Andrew Fairgray: 2degreees Chief Business Officer on the new report saying the 'return to normal' narrative is no longer influencing business confidence
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What does the latest Shaping Business Report reveal about business confidence?
Yeah, so it looks like we've largely given up on the hope of a big economic recovery. According to the annual Shaping Business report from Two Degrees, businesses are now not waiting for things to suddenly come right. Instead, they're just adapting to the new normal, which is a bit of a grind. Andrew Fairgray is Two Degrees Chief Business Officer and is with us. Morning, Andrew. Morning, Heather. Congratulations on being Broadcaster of the Year. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. Now, tell me, what do you put this attitude shift down to?
I think probably after the last five years post-COVID where everyone was looking for green shoots to start to appear and something to change and getting back to normality, I think with all the volatility that's going on in the world, businesses are starting to realise they need to control their own outcomes. So they're kind of settling into a rhythm of managing their own outcomes.
So are they still expecting an economic recovery that is noticeable and all of a sudden, or are they just preparing for it to kind of having to grind your way out of it?
I think it's a bit more optimistic than a grind. So 76% of the respondents say that it's either the same or more optimistic than last year. So that's positive. 61% of the respondents are expecting revenue growth. That's mainly in larger businesses with more than 50 FTE. And 20% of the businesses are saying they're thriving, which is the highest level since the studies began. So we are starting to see, particularly some of the new businesses that are emerging, leveraging technology, some signs of positivity are moving forward just in the new norm.
Now, I thought this was interesting about the optimism that it's the younger business owners and the smaller businesses that appear to be more optimistic than the guys who are over 45.
How are businesses adapting to the new normal post-COVID?
Why is that?
My observation through the last seven years of doing this survey is that they're generally digitally native. So they're coming in with a view of the world, how to leverage technology day one. One of the things that is clear today that we've seen over the years is that there is a digital inequity across New Zealand businesses and the skills that people have. So that's why we partner with the Chamber of Commerce throughout New Zealand to support educating businesses to leverage technology and help their business go forward.
Okay. Now I see also, it used to obviously be the case historically that labour was the fastest rising cost for quite a bit of time there, but now it's utilities, insurance and lease costs. We need to do something about this, don't we?
We do. I think, you know, the fact of if we really want to get ahead from an economic perspective and drive our productivity, you know, our utility costs, particularly around the cost of power, we really need to get under control.
Yeah, brilliant. Hey, Andrew, thank you very much. Enjoy the rest of your day.
That's Andrew Fairgrave, Two Degrees Chief Business Officer.
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