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The aged care sector in New Zealand has been neglected for too long by successive governments, and now, we are starting to see the outcomes of this neglect. Care home closures regularly make the headlines, and sentiment from operators within the industry is grim.

Some massive opportunities left in the wake of NZ's most recent natural disasters.

Although the R&D tax credit scheme isn't new, it is often overlooked as a way to help businesses adopt more circular business models, change the design of materials and packaging, and measuring and reducing their impact.

The new Waste Minimisation (Information Requirement) Regulations 2021 make it mandatory for waste management facilities to keep records about the waste they’re receiving and where it’s going. Signpost of the direction the Government is taking with waste management – something that will have an impact on not only every local council, but every Kiwi household as well.

Building resilience through technology is something that all businesses should have started thinking about or better yet, actioning, yesterday. As we come into the digital age, businesses have to take the leap in letting go of the status quo.

If you think the rental crisis doesn’t affect you, you’re wrong. Maybe you think you’re not affected because you own your own house, and you’re not a landlord. Wrong. New Zealand’s rental crisis isn’t only causing homelessness and poverty, it’s dragging down wages, stifling innovation and suppressing productivity for the whole country.

New Zealand needs more houses. Yet despite the simplicity of that goal, it's been impossible to keep up with demand. This problem has persisted through both National and Labour Governments – several of each. As much as we might tinker around with the demand side of the equation, putting LVR restrictions up and down and tweaking interest rates, the gravity of the problem clearly lies with the supply side and our mindsets.

From the 2019/20 tax year, Research and Development (R&D) tax credits are available to New Zealand businesses undertaking eligible R&D activities.

General ledger, payroll, e-commerce, banking, CRM, inventory: this is your business ecosystem. Do your systems talk to each other? Or are they only distantly acquainted?

The question is no longer whether blockchain will disrupt the tax system, but how far, how fast and how can you make sure your business is up to speed.

The traditional procurement process is a tried and true one. We see it in government and in industry and across projects, services, and goods. For many years, it has been fairly mechanical: put out an RFP, make sure the proposals tick all the boxes, then pick the vendor in the middle, or the one with the lowest price, or the one you wanted to begin with.

It’s rare to have a new tax rule coming into effect before legislation has even been passed, but that’s how determined the Government is to put its new research and development (R&D) tax credit into place. As a small island nation at the bottom of the world, we know that our future economic power is not going to come from mass production or cheap labour. Instead, our best hope is great ideas well executed by local businesses using local resources. That’s why supporting R&D is such a cornerstone of strong economic policy; without it, we’re missing the opportunity to turn New Zealand into a hub of innovation.

Earlier this year, the Government released a proposal to incentivise R&D activity for New Zealand based companies via a new tax credit regime. Draft legislation has since been released, with the new R&D tax credits expected to be available from the tax year commencing 1 April 2019.

With headwinds facing New Zealand's economy and the construction industry in particular, procurement has come under fire lately. Much has been made of the impossible position construction companies are put in when bidding for work - the ferocious competition to win a bid, lock in fixed pricing several years out, and hope to manage the cost control to make a slim margin. While a number of more sophisticated procurement approaches exist - and to be fair, some leading organisations in New Zealand are employing them - for others a tender bash with effectively lowest cost conforming is the main mode.

The Budget’s R&D spend looks less than futuristic, says Grant Thornton’s Greg Thompson.

How can your company become great innovators? Melissa Jenner shares her top five tips on how to make busy businesses refocus and put innovation and customer needs back in the front seat.