212 Int. J. Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Vol. 1, Nos. 3/4, 2004 GEM New Zealand's different approach Howard H. Frederick School of Management and Entrepreneurship, Unitec New Zealand, Private Bag 92025, Auckland, New Zealand E-mail: hfrederick@unitec.ac.nz Abstract: At 13.9% of the adult population, New Zealand's "Total Early-Stage Entrepreneurial Activity" is highest amongst developed countries. This benchmark uses the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) methodology. New Zealand has a high level of opportunity entrepreneurship and a moderate level of necessity entrepreneurship. New Zealand's entrepreneurial firms contribute about half of all new jobs created annually. Informal investment is a more important source of financing to entrepreneurs than venture capital. The proportion of female entrepreneurs has slipped over the past three years. Maori are more entrepreneurial than the rest of population. The study argues that New Zealand has an excellent innovation policy but no entrepreneurship policy. Keywords: New Zealand; entrepreneurship; Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Frederick, H.H. (2004) 'GEM New Zealand's different approach', Int. J. Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Vol. 1, Nos. 3/4, pp.212-222. Biographical notes: Howard H. Frederick is recognised as an authority in the field of global communications, economic development, and new technologies. He is the author of New Zealand 's first Knowledge Economy Report (1999) as well as of numerous journal papers and books. One of New Zealand's leading advocates for the knowledge economy path to development, Frederick is New Zealand's only Professor of innovation and entrepreneurship. 1 Introduction Conceived in 1999, GEM's objectives are to gather high quality international research data on entrepreneurial activity and to make it available to as wide an audience as possible. Prior to GEM and even to this day, conventional economic research had focused almost exclusively on the competitiveness and productivity of nations and of large corporations. GEM took a different line and sought to answer such questions as: • how much entrepreneurial activity is taking place worldwide? • what are the different types of entrepreneurship? • why are some countries more entrepreneurial than others? • what can governments do to promote and facilitate entrepreneurial activity? This is an innovative approach that requires a long-term commitment. Five years since its inception, neither the vision nor the commitment has dimmed. As a result, GEM is now Copyright © 2004 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.