Purpose - This paper aims to investigate how ethnic diversity and finance options impact the survival of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in New Zealand. Design/methodology/approach - This study incorporates survey data and secondary data from the public domain. The surveys were...

The New Zealand Government has shown a concern to promote the use of information communication technology (ICT) by New Zealand small to medium size enterprises (SMEs). There has been an enquiry into telecommunication regulation and an ongoing commitment to an E-summit programme. The latter...

Consistent with the theme of this conference the paper stretches the boundary of what might be considered free and frank evaluative comment. By its nature is born out of a political agenda, yet the political opportunities and political risk is not traditionally considered evaluation. In the...

This paper reports on an investigation into the potential to use the financial ratios of New Zealand small businesses to discriminate their location as an aid in the accurate targeting of regional economic development programs. To the extent that there are clearly identifiable differences in...

Commercial banks in New Zealand do not appear to compete on price for small business clients in terms of the public advertising. An examination of information in the public domain relating to fees associated with aspects of typical SME banking does reveal differences. Fees data are used in a...

This paper discusses a small business based investigation of principal-agent and principal-principal dimensions of agency cost. Panel data for 11 years to 2008, covering a sample of small businesses not listed on a stock exchange, are examined using multivariate statistical techniques. The...

The study uses panel data to investigate agency costs, both principal-agent (PA) and principal-principal (PP), in 240 small businesses not listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange. Results show that both forms of agency cost vary according to industry, the life of the business and size. The...