Sources of business assistance

Why a business needs outside help

• No business holds every capability it needs, and a business moving into an unfamiliar market holds fewer of them than usual.
• Business assistance is the advice, mentoring, networking, funding and services a business obtains from outside itself. The teaching guide names all five.
• It is an external factor because the availability of help is not the business's decision — it depends on what agencies, programmes and funding exist. Using it is the strategic response.

The five kinds of assistance

• Advice — expertise the business does not have: legal, tax, regulatory, market, technical, cultural.
• Mentoring — an experienced business person working with the owner or management over time, on judgement rather than on a single problem.
• Networking — introductions and connections: potential customers, distributors, suppliers, partners, and other exporters who have already made the mistakes.
• Funding — grants, co-funding, loans, investment, and support for research or market development.
• Services — market research, translation, in-market representation, trade fair participation, logistics.

Where it comes from

Source	What it is	What it is best for
Government agencies	National export, innovation and business development agencies	Market intelligence, in-market contacts, co-funding
Regional bodies	Regional economic development agencies and councils	Local networks, early-stage support, premises
Trade commissions and embassies	New Zealand's representation offshore	Introductions, market conditions, official channels
Industry organisations	Sector bodies and export groups	Sector-specific standards, collective market presence
Chambers of commerce	Membership business organisations, here and offshore	Networking, local knowledge, credibility
Professional advisors	Accountants, lawyers, IP specialists, consultants	Contracts, tax, structures, compliance
Banks and investors	Trade finance, currency management, capital	Funding growth and managing payment risk
Universities and research institutes	Research partnerships and technical expertise	Product and process development
Iwi and community organisations	Partnership, capital, networks and cultural guidance	Māori business development and cultural capability

• New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) is the government's export development agency and appears in the teaching guide's AS91385 list by name, along with trade commissions offshore.

When using assistance is a strategic response

• Buying an hour of legal advice is not strategic. It becomes a strategic response when it is committed, broad and long-running:
  • joining a formal export development programme that runs for years and reshapes how the business goes to market
  • appointing an in-market representative or agent, which commits budget and changes the whole distribution model
  • entering a joint venture or partnership with a business in the target market
  • taking investment that brings a partner into governance
  • a research partnership with a university or institute that changes the product

Positive impacts

• Access to knowledge the business could not build in a useful timeframe, or could only build by making the mistakes itself.
• Faster and cheaper market entry, because agencies already hold contacts and data.
• Reduced risk — advice on regulation, contracts, payment and IP prevents expensive errors.
• Credibility. An introduction from a trade commission or an established agency opens doors a cold approach does not.
• Funding that lets the business attempt something it could not have afforded alone.
• A different perspective. A mentor with no stake in the current plan will say things employees will not.

Negative impacts

• Cost. Professional advice is expensive, and grants usually require matched funding.
• Loss of control. Investors, partners and joint ventures come with a say in decisions.
• Dependence. A business that never builds the capability in-house has to keep buying it.
• Fit. Generic advice can be wrong for a specific business, and following it costs more than ignoring it would have.
• Time. Applications, reporting and relationship management take management attention.
• Disclosure. Getting help means telling outsiders about the business, including things it would prefer competitors did not know.