Andrew Fawcett of Lowndes Associates helps btob.co.nz readers understand the grey area of sustainable business practices better known as greenwashing. 

In his article Greenwashing : the grey area of sustainable business practices Fawcett discusses the efforts in place by the Commerce Commission that help eliminate greenwashing, while also looking at the practices of the Advertising Standards Authority that help protect you, the consumer.

Fawcett says the problem with the current rise in green marketing is that while there is now widespread awareness of environmental issues, consumers are confused about green claims and the meaning of terms such as carbon neutral, and about what carbon offsetting entails.

Read the full article here to find out the most relevant offences to green claims.

Mark Lowndes of Lowndes Associates speaks with Corin Dann on NZI Business

A commercial lawyer says clients have become more discerning as the impact of the global financial crisis hits the sector and the growth of social media frees up information.

Mark Lowndes from Lowndes Associates represented New Zealand at the recent Multilaw conference in South America and says while the feeling in New Zealand is that we are emerging from the crisis, American and English lawyers still felt like they were well in the middle of the recession.

Lowndes told NZI Business that commercial law firms in most countries have had a drop off in revenue and have had to trim costs and look at their business model.

In boom years people get a bit careless with costs, Lowndes says and he believes more flexibility is needed with the way legal services are delivered.

Lowndes says while the traditional hourly rate charging model is convenient and easy to understand, it doesn’t necessarily align itself to value. As clients become more demanding, Lowndes says lawyers need to stay close to them and really understand what they are looking for.

Younger managers and lawyers have different expectations around work-life balance and the formality of the way service is delivered, says Lowndes.

And he says clients tend to turn up well informed. Lowndes says lawyers need to be collaborating with them as business people, not just information providers. He says clients aren’t  prepared to pay large fees for routine transactions.

“The days of doing standard transactions and delivering standard information and making a good living out of that are gone.”

The leading corporate and commercial law firm Lowndes Associates is pitting two stellar teams of academics and commentators against each other in a timely debate over whether New Zealand will reach the top half of the OECD by 2020. The debate will be staged at the final Lowndes Associates Business Intelligence Seminar of 2009 on 18 November. Mark Lowndes and Rod Oram spoke on ASB Business TV about why this is an important discussion.

Business journalist Rod Oram is one of the four panellists, and will pair with author and broadcaster Gordon McLauchlan to make the case that New Zealand will not resume its former place as a leading OECD country by 2020. The other team, arguing the affirmative, consists of Professor Sir Paul Callaghan of Victoria University of Wellington and Jon Mayson, Chairman of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.

Among the questions the debaters will address is whether New Zealand should continue to rely on agriculture and tourism, or whether we must invest in science and technology, becoming the Switzerland of the South Pacific.

Mr Oram says while he spends his working life arguing in favour of New Zealand’s “amazing” opportunities, “in this case I am happy to argue the negative case, because I have a grave reservation – that is, while we talk a lot about what we can do, if we stay on our current trajectory, we simply won’t achieve it. And I don’t see what’s going to change the game – what’s going to make us wake up and realize how serious the downside is if we don’t seize the opportunities and meet the challenges.”

For starters, he says if we are to meet the National government’s goal of catching up with the Australian economy in per capita terms by 2025, New Zealand’s economy needs to grow at twice the rate of recent years – but a lot of this previous growth has come from debt-driven consumption and a rise in property values.

“We’re the third most indebted developed country in the world, with the second-highest level of household debt in the OECD. What is our plan? We don’t even have ambitious enough economic policies for future growth and OECD achievement, because we don’t know what we want to do.”

Meanwhile, he says, “The developing countries, particularly China, Brazil and India, are adapting far faster and more profoundly to the new global drivers. They understand better than we do that this has been not just a recession and financial crisis, but a systemic failure in finance, economies and resource use.

“It’s very hard to get any acknowledgement that this is more than a normal recession. Most New Zealanders think we’ve had our recession, and now we must just get back to our existing business strategies. I would argue those strategies are already failing.”

He says our strategy to this point, of keeping up with competitors by driving efficiency hard and “hanging on to the coat-tails of others”, was no longer viable. “It won’t work any more because of the increase in competitors with much lower cost bases than us, and the relative decline in value of the commodities we produce.

“An agricultural economy is still feasible, but we need to massively internationalize what we’re very good at – invest in commodity production in South America, for example.”

Lowndes Associates Partner Mark Lowndes says the quality of the participants and the topical nature of the debate makes the final 2009 Lowndes Associates Business Intelligence workshop valuable to businesspeople. “As Rod points out, there are urgent questions facing the nation: what are the policies for government and strategies for business in this new national economy? These are important questions at the heart of future economic strategy and success, and we look forward to a robust and fruitful discussion.”

Details:
Workshop 4: The Big Debate – Will New Zealand Will Get to the Top Half of the OECD by 2020?
Date: Wednesday 18 November 2009
Time: 7.30am–9.30am
Location: Stamford Plaza, Auckland
Tickets: $72 + GST

About the Speakers

Professor Sir Paul Callaghan, Victoria University of Wellington

Sir Paul Callaghan is a graduate of Oxford University (DPhil), and of Victoria University of Wellington where he is Alan MacDiarmid Professor of Physical Sciences. Paul is a Fellow of the Royal Society of London and is currently President of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance. He is a regular public speaker on science matters. In 2007 one of his radio series with Kim Hill appeared in book form, As Far as We Know: Conversations about Science, Life and the Universe, and a 2009 book, Wool to Weta: Transforming New Zealand’s Culture and Economy, deals with the potential for science and technology entrepreneurs to diversify New Zealand’s economy.

Mr Jon Mayson, Chairman New Zealand Trade & Enterprise

Jon Mayson is chair of the board of New Zealand Trade & Enterprise, and a past president of Export New Zealand. Previously CEO of Port of Tauranga Limited, he is a professional director and consultant and currently chairs several private company boards involved in manufactured exports and logistics. His consultancy work in New Zealand and offshore has been focused around port privatization and transport logistics. Jon is a Fellow of the Institute of Management, a member of the Institute of Directors and has an MBA in International Management. He was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2006.

Mr Gordon McLauchlan, Author and Broadcaster

Gordon McLauchlan has been a freelance journalist/writer since 1973. He has been a books editor (New Zealand Herald), a newspaper columnist, an investigative reporter (National Business Review), and a presenter of radio and television programmes. His books include: The Passionless People (1976), a social commentary; The Acid Test (1981), an anthology of New Zealand humour; Bateman’s New Zealand Encyclopedia (1984); The Big Con (1992), a political commentary; The Story of New Zealand Beer (1995); A History of New Zealand Humour (1998); A Short History of New Zealand (2004); A Life’s Sentences (2004), a memoir; The Farming of New Zealand (2007); The Life and Times of Auckland (2008).

Mr Rod Oram, Business Journalist

Rod Oram has more than 30 years’ experience as an international business journalist, including with the Financial Times in London and New York and as editor of the Business Herald in Auckland. He is currently a columnist for the Sunday Star-Times and Good magazine; a regular broadcaster on radio and television; and a frequent public speaker on business and economic issues. Rod is an adjunct professor in the business faculty at Unitec in Auckland. He is the 2009 winner of Landcorp’s Agricultural Communicator of the Year award, and the author of Reinventing Paradise, a book about the New Zealand economy, published by Penguin in 2007.

Ends

For further information, please contact:

Kate Alexander
Alexander Communications Ltd
+(64) 27 244 6094
kate@alexandercomms.co.nz

About Lowndes Associates
Lowndes Associates is a leading corporate and commercial law firm with a network of trusted associates around the world. It exclusively represents the Multilaw and Legalink international networks in New Zealand.
The firm comprises carefully selected teams of industry-leading specialists. Together they reinforce the firm’s reputation as a law firm with a strong sense of commerce.  Lowndes Associates prides itself on its ability to integrate specialist input from different areas of the law into seamless advice focused on what matters – the commercial outcome. Many of the firm’s lawyers have second degrees in business and management, and have qualifications and major international firm experience, including in Asia, Europe, the United States, the UK and Australia.
In the 2007 to 2009 editions of the Asia Pacific Legal 500 Guide to Asia’s Commercial Law Firms directory, Lowndes Associates has received listings as a leading commercial law firm in the following categories:
• Corporate/M&A
• Dispute Resolution
• Intellectual Property
• Restructuring and Insolvency
• Technology Media & Telecommunications
In the most recent editions of the IFLR1000 guide to the world’s leading financial law firms and the Chambers directory of top lawyers, the firm is highly ranked in the insolvency and restructuring areas.

ends

I asked Rod Drury (Ceo of Xero Ltd) a question about Ceo bloggers this morning. He was speaking at the Lowndes Associates Business Intelligence Series breakfast session in association with the National Business Review and The Auckland Chamber of Commerce on the topic of  ”Emerging A Winner From The Recession.”

It’s a question that I have asked many executives and Ceo’s over the last 3 years and received varied responses - the usual good, bad and ugly rule applies.

I remarked that he has been a profilic blogger over many years and whether any of the current successes he and his company have had can be specifically ascribed to writing a regular blog about his thoughts about his industry , his company and his personal experiences? Rod was an extremely active blogger for over 5 years, 1626 posts, 3 companies, 3 children and 10 kilos (he says) and while he has moved now to an occassional post on Xero’s blog  and in some other mainstream media blogs, he absolutely believes that blogging has made a significant contribution to his personal and business succcess. He went further to say that he probably wouldn’t have been able to raise the capital he did unless he had that rich repository of his “back story” readily available for investors and interested parties to see his track record and credibility.

Another Ceo who blogs is Carey Smith , Ceo of Ray White who has a personal blog about leadership and all things related on his personal site (including promoting his book – Deliver -36 Life Stories on Leadership) , and has created a company blog to discuss meaningful events with loyal followers of Ray White, his staff, suppliers, media and the market in general. The blogging has created opportunities to share his story with all stakeholders in a personal, regular and meaningful way.

More and more Ceo’s, business owners and executives are now taking this out of the”too hard” box and beginning to think how they can use blogging to further their own personal and business goals. Many of our clients for example executives from Results.com , Switch Business and others have begun blogging in the last two years – with dramatic results.

What are the benefits of blogging for CEO’s?

• Blogging creates discipline for developing worthwhile ideas and content that will enrich your audience and add value to readers, who include staff, suppliers, clients, prospects, media and (yes) competitors.
• The idea written up in a post creates the perfect opportunity to have open dialogue about an idea and get  feedback – instantly.
• Especially if you are in the intellectual capital or service related business , it’s the perfect opportunity to merchandise your teams IP and case studies that create value and bring readers benefit. But don’t be fooled – even people who are product manaufacturers or distributors can be successful bloggers.
• Each post becomes a “syndication opportunity” for influential online news sites and blogs that can spread your ideas further afield and attact like minded people into the debate.
• The blog shows your personal and company milestones along the way and helps communicate your intent and “backstory” in a meaningful way.
• Blogging and your style and “voice” can be a source of differentiation from your competitors.
•  Your latest blog post can be shared by your “community” – at least the ones that find your latest idea interesting on Twitter, Linkedin.com and elsewhere on the bloggosphere.
• People who understand their business and industry in detail have a dramatic advantage when it comes to blogging- and when you can translate this into words in a blog- then its adds instant credibility if you have been at it for some time and have developed a following.
• The blog and its associated tags and posts are found easily on Google and all the other search engines – all working together to show your vision, intent and actions – all usefull when engaging with existing and potential clients.

So when executives tell me that they are too busy minding their business to do any of that nonsense, I usually tell them that blogging can be a very useful instrument for Ceo’s in business. The Ceo blogger can achieve more depth and engagement with all his or her stakeholders than someone who only practices management by walk-about (which is also a necessity !) Of course the Ceo who engages their team in the process and gets the team involved in posting has that one further advantage- multiplying the ideas and thoughts that attract other like minded people.

So I say to would be bloggers who are Ceo’s – carry on minding your business – and start a blog. Start small. Be authentic. be purposeful.

Yes, make a calendar entry for the first one, by the end of the quarter. (Lets be realistic now) Start a plan for what you would like to write about and give it a go.

Independent contractors a vulnerable group says Ross Crotty, Special counsel, Employment Law at Lowndes Associates in a recent article in www.nzherald.co.nz . Particularly in current economic circumstances, they can be persuaded to enter in to so-called contracts for services as opposed to employment agreements, so desperate are they for the work…more

Ross has also been quoted in LawFuel about how the Court of Appeal Refuses to Cap Compensation for Humiliation, Loss of Dignity Etc. in Employment Law … more

Waikato-based businesspeople received crucial guidance on optimal current business practice from two senior corporate and commercial lawyers at a March 4 seminar in Hamilton.

Mark Lowndes and Mike Whale of the Auckland and Wellington law firm Lowndes Associates gave attendees, including chartered accountants, advisers and business owners, timely advice regarding recent changes to insolvency law, and directions for ‘bullet-proofing’ their own companies and those of clients during the recession.

Mr Lowndes is the managing partner and founder of the firm, while Mr Whale is a consultant to Lowndes Associates and co-editor, with Justice Paul Heath, of Heath & Whale on Insolvency, published in late 2008.

The pair examined positive steps available to businesses to improve their ability to weather the current financial turbulence. They took a fresh look, from a commercial law perspective, at the ways businesspeople can manage both risk and key business relationships.

The seminar also presented the various options for dealing with insolvency and restructuring issues for the business, its debtors and other stakeholders – with an emphasis on practical, cost-effective and early actions.

Mr Lowndes and Mr Whale addressed people at a time when the prospects for many businesses are grim: Insolvency and Trustee Service figures at late 2008 showed that personal insolvencies in New Zealand were up by one third on the same time a year earlier. The number of corporate liquidations and receiverships is also gaining momentum.

Mr Whale, one of the leading authorities in the area of corporate and personal insolvency, provided authoritative guidance on the new voluntary administration procedure. Adapted from Australia, voluntary administration as a new rescue regime provides an alternative, broader option for businesses which need to consider rescue or better outcomes than liquidation.

Mr Lowndes said the type of advice given at the seminar would be helpful to all involved in navigating their way through the current economic problems, from lawyers to accountants and general business owners. “In addition to addressing all the options available to business in a financial crisis, we presented a commercial law health check, looking at all aspects of this area of the law, from terms of trade, supplier and employment contracts to intellectual property, directors’ liability and business sale and purchase.”

The details:
Date:    Wednesday 4 March 2009
Time:    4– 6pm
Cost:    $60 (incl GST) includes refreshments
Venue:  Genesis Energy Lounge
              Stadium Waikato, Hamilton
ends
For further information, please contact:

Kate Alexander
Alexander Communications Ltd
+(64) 27 244 6094
kate@alexandercomms.co.nz

About Lowndes Associates
Lowndes Associates is a leading corporate and commercial law firm with a network of trusted associates around the world. It exclusively represents the Multilaw and Legalink international networks in New Zealand.
The firm comprises carefully selected teams of industry-leading specialists. Together they reinforce the firm’s reputation as a law firm with a strong sense of commerce.  Lowndes Associates prides itself on its ability to integrate specialist input from different areas of the law into seamless advice focused on what matters – the commercial outcome. Many of the firm’s lawyers have second degrees in business and management, and have qualifications and major international firm experience, including in Asia, Europe, the United States, the UK and Australia.
In the 2007 to 2009 editions of the Asia Pacific Legal 500 Guide to Asia’s Commercial Law Firms directory, Lowndes Associates has received listings as a leading commercial law firm in the following categories:
• Corporate/M&A
• Dispute Resolution
• Intellectual Property
• Restructuring and Insolvency
• Technology Media & Telecommunications
In the most recent editions of the IFLR1000 guide to the world’s leading financial law firms and the Chambers directory of top lawyers, the firm is highly ranked in the insolvency and restructuring areas.

Lowndes Associates acts for a number of Waikato clients in the commercial, research and IP areas.