ABSTRACT
New Zealand has a small population and low population density, and its major export earners—agricultural products and tourism (about 20% and 9% of GDP respectively)—have strong associations with the natural environment. New Zealand also has a high reliance on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with 66% of the workforce working in local units with fewer than 50 employees. However, New Zealand is noted for its flexibility, lack of bureaucratic inertia, and willingness to innovate. It is also accepted as having very low levels of corruption at the governance level. Corporate accountability was to shareholders in all cases, and few if any board and management roles explicitly focused on CR issues. All the organisations produced financial accounts to owners and to shareholders. Since 1999, considerable national interest has developed in corporate responsibility, driven in part by the political agenda surrounding the Kyoto Protocol and other 'green' issues and partly by an increasing sense that this is an important global agenda.
