India Calling

Kamal Nath

Next Thursday, the Indian Minister of Commerce, Kamal Nath, is visiting New Zealand with a business delegation of around 25 companies.

I am expecting to meet up with both the Minister and three of the business delegation companies in Auckland during the visit.

One of the key focuses of my discussions will be based on potential JV and outsourcing work for HBI Software Pvt Limited. Another key discussion area will be around the potential exploitation of IP owned by The WH Consultancy Limited in the Indian sub-continent. So why post on this detail?

The recent signing of the NZ-China Free Trade Agreement has perhaps deflected some attention from the growing economic importance of the Indian economy in the global space. Nowhere is this more true that in some of the high technology sectors of ICT, bio and nano. Although many NZ businesses seem to be aware of the potential, few in my experience choose to engage. How different from my UK experience.

India offers huge opportunities to NZ companies. Next Thursday's visit reflects this and it is an opportunity I am happy to take up. I hope a number of others do too.

Experienced Project Manager Sought

I am seeking an experienced Project Manager for a 4–6 month contract position, with potential extension.

The role requires the successful implementation of a detailed technical specification, currently being finalised. The Project Manager will liaise with the technical specification authors who are located in both Europe and New Zealand. The core development team is located in Bangalore, India. The successful candidate will therefore be expected to undertake some overseas travel during the course of this contract.

The successful candidate must have evidence of managing complex software development projects to strict time lines. Using this experience, the main requirements the successful candidate will be expected to assist the company with, include:

* Identify the skill-sets necessary to complete the successful implementation of the detailed technical specification

* Develop a detailed project plan in partnership with the technical specification authors and Bangalore-based development team

* Identify and then manage the project through all the key milestones to ensure it is implemented and delivered to time frame and budget.

For further details, please email me at peter@whc.co.nz

Working with Allan Bollard

This morning, the New Zealand Reserve Bank increased its official interest rate to 7.75%.

Economists with far greater insight than I can offer, will no doubt already be advising their clients as to the likely impact on home-owners, small businesses and the export sector. Specifically, I would expect them to be looking at the impact on short to medium term exchange rates and their effect on New Zealand's global competitiveness.

Being dependent on most of my own income from offshore clients, a high NZ dollar hurts The WH Consultancy. By outsourcing much of our development work to HBI Software in Bangalore however, we are able to partially hedge the impact on the business. That's because the reduced return on inbound revenues caused by the high NZ dollar is matched by a reduced level of outbound costs.

My own view is that NZ business has to get used to a high NZ dollar for some time to come. When the correction does come, it will no doubt be steep. But when?

'Thinking Global' is normally associated with 'Thinking Export'. My own conviction is that thinking global means looking at the whole business process including supply chain, HR and funding, as well as of course sales. The development of a global business strategy can help begin to address the negatives that a highly valued dollar brings. It helps make business less NZ-centric and more able to adapt to the pressures operating in a small economy can bring.