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Preparing for 2010: Balancing the big picture with fine details - December 6, 2009.

The economy is still not out of the woods yet but indicators are pointing to a tentative recovery of the business environment. Business and consumer confidence have improved in the September quarter and should continue to stabilise if not get better, provided the global economy does not receive new shocks.

According to the International Monetary Fund, growth among New Zealand’s major trading partners is expected to be around 3% in 2010.

Executive Chairman of S H Lock, Peter Goodfellow, said the acquisition fitted with the company's strategic vision to provide both business finance and debtor finance/factoring facilities to meet the needs of New Zealand's small and medium sized businesses, and provided a good platform from which to further expand the company in the New Zealand market.

As businesses put on their thinking hats on how to prepare for the new year, it is imperative to be mindful that the global financial liquidity is still less than perfect after a massive ingestion of bad debts.

Local business owners have been coping with tough economic conditions and 2010 will be no different. Although selective parts of the economy are beginning to resume some of the lustre lost during the last 18 months.

There is no better time for business owners to re-position the company going forward. These are some useful questions on the checklist to be attentive to:

• Do you have the right people to power your business?
• Do you have the right financial structure to support growth?
• Have you talked to your financiers lately?
• Have you consolidated your distribution/marketing channels?
• Have you tightened your back-end support operations?

While these may seem like logical questions to ask, many business owners often get too wrapped up in their daily operations, and tend to overlook the need to get a helicopter view of their business. One of the most common mistakes a business can make is to shrink resources back so much that there is no time to rebuild when their business starts expanding again. In this area, nothing is more important than having a ready pool of people who can help ignite your business.

Another mistake businesses make is to run their finances so tightly that they forget to invest in areas that matter. Building a sustainable business is all about continually investing in innovative ideas and taking measured risks.

During the last recession, some suppliers or customers have been wiped out. The companies that have/will make it through this, and future recessions, are those that maintain their longterm vision while working in the boiler room on the fine details of running their day-to-day operations.

To find out more about Lock Finance products, call 0800 ASK LOCK (0800 275 562)