Over the years, visitors to New Zealand haven't always been complimentary about the country and its people.

While criticism can be hard to take, New Zealand leaders should never stop listening to the international take on the way we run things here - no matter how painful it is.

Jordi Masramon, a chief technical officer from Spain who is doing an MBA at the University of Otago, cites a recent survey in Australia which found that New Zealand businesses, while pleasant to deal with, didn't have any interest in maintaining long-term partnerships with their Australian counterparts.

Masramon is not surprised. He believes New Zealanders possibly over-value their remoteness, thinking there is something special about doing things on their own. "Perhaps it is from being such a young country, still."

This sense of independence is evident in the workforce, too, he says. From what he has heard, New Zealanders prefer to work for small businesses and, in some cases, take the entrepreneurial route rather than working for large companies their entire careers.

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Source, Gill South, www.nzherald.co.nz