Business strategies
Researchers returning from the field in Fiordland. Image – Mike Perry.
In the past year Landcare Research achieved significant progress in relation to our five–year strategic goals.
One Landcare Research:
Build internal cohesiveness across teams through a shared vision, distinctive culture, and strengthen connections between science and support.
An organisation–wide review of how we manage our reputation; improved internal communication through a new fortnightly staff e–newsletter and revamped intranet; new leadership development training and workforce planning methodology; new company–wide information technology tools, e.g. improved online performance appraisal system, and a shared workspace (InfoFile) to foster teamwork.
Customer focus:
Increase financial resilience by strengthening existing customer relationships and broadening customer base for contract research through the private sector and internationally.
An independent survey of key commercial customers; heightened news media profile; regular senior management strategic reviews with leading clients; significant growth in the customer bases of Sirtrack and carboNZeroCertTM programme.
Māori – the next step:
Sustain distinctive bicultural character. Develop excellent relationships and partner with Māori organisations to support sustainable economic development.
New Māori collaborative research projects; closer relationships were forged with key Māori stakeholders such as Te Puni Kokiri; and new tools to aid staff bicultural understanding were created.
Science to value:
Promote and support science excellence; formally plan connections between today’s discoveries and tomorrow’s policy, practice, products and services.
Updated science and technology strategy to focus on 3 key outcomes and 3 cross–cutting themes; created new marketing material to promote our capability; internal investment into technology pipelines and to explore promising concepts including algae–related techniques and denitrification beds; launch of EcoGene DNA–based diagnostics service; deployment of erosion models by multiple councils.
Innovation through integration:
Address the dilemmas posed by sustainable development by integrating our capabilities in biophysical, economic and social sciences, and through collaboration with other world–leaders in these fields of science.
Established multidisciplinary research teams in soil microbiology and climate change; built international links with complementary organisations in Australia, Europe and India.
Financial resilience:
Generate increased financial flexibility and capacity to reinvest in new science through new revenues, improved project margins and target internal investment to emerging areas of growth.
Secured $2.5m from Equity Investment Fund and for the first time $150k per annum of devolved Pre–Seed Funding; deployed $4.2m of internal and Capability Fund investment in new and emerging areas of research; improved performance of Enviro–Mark®NZ business; Sirtrack achieved record revenues of $4.8m.