Seeking New Value, Sharing Our Future

Peter Chrisp, Chief Executive, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise – Te Taurapa Tūhono

One of the most rewarding parts of my work at NZTE is being part of our continued evolution towards our purpose. When we describe what we do, some of the words may change over time but the essence is enduring. At the same time a small shift in how we talk can bring big changes in how we think.

 NZTE’s purpose is to “grow businesses internationally, bigger, better and faster, for the good of New Zealand.”  There is more than meets the eye in using the specific word “good”. We’re deliberate in our use of it, and have recently dug into what being good for New Zealand means for us as an organisation, wanting to take into account how we contribute to the long-term wellbeing of all New Zealanders, our communities and our environment. This reflects back into our strategy and the way we operate and collaborate with others.

We regard kaitiakitanga – our responsibility to people and places on behalf of future generations - as one of our core values at NZTE. This includes responsibilities to promote diversity and inclusion; to grow the Māori economy; to care for health, safety and wellbeing of our people; and to promote environmental sustainability as the foundation of healthy people, communities and economies.

As an agency that exists to grow businesses internationally, our approach to sustainability is growth-oriented and optimistic by nature. We are not going to secure our future as a prosperous country by thinking of sustainability as a set of rearguard actions to hang on to what we’ve got. We need to make it part of a growth mindset where we can go out in the world and seek opportunities that will support a more prosperous New Zealand.

When responding to the Climate Change Commission’s draft advice earlier this year, we stated a belief that action on climate change can “support and in fact accelerate one of the key shifts in the Government’s Economic Plan – the move from volume to value across the New Zealand economy.”

This view was supported by research we commissioned recently on six key markets for New Zealand food and beverage, with responses from 14,000 consumers. The goal of the research was to understand the drivers of purchasing decisions within priority F&B categories across six markets, and share that information with our customers to support their growth internationally.

Two of the eight central purchase drivers, “ethical” and “on-trend”, were connected to sustainability in its broadest sense including environmental protection and care for people and communities. In several markets these drivers were associated with higher-value purchases (relative to the share of purchase occasions for each driver), suggesting that products and brands that match these drivers can attract a premium. That is, there is money in this strategy.

How this plays out for an individual business is unique – you have to know your value proposition and the drivers that are relevant for consumers of your product or brand. In some markets and categories it’s a clear path to premiumisation, while elsewhere it might be simply a condition of entry. Regardless, sustainability has to be factored into the way we do business internationally, and there is room to see as much opportunity as threat.

As we work to spread that message and embed it, partnerships and collaboration are vital to us extending our impact. NZTE is a key supporter of Te Hono, a partnership between the leaders of Aotearoa New Zealand’s food and fibre sector companies, iwi and government agencies. Te Hono’s vision is for Aotearoa New Zealand to be a global food and fibre exemplar - economically, environmentally and socially. Partnerships and collaborations such as this can enable and inform a macro shift of our economy to one which is low-emissions yet high value.

Our work with the Sustainable Business Network and a range of partners (including several Circle members) is also a key partnership for us. This process got started in earnest with collaboration on  the Climate Action Toolbox for SMEs and will extend into other areas and initiatives as well. Working with the likes of MBIE, the Ministry for the Environment, EECA and others within these partnerships means we can have impact on a broad swathe of New Zealand’s SME economy – in the belief that businesses which account for sustainability are ultimately better positioned for export success.

We’ve also been working recently with B Lab, the team behind the global movement B Corp, to deliver Business for Good, a programme for NZTE’s consumer goods customers to build better, future-fit businesses while having a positive impact on people and place. Demand for this programme has been strong and extends beyond FMCG and consumer goods businesses – we are seeing the mainstreaming of these approaches across the export economy.

In our own core delivery to our customers, we need to continue to bring insights and advice back to New Zealand from overseas markets to enable businesses to take action, and make sure that our people have the information and tools at their disposal to provide guidance on sustainability in support of their growth strategies. The last two years have been key for us in building up our internal capability and knowledge, as well as a base of sustainability advice available to all businesses through our online platform myNZTE. So far around 80 companies have drawn on tailored support through NZTE, including Business for Good participants, and around a thousand have attended one-to-many webinars.

Over this same time period COVID-19 has also tested us and brought collaboration to the fore. Making sustainability stick in the wake of the pandemic means being conscious of the needs of businesses that are focussed on ongoing survival, but also highlighting sustainable thinking as a key plank of a future-ready strategy. We have to support and enable exporters to make the right changes on an individual level to have a multiplier effect for the traditional bottom line and for their long-term resilience.

The next decade will bring challenges for us in delivering our mission, including making sure that NZTE sets an example within New Zealand and internationally by addressing our own carbon footprint and other aspects of sustainability in the way we operate. As part of our Toitū carbonreduce certification we have committed to reducing our carbon footprint from approximately eight tonnes per person to four by 2030. Our primary way of achieving this is reducing air travel – a tough ask for an international organisation.  

This is a challenge I’m very proud we are embracing, however, and one that puts us on a path we can walk alongside our partners within The Circle and across government and the business community. We will be moving down that path with our purpose front of mind – and with informed optimism about what a more sustainable future can mean for New Zealand and our place in the world. A couple of short vlogs, Birthplace of a Nation and Reflections on Tiaki, give more insight on my own personal commitment to this mission.

Thinking ahead to 2050, I would like to think that this is all just part of an integrated strategy: a diverse, low carbon economy, where companies are competing for high value premiums internationally with sustainability as a competitive advantage, offering meaningful work that gives people access to the dignity of life, built on the partnership of Te Tiriti o Waitangi… and my home three blocks from the beach is still three blocks from the beach.