NZI hopes to sell software in Asia

Press, 15 May 1985, Page 42

NZI hopes to sell software in Asia

By

MICHAEL HANNAH

in Wellington A joint-venture operation to market the computer software of NZI Corporation, Ltd, in Malaysia and Thailand is under consideration.

The proposal arose from the recent tour of the six A.S.E.A.N. capitals by a New Zealand trade and economic mission, led by the Minister of Overseas Trade, Mr Moore. Among the trade mission’s members were NZl’s managing director, Mr David Chalmers, and the general manager of the corporation’s Singapore subsidiary, Mr Don Wyber.

Mr Chalmers detected interest in Malaysia and Thailand in the corporation’s computer software. “Probably the way we would go in Malaysia and Thailand is with some sort of joint-venture marketing company,” he told “The Press” during the A.S.E.A.N. tour.

Both countries prefer overseas companies wanting to get involved in their markets to form joint-ven-ture firms. In Malaysia, a ratio of 70 per cent Malay-

sia and 30 per cent foreign ownership is preferred; in Thailand the ratio is more favourable to outsiders at 60:40.

In spite of the loss of control of the venture such ratios impose on foreign companies, Mr Chalmers had no qualms about entering such an arrangement.

“I think it’s inevitable if you’re operating there. You’ve got to do it,” he said. Malaysia will consider exceptions, but only where the venture is totally involved in exporting from Malaysia. At the same time, it offers foreign businesses an open exchange system, which allows for capital flows and repatriation of profits, as well as some tax breaks, though these are currently being reviewed by the Malaysian Government.

Mr Chalmers raised NZl’s proposal at a meeting between the trade mission and the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA), a Government agency. His proposal was received warmly, and he tested the commercial waters later in both Malaysia and Thailand. NZl’s involvement in

computer software may be less well-known to the public than its insurance, merchant banking, and financial services. But the corporation expects to receive about $B5 million in revenue this year from its sales of software, with which accountants and lawyers would be more familiar in Australia and New Zealand. Through companies such as INSCOM, Hartley Computers, Framework, and Merrit, the NZI Corporation markets a variety of software through Australia, New Zealand, and Britain, and hopes to make inroads soon in the United States market.

Software products include one called polisy, designed for insurance companies and sold throughout Australia, Britain, and Asia. Another system is sold to public and chartered accountants, and Mr Chalmers considered it a market leader in Australia.

A small-business system, sold through accountants to their clerks, is aimed at discouraging accountants’ clerks from buying microcomputers and “doing their own thing.”