OrganiGram Holdings has a few strengths on which is can draw in order to thrive in the post-legalization market. The first strength lies in the cultivation talent. The company has been producing for the medical market for several years, which means that it has developed competency in the agricultural side of the business, producing different strains that deliver particular medical results. This talent will be important going forward into the legalization era. Further, the company has been able to develop competency in the manufacture of edibles. This market is particularly lucrative in US states that have fully legalized cannabis – being able to deliver products with a specific THC or CBD level, in a variety of formats including mints, cookies and bars, is essential to being competitive in the recreational marketplace.
The business savvy of the ownership group is another strength, because when the recreational market opens up there will be tremendous opportunity for the first movers in the business. If the trends in places like Colorado and Washington hold in Canada, then there is exceptional opportunity to build a nationwide brand name for high-consistency products with national distribution. It does, however, take a particular amount of production, distribution and marketing savvy to execute a nationwide strategy across Canada. Even large grocery and drug store chains tend to be regional – there are actually...
Thus, a high level of business savvy will be the only way that this company can navigate the different provincial regulations that will come with nationwide recreational cannabis.
There are a few weaknesses, whoever, that must be addressed. The first is that the company is based on New Brunswick , which means that it is geographically away from the economic centre of the country, much less away from the Western provinces. While doubtless there is a market in the Maritimes, gaining access to provincial distribution channels will likely require some sort of local presence, and being based in a small market like New Brunswick is definitely a weakness. Furthermore, there are questions as to whether the company has the capital to go nationwide at present. Given that this business is not all that legal at present, how much money the company has in advance of legal cash flow is a pretty fair question. Moreover, no company in the cannabis business at present has experience at legal marketing – it just has not been a thing in the cannabis business to date.
The opportunity is tremendous – a market of 35 million if the company can do nationwide business, and potentially more if it can crack the code in shipping to the US. That is for another day – getting access to the big four provinces is opportunity enough, assuming…
