Opinion

Nike’s latest marketing achievement in Southeast Asia demonstrates the absolute power of a…

Employment issues continue to dog the franchise sector in Australia. Simon Lord asks if New Zealand franchisors are prepared? Last year, a team of investigative journalists in Australia broke a sensational story about the exploitation of workers in the 7-Eleven chain of convenience stores there. The story alleged that underpayment and wage fraud were common practice within the majority of outlets operated by franchisees and, worse, that 7-Eleven’s business model actually relied upon such practices. Later investigations found that many of the allegations had substance and 7-Eleven agreed to change its business model. Now, another investigation has alleged similar issues within Caltex in Australia. At the time of writing these have not been confirmed, but Caltex says it has already been

Mixing private equity and franchising rarely works, says Simon Lord. 

Brian H Meredith gets to the heart of poor customer experiences, and explains how it takes hard work and a paradigm shift from the CEO down to put things right. Irritated by SKY Television? Incorrect programme listings? Timing errors on MySky? Scheduled recordings ending before the programme does?  I’m seriously considering leaving them. And 2 Degrees? Most things about this service and relationship don’t work as they should. Switched to them from Vodafone, but they are worse. And Vodafone? They were one of the best customer focused companies when they arrived in New Zealand. But now? Mmmmmmm. And one of the health insurance companies? (Won’t name them. At least not yet). Claiming to be an amazing culture of employment but

Will the TPPA have an impact on New Zealand’s SME sector? Ashley Balls has concerns. On the assumption New Zealand has signed the TPPA there is now a two-year period during which the ratification process will take place. Unfortunately, during that time there will be a national road show extolling its virtues and why we have to join this big boys’ club. The same people who negotiated the 6000-page treaty will be selling it to us. Not the best start. So how did we arrive at the present position? It goes something like this:Many years ago Tim Groser got a bee in his bonnet about a free trade group in the South West Pacific and started talks with Singapore, Brunei and

More laws are not the answer to stopping law breakers, suggests Simon Lord. In the 1960s, the great Tom Lehrer wrote a song about the Second Vatican Council which sought to modernise the Roman Catholic Church through the use of vernacular languages instead of Latin, and the embracing of modern musical forms. Taking the idea to extremes, the satirist wrote The Vatican Rag, which included, to a ragtime piano accompaniment, the wonderful lines: Get in line in that processional, Step into that small confessional, There the guy who’s got religion’ll Tell you if your sin’s original. If it is, try playin’ it safer, Drink the wine and chew the wafer. Two, four, six, eight, Time to transubstantiate! The combination of syncopated rhythm, clever rhyming and an understanding