Entrepreneurship And Dynamic Capabilities: Managerial Incapability In New Zealand Industry

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Article

Disuss about the Entrepreneurship and Dynamic Capabilities.

New Zealand industry has witnessed and faced critical challenges in terms of low economic growth rate and productivity. In addition of retention of educated workforce and immigration to Australia doubled the intensity and made the conditions worse than ever. The research findings and expert opinions revealed that ‘managerial incapability’ is the root cause of the series of severe concerns. Hence, the question is “Which are the management capabilities? How can they be enhanced?”

The authors have used survey method of research method to collect data. It covered three public, private and not-for-profit sectors. The responses of 265 New Zealand Chief Executives were recorded based on the list 19 challenges and 14 risk factors identified. The research study is conducted scientifically along with empirical evidence useful for decision-making process. It is critically examined that management incapability is responsible for the existing condition of New Zealand economy. Both qualitative and quantitative approach is applied. A lot of literature is reviewed. The relationship between human resources functions and managerial capabilities is established to the great extent.

However, it is noticed that the response rate is only 27%. It is inadequate and compromised under the pretext of ‘time pressures and survey frequency’.  Secondly, the data is more descriptive. Hence, the article can be considered to be part of explorative research in spite of fundamental or applied one. Thirdly, the sectoral analysis indicates that different challenges exist for three different sectors. Hence, there couldn’t be a single solution. The comparison between New Zealand and Australia is valid and logical up-to certain extend.

The increasing gap between New Zealand and Australia in terms of productivity and income is a matter of concern. Problem of productivity is linked with management capabilities and scarcity of managerial resources in New Zealand (Statistics, NZ, 2007). Political uncertainty and the turbulence of business environment led to economic slowdown in New Zealand. Business environment has created challenged in three forms: Uncertainty due to changing needs of the market, fundraising activities, and management of manpower and other resources. The proactive involvement of HR specialist will enable them to explore the hidden opportunities required for development process of managerial functions and capabilities.

The study reveals that foreign-owned and larger manufacturing firms in New Zealand have comparatively better management practices than small and medium size enterprises. It simply means organizational changes are more important meeting the crucial needs. Change management is badly required. Migration from New Zealand to Australia is caused due pay difference and stable and exciting career opportunities overseas. It should be accepted that every country has its own strengths and weaknesses. The collective responsibilities, in terms of government reforms, constructive policies, industry initiatives and restructuring institutions will ensure positive transformation. Globalization has pros and cons. No country is left uncovered from its impact. Certainly, New Zealand will not be an exception to the fact.

Author’s Viewpoint

I agree with the thesis statement. It is quite natural to study the indicators which made the difference between two counties of New Zealand and Australia. Some of them are the culture of innovation and reengineering, the production processes are redefined to cater the needs of volatile and ever-changing market. The scarcity of resources is minimized through an effective use of technology like ‘Automation’ and ‘robotics’. A lot of focus is given on individual development, skilling and scaling for the employees. It leads to quality of labour. The ease of doing business reinforces the stakeholders to invest for long-term. Such environment is not there in New Zealand looking at the survey findings and literature reviewed like statistics of Global Financial Crisis 2008-09 (GFC).

It is logical to state that managerial capabilities can be enhanced in New Zealand to address the key concerns. These concerns vary from one sector to another. Hence, separate sector-wise strategy would be practical and working solutions. Factors like culture, labours, community involvement, quality products and services, economics climate changes, flexibility, cost-effectiveness should be handled step-by-step. It is noteworthy to find out that managerial behaviour causes instability and inability to cope up with changes. It finally leads to ‘uncertainty’. Here, leadership excellence is a key aspect.

The article could provide factual information on implications of managerial skills in New Zealand faced by Chief Executives. Few notable key points which are studied can be discussed as below:

‘The War for Talent’ is inevitable in these days. Globalization has opened the gates of opportunities to all. Hence, it is ‘the survival of the fittest’. This is cut-throat competition between two countries. The better pay scales and stability attract most of the employees. As a result, immigration could take place. People will always look for the best if they have multiple alternatives. The ranking of New Zealand is lowered being developed country. It is a matter of concern for government, industry and others too. As a result, the investors are cautious posing threat to fundraising. Political skills are associated with internal and external resources, people management. It should be flexible enough to attract the stakeholders by all means. Interpersonal skills are highly recommended for managerial effectiveness. One-to-one rapport, face-reading, stress management will lead to quality of labour. The firms should focus on making their workplace as the best place to work for. Leadership behaviour is an integral part of organizational behaviour. It is correlated with the managerial effectiveness. Behavioural issues give many concerns and finally contribute to uncertainty for an organization.

Agreement with the Thesis Statement

One can question like “Is it possible to work on managerial effectiveness? Let’s us explore more in this context. The culture of any business firm is of greatest value for all the stakeholders. The core values, vision, mission and the set of uncompromised principles make the organization stable. Transparent communication, reward and recognition policies, open door policies, fair treatment are certainly important. Effective planning and execution of resources is essential for sustainability (Carmeli, 2004). Consistent review and assessment of managerial capabilities coined with flexibilities is highly appreciable (Helfat, 2014). Emotional intelligence is the foundation of managerial effectiveness. It can easily foster the culture of problem-solving skills and enable teams to come up with innovative and creative ideas to tackle with the changes occurred at eleventh hour. Synergy can take place and all work as a team. (Hodgkinson & Healey, 2011). HR specialists have a lot of potential to convert human resource to human capital (Khannaa & Jones, 2014). Coordination, trustworthiness can strengthen the relationship for better performance. The sense of ownership is developed amongst employees and they need least monitoring. As a result, overall performance of an organization is improved. Development can take place at three levels: Individual, team and organization. They are interlinked with each other very strongly. Individual is at the bottom of pyramid. Hence, the principle of ‘each one counts’ is really working. In other words, managing self and managing others will contribute to solve the challenges and clear the clouds of uncertainty for long time.

There are many ways to enhance the managerial capabilities. In fact, it is a joint initiative both from employer and employees as well. No one can achieve the mastery in it single-handedly. The quality of labour, shortage of resources, never-ending customer satisfaction, volatile market conditions, the impact of economic changes, profit-margin, health & safety and other factors constitute uncertainty for any business. However, discussion of these factors will not make sense until concrete, working solutions are not found. The thought-leadership can think of alternatives like use of technology, flexible work-culture, healthy competition, think-tanks, training and skill development initiatives for robust growth. Critical analysis of foreign-owned firms, competition management, and business expansion would be some of the other ways. Certainly, it is the organization that can check the feasibility of such alternatives. However, preventive action is always better than corrective one. One should learn to fix the problem then and there itself.

Key Points

Conclusion:

In spite of technological revolution (than ever), businesses are run by human beings and for the human beings. Technology has definitely has certain limitations. If employee can put himself/ herself in the shoes of customers, many problems can be overcome. Sympathy and empathy should work together while dealing with human mind. Market conditions cannot be controlled and monitored. However, one can retain the customer by providing the best, timely and quality service to the customers. Market is nothing but the customers. If each and every individual in the company works with this attitude, there’ll be no question of uncertainty. There’re few business firms who have been working since many decades, still they exist today. This is because they were flexible, innovative and changed in due course of time as per the needs. They could ‘manage’ the resources, stakeholders and identify the expected changes. The best firms are haunted by ‘excellence in everything’ they do. They learn from others’ mistakes. They empower the leaders to act and achieve common goals. It makes them unique.  ‘Caring and sharing’ is always on their agenda. Such organizations ensure stable, sustainable and secure business growth. Uncertainty can be overcome when ‘Human is capital / asset.’ Capabilities can be enhance through consistent efforts by all day in and day out. Managerial capabilities are the effective use of manpower and innovative technology.

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