Our monthly editorials, to provoke, or make you think
Back in the 1970's things were just a little different. We wrote letters (as opposed to email or text). We wore long socks with shorts. And our parents thought that free love and rock 'n roll were signs of the imminent demise of civilisation. As they knew it. Perhaps they were right.
Personally we believed that the statement attributed to Karl Marx "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need" pretty much described utopia. We can recall others who moved in similar circles who ended up Reserve Bank economists and industrialists. Even Mayors and bus drivers. But we were all wrong.
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As a sequel to last month's tale of an experience attending family group conferences of young offenders, during the month I received several envelopes full of paper from CYFS.
In private enterprise we are always searching for better, faster , and more efficient ways to do things. Perhaps in part that is because often it is so hard to generate a profit, that better, faster, and more efficient normally also equates to cheaper. Obviously that is a mindset which has yet to reach CYFS, as they still insist on supporting New Zealand Post and various stationery vendors, rather than using the much more efficient (and cheaper for the taxpayer) email. Not to mention the impact on forestry of all the trees necessary for the wads of paper I (and doubtless dozens of others) received.
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Most of us lead somewhat boring suburban lives that do not bring us into regular contact with anything approaching the criminal fraternity. But this week I came a little closer to rubbing shoulders than I normally do. I had the dubious privilege of attending a series of CYFS (Child Youth and Family Services) Family Conferences. A group of young losers had broken into my beach house - drunk the beer, eaten the food, used the wet suits and boogie boards in the surf, and then flogged the TV, the computer - and the toasted sandwich maker. As the offenders are under 17, part of the "justice" process is that CYFS organises a "family conference" including the family of the offender, victims and police.
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Looks like they will remain fields for some time.
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Amongst the talk of doom and gloom that seems to come in a different form almost every day out of Europe, our view on the economic future for New Zealand is a little different. We recognise that in a global village a butterfly hatching in Greece may cause a tsunami here, but most of the time business just goes on as normal. Businesses need homes. Leases end. Businesses grow. Businesses shrink.
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The festive season gives us good opportunity to amply consider many things. This year, after the pavlova was consumed, and before we settled on the resolutions for the new year, I started to think about property yields – and more particularly why they are at the level they are.
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Another election has come and gone - this one notable for both how little disruption it caused to economic activity, and for the low voter turnout. In percentage terms it was the lowest turnout in 120 years. We can certainly empathise with the attitude that by ignoring politicians we hope they will go away. Unfortunately for as long as we allow them to suck on the teat that is the public purse, we are stuck with them.
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New Zealand is generally recognised as a business friendly environment. In fact New Zealand has ranked first as the world's easiest place to start a business and third out of 183 countries for ease of doing business in a report from the International Finance Corporation and the World Bank. The cost payable to bureaucracy and time involved in obtaining permits and licences is substantially less than in many countries. While there is still often bribery required to run a business, it is of a level far different from that existing in most jurisdictions.
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It seems a long time ago now, but when I went to sales school, one of the principles I learned was to identify what the customer needs.
It may seem simple - but it has stood the test of time. It is much easier to make a sale when you are fulfilling a need than attempting to sell what the customer neither needs nor wants.
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There has been much written in recent days since Steve Jobs' announced his decision to step down from the role of CEO of Apple. There is no doubt he has remarkable insight and foresight, and that he has had an immense impact on the technology that forms part of our daily lives.
Amongst the many paragraphs written was the reminder that Apple does not use focus groups. For the FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) industry, and indeed for many other industries, focus groups are a well used tool which supposedly give the manufacturer/marketer insights into what consumers want, and therefore what they will buy.
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Over the years we have accepted the generally held notion that a capital gains tax would be bad for business - and that politically it would not fly in New Zealand. However, now that the Labour Party has ensured that the concept will be firmly in the public arena for discussion, it is worth consideration as to whether there is any merit in the proposal.
We understand that most of the impact of a capital gains tax, both in terms of the tax levied, and revenue raised, would be in the property sector. On commercial and industrial property particularly - what would that impact be ?
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The pattern which has been evolving this year continued during May. There are good interest levels in property – particularly in the range from 300 m2 through to 1000 m2, from both tenants and owner-occupiers.
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This mantra is often repeated as though it is a fundamental law of nature. Certainly the more we read management and business books emanating from the USA , the more we are convinced that American writers believe it. Perhaps it was written down on one of those lumps of stone Moses lugged down the mountainside.
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This is a question we are asked increasingly often. Of course, we always have a ready answer: Exactly what a buyer is prepared to pay for it.
But the more we are asked the question, the more we think about how possible it would be to put all the variables into a matrix (or a computer program) and have an answer pop out. Obviously that is what we already do mentally - weighing up the locality, the size, the age, the parking, the facilities, and about 100 other factors. But how possible would it be to load all the variables into a computer program and have it do all the work?
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Whilst the quarterly economic activity numbers which officially tell us how our economy is performing are important, we prefer to rely on other measures to form our opinion. These other measures we find to be more reliable, and in particular don't contain that time lag which usually exists between action and measurement.
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The art and skill in selling remains relatively constant, but the tools we use to enhance our productivity are constantly changing. We have previously shared our view that the skill in selling is not in any way related to the skill involved in kindergarten "show and tell". Real selling requires energy and hard work. It requires thought and persistence. It requires skill and commitment. It most certainly is not as easy as "show and tell". Particularly if we want to be successful.
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As a professional property investor Expedio is looking at prospective acquisitions in much the same light as other investors. But are we?
Recently we were asked what we looked for in properties. A refreshing change from some of the properties which are promoted to us with no thought as to whether there is any way we would be interested.
So, why do we buy some, and not others ?
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Many years ago in another life I spent considerable time in the company of sheep. This was back in the days when wool was primarily used for making heavy garments to keep soldiers warm in faraway wars, and lamb was frozen for the long trip to the "mother country". And a good background for the shaping of a lifelong vegetarian. But that's another story entirely.
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We have to admit it. There are times we struggle to understand some of the complexities of the modern world. We have given up looking under the bonnet of our trusty Toyota except to periodically check the dipstick and the washer water level. The computers under there confuse us. And we have certainly given up trying to program our PC. The days of DOS have long gone. Working out which remote controls the TV, the DVD and the aircon is about our limit.
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Back in the early 90's , I once spent some time visiting in a small town in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. It was a pleasant little town, not too far down Interstate 5 from the coffee capital of the USA - Seattle.
The town was perhaps the size of Pukekohe. It had the usual (for the USA ) mix of big box stores, a fancy mall , and an old fashioned main street which was either in a partial state of revival, or a partial state of dying - dependent on your viewpoint.
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We are all familiar with the Pareto Principle - often known as the 80/20 rule - whereby 80% of the outcomes are caused by 20% of the actions. 80% of road accidents are caused by less than 20% of drivers. 80% of your sales come from 20% of your customers. Additional to that, 80% of your profits come from just 20% of your transactions.
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Last month we posed the question in relation to businesses exhibiting at a trade show:
How many of the 6 businesses were hungry enough for my business to follow up after the show ?
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We managed to talk ourselves into a recession.
Admittedly it was on the back of , and as a somewhat reflex reaction to, some of the most immoral and rapacious behaviour seen in most of our lifetimes. While banks in this part of the world may not have had their snouts firmly implanted in the trough, many of the people running other of our finance institutions certainly did. Perhaps the Americans were worse. Or maybe the Icelandics , or the Scots. But irrespective of who fleeced who, and who rolled over and bared their stupidity for the world to view, it has exposed abjectly slack governance of companies both private and public in this part of the world. That is not a plea for more regulation, or more government supervision, but a reminder that those of us in positions of responsibility, whether private or public , need to examine how we wield the responsibility of governance.
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Whilst the period since Christmas has seen increased levels of activity in the market (certainly greatly increased over last winter), the majority of deals appear to be in leasing and cash flow properties, with very little action in the owner occupier sector.
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Isn't it ironic that in an age when access to information , news and opinion is easier than it has ever been ,most people still seem to have a very cursory knowledge of some of the events that impact on us the greatest?
The headlines "Global Financial Crisis" have been used so often that the concept is now accepted as being real. But how real is the crisis? How much do most people understand of it, and , importantly - What does it really mean for us individually?
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