Business Strategies and Employment Decisions: Interviews with New Zealand Firms

William Kaye-Blake (), Bette Flagler and Rachel Campbell
Additional contact information
William Kaye-Blake: National Institute of Economic Research
Bette Flagler: Agribusiness and Economics Research Unit, Lincoln University
Rachel Campbell: Agribusiness and Economics Research Unit, Lincoln University

No 12/4, Occasional Papers from Ministry of Economic Development, New Zealand

Abstract: A firm’s business strategy does not exist in a vacuum; it requires employees to implement it. However, firms often say that they have difficulties hiring certain types of employees. Through interviews with firms and analysis of the 2008 New Zealand Business Operations Survey, this research explored the interaction between strategy and employees’ skills, and differences between high value-add (HVA) and medium value-add (MVA) firms. MVA firms focused more on production methods, technical skills, and margins over costs. HVA firms focused more on the business skills of a few, professional core employees, as well as the marketing aspects of their products.

Keywords: business strategy; core employees; high value-add; hiring; New Zealand (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D21 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2012-05-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:nzmedo:2012_004

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