Companies which don’t support NZ have no business here

A significant research exercise by advertising agency Contagion reveals that New Zealanders, like their global peers, are losing faith in their institutions, highlighting the need to support Kiwi businesses and innovation to address societal challenges.

Contagion MD Dean Taylor (pictured) made it his personal mission to better understand New Zealand’s changing political and business landscape by talking to powerful and high-profile executives such as Kevin Kenrick, head of TVNZ; Victoria Crone, head of Callaghan Innovation; Simon Moutter, head of Spark; Mai Chen, a partner at ChenPalmer; Adrian Littlewood, head of Auckland Airport and Stephen England-Hall, head of 100% Pure New Zealand.

Taylor, who leads the company on principles of supporting Kiwi owned, made, and operated businesses, says unprecedented digital and technological changes, growing populist political movements around the world and a rising trend of distrust of business signals challenging times but not lacking in opportunities.

Citing the 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer report, Taylor says anti-business sentiment is growing, with 62% of New Zealanders agreeing to slower economic growth in return for Government protection of jobs and New Zealand’s local industries.

“We cannot stand by and watch business confidence erode. This will only spell struggling times for us as a country and we must ensure every Kiwi is looked after not only by the government and civic institutions, but by the business sector too,” says Taylor. 

He says businesses which cannot support New Zealand and Kiwis in general, have no place here. 

“If businesses are not contributing in any way to New Zealand, economically, culturally, or socially, then they are not doing their part for New Zealand’s progress and prosperity. 

“If businesses are not contributing in any way to New Zealand, economically, culturally, or socially, then they are not doing their part for New Zealand’s progress and prosperity. 

“For example, Google has taken over all online advertising in New Zealand, Netflix is dominating what has always been time spent on television, and Amazon has changed our ways of shopping forever. But do they add anything other than a sellable product?”

His view is echoed by Simon Moutter, managing director at Spark, who says, “Google is replicable, but it is impossible to unpick now. And as a result, they dominate online advertising in New Zealand. This is not good for the market in the long run. In this new age, there is no economic footprint from these companies, very little employment and in many cases, they pay no tax. How are they contributing to our country beyond just the products they provide?”

Taylor’s report highlights international companies who make hefty profits in New Zealand but pay no taxes, such as Exxonmobil, Apple, Harvey Norman, Independent Liquor, Pepsi, Google and Facebook, among many more, whose combined profits run into almost $10 billion dollars. 

To benefit from such companies while adding value to not only the economy but society, Taylor’s reports suggests partnering up with them so the benefits are also reaped by Kiwi businesses, to create a ripple effect into the economy and society. 

Adding to this, Callaghan Innovation’s chief executive, Vic Crone says, “Culturally, New Zealand needs three changes to ride the next decade of change. Our businesses must be globally ambitious. 
“Secondly, instead of shooting down the brave and crazy ones that try and fail, let’s cheer them on to try again. Just look at Richie McCaw, Team New Zealand, and many more examples of people learning from failure going on to achieve greater things on the world stage. 
“And thirdly, our businesses need more capital, and must bust open and accept international capital to scale up our business.”