HOW THE NEXT DECADE IS SHAPING UP FOR BUSINESS

OK, SO OFFICIALLY the new decade doesn’t kick off until the end of the year, and runs until the end of 2030. But, for business owners, it’s still timely to take stock of recent trends and plan out beyond 2020. As the saying goes, ‘Time and tide wait for no person’.

So what does the business landscape look like going into the 20s?

NZBusiness consulted a number of informed and insightful people for their take on key trends and issues that will impact on small and medium businesses (SMBs).

With environmental and social issues currently high on agendas worldwide, not surprisingly our first stop was the Sustainable Business Network (SBN) and its long-serving CEO Rachel Brown.

Here in New Zealand recent initiatives such as the Zero Carbon Bill and Ministry for the Environment’s waste programmes have been encouraging, but most businesses are unsure on how to respond, she says.

“It’s still unclear what the key challenges and opportunities might be, and therefore what