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Reading comprehension
The reason New Zealand business people often struggle when they go overseas is probably that the business environment here isn’t tough enough．That is the theory of billionaire Graeme Hart, who has successfully built an international company．
Hart believes it is wrong to focus on the difficulties New Zealand business people often have in Australia．In his view it is more that“New Zealanders are challenged when they go offshore”and Australia happens to be the first place most go to．“The reason is straightforward,”he says．“New Zealand is a really cool country, it’s a nice place in many, many regards, but no least of all to do business．It’s not a really tough business environment．”Unfortunately, that means people who run successful business in this country find conditions difficult elsewhere．
Hart says in his early days of stepping outside New Zealand“I got my nose bloodied all over my face a few times．But that’s just part of the process．If you’re able to stay the course then over time, you toughen up and you become more familiar with the environment that you’ve chosen to operate it, be it Australia or anywhere else．You just learn the rules of a different playground．”
However, he says the situation is changing because, like the rest of the world, New Zealand is increasingly a part of the global village．“Our exposure to business offshore has increased substantially over the last 10 to 20 years and in another 10 to 20 years we’ll be that much more experienced．It’s just that we’re perhaps a little bit behind the rest of the world in terms of stepping out into those bigger playgrounds．”But, he says, it has to happen and“we’re becoming better businessmen for stepping offshore…I’m a better businessman for stepping offshore”．
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