Latest / Best of Business / Andrew Fairgray: 2degreees Chief Business Officer on the new report saying the 'return to normal' narrative is no longer influencing business confidence

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Andrew Fairgray: 2degreees Chief Business Officer on the new report saying the 'return to normal' narrative is no longer influencing business confidence · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talk sed be
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  Speaker 1: follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio. Yes.
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  Speaker 2: So it looks like we've largely given up on the
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  Speaker 2: hope of a big economic recovery. According to the annual
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  Speaker 2: Shaping Business Report from Two Degrees, businesses are now not
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  Speaker 2: waiting for things to suddenly come right. Instead, they're just
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  Speaker 2: adapting to the new normal, which is a bit of
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  Speaker 2: a grind. Andrew Fairgray is two Degrees Chief Business Officer
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  Speaker 2: and is with us Morning Andrew.
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  Speaker 3: Monty hear the gratulations on being broadcast over the year.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. Now, tell
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  Speaker 2: me what do you put this attitude shift down to.
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  Speaker 3: I think probably after the last five years post COVID,
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  Speaker 3: where everyone was looking for green shoots to start to
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  Speaker 3: appear and something to change and getting back to normality.
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  Speaker 3: I think with all the volatility that's going on in
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  Speaker 3: the world, businesses are starting to realize they need to
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  Speaker 3: control their own outcomes. So they're kind of settling into
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  Speaker 3: a rhythm of managing their own outcomes.
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  Speaker 2: So are they still expecting an economic recovery that is
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  Speaker 2: noticeable in all of a sudden or is are they
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  Speaker 2: just preparing for it to kind of having to grind
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  Speaker 2: your way out of it.
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  Speaker 3: I think it's a bit more optimistic than a grind.
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  Speaker 3: So seventy six percent of their respondents says it's either
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  Speaker 3: the same or more optimistic than last year, so that's positive.
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  Speaker 3: Sixty one percent of the respondents are expecting revenue growth,
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  Speaker 3: that's mainly in larger businesses with more than fifty fde
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  Speaker 3: and twenty percent of the businesses are saying they're thriving,
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  Speaker 3: which is the highest level since the study's begun. So
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  Speaker 3: we are starting to see particularly some of the new
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  Speaker 3: businesses are emerging leveraging technology, some signs of positive who
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  Speaker 3: are moving forward just in the new norm. Now.
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  Speaker 2: I thought this was interesting about the optimism that it's
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  Speaker 2: the younger business owners and the younger business smaller businesses
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  Speaker 2: that appear to be more optimistic than the guys who
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  Speaker 2: are over forty five.
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  Speaker 1: Why is that.
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  Speaker 3: My observation through the last seven years of doing this
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  Speaker 3: survey is that they generally digitally native, so they are
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  Speaker 3: coming in with a view of the world how to
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  Speaker 3: leverage technology day one. One of the things that is
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  Speaker 3: clear that we've seen over the years is that is
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  Speaker 3: a digital inequity across New Zealand businesses and the skills
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  Speaker 3: that people have. So that's why we partner with the
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  Speaker 3: Chamber of Commerces throughout New Zealand to support educating businesses
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  Speaker 3: to leverage technology and help their business go forward.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, now I see. Also, you still obviously be the
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  Speaker 2: case historically that labor was the fastest rising cost for
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  Speaker 2: quite a bit of time there, but now it's utilities,
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  Speaker 2: insurance and lease costs. We need to do something about this,
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  Speaker 2: don't we.
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  Speaker 3: We do, I think you know the fact of if
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  Speaker 3: we really want to get ahead from an economic perspective
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  Speaker 3: and drive our productivity and our utility costs, particularly around
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  Speaker 3: the cost of power, we really need to get under control. Yeah, brilliant.
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  Speaker 2: Hey Andrew, thank you very much. Enjoy the rest of
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  Speaker 2: your day. That's Andrew Fairgray, two degrees, Chief Business Officer.
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