduce labour hours NOW, whilst consumer demand is low. Government could provide temporary funding/relief to qualifying small businesses, so that staff can work reduced hours without any reduction in pay.There are a number of ways this could be implemented and of course, covenants would apply.

Only the primary, manufacturing, tourism, and now the film industry, create true wealth for NZ. With the exception of say the film industry, the tyranny of distance is not overcome by computer. We still personally, have to travel from the furthest most point on earth to sell our products (and to the business owener's primary, and significant cost). Then, having sold our products, they then have to be shipped from the furthest most point on earth to customers overseas. Even a business that has a sound, domestic market from which to springboard from, the cost in time, business and personal expense, and the other personal sacrifices, including family and lonelieness, can be sapping and soul destroying.

NZ business people are generally a collabrative bunch, so (along with export incentives), how about relocating all our embassy's and trade posts into strategcially located hotels in our key, and emerging markets throughout the world? The hotels would not only serve as NZ Embassys, but provide a focal meeting and subsidised accomodation place for NZ exporters operating in those markets. The benefits would be huge. In addition (and though I haven't done the sums), my gut instinct in selling off NZ real estate currently occupied by NZ Embassys (not to mention maintenance costs), would be significant.

In another the matter of ideas, a significant benefit would be for the NZ Patent Office to put ALL of its patent application records (from day 1), on-line.(From memory, their on-line records only go back so far)

Also, changes need to be made to legislation relating to copyright law,specifically the legislaton regarding artistic works emodied in models of industrial design. Current law is insane, poorly understood and can be used as a mechanism to prevent legitimate market competition.

I think the root cause of most problems within New Zealand businesses is within the heart of the business itself. Not the nearly 5% of large companies in the country, but the more than 95% small and medium enterprises. Good solid management is often lacking due to the fact that once a company starts to grow, the owner operator doesn’t know how to manage that growth. Most companies I have seen inside, do not have proper management systems in place and do not know where they are going. In other words, the business plan has never been updated and different scenario’s have not been discussed. The recession didn’t come as a surprise, it started already in 2007.

When the global recession occurred, most companies blamed its performance on that. If a domestic or international market has a certain size, say for argument of $100m, and decreases by 15% due to the recession, then there is still a market of $85m left. If a company was well organized, had forecasted different scenario’s its management should have known what to do. Either by focusing on existing customers, entering new markets or developing new offerings in other areas for example.

The easiest way to cut cost, it to make staff redundant. In my opinion this is an offer of weakness, because it’s short-term thinking. What surprises me even more, is that sales- and marketing staff and budgets are often the first to go. If you cut your marketing budget, you’re less visible for the outside world. If you cut sales staff, less revenue will come in and customers may be lost to competition forever. It will cost more to a company to hire a new sales after a year then they might realize.

Businesses don’t first run out of cash, they first run out of opportunity… That should have been the focus of the summit. Not how to create work, but how to keep work.

So $50 million will hore 3700 people for 2 years to build a cycleway covering more 3000km?
That's about $13,500 per worker per year, or $6750 per year, ex design costs, land acquisitions, RMA consents, tools supplies, engineers, supervisors et all. and not a shred of information publishing on market demand and its cost-effectiveness against other tourm priorities? How stupid can people be? Did anyone at the summit think of telling the cycle emperor he had no clothes? God help us if this one goes ahead.