Management practices in this country's manufacturing businesses are "middling" by global standards, an international comparative study found.The study for the Ministry of Economic Development (MED), Treasury, Department of Labour, and New Zealan
Management practices in this country's manufacturing businesses are "middling" by global standards, an international comparative study found.
The study for the Ministry of Economic Development (MED), Treasury, Department of Labour, and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise assessed 152 medium and large manufacturing firms in 2009.
New Zealand managers in manufacturing firms were found to be relatively weak on people management, particularly when it came to attracting and retaining talent and managing poor performers, MED said today.
But the managers did well on operational and performance management.
The report found effective management practices were closely related to higher productivity and output in the manufacturing firms.
MED acting deputy secretary Michael Bird said the clear message was that improving management practices would have a positive impact on a firm's bottom line.
Professor Roy Green, dean of the business faculty at the University of Technology Sydney, which carried out the study, said the findings suggested some New Zealand firms were as good as any in the world.
But a substantial tail of firms were mediocre, particularly in their approach to people management, he said.
"This is a key differentiating factor between New Zealand and better performing, more innovative countries, and it echoes similar recent findings for Australian manufacturers."
The study suggested manufacturing firms in this country needed to improve their management performance to build longer term competitive advantage, Prof Green said.
The research used a methodology developed by the London School of Economics, and McKinsey&Co, which had already been implemented in 16 other countries.
It ranked New Zealand management practices 10th out of the 17 countries that had so far taken part in the research.
Larger New Zealand firms were found to significantly outperform smaller firms, while multinational corporations were found to adopt and spread better management practices than domestic firms.
Publicly-listed companies in this country also had a better management performance than other types of companies such as privately-owned and family-owned firms, and cooperatives.
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