Sally Davenport

A struggle between different forms of food production for the future of agriculture space has been occurring in many regions of the world. Drawing on the literature of the geography of food and the theory of productive worlds, we propose that the discourse strategies deployed by competing actors should be considered part of the set of conventions that guide productive activities. Two examples of discourse strategies are outlined: the use of articulation to position a desired outcome within a historically resonant discourse in order to gain legitimacy; and the maintenance of a strategic tension between isomorphism and differentiation such that a stance is perceived as a credible choice. We describe and map the impacts of these discourse strategies as they were deployed by anti- and pro-genetic modification groups in the struggle to become the “natural” successor to New Zealand's conventional agricultural heritage. The shifts in discourse positions of the two protagonists highlight the increased hybridity and regional complexity of the worlds of food and the battle for agricultural space.

Starting from a broad discussion of the range of debate and interest in productivity, our focus narrows to explore the territory of firm-level productivity. We review how productivity at firm-level has been defined and studied. We then turn our attention to the New Zealand context reviewing recent attempts by several government policy agencies to map the terrain and drivers of productivity. Within these we find some consensus, but also some divergence which we discuss. Finally we identify gaps in knowledge about productivity at the, firm-level, and we outline how our FRST funded 'Building our productivity’ research project aims to study these gaps in order to improve our map of the productivity terrain.

This paper offers a contemporary version of the ancient Greek agora (assembly) designed for the conduct of science-society dialogues. Drawing on what is known from ancient Greece, we identified the dimensions of forum, participation and interactivity as the three central criteria for contemporary agora. Insights into the workings of a recent potential agora — New Zealand's Royal Commission on Genetic Modification — were gained by applying this three-part framework. The alignment of participant expectations with the purpose of agoras, particularly that their role is to support debate rather than determine decisions, emerged as crucial for the acceptance of contemporary science-society agoras.

A study of the evolution of competitive capabilities in exemplar New Zealand firms identified that technology strategy played the key role in motivating the firms' transition to positions of global prominence. Adequate description of these transitions required a view of technology strategy that is more dynamic than those typically available. We use complexity theory to identify, first, a number of positive feedback loops that have driven the technological progression of these firms, second to identify the complex webs of strategic development within which technology has progressed, and finally to explain why these trajectories carry firms to positions of distinctive advantage. These loops come together to impel firms through a radical transition from broad technology dabblers to focussed technology specialists. We view the study as exploratory to a class of studies aimed at understanding the evolution of technology strategy over time.

National research priorities are often the outcome of negotiations between multiple research stakeholders. These stakeholders include groups of resea