July 03, 2017
‘Tanga’ key to good business
Researchers are trying to pin down how Maori business can create not just wealth but well-being.
Chellie Spiller from the University of Auckland business school says the three-year, $500,000 study funded by Maori research body Nga Pae o te Maramatanga will look at how traditional values influence leadership and decision making.
She says while many Maori organisations look and behave like Pakeha businesses, others tackle the challenge of ensuring inter-generational well being.
"Maori values, what we call the "tanga's". They are "manaakitanga,kaitiakitanga, whanaungatanga, are really important for those businesses and the way that they tap into kaumatua, kuia for wisdom in the group helps guide them towards making a decision that's tika, pono and aroha, which can be different from Maori organisations at the other end of the spectrum," she says.
Dr Spiller says most Maori businesses are still land or resource-based, but there are also emerging businesses in the creative and technology spheres who are looking at how Maori values can influence what they do.
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