The Efficient Project

The Efficient Project - Toolset for designing B2B transactions Read on...

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Budding Entrepreneurs

A blog by luke goodwin for Budding Entrepreneurs - well worth a look - latest blog 101 ways to kickstart your business. Read on...

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How to Choose an eCommerce Package

an article by Shannon Watters
Whether you’re a freelance designer looking for a solution for your
latest client, or a new company preparing your first online store,
choosing an eCommerce package can be a daunting decision. The
industry’s rapid growth over the last few years makes it difficult to
immediately determine whether a specific package suits both your
present and future needs, but there are a few things you can keep in
mind to help you through the process. Below, I’ve outlined the top
eleven things to consider when choosing an eCommerce package.... Read on.

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Small NZ firms ignored by Govt - expert

This is too important to ignore.

So here it is reprinted in full. - first published in the Dominion on Friday 3 August 2007

Small firms ignored by Govt - expert

By NICK CHURCHOUSE - The Dominion Post | Friday, 3 August 2007

MAARTEN HOLL/Dominion Post

'IGNORANT':
Government departments are elitist and ignorant when it comes to
helping small businesses, according to leading small business expert
Professor Claire Massey.

Government departments are elitist and ignorant when it
comes to helping small businesses, a leading small business expert
says.

Massey University professor Claire Massey has criticised the
Economic Development Ministry and NZ Trade and Enterprise for ignoring
the majority of small businesses.

Professor Massey targeted
the government organisations' definitions and the policies they used to
interact with small and medium enterprise.

"They are using a
construct - the business life-cycle - which comes from large firms. If
that is the only framework you use to look at small businesses, it
misses the point," she said.

SMEs made up 99 per cent of the
business community and yet Trade and Enterprise dealt with only the top
4 per cent - companies with at least 20 per cent growth over five
years.

"We love to see David beat Goliath, to see Icebreaker,
Weta and Trade Me take New Zealand to the world. But most New Zealand
firms are not like this.

"We have to stop griping about lifestyle businesses and mom and pop firms as if they were a bad thing.

"They are not all embryonic multinationals, but they are just as valuable to the economy."

The focus also missed the real force behind eight out of 10 businesses - that of the owner.

A
2005 survey by Massey University showed less than 15 per cent of small
firms had received any help from the ministry or from Trade and
Enterprise, and many knew little about what was available.

"They
don't seem to mind being treated like second-class citizens while we
run around looking for the next Sam Morgan," Professor Massey said.

While
Trade and Enterprise had $180 million a year mostly devoted to
businesses with up to 100 employees, it blamed budget constraints for
interacting with only the top echelon of those, she said.

But if that attitude was adopted within other Government responsibilities, such as education, it would be intolerable.

"That's like dealing only with A students. It is easy to make a success out of A students."

New Zealand was not alone; most countries had an ill-thought-out approach to small business development.

"Countries just say, 'Oh shit, what should we be doing; let's focus on
high growth.' There's not much sophisticated thinking going on there."

Taiwan
- "one of the development miracles of the world" - had a bottom-up
approach to development, putting most of their resources into small
business, acknowledging that was where the growth potential was.

"That completely woke me up. They are doing the exact opposite of what we are doing," Professor Massey said.

A
Economic Development Ministry report last month on structure and
dynamics in SMEs showed that firms with 20 or fewer employees accounted
for nearly 60 per cent of new jobs from 2001 to 2006.

The
findings showed businesses with up to five workers comprised 87 per
cent of New Zealand enterprises, contributed 30 per cent more new jobs
than firms with 500 or more employees and made twice as much real
profit per employee than any other sized grouping.

Professor
Massey said encouraging the owners of "low growth" businesses would
have a massive effect on the economy, because even a small change in
productivity over the large grouping would have a major upside.

"If all these firms improve their productivity just imagine what they could do with the rest of that time."

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