Bicultural Partnership in Business Activities: Fonterra and Tangata Whenua

The aim of the report is to analyze how the bicultural partnership as embedded in the Treaty of Waitangi is applied to business activities between Fonterra and the Tangata Whenua in the given case studies. The report analyzes the bicultural relationships between Fonterra and Iwi and PKW specifically. It concludes by providing recommendations which impacts on all the entities.

Running Head: ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION
Organizational Communication
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The aim of the report is to analyze how the bicultural partnership as embedded in the Treaty of
Waitangi is applied to business activities between Fonterra and the Tangata Whenua in the given
case studies. The report analyzes the bicultural relationships between Fonterra and Iwi and PKW
specifically. It concludes by providing recommendations which impacts on all the entities.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Discussion........................................................................................................................................4
Findings/ Analysis.......................................................................................................................5
Fonterra is strengthening its relationship with Tangata Whenua................................................5
Fonterra collaborating with PKW................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
Recommendations ………………………………………………………………………………..8
References........................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
In New Zealand, in the year 1986, the implementation of the bicultural partnership was
elaborated by forming the Tangata Whenua Caucuss. The acknowledgement of the bicultural
partnership is now permeated throughout all the organizations and the business endeavors. It
reflects the foundational centricity of the treaty of Waitangi in the political, social, spiritual,
ideological, economic terrains of the human relationships and engagement too (Darder, 2015).
The country of New Zealand makes use of the bicultural partnership framing in every social or
community work underpinned by the treaty of Waitangi. It helps to foster an equitable
collaboration between the diversity in the membership. The present report will analyze how the
bicultural partnership as embedded in the Treaty of Waitangi is applied to business activities
between Fonterra and the Tangata Whenua in the given case studies. The report will analyze the
bicultural relationships between Fonterra and Iwi and PKW specifically. It will conclude by
providing recommendations which impacts on all the entities.
Discussion
Fonterra is a multinational dairy co-operative owned by almost 10, 5000 New Zealand
farmers. The world’s almost 30 % dairy export is done by this company. It is considered to be
the largest company of New Zealand and was established in the year 2001. It is also the merger
of the two co-operatives, Kiwi Cooperative Dairies and New Zealand Dairy Group with the
Dairy Board of the country (Fonterra.com, 2019).

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Tangata Whenua is defined as the “people of the land”. It is a specific group of people
having historical claims broadly referred to as the Maori people as a whole. The trial history of
New Zealand suggests that Tangata Whneua is the people descending from the first people of the
district. Among them, there are further divisions too. The indigenous people of New Zealand can
be divided into three levels of kinship such as Whanau, Hapu and Iwi. Hapu is a sub tribe group
which is related to Whanau and it was traditionally the primary governance unit. Under the law
of New Zealand and the British, Iwi has formed itself as a legal entity with the support of the
Treaty of Waitangi (Anderson, Binney & Harris, 2015). According to this Treaty, these entities
are accorded obligations and special rights because they are recognized as the Tangata Whenua.
As per the laws of New Zealand, the Tangata Whenua are supposed to be consulted and listened
to while conducting a major real –estate development.
On the other hand, Prininihiki Waitotara (PKW) is a special Maori incorporation which is
based in Aotearoa, Taranaki. The PKW farms are well-known for their excellence in Maori
Dairy Farming. It is also an Iwi based organization involving forestry interests, commercial
property and farming (Mika et al., 2017). Fonterra receives almost 60 % of the dairy supplies
from PKW having 14 dairy farms.
Findings/ Analysis
In both the case studies it has been depicted that Fonterra is putting efforts and investing
in building a sustainable relationship with the Maori culture people of New Zealand.
Fonterra is strengthening its relationship with Tangata Whenua
Fonterra is looking forward to connect with the Tangata Whenua in order to build
powerful relationship that delivers the growth opportunities and value to both the company and

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the economy of New Zealand. A company’s early engagement with the aboriginal communities
is the most effective way of developing projects in their territory. It is also contributory of strong
foundation which generates successful outcomes for the resource developers and the aboriginal
communities. Moreover, a company can preserve the ancient civilization of the country by
building relationships with them.
 Fonterra has employed three of the young people from Iwi as the electrical and
mechanical apprentices. Since Fonterra is a large company in the New Zealand and in the
small provincial communities too, it is looking forward to get opportunities to work more
collaboratively with the Tangata Whenua in terms of environmental, cultural and
employment development. In this manner the company fulfills the “participation” part of
the Treaty of Waitangi.
 The Fonterra Company has contributed to the Maori development and
acknowledgement of their talents. According to the mission of the company, the
relationships are built not only to help them operate smoothly with licence. Moreover,
they have envisioned that this bicultural partnership will enhance the possibility of Maori
development across the country of New Zealand (Reid & Rout, 2016). The company
practices are evidently aligned to the Treaty of Waitangi which asks to protect the Maori
culture and the resources.
 The apprentices are trained in Fonterra, learnt a lot about the organizational
culture, and improved their level of confidence and professionalism. In this way, the
organization has paved way for an environment of innovation in the workforce, language
diversification and collaboration. It is also evident that the partnership has led the local
Iwi Raukawa to support the Lichfield site of Fonterra, bless the new plants along with the

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surrounding areas. It will presumably develop the economic conditions of the Tangata
Whenua community and also help Fonterra to expand prosperously.
Fonterra collaborating with PKW
In the second case study, again the bicultural partnership efforts of Fonterra are being
evident. The PKW or the ParininihikiWaitotara is based in Aotearoa and has been awarded with
the Ahuwhenua Trophy for its excellence in the Maori Dairy Farming. It is primarily a
commercial organization which involves the commercial property , farming and forestry
interests. PKW has adopted an advantageous approach to protect, manage and invest in the assets
of the stakeholders for the future generations.
 Firstly, the bicultural relationships have assisted Fonterra is gaining the largest
support from the Maori. The Whareroa site of Fonterra at Hawera collects almost 14
million liters of milk every day in Taranaki. Notably, PKW is the largest dairy supplier in
Taranki to the Fonterra Company. The company fulfills the “partnership” part in the
Treaty of Waitangi in this way (Watson, Beaven & Bradshaw, 2015).
 Secondly, the positive relationship between the top level managers of both the
companies have made every member of the organizations happy and content with the
strategic business association of themselves. They support each other in arranging for
business training programs where the staffs from both the organizations can involve
properly. The organizations have maintained the strategic collaboration and environment
of learning (Furness et al., 2016).
 Thirdly, the Fonterra and the PKW have been collaboratively arranging for
meetings and conferences where everyone can know each other and share their ideas,
opinions, values to further proceed in their business endeavors. It proves that the

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organizations are aware of the importance of organizational communication (Wu, 2016).
There is a senior manager too in Fonterra who is given the responsibility to handle the
Maori related issues and ensure that the concerns of both the organizations are addressed
properly.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it is evident that the Fonterra company has given huge
importance to the bicultural relationships. It has applied the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi
in building long term relationships with the Tangate Whenua group especially with the Iwi and
the PKW in Taranaki. The organization has precisely followed the “partnership” and the
“participation “part of the Treaty of Waitangi. However, the relationship can be strengthened
more if the company becomes able to follow the “protection” part of the Treaty.
Recommendations
Te Fonterra Company must focus on protecting the Maori culture and their relationship
with them in the long term. It will enable them to benefit both the organization , the economy
and the society. The recommendations are as follows:
1. The Fonterra company should engage in a program to understand the cultural obligation
of the Iwi people, speak and listen to them properly.
2. There must be a culture of respect and demonstrated to the rest of the employees in the
workforce.

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3. The relationship of trust should be built and along with that the Aboriginal leaders and
organizations must be visited.
4. Their relationship with the PKW organization and Iwi people must be prioritized first
more than the business.
5. The cultural differences must be understood and everyone should be treated as an
individual.

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References
Anderson, A., Binney, J., & Harris, A. (2015). Tangata Whenua: A History. Bridget Williams
Books.
Darder, A. (2015). Decolonizing interpretive research: A critical bicultural methodology for
social change. International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives, 14(2), 63-77.
Fonterra.com. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.fonterra.com/nz/en.html
Furness, J., Nikora, L. W., Hodgetts, D., & Robertson, N. (2016). Beyond ethics to morality:
Choices and relationships in bicultural research settings. Journal of Community &
Applied Social Psychology, 26(1), 75-88.
Mika, J. P., Warren, L., Foley, D., & Palmer, F. R. (2017). Perspectives on indigenous
entrepreneurship, innovation and enterprise. Journal of Management &
Organization, 23(6), 767-773.
Reid, J., & Rout, M. (2016). Getting to know your food: The insights of indigenous thinking in
food provenance. Agriculture and Human Values, 33(2), 427-438.
Ruwhiu, P. T. O. B., Ruwhiu, L. A., & Ruwhiu, L. L. H. (2017). To Tatou Kupenga: Mana
Tangata supervision a journey of emancipation through heart mahi for healers. Aotearoa
New Zealand Social Work, 20(4), 13-34.

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Watson, D. M., Beaven, B., & Bradshaw, C. J. A. (2015). Population trends of New Zealand fur
seals in the Rakiura region based on long-term population surveys and traditional
ecological knowledge. New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 49(1),
106-118.
Wu, J. (2016). The Relationships Between Psychological Flexibility, Nonattachment, and
Bicultural Identity Integration.