I’m not going to comments at length on this one but… here we go again

Humanware, until very recently held up as the quintessential New Zealand hi tech success story, is shutting up shop in New Zealand and relocating offshore.

Someone remind me where the domestic benefit is derived when a company is sold offshore, moves it’s manufacturing offshore and does it’s R&D offshore?

Ben Kepes

Ben Kepes is a technology evangelist, an investor, a commentator and a business adviser. Ben covers the convergence of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users.

5 Comments
  • Which is the same case as AfterMail and Navman…

  • Would you sell your house to your neighbours even though they’ll pay way below market price? Or perhaps you think we should have laws prohibiting foreign investment (by others in NZ – and by NZers offshore, to be consistent. While we’re at it, let’s stop imports – and exports too, again, to be consistent.

    Most business sellers would love to see their business continue to be locally owned, but the reality is we have a dearth of local buyers, let alone buyers who’ll pay market price. What’s your solution for that?

  • The outflow of tech companies has now officially reached epidemic proportions. It simply highlights the difficulties these firms face in raising capital in a small market geographically removed from the mainstream.

    http://geniusnet.blogtown.co.nz/2008/01/21/funding-commercialisation-of-rst-a-balancing-act/

    In the case of Humanware, the tragic death of the founder hastened it’s departure. But it might have happened anyway. The reality is that last year only a handful of NZ tech companies got growth funding. I can’t remember the last time I saw a press release from the VIF crowd.

    What are these guys being paid to do all day?

    We need a mix of local and well connected overseas capital flowing into our tech sector.

  • Ben, I could have sworn I posted a response to this thread a few days ago. What gives?

  • jonathan scott |

    The news aside – unfortunately, we’re all guilty as the next. We go to a shop and we usually buy a product that is cheaper. We naturally think with our pockets and not with our hearts. So in order to compete on price manufacturers go overseas, usually China, India and rest of Asia.

    Just look at how much milk products have risen in price since the Fonterra payouts to their farmers. Export prices are much higher than local. Farmers work hard for their income and are entitled to a fair price. But at the expense of the local market, where we get substandard meats and more expensive dairy products. It’s all well and good to say if we didn’t export we would have cheaper local prices, but then we would have less farmers because the market would be too small to support them, so prices may not be any cheaper.

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