Country Profile:New Zealand

Background:

New Zealand is an island country in the south western Pacific Ocean. This country is divided
into two main land masses (north and south) and numerous smaller islands. New Zealand is
situated some 1,500 kilometres (900 mi) east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly
1,000 kilometres (600 mi) south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga.
Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. Scientific
evidences suggests that New Zealand was first settled by Eastern Polynesians between 1250 and
1300.

Now New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy, although its
constitution is not codified. Elizabeth II is the Queen of New Zealand and the head of state. The
Queen is represented by the Governor-General, whom she appoints on the advice of the Prime
Minister. The Governor-General can exercise the Crown's prerogative powers, such as reviewing
cases of injustice and making appointments of ministers, ambassadors and other key public
officials, and in rare situations, the reserve powers (e.g. the power to dissolve Parliament or
refuse the Royal Assent of a bill into law). The powers of the Queen and the Governor-General
are limited by constitutional constraints and they cannot normally be exercised without the
advice of Cabinet.

Economy:

Capitalism and Socialism percentage could not be found

GDP (purchasing power parity):

$158.7 billion (2014 est.)
$153.2 billion (2013 est.)
$149 billion (2012 est.)
note: data are in 2014 US dollars
country comparison to the world: 71

GDP - real growth rate:

3.6% (2014 est.)
2.8% (2013 est.)
2.5% (2012 est.)
country comparison to the world: 82
GDP - composition, by sector of origin:
agriculture: 3.8%
industry: 26.6%
services: 69.6% (2014 est.)

Labor force:
2.452 million (2014 est.)
country comparison to the world: 116

Unemployment Rate:

5.9% (2014 est.)

6.2% (2013 est.)
country comparison to the world:60

Population below poverty line:

NA%
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%

Inflation rate (consumer prices):

1.4% (2014 est.)
1.1% (2013 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 20% (male 450,985/female 429,184)
15-24 years: 13.9% (male 313,711/female 298,427)
25-54 years: 40.4% (male 890,678/female 888,565)
55-64 years: 11.4% (male 245,084/female 255,879)
65 years and over: 14.3% (male 290,429/female 338,974) (2014 est.)1

When I am planning to establish a business in a foreign country, I must see some crucial
1
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/nz.html
points so that my organization can survive. Some of these include political climate,
property rights, economic conditions, availability of factors of production,etc.
In my case, I chose to open a restaurant that serves Bangladeshi, as well Indian Cuisine to
people in Auckland.

Political Climate and Property Rights : According to the International Property Rights
Index, New Zealand is the second most secure country where property rights are most
secure for its citizen and for people in other countries who seeks to buy property there. 2
The political freedom also allows people to start their own business very easily.
According to The International Finance Corporation and the World Bank, New Zealand
tops the list for freedom to start a business and people can prepare papers for starting
their business in a single day. 3

Economic Condition:Countries with low debt-to-GDP ratios are good for business. But
New Zealand’s figure rose to recording 37.5% in 2013 and then to 35.9% in 2014. 4
Though the ratio is very high, records and future economic forecasts suggests that this
figure will fall, which will give more favourable conditions for working there.

Factors of Production: Chefs, waiters, cleaners are among the top human resources
required in a restaurant. Auckland is a city where waiters and cleaners would be easily
available.
Many students in Auckland seek for a part time job and giving them the opportunity to
work for me would be beneficial for both them and me.
And when it comes to hiring Chefs who can cook South Asian food is a tough job. But in
this new world where everything is possible with technology, it won’t be that tough to
find chefs.

Language Barriers: English is my second language. So communicating with my

employees and my customers is not a problem at all.

Market Research: New Zealand people have their own unique cuisine. They also enjoy
Indian food but the number of good Indian restaurants in Auckland is low, and a good
restaurant is what they are waiting for. Over years, many people have opened Indian
restaurants in USA, and they are a big hit. The same can happen here at New Zealand.
People at New Zealand like marine dishes and Bangladeshi fish dishes are very tasty. I
can hope that people there will like a twist in their same daily taste.

Expected challenges and solutions:

2
http://internationalpropertyrightsindex.org/
3
http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploretopics/starting-a-business
4
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/new-zealand/government-debt-to-gdp
  Indian and Bangladeshi foods require various spices for preparation. And many of
these spices are not available over there. So I have to import many of the spices for
my restaurant. A situation can arise where the spices are not delivered in time. So
to avoid this crisis, I will always have stock of spices that can last for 2 to 3
months. Spices can be easily stored and they do not expire easily.
 People have different threshold to spicy foods and the foods that will be served to
them are spicy foods. So that customers cannot complain that the food is way too
spicy for them, they will be allowed to choose between less, moderate and normal
amount of spiciness they want in their food.
 If one or more of the chefs suddenly leave the workplace, then the restaurant can
face immense pressure to deal with customers. To avoid situation like this, I will
have a list of other chefs who might be interested to work at my place. A good
incentive will be able to attract experienced chefs and thus the problem will be
solved.

Summary: keeping the facts in mind, I think it would be profitable to start a business
there, since the environment allows good opportunities for business owners.