Search results

The Covid-19 pandemic has quickly transformed the notions of crises and of living in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) world into a lived experience. This chapter offers a perspective on how New Zealand businesses experienced and reacted to Covid-19 related management from a distance and with a mindset that was informed by the government’s focus on health and well-being and “being kind.” This exploratory findings from a sample of New Zealand exporters show that technology-supported management of digital distance and trust, infused with a partner-specific exhibition of empathy, fostered successful business relationships during these challenging times.

For decades the majority of contributions to governance practice have been compliance-focused while much governance research has been grounded in an agency view (Daily, Dalton & Rajagopalan, (2003), Academy of Management Journal, 46(2), 151–158). Much of that effort has failed to observe the key drivers of boardroom decision making. The objective of this research was to explore the shareholder–stakeholder tension within an organisation as it progressed through sequential forms of ownership. The results presented in this paper are primarily drawn from the immediate ex poste and ex ante events surrounding the collapse of Ansett Holdings Ltd and the latter government bailout of Air New Zealand. New Zealand's national airline provided a relevatory case (Yin, (1989), Case study research: Design and methods (Rev.ed.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage), the opportunity to study a phenomenon previously inaccessible to research, because data hitherto unavailable ‘entered’ the public domain. However, when reinterpreted in light of direct input from key executives involved – benevolent informants – much of that data needs to be reconsidered to better understand why critical decisions were made. The Ansett collapse subsequently became the single largest corporate collapse in Australian history while the loss to Air New Zealand became New Zealand's largest-ever corporate loss. The decision by Brierley Investments Limited (BIL) to ‘block’ Singapore Airline's (SIA) entry into the Australian market, implemented through the high risk acquisition of the balance of Ansett, directly resulted in both ‘collapses’. Decisions by the organisation's governance were found to have a direct impact on the performance of Air New Zealand through various phases of its ownership. While the ‘collapses’ are attributed to a failure of governance to act in the organisation's (stakeholders) interests. Growing tensions between shareholders and stakeholders were observed to be suppressed as the BIL dominated and led Board achieve complete control over decision making. There remains considerable opportunity to further governance research through the examination of business ethics, notably the view that appropriate ethics can be met by way of legislation (e.g. Diplock, (2003, April), Corporate governance issues. Securities Commission of New Zealand. Available from: http://www.sec-com.govt.nz/speeches/jds240403.shtml). However, the role of governance, particularly whom it is there to serve requires far greater attention on behalf of researchers. In the cases of Ansett and Air New Zealand the Board ceased to act in best interests of the organisation in favour of the major shareholder.

Purpose – This chapter examines the evolution of new audit and traceability systems in New Zealand horticultural export industries. Identified as one trajectory in New Zealand agriculture partly resulting from neoliberal reform, the arrival of audit culture in food export industries has significantly repositioned these export sectors, particularly in relation to how they might respond to new energy and climate change challenges.

Design/methodology/approach – The chapter reviews the neoliberalisation of New Zealand agriculture in the 1980s and then examines the emergence of specific industry, audit and regulatory responses to new challenges around energy and climate change. Horticultural export sectors are used to demonstrate these responses and then compared with other, more productivist-oriented sectors in New Zealand.

Findings – The argument presented at the end of this chapter is that those food export sectors that have embraced the new audit approaches rather than taking a more productivist pathway will be better positioned to cope with the shocks of new energy costs and climate change requirements.

Originality/value – This chapter demonstrates the variable outcomes of neoliberal reform in agriculture. It identifies new audit and governance technologies as both an essential contributor to understanding the nature of global food chains and a potentially important contributor to achieving greater agri-food resilience in the face of future shocks like climate change.

Our chapter examines the ways national developments in Australia and New Zealand over the past two decades reflect distinctively antipodean understandings of educational leadership and management. Our interest is twofold. We are concerned about the extent to which these understandings are reflected in strategies designed to enhance the quality of school leadership. We are also concerned about the extent to which these strategies represent progress towards achieving ‘sustainable’ school leadership. We define sustainable leadership in terms of both building leadership capacity within the organisation and embedding lasting organisational change (Fink & Brayman, 2006; Hargreaves & Fink, 2006; Spillane, 2006). The concept used here implies both models of distributed or shared leadership and leadership succession.

This chapter has documented the changing roles and dynamics of New Zealand’s airports between 2001 and 2016. New Zealand has well-developed airport systems for both international and domestic air passenger and air freight services. New Zealand airports have experienced marked growth during the study period and growth looks to continue throughout the country. Moreover, New Zealand’s airport system plays a direct role in New Zealand’s air transport and tourism sectors, as well as contributing to other major economic sectors. International and domestic connections to New Zealand airports facilitate the continued growth and importance of tourism, acting as a backbone to the New Zealand economy. In addition to tourism, airports play a crucial role in the facilitation of imports and exports and the development of regional business hubs and supporting activities for New Zealand’s other major industries. Importantly, New Zealand airports are a critical part of its economy and will continue to be so in the decades to come.

In this chapter we have broadly sketched the educational history of Aotearoa New Zealand to show that this historical backdrop offers a fascinating insight into contemporary debates. In the following chapters we adopt a thematic approach to the history of teacher preparation in Aotearoa New Zealand. We do not offer an institutional or chronological historical narrative, but rather, the chapters are interconnected as they re-trace, recall and re-tell this educational history. Our core thesis is that across the long history of teacher preparation these themes permeate the shifts and changes in educational policy and practice and that ruptures at particular historical moments are not unique. We draw on a number of historical examples to underscore the oftentimes personal impact of the wider policy environment and the educational stories of aspiring teachers. Importantly, we have documented the methodological approaches employed and the archival research that has influenced our reading of the materials.

This chapter employs critical discourse analysis (CDA) to examine three key policy documents related to international education in New Zealand: The International Student Wellbeing Strategy (ISW), The New Zealand’s International Education Strategy 2018–2020 (IES), and The New Zealand’s Strategic Recovery Plan (SRP) for the International Education Sector. It asks, “How are discourses of international student wellbeing deployed in New Zealand’s international education policy documents?” The findings suggest that the actual targets of wellbeing in New Zealand international education policies were less the international students than New Zealand itself. I argue that discourses of international student wellbeing are instrumentalized in policy discourses to position New Zealand as a progressive and inclusive society and feed the competitive market dynamics driving the global international education market.