Short and Long-term Developments to the Service Range
24. NZTE is developing a longer-term strategy to guide the organisation in meeting the overall objective of supporting internationally competitive New Zealand business. The Establishment Board held a strategy workshop on 29/30 January, to begin the process of developing a strategic business plan. The Board is currently considering taking a sectoral-driven approach to guide NZTE's business activities. NZTE, in consultation with MED and MFAT, will report back to the Ministers of Finance, Industry and Regional Development, Trade Negotiations and Associate Foreign Affairs and Trade by the end of June 2003 on progress with the development of the long-term strategic direction for the organisation.
25. In addition, a number of research and programme evaluation projects are underway or scheduled for completion over the next three years by MED, MFAT and NZTE (see paragraph 63). These will inform longer-term enhancements and changes to the existing service range and resource allocation, as well as informing the introduction of any new initiatives.
26. In the short-term, the focus for NZTE is on combining existing services. Major efforts over the next 12-18 months will be focused on bringing together operational systems, developing a single client interface and client management approach and ensuring continued high quality delivery. However, officials and NZTE have identified areas where there are opportunities for some changes to existing services in order to reduce overlaps, improve delivery, ensure consistency, and re-orient initiatives towards the key objective of internationalisation.
27. Most of the suggested changes to the current Industry NZ/Trade NZ service range are focused on improved integration and delivery of growth services. This is chiefly because the major synergies and overlaps between Industry NZ and Trade NZ initiatives lie within this service range. In the main, only minor enhancements are proposed for the enabling and foundation services range in the short-term. Similarly, the opportunities for savings largely arise from rationalisation of corporate services in the short-term, but it is expected that there will be greater efficiency gains over time.
28. With limited resources, there is a need to target assistance in the areas where it is likely to generate the greatest net benefits to New Zealand. Current experience suggests that the case for government-provided trade and economic development support is more readily apparent for the provision of broader capability development and facilitation services (e.g. training, sector strategies, regional partnerships), but that more caution needs to be taken in the delivery of firm specific services. This was also a key message arising from stakeholder consultation undertaken in developing these papers.
29. There can be significant benefits from firm specific support, in terms of accelerating growth and achieving high levels of "spillover" benefits to the wider economy. There are also potentially greater risks that assistance will be provided to projects that would have proceeded anyway and/or for projects with high private returns but little public returns. Hence, substantive adjustments to both the design of and resource allocation to such services should be based on experience, research and evaluation on the value of this investment.
Back to Top