Exploring export possibilities

Press, 29 February 1984, Page 34

Exploring export possibilities

A one-day seminar, "Inside Australia,” is to be held at the Chateau Regency in Christchurch tomorrow week. The biggest of its kind, it has been organised by Focus New Zealand, with the help of the Canterbury

branch of the Export Institute of New Zealand. Intended to counter confusion over the Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement with Australia, the programme is designed particularly for manufacturers who have a sound

home-base market and are thinking about exporting to Australia for the first time.

Business size is not a factor. The Export Institute’s publicity man. Mr Roger Mathieson of Tait Electronics, says that there are manj T “cottage industries” within a 60km radius of Christchurch, and that these could benefit just as readily as a big heavymachinery business.

Prominent Australian marketing managers and buyers will attend, plus a trade official from the Australian High Commission and a senior official from the Trade and Industry Department of New Zealand. The key speakers at the seminar will be Mr Geoff Francis and Mr Dennis Gain. Mr Francis is the general manager of the trading division of Charles Davis, Ltd, a large, diversified hardware and merchandising group based in Hobart. He is also a director of the Australian Hardware

Distributors, a national organisation of the largest hardware merchants and wholesalers.

Mr Gain is the governing director of Gain Sang and Associates (Aust.) Pty. Ltd, marketing consultants in Sydney and Melbourne. He is an expatriate New Zealander who spent 10 years with Alex Harvey Industries. Ltd (A.H.1.), holding posts that included marketing manager for New Zealand Fibre Glass, Ltd; group marketing manager for the A.H.I. building products group; and general manager of the A.H.I. roofing group. Mr Gain left New Zealand in 1979 to establish his own marketing consultant firm in Australia, and the firm now handles marketing across the Tasman for a number of New Zealand clients. Two other speakers attending the seminar from Australia are Mr Warren Rose and Mr Mike Corringham. Mr Rose is the group marketing manager of Electrical Equipment, Ltd, a manufacturer and distribu-

tor of electrical products. Mr Corringham another expatriate New Zealander, is a senior executive of Tomkin Enterprises, the biggest importer of catering equipment for institutions in Sydney. The meeting will be chaired by Mr Donal Johnson, director of the Export Institute of New Zealand. Besides addresses by speakers, the seminar will involve practical workshops on topics such as packaging and specifications. Plenty of time will be devoted to question-and-answer sessions, and individual attention will be given to products to assess their suitability for the Australian market — or if they could be modified to suit it. Some of the Australian buyers present will be available for appointments after the seminar. The Export Institute has issued 3000 brochures on the seminar to its members throughout the country, and a further 100 copies to other firms“Inside Australia" is part of the 1984 Focus New Zealand campaign.