OPINION LEADERS;Growth? It's up to business

Last year's results from the Fast 50 annual survey of New Zealand's fastest growing companies identified 4 main challenges: 1. managing cash flow, 2. accessing capital, 3. finding and retaining skilled staff, and 4. maintaining an infrastructure that supports growth. A striking feature: the top 3 are challenges that the private sector can and does address - not issues for the Government to fix. It is hard to avoid the sneaking suspicion that lack of ambition is all that might be holding New Zealand companies back. Great gains do not come without some risk, and this is a second area where New Zealanders may be culturally ill-suited to the challenge of the high-growth economy.