Industry structure and institutional arrangements: identifying opportunities, challenges and policy implications
Operational research project code: GIN 725
The agriculture, food and forestry industries have often struggled from low market concentration and fragmentation, making it difficult for the industries as a whole to achieve high levels of R&D, market development and other investments that support long-term profitability and growth. New Zealand is a small, open, trade dependent economy that is a long way from its major markets and faces market access barriers, lack of critical mass and other constraints on its competitive performance.
Some of our major industry groups such as dairy, meat, wool and pipfruit are now in a “post-producer board world” and in some cases (e.g. pipfruit) are struggling to develop the right collective approaches to this. Some currently profitable sectors such as meat and kiwifruit are or will shortly face new challenges that might require changes to their structures. Other industries, such as vegetables, wine and seafood have never had a producer board structure but have found a need for collective action to grow their businesses and enhance profitability.
This project looks at institutional forms, industry structures and industry strategies that can be adopted by agricultural, horticultural and forestry businesses to help achieve greater levels of prosperity and growth and can support long-term approaches to innovation and market development.
It is expected that this project will review existing institutional and structural arrangements within key agricultural, horticultural and forestry industries, and contrast these with relevant international comparators. Finally this project should draw together conclusions and identify strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities within existing industry structures, and identify potential public policy initiatives for consideration.
Issues that need to be covered in the project include:
- descriptions of the major industry structures and forms and the business models used by agriculture, food and forestry businesses internationally;
- representative and named real examples of those structures, forms and models;
- case studies of a range of structures, forms and models used overseas but not widely in New Zealand that might be worth further analysis by New Zealand industries and businesses.
Lack of understanding about the structural impediments to growth has been identified.
The findings of the project will form the basis of a MAF publication outlining the range of collective and cooperative structures and business models that agriculture (includes horticulture, arable and related downstream processing and cluster businesses), food and forestry industries and businesses can use to enhance international competitiveness. This publication will be a think piece that widens views on what is possible and stimulates innovative approaches to industry structures and business models in New Zealand.
Contact:
Kay Brown
Tel: 04 894 0695
Email: kay.brown@maf.govt.nz
Contact for Enquiries
Manager, Innovation Policy
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
MAF Policy
PO Box 2526
Wellington
New Zealand
Tel:+64 4 894 0618
Fax:+64 4 894 0741
Contact this person
