Poutama Newsletter

Kia ora koutou katoa – Welcome to our August Newsletter

We have a number of different features in this newsletter many of which focus on Maori export involvement in the food and beverage sectors. Other features include; social media, client profiles and activities and events. Don’t forget that if you would like to be featured in our newsletter then contact Richard at either Richard@poutama.co.nz or 021 619 075.

In this edition

  1. The rise and rise of Social Media for business communication
  2. Aotearoa Maori Homestays - Toro and Marion Waaka
  3. Power Lines & Services Ltd - Buddy Wharewera
  4. Redroom Limited - Te Rongo Kirkwood
  5. Manuka Boosta cracks US market
  6. HiCa Ventures - Triangular Trading
  7. Unique taste of Maori culture in Los Angeles
  8. Seafood Success in Shanghai
  9. Chinese Consumerism
  10. SMEs Backbone of the Economy
    1. Government launches Small Business website
    2. New Web Resource for Business Owners
    3. Events for August-September
  11. Contacts

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The rise and rise of Social Media for business communication

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Well Poutama is, I think, coming to grips with using Social Media. I say, I think, because it seems just when you are getting the hang of using one or some social media applications another one comes on the scene e.g. Foursquare www.foursquare.com. They say that Four Square, a location based social media site, is the new Twitter?

I read the other day that social media be it using Facebook, Twitter, blogging etc is set to, if it hasn’t already done, surpass communication via email. The statistics flying around about Social Media are mind boggling, for example, Facebook has now reached 500 million users and if it was a country it would be the fourth largest in the World. Sometimes I wonder how you can keep up with everything particularly when you are busy enough just running the day to day activities of your business!!

Nevertheless there are many businesses now implementing Social Media as part of their everyday activity particularly when it comes to customer communications. Much of it requires a bit of trial and error, for example, here at Poutama after playing around with Facebook, Youtube, My Space and Twitter we’ve found that Twitter best suits our needs as it enables short sharp factual communications to be pushed out into cyberspace. If you use Tweetdeck www.tweetdeck.com you can send the same message at the same time out on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Buzz, Foursquare, and MySpace! The same applies if you use HootSuite http://hootsuite.com/dashboard, Seesmic http://seesmic.com/app or Brizzly http://brizzly.com/ OMG - these types of applications seem endless!!

Social media gives you the ability to reach out to many people at the same time and for those people to help promote your business by reaching out to their social networks and so on and so on. This will occur as long as you have taken the time to understand your customers and to ensure you have something they want and like. If you can do this then there is no doubt that using social media will help spread the word like wildfire?

There are of course a number of tips as well as some do’s and don’ts for using social media. Before taking the step into social media you should think through how you are going to use it rather than just doing it because others are or because it’s the in-thing to do. You need to think why you will use it, what you want from it and how it will benefit your customers and of course your business? You will also need to give serious consideration on whether you will dedicate the time or even if you have the time to use social media.

If you have a communications or marketing plan for your business or even a business or strategic plan and are interested in using social media then integrate it into your plan. This way it becomes a dedicated part of your business and you have a path to follow as you develop and use social media. It will mean you are seriously committed to using social media in a way that is not ad-hoc as you can monitor, adjust and fine tune social media to perform optimally and benefit your business.

There is little doubt that more and more businesses are hooking onto social media and making it a core part of their business activity. We certainly are at Poutama, an example being is that we all have the Twitter application on our cell phones. When we visit a business we take a photo of the business and upload that to Twitter and then send it out with a reference to the businesses name and website. There you have it, if our Twitter followers are interested they can open the photo, look at the business, check the website out and hopefully make a purchase.

The benefit to Poutama is that social media helps us spread the word about your business. This can only grow as Poutama gains more followers through its Twitter site both in New Zealand and throughout the World - follow Poutama on Twitter by clicking here http://twitter.com/PoutamaTrust

Here’s some social media statistics for noting:

(source: BusinessBloggsHub www.businessblogshub.com/2010/06/social-media-revolution/)

Find out how you can maximize social media http://www.businessblogshub.com/category/social-media/

Check out 20 top sites to improve your Twitter experience http://mashable.com/2010/07/25/improve-twitter-experience/

Welcome to the world of socialnomics – are you ready?

Aotearoa Maori Homestays - Toro and Marion Waaka

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Iwi – Ngati Kahungunu, Ngati Pahauwera

Aotearoa Maori Homestay Ltd (AMH) is a Tourism company owned and managed by the Waaka whanau. The company had in the past operated and facilitated Maori Homestay opportunities before moving into the Backpacker and Guided Tour business that they operate out of the old Napier Prison.

Toro and Marion Waaka have been leasing the old Napier Prison since 2002, where they have been primarily providing backpacker accommodation as well as guided prison tour packages.

Toro says that some want ‘to experience being locked up in prison and even some ex inmates want to re-visit their old haunts’.

They have since downsized the backpacker side of their business and concentrate more on tour packages. Toro says the ‘reason being, there is more growth potential in tours as they are restricted to 50 backpackers at any one time. There was also conflict between backpackers and tour groups with complaints arising from both groups. A conscious decision was then made to develop the tour side of the business’.

The guided tour packages have proven to be lucrative, however these could only be conducted at scheduled times or when guides were available.  Toro said ‘we were missing out on business from cruise ships or casuals that would turn up’. This led to them developing audio tours, where tourists were given a hand held audio device similar to a phone and a map and were able to go on a self guided tour.

The responses to the audio tours were encouraging with a 36% increase in revenue earned from the Napier Prison tours over the summer months of 2009 – 2010 that has consequently led to the establishment of their Audiotourz business arm.

Audiotourz is a business that offers portable audio devices to customers as a medium to entertain and inform customers as part of an education or tourism experience. The support services Audiotourz offers includes tour content research, script writing, recording, language translations, data input and training. Audiotourz also has its own sound studio for which manuals have been developed to facilitate the transfer of expertise in recording, sound effects, downloading, tour structure, mapping and quality control.

Recently, with assistance from Poutama, Toro and Marion Waaka attended The Museums and Heritage Exhibition, Earl’s Court, London on 12th and 13th May 2010 and also visited Ireland, Northumberland and other parts of England to promote Audiotourz.


Marion and Toro Waaka at their booth at The Museums and Heritage Exhibition.

Positive outcomes from attending the exhibition experience and visits included:

Toro says that ‘If we can secure the contract for any of the high profile castles they are in discussions with, it will provide the business with a profitable venture and a beacon for future customers.’

For further information on Audiotourz, visit their website www.audiotourz.com

For more information visit www.napierprison.com

Power Lines & Services Ltd - Buddy Wharewera

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Iwi - Ngai Tuhoe, Ngati Awa, Te Whanau a Apanui

 

Power Lines and Services Limited was formed in 2006 to provide electrical contracting services to commercial and private customers within the Horizon Energy network area in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.   The company is owned and operated by Buddy Wharewera (a qualified Distribution Line Mechanic) and has three full-time and three part-time employees.

The team are dedicated and committed to the kaupapa and are prepared to work weekends and after-hours if required to complete jobs. Due to the nature and risks associated with working with electricity, employee safety and well-being is paramount.  To this end, Poutama has co-invested in the business to assist with the purchase of a tractor/trencher, industry-related safety and test equipment and other specialist equipment required for high voltage cable jointing.

“Being self-employed and a fair employer is challenging” comments owner Buddy, “and there are the ongoing challenges of juggling financials, taxation, employees, safety and industry requirements, and then maintaining a good working relationship with customers and suppliers alike”.  “Working with organisations like Poutama makes moving forward in this kind of environment possible - business isn’t easy, but it’s rewarding if you’re prepared to put in the hard yards” he says.

 

The business is home-based and despite the demands, the whanau strives to find a comfortable work/family balance.  “When we are sitting in the office at midnight banging out an urgent quote it is hard to say we have achieved that balance – but we wouldn’t have it any other way” says Buddy’s wife Steph .  Satisfaction can come in many forms, from getting the call you’ve just won a contract tender to seeing the kids relaxing at home in the school holidays, or helping with trenching or filing – it’s all about getting in together as a whanau and working toward achieving that balance.

For more information visit www.powerlines.co.nz

Redroom Limited - Te Rongo Kirkwood

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Iwi - Tainui, Ngai tai ki Tamaki, Wai o hua, Kawerau

Redroom Ltd was set up by Te Rongo Kirkwood in 2005 to produce handcrafted contemporary styled glasswork and sculpture.

Te Rongo is a full-time artist, essentially self taught. Her glass work is kiln formed and is mainly fused and slumped glass.  She finds this process enables her to realise her designs, most of which are influenced by her Maori and New Zealand heritage.

When Te Rongo first started her business, she originally wrote her business plan around setting up a glass workshop where she would make lower to mid range production glassware, and then at some point build on her reputation and move into the object art and sculptural work.

However, she was fortunate enough to be invited to show her work at a number of exhibitions within the first three years.  This has led to her now doing mostly sculptural and commissioned works, and she underpins that with small limited number runs of production pieces which include jewellery pieces and smaller sculptural works.  Te Rongo says “It has ended up being the exact opposite of what I originally set out to do, but actually where I really hoped and wanted to be in the long term”.

Last year she completed her first public sculpture for Waitakere City Council and Te Kawerau a maki, a contemporary 5 metre high Pou Ihi named Te Whakakitenga, constructed in kauri, steel and glass for the Twin Streams project.   She said, “It was a wonderful opportunity to work on a larger scale with different materials.  It was a real privilege to create a large public sculptural work, combining glass, steel and wood.”  She says “when I first starting working with glass, I expected it would take many years before doing large sculptural work, so I feel really blessed that I have been given such wonderful opportunities as an emerging artist”.

Now her focus is on developing an international presence in the object art market.  Initially it was a lot of hard work doing plenty of shared art exhibitions to raise the work profile, but she says “the value of marketing indirectly via my business networks has been critical to the direction of my work and development of the business.  Toi Maori and the Spirit Wrestler gallery in Vancouver have also been tremendously supportive to help build overseas growth with exhibitions”.

Te Rongo has also started to work with lighting, designing bespoke lighting panels and light installations which she finds really exciting, as glass and light are such a fantastic combination.

Te Rongo says “The support from Poutama has been wonderful!  It has enabled me to acquire equipment that has helped me to develop my own design style and production methods very quickly.  Without that support it would have taken me so much longer to gain a market presence and develop an artist profile, it has allowed me to push the boundaries of my work at a much earlier stage in my business”.

It has been an interesting journey running her own business she says.  Certainly being her own boss whilst balancing that with a young family has its unique challenges but she is absolutely passionate about what she does and cannot imagine doing anything else.  She says “There is nothing more satisfying for me than to be creative and so what a blessing it is that I get to do what I love as my full time occupation”.

For further information and to check out Te Rongo’s artwork visit - www.terongokirkwood.com.

Manuka Boosta cracks US market

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Perseverance along with a commitment to producing a quality product has paid off for Hamilton based business, Nature’s Country Gold. The business produces an Energy bar called Manuka Boosta and recently signed off on an international order with Hawaiian and California distribution and marketing company, Hica Ventures www.hicaventures.com.

The ‘Manuka Boosta’ energy bar was developed in 2007 by Hayden Pohio of Nature’s Country Gold to provide a natural alternative to protein bars that are full of artificial ingredients. Popular among athletes, it is endorsed by ultra distance runner, Lisa Tamati. Tamati recently finished 2nd in the Gobi March as part of a six-stage, 250km endurance race, in Western China and chose to use Manuka Boosta during the event.


Lisa Tamati

Hayden Pohio, who is a food technologist, said the HiCa deal represents a significant milestone for the company. “We have just sent 2 pallets with 9,000 bars per pallet to Los Angeles which is double my typical monthly volume of bars I normally sell in New Zealand. It’s exciting times, however also a little scary.”

Hayden has gained exposure and experience in dealing in export markets. Last year he promoted the Manuka Boosta bars in Shanghai at the Food & Hotel China Show and in June 2010 the bars were promoted at an Air NZ Matariki Celebration held at the Koru Lounge in Los Angeles. Securing an order through HiCa Ventures gives the business the confidence that they have developed a unique value added food product and look to expand into other markets.

“We now have the capacity to make more bars and are gearing up to increase our overseas exports. I also plan to approach distributors in Australia, Japan, Hong Kong and the UK,” says Hayden.  He goes on to say that being introduced to HiCa Ventures is an apt demonstration of the power of collaboration and cooperation between Maori businesses. It was John Panoho, a fellow member of the export initiative called ‘Tekau Plus,’ that provided the opportunity to be introduced to HiCa ventures who also currently distribute seafood products for Aotearoa Seafoods Limited (ASL) and Whitesands Oysters Ltd. “HiCa Ventures have bent over backwards to help get these first two pallets to the US. It has been great to work with such helpful people and getting the first order away is the hardest obstacle to exporting.”

Hayden said he is looking forward to becoming a player in New Zealand’s growing export sector and hopes his story will help encourage more Maori entrepreneurs to take up the challenge of entering new international markets. “The most difficult challenge with any new venture is it takes a lot of money to grow your business. Don’t expect immediate results and don’t be afraid to ask questions all along the way - you never do know everything!”


Hayden Pohio & Lisa Tamati

For more information visit www.naturescountrygold.co.nz

HiCa Ventures - Triangular Trading

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With strong links to the Polynesian triangle a US business brings together people with Tahitian, Maori and Hawaiian ancestry to provide a service that assists Maori exporters to access the lucrative US market.

The move towards offering this service started nearly ten years ago when Hawaii based Roger Mou (Tahitian/Chinese ancestry) and Fredlyn Chung (Hawaiian/Filipino ancestry) met up with John Panoho (Nga Puhi).  At that time Roger was running his own travel agency in Hawaii and Fredlyn was the Air New Zealand Hawaii representative, John ran a New Zealand based inbound tour company.

Initially the three developed cultural and sports tourism packages for Hawaiians but seven years ago they began promoting FOOD, WINE AND CULTURAL TOURS and in support of these developed TASTE OF NEW ZEALAND promotions that bought a whole raft of New Zealand products and services together into an integrated promotion of their FOOD, WINE and CULTURAL tours.

Roger says that the shift from being based just around travel to incorporating food and culture came from the fact that you gain an understanding of a country and its culture through its food. When visiting New Zealand he gained a greater appreciation of Maori culture through the food and a greater appreciation of Maori business activity in the food and beverage sector through his interactions with John Panoho.

Roger, Fredlyn and John developed their tours by taking chefs and cultural experts to the market and generally did 2-3 "roadshows" each year. They also created the tours with using Hawaiian and Maori chefs, distributors and media personalities.  

In 2006 they joined forces with Waitakere City and staged a Taste of New Zealand event at Huntington Beach in California.  It was here that Roger, Fredlyn and John saw the potential to reverse what they were doing and look at the possibility of using TOURISM as a MARKETING TOOL for the food and beverage sector. 

After they had completed the second Huntington Beach TASTE OF NEW ZEALAND event they decided that there was a gap to be filled. They realised there were a heap of Maori products crying out for help to penetrate the international market and that there was an opportunity to provide those products with a range of services in a cost effective manner to get positioning in the US market. The idea was to create an entity that could peel away some of the mystery and cost of market penetration so long as the suppliers were prepared to look at a business model that offered something different from the conventional pathways to market.  The model is based on developing trust and relationships, and a market partnership where both parties share in the rewards and both have some of the risk.

Roger and Fredlyn undertook to set up a distribution and marketing company (as it happens at that time the travel out of US was dropping dramatically). Roger had relocated to San Diego and had time to put into the venture and Fredlyn had left Air NZ. John’s task was to source and pre-qualify products from Maori suppliers (although not exclusively) and then hand them over to Roger and Fredlyn to take to the next stage. 

HiCa (Hawaii California) Ventures LLC (Aka: HCV) is a marketing and branding company that also provides sales and distribution of products primarily, but not limited to the food and beverage industry. The company acts as a virtual distributor of these general business products from various companies around the world including New Zealand and Tahiti.

Fredlyn Chung
Hawaii Office		 Roger Mou
California Office

HCV provides a combination of virtual distribution, importation, sales and marketing representation for these products while utilizing the expertise and experience of its owner partners and staff and the efficiencies of their business model. HCV utilizes its creative abilities in webpage, website development and optimization for the consumer and unique joint branding campaigns for the trade.

HCV’s company business model is built upon developing exclusive partnership agreements with their suppliers as strategic importers and/or distributors. Their partnership agreements are built upon long term business relationships that produce successful outcomes and include a passion for indigenous, culture and supporting the small business.

Roger and Fredlyn share a passion for helping people and are pleased to be able to represent Maori export products in the US market. They say that with their understanding of the market they can be the eyes and ears for the supplier. This is backed up by market research that tells them whether or not a product is going to sell. Roger says it takes a lot to understand how to do business in the US and that they help educate businesses on areas such as branding, competition and pricing levels.

HiCa Ventures provides support in helping business to meet US regulatory requirements and gain approval from authorities like the US Food & Drug Administration. Fredlyn says that businesses wanting to get into the US market have to understand that unless they have strong financial resources it is going to take time and patience to gain a market foothold. She says that HiCa is able to provide a wide range of advice and will work closely with a business to develop and implement market entry strategies.

Since forming HiCa Ventures, Roger and Fredlyn have assisted Maori businesses to get their food and beverage products into the US. They say that Hawaii is often a good testing ground for would be exporters due to its cultural diversity and wide range of food tastes.

Businesses they have assisted include those that over the years Poutama has also assisted and include; Aotearoa Seafoods Ltd with their Kono Mussels www.kononzusa.com, Multi Kai Cooker www.multikaicooker.com, and more recently Manuka Boosta Ltd www.manukaboostausa.com and Whitesands Oysters www.whitesandsoystersusa.com.

Both Roger and Fredlyn believe there is potential for them to assist other Maori food and beverage exporters into the US market. They believe that there is leverage to be gained through cooperation between the Polynesian Triangle cultures.

If you are interested in the services HiCa Ventures provide then either contact them direct www.hicaventures.com or via John Panoho www.navigatortours.co.nz

For more information visit www.hicaventures.com

Unique taste of Maori culture in Los Angeles

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Tekau Plus Companies Provide a Unique Taste of Maori Culture in Los Angeles

Navigator Tours Marketing Director, John Panoho, says that the Tekau Plus Maori Agribusiness Project is playing an essential role in increasing the market competitiveness of some of the country’s hottest Maori brands.

“In terms of marketing foods and beverages that come with a unique Maori story and provenance, Tekau Plus provides a collective offering that has yet to be matched. It’s created a platform that enables Maori businesses to show case their unique point of difference to international markets.”

Panoho recently returned to Aotearoa from Los Angeles where he hosted a full day co-marketing event with Air New Zealand at the Air New Zealand Koru Lounge. The event was co-hosted by Koru Lounge Regional Manager LAX Anastasia Jenkins and coordinated by Andrew Baker Cultural and Customer Ambassador Air New Zealand. The Matariki celebrations provided the opportunity to display an array of Maori food and beverages including products distributed by nine Tekau Plus companies and four Poutama clients as well as outstanding brands like 42Below and Cloudy Bay Clams.


Gourmet style hangi

The purpose of the event was to celebrate Matariki in partnership with Air New Zealand and to provide participating companies with the opportunity to be exposed to not only high net worth individuals but also to US wholesalers and distributors in the food, beverage and tourism sectors.

“Matariki is a perfect time to showcase who we are and provide a cultural experience through amazing food, wine, art and people. There’s a huge consumer base out there that is looking for something natural, unique and genuine,” said Panoho.

Panoho became involved in Tekau Plus because he recognised the value of collaborating with its substantial network of 23 food, beverage and agri-businesses.

His company, Navigator Tours, is a niche tour operator that specialises in customising Maori and cultural tourism experiences with a focus on food, wine and culture. In essence, the company offers provenance tours connecting the products with their origins. He aims to continue working with the network in other events in the future.

“Over the past two years the program has developed a whanau of brands. Maoridom now has a single channel to link offshore customers and distributors with world-class Maori companies and products. With its focus on cultural marketing strategies, the aim is to generate interests from overseas buyers. Our Matariki event illustrates that the Tekau Plus approach is working,” said Panoho.

Check out Tekau+ whanau of brands www.poutama.co.nz/feature/tekauPlus/10+.htm

Seafood Success in Shanghai

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The 468m high Oriental Pearl Tower

Success is a team effort says Tony Craig and TeHoripo Karaitiana (Kahungunu, Kai Tahu, Kati Mamoe, Hawea, Rapuwai). Their philosophy in Shanghai is ‘Cooperate to compete’ and their approach ‘you don’t need a lot of customers just a small number of strategic ones’ is paying dividends.

North Asia is already New Zealand's largest export trading region and China is assuming the position of trading superpower within the region. China is like a collection of countries, with official population estimates between 1.2‐1.5b people (the margin of error being the population of the United States) a pan China strategy becomes meaningless and costly.

Tony and TeHoripo visited Shanghai over 2 years ago on a global leadership program studying international food trends and value chains together with Poutama CEO Richard Jones (Ngati Maniapoto, Ngati whakaue, Ngati Pikiao), lawyer and stockbroker Simon Karipa (Ngati Apa, Ngati Hauiti, Atihaunui a Paparangi) and Accountant Glen Hawkins (Ngati Maniapoto, Ngati Whakaue). They both saw significant opportunity for trade development.

This was followed up with another visit under the Awatoru Maori Economic Transformation project which focuses on a model for innovation and continuous improvement bringing together commerce + culture + creativity underpinned by research. Internationally qualified Awatoru project manager Karl Wixon (Rakiura,Waitaha, Kati Mamoe, KaiTahu, Moriori, Ngati Toa Rangatira), says there is definitely a value proposition around culture. This was tested in Shanghai with the commercial and creative sectors.

As a board member of several entities within the Maori Economic Sector in New Zealand, TeHoripo Karaitiana says that there is a high awareness of New Zealand in Shanghai, Maori culture can definitely be a trigger but must be followed through with action and trade.

TeHoripo and Tony were quick to realize that doing business in China/Shanghai requires in market partners and have linked with two strategic partners.

The first, Shanghai based David Caselli of channel partner, NZ China Direct www.nzchinadirect.co.nz says “the focus is on Shanghai and the Yangtse Delta where, within 1.5 hours commute of our Shanghai office, there are 5 other cities with populations over 5 million people, and that combined with the 22 million residents of Shanghai, delivers a potential market place of 43 million people almost 2.5 times that of the whole of Australia without the distance”.

NZ China Direct is a New Zealand owned and operated trading house based in Shanghai. It has been established with the specific goal of helping New Zealand businesses export to China and import from China. David says that “New Zealand has a great opportunity to present quality produce to a premium Market”.

In addition Shanghai is regarded in China as the leading city for “modernization” throughout the whole of China and everyone is following Shanghai’s lead. A visit to the Shanghai planning museum will soon enlighten the visitor to the sheer speed of change (modernization) that is occurring throughout the city.

Such change along with World Expo 2010 is demanding significant changes in product form.

The second, Shanghai based Scott Brown of Redfern Associates says ‘China is a myriad of different markets each has their own intricate style and culture. Different channels require different approaches, often completely different supply chains, partners, pricing and value proposition, therefore any entrant should be careful about preconceptions and conventional assumptions. But without doubt there is market share to be owned and premiums can be achieved if approached in a serious and sustainable manner.

Redfern Associates provides commercially relevant and practically useful information and services to a wide range of foreign companies looking to enter and engage in China http://www.redfern.com.cn/.

New Zealand and Shanghai based TeHoripo Karaitiana says “Such a complex matrix demands suppliers (at least from New Zealand) need to cooperate to compete if they are to achieve potential premiums in the market place that justify satisfactory returns to the producer”.

Scott adds that “such an approach combined with understanding and delivering a lean value chain (pre and post China entry) can result in turning the tariff advantages of the Free Trade Agreement into bottom line advantage”.  We currently have approximately a 10% advantage moving to 15% over our biggest competitors, Australia, on live premium seafood and cannot benefit unless we are importing direct. What do you think the Aussies would be doing to us with a 10% edge? And the window is closing.

Tony Craig of Craig Group Solutions Ltd focuses on supply chain innovation specializing in quality globally sourced premium seafood. He says our initial focus has been on quality New Zealand Seafood, mainly from the Aotearoa Fisheries Limited group of companies, with whom he coordinates the Shanghai effort.


Live Koura Crayfish destined for the Shanghai premium markets

Tony has worked closely with David, Scott and TeHoripo over the last 2 years, in the Shanghai Market, this includes:

Tony ‘s strategy based from in market awareness is based on “multi product solutions” for customers.

He says “to successfully target premium market customers you must have a range of product to fit their menu otherwise the customer is still exposed to long held relationships. Once the new relationships are in place using such a format it is then easy to concentrate on improving value on some of our perceived low value product because the story / value proposition is already in place. Those target customers are high end European & Chinese 5 star restaurants, Chinese Banquet 5 star restaurants and high end Chinese Hot pot clients”.

The hard work by the team has yielded great results and they are already moving the following seafood species into these Shanghai premium markets:

When asked ‘what are the critical success factors in China?’ the team reflects on comments from those with much more experience in China than their short time there, these factors include:

For their part Tony and TeHoripo both agree China is a reasonably hard nut to crack but getting the right people, partnerships and relationships in place is the key and it’s worth it in the end. They say learning the “China way” requires a fundamental paradigm shift in thinking, a need to retain your sense of humour, unbelievable patience and a lot of smiles!

Any Maori entities with an interest in Shanghai can contact Tony Craig email:
Tony.Craig@craiggroupsolutions.co.nz or TeHoripo Karaitiana email: tehoripo@tangata.org.nz

Chinese Consumerism

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My logo is bigger than your logo! The culture of Chinese consumerism

In this article, Rand Han from Littleredbook takes us on an irreverent journey into the heart of Chinese consumerism and explores the driving forces behind China’s voracious appetite for luxury goods. Take note niche, high-end New Zealand manufacturers.

One billion material girls…for the single man, both a blessing and a curse.

China consumes 25% of the world’s luxury goods; this surpasses every country, even the US. When considering its per capita income of USD 2000 (I’m rounding up here), and the fact that luxury goods are no cheaper in China then elsewhere (not counting counterfeits of course) it’s culturally interesting to probe the reasons why Chinese spend such a large percentage of their income on luxury. Is it a status thing? Is it an appreciation of “the finer things”?

Well it’s actually a mixture of both, but the recipe in China calls for a different ratio of ingredients compared to the West. Also, cultural factors and Chinese history play a major role in the motivations of today’s consumers. The World Luxury Association predicts China’s demand for products will increase from 86 billion to 136 billion by 2010… crazy right? I’ll attempt to show the logic behind this statistic (wish me luck).

My logo is bigger than your logo!

Yes the #1 reason why Chinese buy luxury goods is to show off. Profound isn’t it? Well, it does get marginally more profound; showing off is a bit different in China than from the West.

A role model for us all.

China considers luxury brands to be symbol’s of status; while that’s true in most places, it’s super-true in China. Due to stiff competition among, oh a billion or so peers, Chinese tend to use luxury goods as a territorial warning; i.e. "I’m successful, I can afford to surround myself with all this glittering **** so back the **** off!"

Well maybe they don’t say it like that, but you can feel the implication. Statistically, 64% of Chinese equate luxury brands with success, while a small 1% feel luxury brands have superficial connotations; so we tend to see a lot of “social statements” being made using luxury products, while in the West, a more understated approach is desired.

There is a great deal of function without emotion in play here; one could say that the average Chinese hasn’t had enough time to emotionally bond with a luxury brand (just when you thought coke’d out models were universally adored), so interchangeability between brands is common (like coke’d out models I assume). (Source: TNS, Luxury Brands and Middle Class Chinese, Online survey, Nov.2006)

Evolution of materialism

As Chinese become more familiar with luxury brands as a part of their lives, we see a gradual evolution from pure materialism, to emotional bonding with a particular brand (cynically: focused materialism). This is seen pretty much only in Shanghai where the effect of American imperialism is most obviously felt; products bought include watches and furniture by men, and jewelry and purses by women. Makes sense except for the men + furniture combo… that’s a head scratcher.

Men vs. women; who’s the bigger spender in China?

Surprisingly, men, 25-40 years old, come out ahead in terms of annual spend (compared to the West this group would be 40-70). This aligns with recent Chinese history and its 20+ year flirtation with capitalism. Among the richest men in China, 3 out of 5 are in their 30s, and the average age of the richest men is about 47 (vs. 60 in Europe).

So what do these sugar daddies buy? Well as the label entails, quite a few things for their wives and mistresses. In fact, luxury consumption among second wives and mistresses (which rank lower then 2nd wives) is highly competitive; brands transform themselves into symbols of power and desire, and as an exchange for time spent.

So do women win this category after all? Not quite; as stated above, the territorial aspect of luxury status motivates Chinese men to purchase the bulk of status-lifting glitter and glam; from new cars, new clothes, and the accessories that go with.

Bribes Gifts

“Gift” giving is a big part of consumption as well; In China, 50% of luxury consumption is due to gifts from companies to clients. That’s 50% of the present USD 86 billion spent per year. This is largely due to guanxi, the Chinese word for “you scratch my back, I’ll give you USD 43 billion in gifts”; the reciprocal nature of guanxi helps smooth the way for new client wins, recommendations, raises, promotions, and generally, personal gain. Luxury brands are no dummies; realizing this trend many have established Corporate Gift programs for both local and locally-based foreign companies.

Geographical differences, categorical stereotypes.

China’s a big place, and attitudes differ region to region. In the northeast we see the BIG LOGO and outstanding (read: gaudy) decorations reign supreme. In the South, consumers tend to be a bit more conservative and pay attention to detail.

Central areas, like Chengdu, do not earn a high income compared to the rest, but consume similar to Americans, buying luxury items that are beyond their means. In cosmopolitan Shanghai, BIG LOGO and blingbling are slowly being phased out and understatement is becoming more fashionable.

Challenges for brands entering China.

This brief introduction into China’s consumer culture begs the question “So now what?.” In a follow up blog entry, I’ll go over many of the challenges brand’s face when entering the market; and a general approach to solving potential problems.

This article first appeared on Littleredbook, a blog dedicated to giving visitors a deeper look into China advertising, marketing, communications and culture.

Rand Han is Strategy Director at Bloodyamazing Co., Ltd. (est. 2006), a full service Shanghai-based advertising and marketing communications agency.

SMEs Backbone of the Economy

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New Zealand may not be a nation of small shop keepers, but with 90% of enterprises having five or fewer employees, it is certainly a place of small and medium enterprises according to the Ministry of Economic Development's report on SME structure and dynamics.

Of the 477,000 total New Zealand businesses, just under 70% have no paid employees, with self-employed people making up 10.4% of the workforce as at February 2009, according to the recently released, and 11th edition of the MED report said.

The information, crunched from Statistics NZ data, indicates that there are 228 businesses with more than 500 employees, totaling just over 320,000 people. There are 1,472 enterprises with 100-499 employees, for an aggregate number of 286,000 of workers. The latter group has the highest average value-added output per employee of $60,233.

For the first time since 2001, there were more SME deaths than births to February 2009 with 51,682 start ups and 52,708 closures. Still, if zero-employee firms are removed there are almost 2,000 more births of employing SMEs than deaths of employing SMEs.

Businesses with 1-5 employees have the highest average real profits per employee at just over $25,000/employees, while 40% of total profits are generated by businesses with five or fewer employees.

The survey took particular note of high-growth enterprises, based on a global definition and standard of all enterprises with 10 or more employees, with average annualised growth in employment or GST sales greater than 20% per annum over a three year period.

Results based on employment show 3.1% of the total population of active enterprises with at least 10 employees are high-growth.

Based on GST sales the figure lifts to 5.8%. Both these measures are down from February 2008 when the employment measure was 4.4% and the GST measure was 7.6%; a time when the global financial crisis was really beginning to hit home in New Zealand.

In measuring business operations the survey found that the percentage of all businesses that undertook or funded research and development activities rose to 8% in 2009 from 7% in 2008 and 2007. The likelihood of a firm engaging in R&D increased with firm size, with 20% of firms with 100 or more employees undertaking R&D.

The rate of innovation has remained constant between the 2007 and 2009 survey, though its rate increases with firm size. Firms with 6-19 employees had the lowest innovation rate at 43%, with those with 100 or more employees had the highest innovation rate at 64%, with the most common reason for innovating being to increase revenue.

Source: www.netprofits.co.nz

Government launches Small Business website

A recently launched new-look government website will help save small business owners time and money, Small Business Minister Maurice Williamson says.

The www.business.govt.nz website has been redeveloped and Mr Williamson said it would be "a single repository for all the information a business person would need to start, manage and grow their business".

"It will also be a doorway between small businesses and government agencies, enabling business owners to go to one place to find out about government regulations, news that may affect them, and tools to help them with their business," he said.

"We have listened to what small business owners told us about interacting with government departments - they told us we had great tools and great information but nobody knew where to find it."

New Web Resource for Business Owners

New Web Resource for Business Owners A productive workplace is one where people are safe, healthy, and treated fairly. Creating this sort of environment helps organisations recruit and retain skilled staff, minimise employment relationship problems, and avoid tragic and costly accidents.

The Department of Labour has launched a new web resource called Infozone: Business Essentials. This is an online resource that provides simple straight forward employment relations and health & safety information for business owners. The resource tells you what you need to know, what steps to put in place and then provides templates, documents and spreadsheets to apply to your business.

Click here to access Infozone: Business Essentials www.dol.govt.nz/infozone/businessessentials/

Events for August-September

Southern Maori Tourism Operators Hui, Queenstown 20th August
Poutama is supporting and helping to organize the hui that is to be held at the newly developed ‘Big Picture Wine Adventure’ in Queenstown.
For details please contact Karen Burnett info@kuma.org.nz

 

2010 eTourism Conference, Auckland 31st August-1 September
http://on-cue.co.nz/etourism/programme.html

e Tourism Conference

 

Ecotourism NZ Conference 2010 Rotorua, 2 & 3 September
www.ecotourismnz.com/ecotourism/events/

Ecotourism NZ Conference 2010 Rotorua, 2 & 3 September

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Contact Us

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Tom Manaena, Commercial Manager (Tom@poutama.co.nz 021 538 838 or 04 495 1132 ) - Tom is responsible for the finance, investment and accounting side of the business and also spends a lot of time out on the road covering the lower North Island, Auckland, Hawkes Bay, Central and Upper South Island regions. He also deals with clients at all levels and in all sectors.

Oscar Nathan, Business Adviser (Oscar@poutama.co.nz 021 801 559 or 07 348 8903 ) - Oscar covers the wider Bay of Plenty and East Coast regions and deals with clients at all levels and in all sectors. Oscar has a particular focus on Maori tourism development and is responsible for designing and delivering Poutama’s tourism services.

Vonese Walker, Information Manager (Vonese@poutama.co.nz 021 683 681 ) - Vonese covers the Northland, Auckland and lower North Island regions. She deals with clients at all levels and in all sectors. Vonese also manages Poutama’s database and tourism website and is responsible for designing and improving Poutama’s service delivery to clients.

Gail Maxwell, Office Manager (Gail@poutama.co.nz 021 375 090 or 04 473 2652 ) - Gail is often the first point of contact for Poutama clients. She also supports Tom with the accounting function and provides back up to all of the team and board of trustees.

Richard Jones, CEO (Richard@poutama.co.nz 021 619 075 or Skype richtj ) - Richard focuses on strategic matters as concerns Poutama’s activities and also deals with clients at all levels and in all sectors. He has a particular focus on International business activities and liaises closely with Maori exporters. Richard has recently taken on responsibility for Poutama’s online newsletter and communications. Feel free to make contact with him with any relevant information or networking events for publication in the newsletter.

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