Who’s driving the economy?
Within weeks, Finance Minster Nicola Willis will hand down her first Budget.
But while the Government sets the rules, it is New Zealand’s business leaders who will be helping to create the wealth and conditions that drive economic development.
Power is exercised in many ways. In business, the way that power works is more obvious and thrusting than in politics, culture or sport. New Zealand’s most powerful businesspeople are those who start, run or govern the biggest – or most important – enterprises in the country.
They decide how capital is deployed, where it is deployed and to what end. They are the people who make the big bets and who live with the consequences. They are also the people who run, build, finance, insure and feed both New Zealanders and customers around the world.
But how do you even come up with a list of the most important business leaders in the country?
We selected people who either lead or govern companies with balancesheet power, industry power and political and cultural power.
The first is obvious: those who run the firms with the biggest balance sheets obviously have claims to power. These are companies that have national and international reach, significant economic power and are among the biggest or most important employers in the country. The second is also more prosaic. It is those companies that are dominant in their particular industries or fundamentally shape their industries.
They dominate or are crucial to the industries they exist in. Or, in an era in which KiwiSaver funds are scooping up ever bigger wodges of New Zealanders’ savings, they are cornerstone stocks in retirement funds.
Political and cultural power are more difficult to measure, but some of New Zealand’s biggest companies are either governed by legislation, or government protection – often historical.
And the leaders of some New Zealand companies are just cool and are known for the things that they do and the stuff that they make. They are household names.
These are the people whom Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be picking up the phone for, or who should be on the other end if the prime minister and his ministers want to understand an industry or how changes the Government proposes will affect key companies and those they employ.
They are the iwi and iwi holding companies in the fast-growing Māori economy, which is bringing more heft, capital and investment, especially in regional New Zealand, to build economic clout and prosperity for their people.
You will note that there are some key figures who would normally be on a list like this but aren’t.
The chairman and chief executive of Fletcher Building. Both chief executive Ross Taylor and chairperson Bruce Hassall stepped down in March after the company announced a massive loss. For that reason they are not featured.
Traditionally, media owners or chief executives would also have expected to find themselves on a business power list but given the diffusion of the modern media environment, we decided that would be best left for another day.
This list is by no means complete. Every day, New Zealanders are building businesses, growing existing businesses or providing capital in search of returns.
This is The Post’s inaugural C-Suite Power List, the movers, shakers, innovators and investors, listed alphabetically.