Critical success factors when going global: the basic challenge

Abstract

The Government's Growth Agenda is to increase the ratio of exports to GDP from the current 30% to 40% by 2025. New Zealand agribusinesses of all types are being urged to use knowledge and expertise overseas to increase export revenue in order to assist with achieving the agenda. Over the last two decades there have been numerous attempts to "go global" with varied success. There have also been a considerable number of commissioned reports on how companies should proceed. Pastoral farmers rely on their processors and marketers to return an income to their business, but some co-operatives and companies are more successful than others. This paper gives the background for the case studies in the three papers which follow comparing (a) export strategies for dairy companies, (b) increasing suppliers/customers for co-operative companies and (c) taking New Zealand knowledge and expertise in farming systems offshore. Keywords: Export, relationships, supply-chain, value-add