2.  20 years in senior management roles: CEO,
GM, COO, Business Advisor
 Have worked across a wide range of
businesses and industries: meat,
manufacturing, export, retail, property
valuation.
 Business scales: < $500K p.a. to a company
with an annual sales turnover of around
$500m p.a.

3.  Locally, have performed work for Scales Corp
(Mr. Apple), Progressive Meats and the
Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce.
 Had 63 x different local business clients
during my time as a Business Advisor for
Hawke’s Bay – from sole traders to large
companies.
 Was groomed by a top N.Z. director.
 Worked alongside one of N.Z.’s top marketing
agencies (Farrimond) for over a decade.

4.  Financial Management – P & L, Balance Sheet, budget
formation & tracking.
 Debtor management – PPSR, imposing additional
securities, foreclosing.
 Legal document preparation: Franchise Agreements,
Licenses, Contract for Services Agreements, Board Codes
of Conduct, Employment Agreements, Merger Agreement.
 Enforcement of Franchise Agreement.
 Conference facilitation & presentations.
 Training programme preparation.
 Ecommerce website design and project management.
 Intranet design and project management.
 Supplier Negotiations.
 Stakeholder capability development.
 …and more.

5.  Disclaimer of Liability - It is completely at the
discretion of the viewer as to what content of this
presentation the reader chooses to be influenced
by and act upon, and any risks and liabilities
related to the viewer adopting/ acting upon any
content of this presentation to suit their
particular purposes/ situation are solely those of
the viewer to consider and bear. Similarly, the
author of this presentation has no liability
whatsoever for any and all consequences which
transpire as a result of any party choosing to
apply any element of this presentation to suit
their particular purposes/ situation.

6.  Looking Beyond the Traditional Business
Model to Achieve Growth/ Business
Development

7.  The owner of a traditional business model (e.g.
sole trader/ Limited Liability company)
conventionally affords introducing new
equipment/ resources/ IP (e.g. training
programmes, IT systems)/ inventory by either:
 A) generating sufficient surpluses from trading
activity, and/or
 B) introducing new capital (e.g. adding new
shareholders and/ or share capital) and/or
 C) by borrowing funds.

8.  The main constraint in relation to achieving
growth/ development through relying on
surpluses is of course that you firstly need to
generate sufficient profit in order to have
surpluses.
 …and what if your business doesn’t manage
to achieve a healthy EOY surplus ? Answer: no
forward movement of your business, and
your business is exposed to the possibility of
stagnating and/ or losing market share.

9.  The main constraint in relation to achieving
growth/ development through relying on
injecting additional capital into your business is
that you either need to have the funds on-hand
and/ or you need to borrow funds to achieve this
and/ or you need to attract the capital of willing
investors (e.g. traditional shareholder scenario,
crowd source funding).
 …and what happens if your business doesn’t
meet the lender’s borrowing criteria or suitable
shareholders aren’t attracted to your business ?
Answer: no change = no possible gain and the
possibility of stagnation and a reduction in
market share.

10.  Merger scenario.
 Often this business development path is
viewed as being “radical” or “extreme” –
mostly due to the perception of the level of
change that a merger suggests.
 A merger of two or more fundamentally well
aligned organisations can deliver
considerable benefits to stakeholders.

11.  Move forward with superior IT systems –
dropping the least favoured/ outdated systems.
 Stock procurement advantages – improvement in
buying power/ terms of trade, and access to
previously unavailable products.
 Greater affordability of resources/ programmes/
IP.
 Improved “Brains Trust” overall.
 Increased scale gets noticed by bigger players –
who could well make great strategic partners.

12.  Getting used to each other’s “weird ways”,
and arriving at a consensus as to which pre-
existing practices should prevail versus those
that should be dropped.
 Possibility of having to restructure human
resources (resulting in disestablished roles)
to better meet the needs of the newly formed
merged entity.
 Re-branding investment.
 (****) Culture ill-alignment.

13.  Parent Company scenario.
 Often a franchise or a “franchise-cooperative”
utilizes this sort of business structure.
 Where a series of either sole traders or
Limited Liability companies identify sufficient
common ground on which to establish a
separate company which serves the
commercial needs of all interested parties.

14.  Individual owners of separate individual
Limited Liability companies (e.g. 3 x copy
writers, web developer, SEO specialist,
videographer, photographer, etc) see enough
commonality between themselves to pose the
idea of forming a Parent Company – which
they each become shareholders of.
 Parent Company Shareholder Agreement –
and possibly even a Company Constitution –
is brought into effect.

15.  The inputs/ contributions of each shareholder (as
a finished product/ service) is presented to the
end customer under a common/ single brand
(i.e. the business brand of the Parent Company).
 So rather than continue to compete against one-
another in the same industry, or only work
together on a contractor basis, the shareholders
are working closely together to achieve the same
(commonly agreed) strategic objectives…those
that they commit to the Parent Company
Strategic Plan.

16.  Profits are distributed amongst all
shareholders of the Parent Company in
accordance with what the Shareholder
Agreement provides.
 Similarly, calls for extra capital to be fed into
the business are made in relation to all
shareholders.
 Shareholders contribute funds to cover the
operating costs and marketing activities of
the Parent Company. E.g. % of sales or % of
purchases.

17.  Pooled financial resources to be able to afford
resources/ equipment/ IP/ marketing
programme that otherwise each individual
shareholder would not have been able to
afford.
 Better workflow to achieve commonly sought
outcomes.
 Improved “Brains Trust” through the pooling
of ideas.
 Able to have a reliever who “knows the ropes”
fill-in during absences (holidays/ sickness).

18.  Can increase capital in the business by
issuing a ‘Call on Capital’ to all
shareholders…rather than borrow funds.
 Establish a Central Billing function to
efficiently process all incoming and outgoing
invoices.
 Appoint a competent person to “manage the
business”, allowing the “technicians” to do
what they do best.

19.  Procrastination of decisions being made.
 Certain decisions being made in self-interest
sometimes…more so than in the best
interests of the organisation as a whole.
 The challenge of keeping as many of the
troops/ shareholders happy for as much of
the time as possible.
 Perceived reduction in independence/
autonomy to make decisions.

20.  Why a multi-channeled marketing strategy is
often the best route to take

21.  Whilst digital platforms (social media in
particular) continue to gain in popularity for
building business volume and brand
awareness, there is an interesting
phenomenon emerging in N.Z….
 …a continuing desire shown by so called
“middle-aged” people to have time away from
the computer screen relaxing with a
magazine or newspaper or being in front of
the television.

22.  Furthermore, this demographic are crying-
out for rewarding face-to-face interaction
with other people.
 They don’t want to see your “Like” via
Facebook…they want to see and feel your
emotion as you engage with them.
 Don’t discount the importance of genuine,
open and honest conversation with other
people as they enter your business.
 The strongest human connections will
continue to be made via face-to-face contact.

23.  I have just finished writing a book titled:
“Real World Proven Best Business Practices -
Bridging the Gap Between Academic Teachings and
Real World Business Success”
…which will launch in the public domain late
Nov/ early Dec 2016. Venue = Taradale
PaperPlus. Invitation circulated via Taradale
Marketing Association newsletter. You’re
welcome to attend… 

24.  This book addresses the reasons why I think
particularly SME businesses continue to fail at
an unacceptable rate in N.Z.
 It provides proven best practices for
commerce graduates and seasoned business
people alike to apply on the “commercial
coalface” to increase the positive outcomes
(including financial success) of the businesses
they are involved with.

25.  How to prepare a practical Strategic Plan and
annual Business Plan.
 How to approach marketing in a practical way.
 How to perform simple and cost effective market
research.
 Client-centricity.
 Merging as a growth option.
 Establishing a Parent Company as a growth option.
 Critical Success Factors.
 Evolutionary Cogs vs Operational Cogs.
 How to develop a positive workplace culture.
 Identifying, measuring and assessing risk.
 How to build a united governance body.

26.  Foreseeable undermining influences on N.Z.’s
achievements on the global stage going forward:
◦ Risk averse mindsets.
◦ Kiwi sense of independence – “I’ll do it my way”.
◦ Over zealous general and industry-specific
compliance expectations (legislation and
standards).
◦ Poor leadership and governance – and lack of the
right type of people willing to be leaders.
◦ N.Z’s “Tall Poppy” syndrome – causing high
achieving people not to want to share their
knowledge/ insights/ winning formula.

27.  Foreseeable undermining influences on N.Z.’s
achievements on the global stage going forward:
◦ Politics being allowed to overshadow practical
sensible (“do what’s right”) commercial decision-
making.
◦ Reducing quality of face-to-face communication
and social interaction generally (fear, distrust,
secrecy)
◦ Quashing of individuality and the freedom to
choose and think for oneself…largely due to the
quest for “compliance”. This has considerable
implications for innovative thinking and people’s
quest to realise their own potential.

28.  In short, for N.Z. to lift its game on the global
commercial stage, we need to become more
concerned about:
Enabling, versus Disabling
…Kiwis.
The key words are: empowerment, support,
education, training, praise, “setting other people
up to win” and…role satisfaction.

29. My LinkedIn profile:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterdalexander
E: petera@realworldconsulting.kiwi
W: www.realworldconsulting.kiwi
M: 027 3575259
Tools available to help businesses lift their game:
•GAP Analysis template
•Strategic Plan template
•Business Plan template