Businesses up and down the country will have started the new year reflecting on the new millennium, the implications of the change of government, and the forces that are shaping the international environment in which New Zealand firms are increasingly operating.

The world economy looks to be set for a good year. The US economy is continuing to grow strongly, Europe is in better economic shape, and many Asian countries have bounced back from the economic traumas of 1998. The improvements of recent years have been driven by the efforts of many governments over the past two decades to free up their economies, the more stable environment for investment created by central banks, and the wave of technological innovations that are transforming business processes worldwide.