Blog 2: How I Learnt to Think About Strategy When Building Global Businesses
- Kerry Paul
- Jun 4
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 30
JOURNEY 3 - SERIES 1 - BLOG 2 - A PART OF 9 BLOGS IN SERIES 1 - Reading time: 4 Mins 30 Secs
One of the most important principles in building businesses is that strategy is not an abstract exercise reserved for corporate boardrooms. Strategy sits at the centre of every successful business because it defines how you compete, where you compete, and how you create long-term value for customers while generating sustainable returns. This case study highlights the international growth of Manuka Honey. The journey also reflects the realities faced by many New Zealand start-up businesses. These lessons provide valuable insights for New Zealand entrepreneurs. The experience demonstrates the challenges and opportunities involved in Building a Global business from New Zealand.
When I first began establishing businesses, I quickly discovered that strategy is not about waiting until you have every resource, capability, or answer in place before moving forward. If I had waited for perfect certainty, I would never have started. Instead, strategy required making deliberate choices about the direction I wanted the business to take, even when many aspects remained uncertain.
In those early years, I often set goals that felt ambitious and, at times, beyond immediate reach. However, I found that ambitious objectives force clarity. They compel entrepreneurs to prioritize, focus energy, allocate scarce resources carefully, and constantly reassess what matters most. Particularly from New Zealand, where entrepreneurs face the combined challenges of geographic isolation, high logistics costs, and a very small domestic market, strategic discipline becomes essential rather than optional.
Strategy Is a Living Process
One of the greatest misconceptions about strategy is the belief that it is a fixed document written once and then left on a shelf. My experience was completely different. Strategy is dynamic. It evolves continuously through daily decisions, market feedback, setbacks, experimentation, and learning.
In every start-up I founded, we began with what we believed was the best possible plan at the time. Yet the market regularly taught us that customers wanted something different from what we originally anticipated. I learnt that successful businesses must constantly listen, adapt, refine, and reposition themselves. That process of continual adjustment became one of the most valuable disciplines I developed as an entrepreneur.
Over time, I stopped viewing strategy as a rigid roadmap and instead treated it more like a compass. The route to success is rarely straight. Markets change, competitors react, technologies evolve, and consumer preferences shift. As long as we remained aligned with the broader direction of the business, we could adapt the path without losing momentum.
Why Differentiation Became Essential
Building a global business from New Zealand forced me to confront an uncomfortable reality very early: we could never compete successfully as a low-cost commodity producer.
New Zealand has enormous strengths, but scale is not one of them. With a population of only five million people and located far from major global markets in Europe, North America, and Asia, our transportation and distribution costs are naturally higher. Exporting products halfway around the world immediately places New Zealand companies at a cost disadvantage against larger international competitors located much closer to customers.
This forced me to think differently. If we could not compete on price, then we had to compete on value. That became one of the central foundations of my strategic thinking. The challenge was to identify areas where New Zealand’s unique natural advantages, scientific credibility, and brand positioning could justify premium pricing in international markets.
The MGO Decision Changed Everything
One of the most important strategic decisions we made at Manuka Health was to position manuka honey based on its methylglyoxal (MGO) content.
At the time, most of the industry relied on grading systems such as “5+”, “10+”, or “15+”. While these labels appeared scientific, the underlying methodology lacked consistency and transparency. Consumers did not fully understand what the numbers represented, and the industry itself lacked a clear scientific standard.
I believed this presented an opportunity to fundamentally reposition the category. By focusing on measurable MGO levels, we could provide objective scientific evidence of the honey’s antibacterial activity. This transformed our positioning from marketing-based claims to evidence-based differentiation.
That single strategic decision had profound consequences. It not only differentiated our business internationally but also disrupted the wider manuka honey industry. Scientific validation gave us credibility with consumers, scientists, health practitioners, regulators, and distributors around the world. Competitors were initially slow to respond, giving us a critical window to establish global leadership. Looking back, it was one of the boldest and most commercially important decisions we made.
Building Strategic Pillars for Long-Term Growth
Over time, I came to understand that successful strategy cannot rely on a single advantage alone. Sustainable businesses require multiple reinforcing pillars.
For us, bioactive concentration became the first pillar. The second was reliability. There was little point creating international demand if we could not guarantee consistent supply. This required substantial investment across the supply chain, including raw material sourcing, processing systems, storage capability, laboratory testing, and relationships with trusted manufacturing partners.
The third pillar became authenticity and quality assurance. In the natural health sector, trust is everything. Every product we sold needed to meet the highest standards of verification, traceability, and scientific credibility. Certifications, laboratory testing, and internationally recognised quality systems became essential components of the business model.
However, I also learnt that strategy alone achieves nothing without capabilities. Businesses must build the operational foundations necessary to execute their strategy effectively. That includes recruiting skilled people, creating systems and processes, developing regulatory expertise, establishing manufacturing and fulfilment capability, and building a culture driven by continuous learning and improvement.
What Strategy Ultimately Means to Me
Looking back, I now see strategy as the ongoing process of positioning a business where it can create unique value that competitors struggle to replicate. It requires clarity of purpose, willingness to adapt, disciplined execution, and the courage to make decisions before all the information is available.
Most importantly, I learnt that entrepreneurs from New Zealand must think globally from the very beginning. Our domestic market is simply too small to support long-term growth ambitions. To succeed internationally, New Zealand businesses must differentiate, innovate, and continuously build capabilities that allow them to compete on value rather than price alone.
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