Some considerations regarding the strategic impact of genetically engineered foods.

• Main Author: Van Heerden, Philip
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: genetic engineering; strategic planning
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/320

The study aims to identify the strategic considerations of genetically engineered foods on the micro-, market-, and macro-environment of business and to make recommendations to the biotechnology industry on how to strategically manage the issues surrounding genetically engineered foods. Plants and animals have been selectively bred for centuries to create hybrid strains containing favourable traits of both plants and animals. Plant biotechnology is an extension of this traditional plant breeding. Plant biotechnology allows for the transfer of a greater variety of genetic information in a more precise, controlled manner. Genetic engineering allows for the manipulation of gene(s) to include novel and new traits or even to exclude bad or unwanted traits. Genetic cloning, a sub-discipline of genetic engineering creates the ability to clone a single gene, many genes or even complete organisms and live forms to ensure crops or herds of superior value and quality. These evolutionary steps of genetic engineering have created many new skills and abilities that could possibly revolutionise the business environment at all the levels. === Prof. N. Lessing