News and Insights
Read the latest news about the centre, alongside recent articles curated to engage, inform and generate discussion.
Diversity helps: a new study shows more women on boards can improve how businesses are managed
7 March 2025
Despite large multinational companies such as Goldman Sachs, Paramount, Google and others removing their diversity, equity and inclusion policies, the evidence is clear: having a diverse team can help businesses make better, more empathetic decisions.
Mana Moana: The legacy of Māori fisheries
18 February 2025
A groundbreaking new book, Mana Moana, dives into the legacy of Māori fisheries, Indigenous economic development, and the role of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in business.
Professor Andrew Jeffs on sustaining New Zealand’s Blue Economy
7 February 2025
Most New Zealanders revel in the country’s existence as an island nation, regularly enjoying our beaches. However, how many people know of our oceans’ economic potential?
Mark Zuckerberg wants business to ‘man up’, but what it really needs is more women entrepreneurs
6 February 2025
A 2024 study found promoting female entrepreneurship can greatly enhance women’s workforce participation and drive significant economic growth. And in 2015, the McKinsey Global Institute found advancing women’s workforce equality could add US$12 trillion to global growth.
Can we do capitalism better? This new research hub is up for the challenge
28 January 2025
“We knew when we called our centre Dialogues on Inclusive Capitalism that the word ‘inclusive’ would upset half the world, and ‘capitalism’ would upset the other half,” says Professor Susan Watson, dean of the Business School and interim head of the centre.
NZ’s Companies Act is finally being reformed – but will the changes go far enough?
23 January 2025
Reforms to the Companies Act are meant to make Aotearoa New Zealand an easier and safer place to do business. But key gaps in the reforms mean they could fall short of achieving these goals.
University chairs UN hub for decent work and economic growth
20 January 2025
The University of Auckland has been appointed Chair for the United Nations Academic Impact Hub (UNAI) on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth.
Measuring wealth through a Tongan lens is completely opposite the Western world
2 October 2024
Balancing Anga Faka-Tonga – the Tongan way of life – with financial wellbeing by University of Auckland PhD candidate Victoria Ongolea (Lapaha Tongatapu, Kundiawa, Simbu Province) and Professor Carla Houkamau (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāi Tahu and Pākehā) has been published in MAI Journal.
Riverscapes in Aotearoa New Zealand
18 September 2024
Megan Thomas is a critical physical geographer whose PhD emerged from this project. Her research explores how we can live with rivers rather than trying to ‘manage’ them, using the Waimatā river as a case study. Her paper, co-authored with Billie Lythberg, Dan Hikuroa and Gary Brierley, has recently been published in The Geographical Journal.
Without sanctions, sustainability disclosures lack impact
10 September 2024
As of last year, New Zealand’s largest companies and financial institutions have been required to disclose their climate-related risks and opportunities in their annual reports and regulatory filings.
International workshop on the History of Business Law
6 February 2024
Researchers from around the world, including the Dean of the Business School, Professor Susan Watson, shared their work on the History of Business Law and Governance at the Monash University Law Chambers in January.
Can money really buy happiness in New Zealand?
8 October 2023
University of Auckland Economics Professor Robert MacCulloch explores one of the most controversial topics in economics: the relationship between money and happiness.
Financial watchdog appoints academic for second term
25 August 2023
University of Auckland Macroeconomics Professor Prasanna Gai’s reappointment to the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) Board underscores the importance of economic expertise in navigating a rapidly changing financial landscape.
How happiness should and does influence our money decisions
July 11 2023
University of Auckland Economics Professor Robert MacCulloch’s research in the area of “happiness economics” investigates whether the most wealthy people are also the happiest.
Kānuka products a potential boon for Māori landowners
30 June 2023
University of Auckland researchers are using their expertise to turn kānuka into gourmet products, helping to benefit Māori landowners in Tairāwhiti.
A year of empowering enterprising women
18 April 2023
The University of Auckland Business School’s Aotearoa Centre for Enterprising Women recently marked one year of empowering women to become successful entrepreneurs.
Why the Māori way of doing the business actually does the business
10 February 2023
Māori companies work hard to balance people, planet and profit by prioritising values such as kaitiakitanga, whānaungatanga and manaakitanga, explains Associate Professor Rachel Maunganui Wolfgramm.
Māori perspectives extend notion of conscious capitalism
8 February 2023
University of Auckland Business School academics Carla Houkamau, Jamie Newth and Kiri Dell, together with Jason Mika of the University of Waikato, are exploring how a Māori theory of value could develop a more sustainable and inclusive approach to business.
Finland points way for NZ to reap benefits of increasing innovation performance
21 January 2023
What can we learn from the success of Finland and other small innovative countries? Rod McNaughton, Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Business School, explores how New Zealand can increase innovation and boost economic and social well-being.
How companies can play the longer game
31 October 2023
Separating the focus of boards from the interests of current shareholders, and the idea that the current shareholders own the company, enables companies to play a long-term game, says Professor Susan Watson, Dean of the University of Auckland Business School.
Multimillion-dollar fund supports circular plastics economy
30 September 2022
The 2022 Endeavour Fund awarded University of Auckland researchers $11.7 million to investigate novel ways to shape a sustainable circular plastics market.
New insights into the making of the modern company revealed
25 July 2022
A book by Professor Susan Watson, Dean of the University of Auckland Business School, explores the key features of a modern company and the idea that companies can, and must, think beyond current shareholders.
Professor Susan Watson joins the editorial board for the new ECGI Blog
9 February 2022
The Dean of the University of Auckland Business School, Professor Susan Watson, has joined a Blog platform launched by the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI).
All round benefits of NZ adopting a circular economy
1 December 2021
A circular economy provides a new model for sustaining human well-being within planetary boundaries and opportunities to improve competitiveness and economic resilience, explains Chemical and Materials Engineering Associate Professor Saeid Baroutian.
No good governance without diversity
8 March 2021
Professor Susan Watson, Dean of the University of Auckland Business School, challenges business leaders to establish and maintain a culture where diversity – including gender – is recognised as a critical feature of good governance.
The economics of happiness and well-being
17 February 2021
New Zealanders’ relative happiness is fragile, suggests University of Auckland Economics Professor Robert MacCulloch, a world expert on the economics of happiness.
Why GDP growth doesn’t make people happier
29 November 2019
A pioneering economist spoke at the University of Auckland Business School about questioning the dominance of GDP growth as the measure of social progress.
Corporate citizens and recognising the value of workers
6 August 2019
Are corporations people, are they comprised of people, or are they separate from people? Professor Susan Watson, Dean of the University of Auckland Business School, investigates.
Tech giants could risk all on exposed Achilles heel
28 March 2019
Professor Susan Watson, Dean of the University of Auckland’s Business School, explores a key weakness of Big Tech.