Commodity Chains and Networks in Emerging Markets: New Zealand, 1880–1910

This consideration of how innovation was exploited in primary processing industries during the period of the second industrial revolution draws on case material from frozen-meat and dairy-processing industries in New Zealand between 1880 and 1910, examining how entrepreneurial networks successfully created commodity chains for the exportation of produce to U.K. markets. Latin American commodity chains are considered as a counterpoint. What is suggested is that despite the absence of large-scale firms and significant foreign capital, New Zealand producers, relying on network-based organizational forms, successfully entered overseas markets, capitalizing on information sharing, rapid diffusion of technology, and loose alliances that exploited complementary skills and assets.