Playing with the big guns
Don’t let opportunity pass you by! Grab it with both hands
No amount of ‘she’ll be right’ is going to make it happen on its own,
although the flexibility that the Kiwi attitude has always embodied may help us along
the way
Asia is a massive opportunity for New Zealand businesses, but it won’t wait forever. In fact, it isn’t waiting at all. According to Charles Neumeyer, partner of Asia Law in the US in 2012, China’s State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) granted more patents than any other patent office in the world, including the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Those 1.26 million Chinese patents represented a 31 percent increase over the number granted the year before, and China’s government has set a goal of granting two million patents per year by 2015.
Asia is not just building, it’s innovating, and we must innovate if we want to compete. Thirty years ago short-sighted people were dismissing Japanese production that now leads the world as ‘Jap crap’. The same process is now roaring along in the rest of Asia.
So time is not necessarily on our side, even though it is the vital thing we need. Yes, you can grow quickly in these markets, but most of those who succeed take decades to do so. No amount of ‘she’ll be right’ is going to make that happen on its own, although the flexibility that the Kiwi attitude has always embodied may help us along the way.
Enderwick foresees that there will come a time when markets such as China and India are so strong in their domestic markets that it will be quite difficult for other businesses to get into, unless they have a niche product. If we are going to get a good foothold before the doors close, we need to combine discipline and passion and bring a fully mature offering to this market as soon as we can.
And here’s Gourdie’s take: “In the startup world our relative borderlessness creates an idea-generating capacity which, given our size, is exceptional. But where some of those companies start to have problems is where they meet sophisticated marketing and distribution systems, where you need the experience and capability. A lot of New Zealand companies hit the wall, and you can’t bullshit your way through it: you have got to be on your game.”