The 'Local' Market

On Friday, Jacqui and I sat down with an Auckland-based consultancy to look at sales opportunities in the 'local' market. The provisional outcome was interesting. And not all together surprising.

When we looked at the 'enterprise' space in New Zealand, we focused on the obvious: Government and Corporate. Government, in all its forms, accounts for approximately 40% of NZ's total GDP spend. It has clear needs which business analysts can identify. It also has a process or series of processes which companies like Pingar need to address. The words 'agile' and 'flexible' do not come to mind.

The corporate space is far less well defined. When we looked at the key obvious verticals; banking, financial services, utilities etc., one consistent theme emerged. Many of 'New Zealand's' leading corporate players are in fact Australian-owned subsidiaries. If Pingar's positioning within these enterprise networks is to be seriously strategic, then the decision-making process is more likely to be based in Sydney or Melbourne than Auckland or Wellington.

How then approach this trans-Tasman reality? My own take is based very much on my European background. I view NZ - Australia as being a single market. Not perhaps in a geo-political sense, but certainly from a commercial one. There might not be the political / economic framework in place yet, but the stark reality is that many of the key corporate decisions taken effecting NZ business are taken across the ditch.

That reality will impact on Pingar's 'local' sales and marketing model. And so Australia is now becoming a significantly more important piece in my mindset. The challenge as we move forward is to determine how best to manage this piece. Can it be managed from NZ or do we need to consider a more permanent presence on the ground in Australia? My guess is that things will happen in that order: NZ-managed first and then formal office in situ second. And probably within a pretty tight timeline.

Of course, one of the complications with current NZ / Aus economic and tax regimes is that they are not based on a true single market. That is a major challenge. It does not however change the basic relationship betwix head office and branch office at the business level. Key strategic decisions will always be made by HQ.

The obvious benefit of adopting the 'single market' mindset is that the market increases from just over 4 million consumers to almost 25 million. Scale and opportunity become more real. Planning around this piece is just beginning.