When you’re on an orchard, the fruit you immediately see and is within easy reach is the low-hanging fruit. The fruit that’s up high is often the best quality but is much harder to spot and more difficult to get your hands on.

In business, the “low-hanging fruit” principle relates to the focus owners and managers have on the most easily achievable strategies. These are the things that get the quickest results with the least amount of effort.

While they are important, it’s the more challenging business decisions that take the most time and strategic thinking, and therefore reap the greatest rewards.

At MG Marketing (MG), we pride ourselves on our ability to flex and react to situations and take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves – the low hanging fruit. However, we also never lose sight of the big picture and have a business strategy that ensures our success over the long-term.

For example, a key long-term focus at MG is developing or obtaining rights for IP varieties and then partnering with growers to bring them to market.

This can be a long and complex process and can take a number of years, but the prize at the end is substantial. Our strategy is to target varieties that are developed for their superior qualities. Often it’s taste, size, colour and yield but can also be because it produces earlier, later or is more resistant to pests and disease.

Our suite of summerfruit varieties have been a success story. They are highly valued by customers and consumers, giving the growers who partner with MG to grow the fruit a real competitive advantage. Similarly, our early season M7 Navel has proven to be a winner for growers.

MG has also secured the exclusive growing and marketing rights for BerryWorld varieties, a significant global player in the breeding of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries which are widely acknowledged as some of the best in the world.

Another exciting development underway is in the apple category with MG involved in holding the licence for internationally successful Cosmic Crisp and Snap Dragon apples, along with our locally developed Bay Queen.

Our goal is to identify new varieties that offer a real pointof-difference and therefore help growers to obtain a greater share of the New Zealand and international markets.

To help achieve our goals in this area, we have invested in dedicated in-house expertise and have an ownership stake in a specialist IP business, the New Zealand Fruit Tree Company. This strategy has helped position our co-operative as an innovator and a leader in the commercialisation of IP varieties.

While I’ve used the example of IP, there’s a number of ways you can apply long-term thinking to your business including how to best use technology, accessing new skills, using data insights effectively or a combination of these and other opportunities.

Making a business strategy less daunting by focusing on common problems that can be solved easily is a common mistake. Take the time to step back and consider all your options and work out what’s best for your business in the future (not just the low-hanging fruit).

Peter Hendry - CEO