National Image as a Competitive Disadvantage: The Case of the New Zealand Organic Food Industry

G.  Jones; Simon  Mowatt

Article | Business History

National Image as a Competitive Disadvantage: The Case of the New Zealand Organic Food Industry

by G. Jones and Simon Mowatt

Abstract

This article examines why organic agriculture and food consumption developed more strongly in some countries than others between the 1970s and the 2000s. The focus is the limited growth of the New Zealand organic sector, which contrasts with countries such as Denmark, which were similar in size and shared significant export agribusiness sectors, but whose organic food sector became significantly larger. While the power of incumbent vested interests and unsupportive public policies emerge as major explanatory factors, the article argues that the long-established national image of New Zealand as a clean and green country may have been the major constraint.

Keywords: entrepreneurship; industrial organization; Chinitz; agglomeration; clusters; cities; mines; political economy; business history; FDI; Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture; Agribusiness; Entrepreneurship; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry; New Zealand; Denmark;

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Citation:

Jones, G., and Simon Mowatt. "National Image as a Competitive Disadvantage: The Case of the New Zealand Organic Food Industry." Business History 58, no. 8 (2016): 1262–1288.

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Case | HBS Case Collection | June 2018 (Revised November 2019)

John Chambers, Cisco and China: Upgrading a Golden Shield

Geoffrey Jones and Emily Grandjean

This case examines the role of Cisco led by John Chambers in facilitating web filtering in China. It begins by tracing the origins of Cisco as a pioneer of networking equipment. John Chambers, who had worked as a sales manager at IBM and Wang Laboratories, joined Cisco in 1991 and became CEO in 1995. The company expanded rapidly thereafter, acquiring many firms and growing globally, including in China, where it virtually created the internet. The case explores how the firm facilitated surveillance and monitoring of the internet under the Golden Shield project launched in 2000, and in 2004 served as a key participant in the CN2 upgrade that greatly enhanced official capability to filter content online. The case ends in 2007 with Chambers announcing further capital expenditure in China but facing growing criticism by U.S. Congress and others for Cisco's human rights record. At the same time, Cisco faced a powerful domestic competitor in China, Huawei, that had grown rapidly by investing in innovation even as Cisco pursued a share buy-back campaign after experiencing a sharp fall in its share price following the end of the Dot-com bubble. The case provides a vehicle for exploring the ethical and human rights responsibilities of corporations in the technology sector, as well as the impact of the internet on democracy.

Keywords: Cisco; Internet; Governance Controls; Ethics; Rights; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Technology Industry; China;

Citation:

Jones, Geoffrey, and Emily Grandjean. "John Chambers, Cisco and China: Upgrading a Golden Shield." Harvard Business School Case 318-158, June 2018. (Revised November 2019.) View Details

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National Image as a Competitive Disadvantage: The Case of the New Zealand Organic Food Industry

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