Marketing key to ‘brave new world’

Press, 25 January 1988, Page 3

Marketing key to ‘brave new world’

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington

A lower dollar and a decline in interest rates will not of themselves bring about New Zealand’s “brave new world,” according to the Minister of Overseas Trade, Mr Moore.

He was speaking to the advanced marketing management programme run by the International Marketing Institute at Waikato University in Hamilton yesterday. Single digit inflation would reduce interest rates and lead to domestic success. But without an export drive focused on modern market-led strategies any success in restructuring the domestic economy would be shortlived. An integral part of New Zealand’s economic recovery was dependent on offshore activities, said Mr Moore. The new, merged, trade development structure soon to be announced in detail by the Government would be a lean, cost-

sharing trade promotion organisation. It would be associated closely with trade access, development and marketing work. He said this would flow from the announced merging of the Market Development Board with the Tradecom section of the Trade and Industry Department. New Zealanders should acknowledge that their country was now product super-Power in milk, wool, vegetables and apples. It had world-beat-ing export crops in horticulture (from kiwifruit to wine), meats (eel through to venison), computer software, crafted furniture and clay products. There was great potential to expand this list, said Mr Moore.