With our exclusive podcast (below), you can hear five speakers from a range of Kiwi businesses offer frank accounts of the hurdles, insights and practicalities of setting up shop in the USA.
About 150 guests attended this New York City 31 January 2007 event co-hosted by Kea New Zealand and by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.
"Tonight is a celebration of New Zealand success," says moderator Bridget Liddell in opening the evening. She reviews the role of NZTE's Beachheads programme in the US (which she chairs) and lists a number of recent Kiwi business triumphs. Hear the Bridget Liddell podcast (5 minutes, 2Mb download).
"We've come to America to grow and to lead," says Jane Vesty of SweeneyVesty, a strategic communications firm. She offers her "Top 10 for Doing Business in America". For example, "Number Seven: The world is flat. In a global operation, New Zealand is a crucial part of the delivery system. Our time zone - a day ahead - offers great advantages to the service business." Hear the Jane Vesty podcast (9 minutes, 4Mb download).
"Until you move your management and your strategic thinking up into the market, you're really not going to get the insights you need to develop your business," says Mark Eglinton of Tenon USA (morphed from the former Fletcher Challenge Forestry). Moving to the US has enabled Tenon to grow from $US60 million turnover in 1999 to more than $400 million today. Hear the Mark Eglinton podcast (4 minutes, 2Mb download).
"We are starting to get a lot of kudos in the industry because we are doing it better than the other guys," says Matt Williams of Glidepath, which integrates baggage-handling systems with airport security needs. "We want to be the best in the industry, not necessarily the biggest. That will follow." Hear the Matt Williams podcast (3 minutes, 1Mb download).
"Hire an expert on the ground ... somebody that has knowledge of the market, who has relationships in place," advises Victoria Vandagriff of Bendon. And "sell a little bit of that New Zealand story to the United States. We love it". Hear the Victoria Vandagriff podcast (5 minutes, 2Mb download).
"It is absolutely essential that you establish credibility for your company," says Stuart Gray of Methven. "People want to know they are dealing with a reputable company before they want to know anything about your product - regardless of how good it is." Hear the Stuart Gray podcast
(8 minutes, 4Mb download).
The speakers tackled a number of challenging issues in the question-and-answer session. Hear Kea's exclusive podcasts on these topics:
We thank the sponsors of "New Zealand . New York . New Thinking":
We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Jeffrey Lamb and Ngapera Riley of NZTE in developing and organizing this event.
|
