Online Business Information and Tools

General Information

The New Zealand Government website for general business information is  www.business.govt.nz. 

It provides a range of information to help you:

• start your business
• manage your business
• take the next steps to growing your business
• exit your business

There is information on a wide range of business topics including:

• Tax
• Employing staff
• Finance
• Exporting
• Marketing
• e-business
• New Zealand business regulations

www.business.govt.nz also provides a range of easy to use tools to help you grow your business such as the Business Health Check below.
 

The Business Health Check  

Have you had a business health check lately?  The Business Health Check is an easy to use web-based tool which a business owner can use to assess the health of their business in five key areas:

• Finance
• Future
• Products and Services
• Marketing
• Capability 

The Health Check consists of 50 questions about the current state of a business. Business owners are asked to rank the questions in order of importance in relation to their business. Once a business owner has answered the questions they are presented with a list of the most important actions they should take to improve the health of their business. This list also contains numerous templates, articles, links and best practice suggestions that would be useful to any NZ business owner.

Click here to go the Business Health Check.
 

Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand

The Intellectual Property Office (IPONZ) provides a range of solutions for businesses to protect their intellectual property and to thereby develop their competitive advantage.  Businesses can check for registered trade mark names or explore ways to protect trademarks, inventions, texts, designs or other intellectual property.

Visit www.iponz.govt.nz
 

Ministry of Economic Development

The Ministry of Economic Development (MED) supports businesses by providing information and resources on trade, regulations, standards and consumer issues. 

Visit www.med.govt.nz.
 

Ministry of Science and Innovation

The Ministry of Science and Innovation (MSI) is responsible for co-ordinating and harnessing the scientific and innovative capability of NZ.  By increasing collaboration and connections across government, science and business sectors, MSI will create an environment where cutting edge and innovation can flourish. 

For information and services, visit www.msi.govt.nz.

NZ Trade and Enterprise

New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) is the Government's economic development agency.  It works to stimulate economic growth by helping boost export earnings, strengthening economies and delivering economic assistance to industries and individual businesses.  The focus is on industries and sectors where New Zealand has long term competitive advantage in world markets and on businesses with high growth potential. 

To find out more about NZTE's services and programmes visit www.nzte.govt.nz. 

NZTE Business Guides       

Four guides have been put together by NZTE to give you the information you need to develop a business plan, decide whether your idea is commercially viable and take the first practical steps towards getting your business set up.  There are also guides to help you into exporting and to look at finance and funding options for your business:

• Starting a Business
• Planning for Success
• Guide to Exporting
• Investment Ready Guide

These guides are available from the Hawkes Bay Chamber of Commerce, from info@business.govt.nz, or from any NZTE office.
 

Statistics New Zealand

Statistics New Zealand provides a range of useful demographic information as well as other tools and services to help businesses carry out market research.

Visit the Statistics New Zealand Information Centre for advice and information on using data from the NZ census and other sources to identify and characterise potential new customer groups and new target markets.  Visit www.stats.govt.nz or call 0508 525 525.

Of particular use might be two on-line tools:

• Table Builder which allows you to extract information from large tables of data relative to your potential target market.  See this at www.stats.govt.nz/tablebuilder
   
• Business Toolbox which contains an industry profiler to provide easy access to information about your industry.  See this at www.stats.govt.nz/businesstoolbox