TIN 100 report a reason to celebrate
For all the doom and gloom about the state of our economy and how hard it is for business, there are companies out there doing us proud
Tuesday, November 08 2011 || Technology || BY Fiona Rotherham, BusinessDay
It showed 5 per cent average revenue growth from our high tech manufacturing, ICT and biotech companies and left me more positive about the outlook for Kiwi businesses than I've felt for a while.
I got the same uplift in optimism after attending the annual Morgo conference for entrepreneurs which is aimed at helping our high growth companies grow even faster. Many of the companies there - some of whom feature in the TIN100 - are predominantly focused on global domination in their niche.
For all the doom and gloom about the state of our economy and how hard it is for business, there are companies out there doing us proud. The TIN100 companies have shown a significant uplift in profitability, overall performance is back to pre-GFC levels, and they're investing heavily in R&D, marketing and recruitment.
The trouble is most of them sell the bulk of their goods and services offshore rather than in the domestic market and therefore go under the radar of your average Kiwi. I bet you can tell me what Richie McCaw does but you're unlikely to know who Ian McCrae is. Yet both are world leaders in their field.
Leading scientist and Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Sir Paul Callaghan, who spoke at the release of the TIN100, said we have grown a $7 billion-a-year innovation sector with $5b per annum of exports without most New Zealanders even being aware that this is what we can do.
Compare that to the profile our $1.1b wine exports get, or our $311 million worth of annual apparel exports which includes the fashion industry. Yet, as Sir Paul said, innovation is the key driver of productivity and economic growth in advanced economies.
''Imagine what will happen when all New Zealanders discover what we really are good at,'' he said. ''Then we will have bridged the prosperity gap and New Zealand really will be a place where talent wants to live.''
Sir Paul also urged innovative companies to get out and tell their story, to be visible in New Zealand.
''Work with local schools and the parents of the kids to tell them about the opportunities that businesses like yours present. Sponsor locally, even if your markets are abroad.''
In my experience, having worked as a business journalist since the late 1980s, Kiwi business people tend to hide their light under a bushel. You can ring up an Australian or American businessman and they see the benefit in talking up their company to anyone who'll listen whereas Kiwis, particularly in privately owned companies, would rather not have to deal with the media who tell their stories for them.
One of the other encouraging facts from the TIN100 is that R&D spend has grown by 11 per cent to over $407m for all 200 companies surveyed. The Government yesterday released Powering Innovation, a report on how New Zealand can best grow its high-tech manufacturing and services sectors.
The key finding was that New Zealand needs an advanced technology institute that can support business with research and development.
On the election trail, the Government said it would develop the institute by transforming the existing Crown Research Institute, Industrial Research Limited. Prime Minister John Key described it as the ''high-tech HQ'' for New Zealand that will get our best ideas off the lab bench and into the marketplace.
The challenge is to grow more high tech companies and help the existing ones - the likes of Fisher & Paykel Appliances, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, and Tait Radio - grow bigger, more quickly.
Check out these 10 - the TIN100's ''Ten Companies to Watch'' who are the highest dollar value growth companies on the list. The growth of this group accelerated slightly this year to 16 per cent, up from 14 per cent last year. Remember their names!
1. Datacom 2. Rakon. 3. Orion Health (Ian McCrae's company) 4. Tru-Test. 5. Orthopaedic Surgery. 6. Temperzone. 7. Scott Technology. 8. Gallagher Group. 9. NDA Group. 10. Argenta.
