Where Is Your Locus Of Control?

Given the power to alter anything relevant to their business's success, only 8% of Kiwi companies would alter their own behaviour.

Where Is Your Locus Of Control?
Given the power to change anything relevant to the success of their business, what would New Zealand businesspeople choose to do? Four weeks ago we asked this question and the key result from our survey is that only 8% of NZ businesses would opt to change anything they have normal control over. The other 92% would use their power to alter exchange rates, interest rates, government regulations etc.

The full paper is available here.
http://tonyalexander.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Locus-of-Control.pdf

The perceived locus of control for Kiwi businesses is well removed from their centre – which is concerning. Relying upon external changes to alter one’s fortunes is like telling MBA students that their business success will depend upon the state of the economy - not what they learn on their courses.

What does it mean for our economy going forward that so few Kiwi businesspeople feel their business outcomes primarily reflect their actions?

Firstly it suggests there is little prospect for improvement in the two key areas identified as points of weakness for Kiwi businesses – internationalisation and human resource management. The focus of businesses is not on these things but outside their companies.

Second,
• given many years of promises of reduced red tape but little action since the 1980s,
• strong prospects for the NZ dollar remaining high and probably going higher, and
• a labour market about to undergo a substantial tightening,
average NZ businesses are likely to continue to struggle in the absence of internally-focussed operational changes.

Third, government policies toward SMEs should consider more explicit emphasis on self-reliance.

Fourth, business lobby groups should be careful that they don’t justify their member fees by continually painting them as victims of outside forces for which lobbying expenditure is necessary.

Fifth, governments, when reminding businesses of their limited ability to influence the likes of the exchange rate, should consider an education campaign based around how to handle a sustained high NZD. This might include strengthened generalised business training, and dissemination of examples of businesses which have adapted to a high exchange rate (market changes, product mix changes, input changes) etc.
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Best regards

Tony Alexander produces five regular publications.
The monthly Growing With China issues are here.
http://tonyalexander.co.nz/topics/china/
The monthly Brain Gain NZ can be located here.
http://www.braingainnz.co.nz/
The Weekly Overviews are loaded here.
http://tonyalexander.co.nz/topics/regular-publications/bnz-weekly-overview/
The monthly BNZ-REINZ Residential Market Surveys are posted here.
http://tonyalexander.co.nz/topics/surveys/bnz-reinz-survey/
The monthly BNZ Confidence Surveys are available here.
http://tonyalexander.co.nz/topics/surveys/bnz-confidence-survey/
Recent research papers include
Sources of Western Apprehension About China
http://tonyalexander.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Sources-of-Western-Apprehension.pdf
Expat Experiences of NZ Hiring
http://tonyalexander.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Expathiring.pdf
Advice from NZ employers to expats and migrants
http://66.147.244.100/~braingai/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Employer-Survey-March-2013.pdf

Tony Alexander
Chief Economist

LinkedIn Profile.
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/tony-alexander/34/818/260
www.tonyalexander.co.nz
www.braingainnz.co.nz

ENDS

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