Forum Archive Index - May 2001

["Peter Maiden" <pmaiden@xtra.co.nz>]

There have many articles in the press lately about the setbacks that many New Zealand companies have had in thier expansion overseas.

 

Brian Gaynor had an article in 'The Herald' on Saturday and mentioned The Warehouse, Telecom, Air New Zealand and Tourism Holdings and the bad tidings they have had to report from across the Tasman. 

 

Then on stuff.co there was an article by Simon Louisson on the same subject.

 

One article that many may not have seen is one from fundsource.co.nz - A tale of Two Companies

http://www.fundsource.co.nz/ShowNewsArticle.asp?NewsID=165

 

This article actually has some good news in it. It contrasts the disastrous results Air New Zealand (Snoopy - sorry I've mentioned them again) have had with thier acquisition of Ansett and the apparent success that Sky City have had with their acquisition of Adelaide Casino. The article demonstates the advantage of good business intelligence and careful planning, followed up by disciplined execution.

 

Well worth a read

 

Whether we like it not more and more of our hard earned funds are being invested offshore - that is what the market is demanding when growth opportunities, for many of our companies, are hard to find locally.

 

However unless these forays into overseas markets are successful than we all will be the poorer.

 

For me the fundsource article reminded me, once again, that the strength (and stability) of a management team and it's ability to deliver  are one of the most important factors when assessing whether to invest in any business.

 

In addition we have to bear in mind that generally success does not come overnight - it usually comes after a lot of hard work.

 

Maybe the parting words should come from Bruce McKay (DF Mainland) from thestuff.co.nz article when talking about Telecom, The Warehouse and Air New Zealand  "Their Australia businesses look like dogs today, but, if you have a medium-term strategy, you have to go through the dog phase before you get to the other side of it and get what you want."

 

Cheers

 

Peter