Factors for Success

What are the factors to achieving critical mass in the seed

industry today?

WE ASKED, AND YOU RESPONDED. Answers like “experience, education and an entrepreneurial spirit,” are just part of the profile of what makes a company successful.

 

• Competitive pricing

• Diversification and direct marketing in niche markets go a long way toward helping small companies

• Seed volume, price and cost

• Distribution channel – the same challenge today as 50 years ago and 100 years ago

• Developing repeat business through performance, service and value for your product.

• The right people to increase sales

• For breeding companies the high cost of access to technology is a big factor. There is also a need to be able to maximize sales opportunities on proprietary varieties which means a good international sales and/or distribution network

• Experience, Education, Entrepreneurial spirit

• Direct contact with the growers, competitive pricing, understanding your products and selection of product

• Must have access to industry-leading traits at a competitive price, and find a competitive advantage in processes, technology, customer relationships, production costs or some other key factor

• Volume, R&D dollars, marketing flexibility

• Strong brand position and great people

• Having access to technology and low debt

• People, product, marketing

• Being able to sell the traits that the producers want. A company needs to be able to afford to develop their own traits, or purchase the rights to traits

• Small companies can take care of regional areas better than the 6 super companies

• Competent sales force

• Top-performance

• Product line and commercial distribution network

• Agreements with major trait suppliers

• Customer focus

• Profitability, trait and genetic performance, customer service

• Find a niche where there is a service void

• Margin and freedom to operate

• Ownership of or access to commercial quality genetics and access to all traits and trait combinations

• Diversified and novel germplasm, strong creative breeders able to anticipate/create market trends, access to biotech support

• Partner/buy to expand

• Good capitalization for the business, access to technology or a strong R&D pipeline, marketing and sales that can retain and attract customers and great people in the business

• In the vegetable seed market, you need to have distribution agreements in place with at least one major breeder producer. The flower seed market is more commodity-based and securing distribution agreements is easier