Utilising the internet as a marketing tool to create competitive advantage: a New Zealand primary sector industry review

Abstract

This thesis examines the relationship between Internet strategy development and competitive advantage in relation to New Zealand's primary sector. The Internet is a new commercial phenomenon which has been open to commercial traffic only since 1991, and as such, appropriate business models are still emerging. The purpose of this research is to consider possible Internet-related business models to determine which are most applicable in a New Zealand context. The research is exploratory in nature, and applies the comparative multiple-case logic of replication and extension to examine the value system of four organisations and their respective industries, to determine the potential effects that each organisation's Internet strategy developments might have on their industry's structure and competitive scope. The sample group was drawn from a group of industries that contribute significantly to New Zealand's foreign exchange earnings; including the dairy, wool, kiwifruit and viticulture industries. Through an evaluation of in-depth case studies, which were conducted with industry-specific marketing boards and/or associations, a consistent theme, that was replicated across each case study, was identified. The findings suggest that the Internet is being strategically integrated into each of the respective organisations' marketing infrastructures, and as such, it is supporting the development of 'cooperative advantage'. There was no substantive evidence to suggest that any of the organisations will use the Internet as a direct sales medium, nor should their respective industries be restructured through a process of disintermediation as a result of their Internet usage, as suggested by a number of theorists. Rather, the evidence suggests that consideration of the entire value system, and the leverage of information and networking technologies to reconfigure value system relationships, is becoming strategically significant to New Zealand's primary sector organisations. This could be attributed to the nature of the industries in question, or it could suggest that each of the organisations are still in the early stages of their Internet strategy developments. As such, further longitudinal research is required to extend and further develop the findings. While this research was exploratory in nature, the findings were significant, therefore an agenda for future research work has been suggested.