Masters thesis provides practical business advice

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Masters thesis provides policy-makers with practical advice for small business

Robyn de Bruin-Judge decided from the outset that if she were to get through her masters thesis, it would have to be relevant to the business world.

She was already flat-out at the successful North Shore furniture-making company she runs with her husband, as well as raising two young children when she resumed academic study at the Auckland campus five years ago.

Mrs de Bruin-Judge’s two-year research project – an analysis of how small to medium businesses in New Zealand comply with regulations – has earned her first class honours for her Masters in Public Policy. She will graduate next Friday afternoon at the sixth of seven Massey Auckland capping ceremonies in the Bruce Mason Centre in Takapuna during the week.

Not only that, her ground-breaking findings led in December to her selection ahead of more than 250 applicants to join the Economic Development Ministry’s small business advisory group.

The thrust of her thesis is that although New Zealand has a reputation as one of the easiest places in the world to do business, small to medium enterprises often struggle because no distinction is made between them and large companies.

Size does matter when it comes to understanding and complying with the multitude of sometimes complex rules relating to gst, income tax, provisional tax, ACC, health and safety law, employment law and others, she says.

Big companies can rely on accountants, lawyers and human resources staff, often in-house, but smaller businesses either have to contract that work out, usually at a higher cost relative to staff numbers, or attempt to do it themselves. This can cause problems if they lack the skills, don’t have the latest information on rule changes or know where to turn for help.

The reality is that partners and family members often take on unpaid administrative tasks to keep small businesses going, none of which is officially recognised, Mrs de Bruin-Judge says. “Often women are pulled back into work doing the books – it’s unseen and unpaid.”

She is “rapt” that her thesis (The entrepreneurial capital of SMEs and business compliance in New Zealand: A study of the relationship) made policy-makers sit up and take notice before it was even bound.

Her recommendations on how to improve the Business Cost Calculator – an Australian-designed computer tool used by policy makers here to estimate the cost of proposed regulations to businesses – are being considered by government policy analysts.

“The calculator needs to be adjusted to accommodate the costs and impacts on SMEs specifically, rather than just to business in general,” she says. “This is because SMEs make up 96.6 per cent of the New Zealand business community, and small businesses experience different costs and impacts than larger ones.”

Mrs de Bruin-Judge has been a Massey student for more than 20 years, starting her BA in Social Sciences at the Palmerston North campus in 1984 and following that with a Diploma in Business Studies, which she did extramurally when living in Auckland.
“My mother [Edith Judge] did her BA in Social Sciences extramurally when I was growing up, so from secondary school I got used to going to Palmerston North for block courses in the holidays.”

Mrs de Bruin-Judge hopes her achievement will inspire others with busy lives, who want to study but feel daunted by how to manage it. Her method – focus, self-discipline, with no movies, television, holidays or social outings for two years – might not sound like fun, but it achieved results.

She will attend monthly meetings in Wellington with the Small Business Advisory Group exploring ways to help SMEs, and plans to spend more time on the family business, de Bruin-Judge Furniture, concentrating on marketing and systems operations. Right after a well-earned holiday.

For details of Auckland campus graduation ceremonies:

http://graduation.massey.ac.nz/massey/students/graduation/auckland/key-dates/april-graduation/april-graduation.cfm

ENDS

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