Business

Richard Shaw, Massey University New Zealand’s general election is currently set for September 19. Under ordinary circumstances, campaigning for the election and two referenda that will take place alongside would be heating up by now, but the country is three quarters of the way through a comprehensive level 4 lockdown. The first question is whether the election should take place …

  Andrew Linden, RMIT University and Warren Staples, RMIT University The economic heart attack induced by COVID-19 has revealed an ugly truth – many very large companies have too little cash to ride out sharp downturns. Cash flow variability, and the inability to retain earnings to buffer that variability, is one of the most common reasons small businesses fail. Because …

Emil Temnyalov, University of Technology Sydney and Peter Siminski, University of Technology Sydney   COVID-19’s impact on the Australian labour market has been dramatic and multifaceted. Some sectors of the economy have been almost completely shut down by government order. The demand in many industries has collapsed, while a few others have seen an increase. As many as one million …

Dougal Sutherland, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington The COVID-19 pandemic has forced millions of people to live under strict lockdown conditions, but the psychology of human behaviour predicts they will find it harder to stick to the rules the longer the situation continues. New Zealand has now reached a midway point of a comprehensive four-week lockdown and …

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland gives shares her views on why she believes businesses shouldn’t go back to normal after the Coronavirus pandemic. Today there is an eerie silence across the globe. Bustling cities have gone quiet and highways that were once jammed with bumper to bumper traffic, are empty. In homes, thousands of families are anxiously awaiting a phone call …

Tony Walker, Adjunct Professor, School of Communications, La Trobe University looks at the political strain Coronavirus is putting on leaders across the globe. Leaders of the world’s largest economies came together at a virtual G20  this week to “do whatever it takes to overcome the coronavirus pandemic”. But the reality is that global capacity to deal with the greatest challenge to …

Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra Scott Morrison will urge big businesses to display “patriotism” as Australia grapples with the coronavirus crisis, which he warns could hit the economy harder than the global financial crisis. Addressing a business audience in the run up to this week’s stimulus package, Morrison will say large companies have “a huge role to play”, telling them …

Just prior to the full unleashing of the Covid-19 pandemic the 2020 Project Auckland report was published. 2020 was to be a defining year for Auckland. The Coalition Government unveiled a big infrastructure spend-up with Auckland to get the lion’s share of $6.8 billion new funds that was to be invested in transport infrastructure – with an emphasis on roads …

The 2019 Dynamic Business report looked at Shaping the Future of business in New Zealand. We took a delve into the clean food revolution, as it experienced heavy disruption with consumers wanting ‘clean foods’ more and more. We also looked into Artificial Intelligence, fake news, trends, and the new technologies that were being used to combat climate change within business. …

The 2019 Sustainable Finance report took a look at the need for a sustainable finance system which would involve a new mindset of taking a long-term view for social, environmental and economic wellbeing, protecting natural resources for future generations. Financing The Future was to lead to a Roadmap for Action in July 2020 on how to shift New Zealand to …