Manufacturers’ business development goals

When you’re looking to develop your business, there are lots of goals you might have in mind. For most manufacturers, the number one goal is to reduce costs or the time they spend on tasks.

Development goals	Development goals value
Reduce costs or time spent on tasks	44%
Improve existing products/services	32%
Develop new products/services	30%
Upskill my employees in our core business activity	23%
Improve my marketing, promotion or sales	22%
Upskill myself in my core business activity	16%
Become more digital	15%
Improve my general management capability	14%
Foster business succession	14%
Get better at business planning and governance	12%
Employ more staff	10%
Begin exporting, or increase exporting	10%
Improve my business’s impact on the environment	8%
Improve my business’s cultural capability	6%
Contribute to wider social outcomes	3%

Barriers to achieving business goals

You may have goals in mind, but you may also see some hurdles ahead. You're not alone. The biggest barrier is a lack of time, followed by being unsure about your future income or revenue.

Barrier	Barrier value
A lack of time/too busy running the business	61%
A lack of stability/lack of certainty about future income or revenue	52%
Lack of funds/capital	50%
Costs – too expensive	43%
Access to finance	35%
Staff shortages/lack of certainty about the labour market	31%
There is too much risk involved	23%
There’s so much information it’s overwhelming	21%
It’s hard to find the right information/advice	21%
Lack of infrastructure/tools	19%
I don’t know where to start/how to progress	16%

Help make Business.govt.nz better

Follow us