Landmark research on the small business sector.

The 2009 budget reflected the cautionary approach that needs to be taken in these recessionary times. With the potential for 8-10 percent unemployment, the small business sector could be greatly affected given its importance in terms of employment and key industries such as tourism.

The link below is to the first of a series of reports based on landmark research conducted by Research New Zealand on the small business sector. This report focuses on getting started, the expectations of small business owners, and what makes small businesses different from large businesses. The second report will be based on the relationships that small business have with private and public sector organisations, and the challenges and difficulties that small business experience remaining in business.

To view or download the report (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader), please click here.

6th Annual Policy Evolution Conference – Best Practice Research Analysis and Research Procurement.

Research agencies that prepare responses to research and evaluation briefs from government agencies do not always get the opportunity to provide the best possible response because of the very restrictive procurement policies that are applied. In this paper, presented to the 6th Annual Policy Evolution Conference on March 17th,  Research New Zealand partner, Emanuel Kalafatelis, describes a number of problems with current research procurement policies and suggests ways in which improvements may be made that would enable research providers to add greater value to their proposals.

To view or download the report (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader), please click here.

October 2008 - Global downturn affecting New Zealand households.

A Research New Zealand Poll, conducted for North & South, shows the extent to which the global downturn is affecting New Zealand households. Some 28% of respondents reported that it was having a big impact, while 53% reported it had somewhat of an impact. 41% of those affected reported that the value of their savings had decreased and 18% reported that the value of their debts (excluding house loans) had increased. 58% of those affected reported that they were cutting back on essentials such as food, power and fuel. The findings will be incorporated into an article in the December issue of North & South.

The results are based on interviews with a nationally representative sample of n=500 New Zealanders, 15 years and older and have been weighted by age, gender and region to ensure the total sample is representative of the New Zealand adult population. Interviews were conducted by telephone between 14 and 22 October 2008. Results based on the total sample are subject to a maximum margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percent (at the 95 percent confidence level).

To view or download the report (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader), please click here.

Conference Paper: Legislative impacts on small business: should evaluation practice take broader perspective?

In 2006, Research New Zealand decided to sponsor its own research into the small business sector. The overarching objective of this project was to help government agencies and corporates better understand how to successfully engage with small businesses. It is for this reason that we named the project, "Shattering the Myth that small businesses are little big businesses".

Over the last two years, as time has permitted, we have worked away at the three stages of the project: a literature review to identify other research that had been completed on this topic, a qualitative study to understand why people are motivated to become small business owners, and a survey of the sector.

Early this year we completed the third and final stage of the project, the results for which will be published shortly. In the meantime, Mark Johnson (a Partner at Research New Zealand) has used a section of the results to inform a paper he recently presented at the 2008 anzea conference in Rotorua.

To view or download the report (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader), please click here.

Special Report: Financial crisis bites middle New Zealand

Recently, the media have been full of stories about the global credit crunch, the collapse of a number of finance companies in New Zealand, and the rising costs of fuel and other basics such as food items.

Concerned about how this was affecting ordinary New Zealanders, Research New Zealand completed a nationwide survey (March 2008) to assess the impact this was having. The results of this survey were used by Caroline Courtney, a staff writer at North & South, to write the lead story The Price of Milk - and Everything Else in the issue of the magazine published on the 14th of April 2008.

To view or download the report (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader), please click here.

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Special Report: Information & Communication Technology in New Zealand Schools

In March 2007 Research New Zealand undertook a major study of the extent to which New Zealand schools have access to Information and Communication Technology on behalf of the 2020 Trust. The survey has been conducted regularly since 1993. A 71-page summary of the report can be read or downloaded by clicking here. The full report can be accessed by going to the 2020 Trust website http://www.2020.org.nz

Special Report: Ministry of Social Development “The Social Report”

Each year the Ministry of Social Development publishes “The Social Report”, which provides information on the social and economic health and wellbeing of New Zealand society. It is a wide-ranging report and Research New Zealand has therefore written a handy summary of the key social and economic indicators.

To view or download the summary report (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader), please click here.

To view or download the full report, please click here which will take you to the Social Report website.

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Special Report: The general public's views on "Sustainability"

In July 2007, a Research New Zealand - Clemenger BBDO poll examined the New Zealand public's attitudes towards sustainability. The aim of the research was to benchmark New Zealander's current awareness, knowledge and attitudes towards sustainability, to inform the debate on sustainability and related initiatives. We have now taken the results of this survey and produced this report for clients and visitors to our website.

To read or download the report, (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader) please click here

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Census 2006 A Special report

You may recall we released a short report highlighting the key population trends following last year's Census of Population and Dwellings conducted by Statistics New Zealand. We have now taken that report and built onto it with additional information, effectively turning it into a resource for clients and visitors to our website.

Please feel free to open the report, to download it and to send a copy of the link to colleagues, clients and friends who might find it useful. To open it you need to have Adobe Reader on your computer. If you need to download it, please click the icon below.

To read or download the report, (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader) click here

To download Adobe Acrobat Reader, click here.

If you wish to provide feedback about how the report can be made more useful, please use the link below to send us an email.

censusreport@researchnz.com