Business to get lift from research centre

Businesses and industry groups across the Bay of Plenty will soon reap the benefits of higher productivity, increased profitability and greater sustainability, thanks to a new research centre.
Waikato University officially launched its new Institute for Business Research (IBR) at the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic's Windermere campus yesterday.
The institute will draw on the expertise of researchers at the university's management school to allow the industry and Government to better work together to improve the business sector.
Stuart Locke, director of IBR at Waikato University, was excited about the centre, which will work with clients in areas ranging from innovation to economic impact analysis.
He said the centre would give business and industry groups access to the latest management thinking and research expertise, by addressing issues such as productivity and sustainability - two key issues that businesses were facing in New Zealand.
"New Zealand needs to step up and begin to compete with the rest of the world, otherwise we'll be left behind," Dr Locke said.
"There is a great need [for the research centre]. We lose a lot of people who go over to Australia and I do not want to see, in later years, people going off to Samoa because they're better there."
Guest speaker at the launch was Professor David Hensher, founding director of the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies and Professor of Management at the University of Sydney.
He said the centre could "become a flagship for the country" and bring New Zealand into a "competitive stance" in the marketplace.
The IBR's four main areas of interest are business performance and leadership, agribusiness and innovation, business in the service sector and business in society.
"Through the IBR, we can now offer research, advisory and consultancy services to help businesses and organisations add further value to what they do," Dr Locke said.
The IBR is one of four new research institutes being launched by Waikato University over the next few months. The others are the National Institute for Demographic and Economic Analysis, the Environmental Research Institute and Te Kotahi Research Institute for Innovation, Well-being and Inspiration.