ENTRY DETAILS

These guidelines have been established to provide you with further ideas on what can be included in your entry.

Many previous entrants have remarked on the entry process as being a good discipline for the following reasons:

  • An opportunity to focus on your business by identifying your core strengths and competitive advantages

  • A good discipline to review your business and think about what makes you different from other organisations and identify any areas for further improvement

  • Gives staff a sense of pride in the organisation they work for developing a unified team culture

  • It helps create new levels of motivation and enthusiasm for the organisation by getting staff involved in the entry process

  • A good opportunity to highlight what you are really good at in a creative way.

 

Below are some tips on what the judges are looking for:

Your business description

Clearly outline your core business focus noting any relevant points that you wish to highlight and the specific capability you wish to profile in your entry.

 

Your point of difference

  • Innovative product and/or service development

  • Unique marketing strategies and branding strategies

  • Unique customer markets

  • Evidence of positive outcomes or competitive advantage resulting from this point of difference and how the point of difference links to improved performance

  • Your organisation’s guiding principles and company values - and how you involve key stakeholders (including staff, suppliers and customers).

 

Key characteristics of your business

  • Business objectives that have been achieved in 2009

  • Innovative initiatives that have successfully been employed

  • Unique organisational policies – internal and/or external benefits

  • Examples of ways this enterprise has added value to the Canterbury region business community or the community in general

  • Buying locally

  • Involvement in local sponsorships. Include information on the dollar input in relation to enterprise size, active involvement in the event or activity e.g involvement in community/charitable initiatives

  • Branding/marketing behaviour that reinforces positive social values

  • Active involvement in a local business organisation or industry groups

  • Other awards achieved or won

  • Innovative responses to changes in your enterprise’s operating environment

  • Product integrity

  • Application to innovation/technology

  • Attitude/role in ensuring sustainability in our environment – environmental, financial, social sustainability.

 

People management

  • Outstanding commitments to employees through human resource strategies, programmes or initiatives

  • Examples of investment in personnel development and cultivation of organisational culture

  • Staff uptake/ownership of human resources programmes, or new organisational cultures/environments including workplace flexibility initiatives and recruitment and retention programmes

  • Staff involvement in the development of HR related programmes, organisational policies or specific systems and processes.