Foreword
The emergence of the Internet in the 1990s has fuelled the recent rapid growth of electronic commerce, and this is turn is changing the nature of business. Increasingly, no matter what business you are in, whether it be services, manufacturing, or the primary sector, the capacity to access and process information, and to interact more directly and speedily with suppliers and customers, is becoming the central means of creating value.
Today, electronic commerce is having an effect on the way many New Zealanders do business. New opportunities for exporting, for creating new businesses, and for growing established businesses are resulting. In researching this guide, it has become clear that younger people especially are creating their own Internet-based businesses instead of working for someone else. Equally, a growing number of New Zealanders of all ages and from all walks of life are grasping the opportunities the Internet offers. All these businesses are creating exciting new products and services and are adding value and dynamism to the economy.
This new environment also poses risks. Markets are changing and customers are becoming more demanding. Labour, products, and services flow ever more easily across international borders.
The purpose of this guide is to demonstrate some of the possibilities based on real New Zealand success stories, and to encourage more of New Zealand' s small and medium-sized businesses to use these new technologies to similar advantage.
To this end we encourage you not only to read this guide, but also to find out as much as you can about the Internet and electronic commerce from other sources, and how these new technologies are changing the face of business.
There is ample information available, in books and magazines, and of course the information that can be found on the Internet itself. Find something you feel comfortable with. Talk to others in your industry and in your community. Grow your knowledge, and together we will grow the economy.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the following people for their expert help in preparing this guide: Laurence Chiu, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu; Prashanta Mukherjee, IBM; John Pettigrew, Consultant; EAN NZ. The guide was based on original research by Catherine Wallace, Department of Human Resource Management, Massey University, and written by the Ministry of Economic Development, assisted by Anne French. Designed by Sublime Design.
Published by the Ministry of Economic Development, PO Box 1473, Wellington
Back to Top