Overview of Silver Fern Farms of New Zealand
Question:
Discuss About The Strategies International Industrial Market?
The report gives an overview of business planning of Silver Fern Farms of New Zealand. The company is a leading processor, marketer and exporter of the premium quality of the beef, lamb, venison and its associated products[1]. The report is divided into two distinct parts, Part A and Part B. Part A of the report primarily focuses on the brief introduction, environmental analysis and evaluation of the strategies, integration and application of the principles of Treaty of Waitangi within the business process. Part B of the report is an internal memo that deals with the environmental analysis of the global market and the proposal. In this section, the report provides an insight into the choice of the target market along with its justification. There is also discussion on the various global factors and their implications on the company. The global business expansion and the market entry strategy also find a mention in the report. The limitation of the report is the genuineness of all the available information and it is only limited to a particular country. The report therefore provides a scope for all the readers to undertake similar research on other countries thereby overcoming the existing limitations. The purpose of the report is to provide an insight into the business process of Silver Fern Farms and the environmental analysis of its global market.
The establishment of Silver Fern Farms dates back to 1948 as Primary Producers Cooperative Society (PPCS). Initially located in New Zealand’s south island, it represented a cooperative that predominantly marketing sheep meat. Until the appointment of the new management team in the year 1970, the company remained a minor player in meat industry. The cooperative got an opportunity for utilizing its profitability over the last decade due to the removal of subsidies to the farmers, the ceasing of the monopoly of the Meat Board of New Zealand in marketing of sheep meat and the over capacity of the industry for meat processing. This led to the expansion of the company in the year 1980 through takeover of other meat processing companies and cooperatives in southern and northern Island of New Zealand[2]. Some major consolidations took place in New Zealand through the year 1990s with active involvement of the PPCS. In the year 2008, PPCS renamed as Silver Fern Farms based on the long-standing brands.
Presently, Silver Fern Farms represents a multinational meat cooperative of New Zealand and owned by around 16000 deer, cattle and sheep farmers of New Zealand. The company represents the largest market and processing of livestock in New Zealand[3]. The company has investments in meat processing, manufacturing, transportation of livestock, meat marketing and export logistics with companies like New Zealand and Australian Lamb Company Limited, The Lamb Co-Operative, Inc, NZ Lamb Group, Livestock Logistics Nationwide Limited, Robotic Technologies Limited, Farm Brands Limited, Alpine Origin Merino Limited, Ovine Automation Limited and Kotahi Logistics LP. The company however produces around 30 percent of all the lamb, venison and beef and has annual sales of over $ 2.4 billion to more than 60 countries.
Environmental Analysis and Evaluation of Strategies
Vision: Silver Fern Farm has the vision of creating inspirational food for the passionate people[4]. The company is therefore always thinking of the ways that will contribute to the enjoyment of their meals. This acts as a driving force behind the company in making them passionate about their creation.
Mission: Silver Fern Farms stands for and guide the way in which they accomplish things[5]. The company comprises of food people who not only makes it well but also takes care of it and its origin. The company also believes in doing the right thing for not only their people but also the shareholders, customers, environment and community. Further, the company is made of passionate people who remain collectively and individually responsible.
Corporate Culture: Silver Fern Farms represents creation of inspirational food by the most passionate people. The employees of Silver Fern Farms possess a shared mission of creating the finest red meat of the world[6]. The expertise and skills coupled with dedication and hard work helps the company in achieving its goals. The company also has commitment of giving their people the necessary training and resources required for not only the needs of the consumer but also the suppliers.
The staffs of the company works on state of the art processing plants considered as innovation centers. These staffs continuously fed with market information so that they produce food as the market demands. The staffs however take pride in mastering the art of butchery and goes through approved training courses for achieving complete potential. They staffs also helps in contributing to cost efficiency, product quality and reduced risk of injury. The company with its talented team focuses on producing one of best beef, venison and lamb. Therefore, the livestock team of the company deals with the farmers in sourcing the best lot of livestock.
Resources: The expert staffs of Silver Fern Farm along with the supply of livestock act as the resources for the company[7]. The livestock supply counts around the partnership of over 16,000 sheep, deer and beef farmers.
Key competencies of a company: Silver Fern Farms focuses on identifying the consumer needs and then works with farers in growing the animals and applying their expertise in creating different products for meeting the needs[8]. This represents the key competency of the company and ensures giving it a competitive advantage. However, the company’s policy from the plate to the pasture helps it driving it value chain upwards for achieving higher product returns. This helps the company to remain profitable and thereby pay premiums to the suppliers of livestock, based on meeting the criteria of the consumer needs. The company is not only trying to grow the confidence of its brand but also put forward its story and strategy to the whole world. The year 2015, proved to be a remarkable year as chilled products, value added products for retail and the branded food service range made 19 percent of the total global sales.
The four key areas of discussion for external analysis include Political, economical, Legal and Social responsibility.
The Global Market and Market Entry Strategy
The political system of New Zealand is quite stable with stronger rules and regulations that lead to greater success of the business. The labor laws are quite strict and the labor force quite expensive. The country also have higher lending rates therefore, the company need to pay higher taxes, which in turn reduces the company’s profit (Holt, 2013). However, the country has given ample freedom to Silver Fern Farms so that it can easily carry out its business.
New Zealand has an excellent economic situation that is quite visible from the per capita income of the government in comparison to the other countries of the world. This provides Silver Fern Farms an ideal ambience for carrying out its business (Goldson et al., 2015). The country has an abundance of everything with its population around six to seven million. Businesses like Silver Fern Farms can make their products available at such an affordable price so that they are bought easily. The country also has a lower inflation and unemployment rate that implies the positive impact of the economy and the growth of GDP. This situations is quite business friendly and enables Silver Fern Farms to earn a higher profit over the business activities and trade.
In New Zealand, the government changes after every three years along with which there is also a change in the rules and regulations and therefore, the country has a lower crime rate. Corruption has been has been completely curbed by the government and hence business like Silver Fern Farm can operate peacefully (Kelsey, 2015). The business also have a huge scope for expansion however the margin of the profit remains low since the companies have to pay excessive lending charges to the government. Silver Fern Farm has both business and trade freedom that helps the company to not only expand but also flourish their business. Thus, the company can however carry out its business without the fear of legal implication in any of their business activities.
Silver Fern Farm considers themselves as responsible food producers for ensuring sustenance of the communities. The staffs of the company remain active as volunteers in the regional communities and support rural fire brigades, rescue squads and ambulances[9]. The company also tries to contribute in time of great need. In the year 2011, the staffs, customers and farmers of Silver Fern Farm donated an amount close to $891, 642.93 to the red cross of New Zealand for Earthquake appeal. Following a fire that destroyed one of the plants of Silver Fern Farm in the year 2010, the local suppliers and farmers contributed to a fund that helped in rebuilding the plant.
Silver Fern Farms made investments in building an integrated value chain that translated from the plates to the pastures. The company also invested in excellent processing and technology innovation. According to Roche (2014), for meeting the promise of the customers, the company has implemented the development of the Farm IQ Systems Ltd. However this, Farm IQ will not only act as an enabler for the farmers in delivering the necessary product but will also help in empowering them for the identification of the opportunities on the farm for increasing the productive capacity thereby ensuring generation of more value from the on farm systems. However according to Callagher(2015), these farm IQ systems is quite critical to understand as it fails determine where to put effort and investment and the ways for making the data application straightforward. The company has made investments in Electronic Identification Device (EID) panel readers for complete analysis of processed livestock and the changes in conformation. According to Ocak, Ogun & Gunduz (2013), this will help the company in accessing the exact data of the received animals, the variances and the payment mode for the different yields. The company however went into joint venture with the Scott Technology for getting a hold of the technologies of automated processing. In the year 2008, the company also implemented Project Right Size that helped the company in identification of the exact infrastructure of the future based on the projections of the livestock. This helps the company in providing geographical footprint in accordance with the national supply base of the company and provides them with the ability of meeting the requirements of the global customers on a yearly basis.
Corporate Vision, Mission, and Culture
The Treaty of Waitangi puts forward principles of protection, participation and partnership that help in underpinning the relationship between the government and the Maori (Orange, 2015). The duties and obligations of a business towards this treaty include:
- Forming partnership with the Maori and thereby recognizing and provide means for their interest
- By being responsive to the needs of the Maori
- By ensuring the presence of equal opportunities for the Maori
- Measuring and evaluating the response of the council towards the Treaty of Waitangi
Silver Fern Farm, the largest cooperative of meat producers joined hands with Federation of Maori Authorities for providing further benefits and opportunity to the dry stock Maori farmers who makes up a greater proportion of the membership base of the Federation[10]. The collaboration led to a strong focus on the people. This will not only help in developing the productive capability of the farm businesses of the authorities of the Maori. Each of the sectors will mutually benefit due to an enhanced supply of livestock and through the information integration from the plates to the pastures via Farm IQ. The joint plan between both the parties focuses primarily on the development of farm systems, leveraging of the collective scale and influence and development of the capability and capacity of the communities and people.
Conclusions
The report ends with a discussion the on the application and integration of the principles of Treaty of Waitangi within the business process of Silver Fern Farms and how its acts advantageous for both. The report also puts forward an evaluation of the current strategies adopted by the company that have put the company on a sound footing. There report tries to provide an insight into the external factors that like political, economical, legal and social responsibility aspects and how they influence the performance of the company. There is also an internal analysis of the company with primary focus on the vision, mission, corporate culture, resources and key competencies. The report also tries to inform the readers about the background of the company and its present status.
References:
Callagher, L. (2015). Rescuing red meat: An industry adrift. University of Auckland Business Review, 18(1), 38.
Goldson, S. L., Bourdôt, G. W., Brockerhoff, E. G., Byrom, A. E., Clout, M. N., McGlone, M. S., … & Templeton, M. D. (2015). New Zealand pest management: current and future challenges. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 45(1), 31-58.
Holt, J., (2013). Compulsory arbitration in New Zealand: The first forty years. Auckland University Press.
Kelsey, J. (2015). The New Zealand experiment: A world model for structural adjustment?. Bridget Williams Books.
Ocak, S., Ogun, S., & Gunduz, Z. (2013). Electronic Identification of Livestock to Improve New Zealand’s Animal Production System. Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology. A, 3(5A), 417.
Orange, C. (2015). The treaty of Waitangi. Bridget Williams Books.
Roche, M. (2014). Changes and Challenges Facing the Export Meat Industry in New Zealand.
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Silverfernfarms.com/our-company/about-our-company/ (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.silverfernfarms.com/our-company/about-our-company/ [Accessed 26 Feb. 2018].
Silverfernfarms.com/our-company/governance/ (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.silverfernfarms.com/our-company/governance/ [Accessed 26 Feb. 2018].
Silverfernfarms.com/our-company/our-vision/ (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.silverfernfarms.com/our-company/our-vision/ [Accessed 26 Feb. 2018].
Silverfernfarms.com/our-company/responsible-food-producer/sustaining-our-communities/ (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.silverfernfarms.com/our-company/responsible-food-producer/sustaining-our-communities/ [Accessed 26 Feb. 2018]
Silverfernfarms.com/what-were-made-of/our-brand-values/ (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.silverfernfarms.com/what-were-made-of/our-brand-values/ [Accessed 26 Feb. 2018]
Silverfernfarms.coop/assets/Our-Company/2014-Silver-Fern-Farms-Annual-Report-web-final.pdf (2018). Annual Report 2014. [online] Available at: https://www.silverfernfarms.coop/assets/Our-Company/2014-Silver-Fern-Farms-Annual-Report-web-final.pdf [Accessed 26 Feb. 2018].
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