Zepsi Grows

Company structure

Zespri corporate structure is unlike most of its competitors, as it is owned by the farmers and the growers of the product it sells, kiwifruit. This structure of corporatized cooperative is fundamental to the work that Zespri accomplishes and how it accomplishes it. If a VRIO analysis of the company would be done, its ability to command and coordinate with the kiwifruit growing community of a whole country, would be its most distinct, valuable, rare, inimitable resource around which the company’s activities are organized. A well-organized corporate structure helps in maintaining stability within the organization and gives it the strength to tackle financial and other upsets brought due to external circumstances. An example of this was the attack of the airborne bacterial disease, PSA, on kiwifruit vines in New Zealand. Zespri was able to tackle the financial upheaval and came back strongly by developing a new variety of kiwifruit, Gold3, which was not only resistant to PSA, but also offered 30% higher yield. 

Zespri was able to accomplish the task of developing, distributing, and managing the growth of a better variety of kiwifruit due to two reasons: a) government and institutional support b) direct linkages with growers and farmers. Zespri made a $50 million investment for researching methods to contain and tackle PSA, meanwhile it also accelerated its efforts of developing Gold3. It was able to do so through governmental financial support (which funded 50% of the study) and ability to carry out lab tests and field observations. After the development of the Gold3 in 2013, Zespri was able to upscale its production and take it up to 16 million of tray equivalents (MTEs) and is projected to go up to 21 million of tray equivalents (MTEs) by 2021 (exhibit 15b)...