Argentina
William Engels
- Member of the Board, Bunge Limited (Agribusiness)
Born Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1959. BSc., Babson College, Wellesley (1982); MBA, Fellow of the Lauder Institute, MBA Wharton, and MA University of Pennsylvania (1986).
“The business world is basically a human world, whether it is a matter of negotiations, projections, or relationships with superiors, peers and subordinates.”
Summary
William Engels recounts his career as a board member of the Bunge Limited group, the giant New York Stock Exchange listed multinational agribusiness and food company. Engels recounts how his great-grandfather was one of the founders of the predecessor company, Bunge & Born. He also narrates his role in managing mergers and acquisitions at the Quilmes Group ("Quinsa"), an Argentinian brewery that operates in several Latin American countries. Engels outlines what he sees as missed opportunities for Argentinian business growth over recent decades, due in part to poor investment in education.
Additional Resources
- Bunge: Food, Fuel, and World Markets [HBS Case]
- Bunge: Poised for Growth [HBS Case]
- Bunge Ltd. [HBS Case]
- Libro De La Fundacion Bunge Y Born 1963–1993: 30 Aniversario
- María Inés Barbero, “Business Groups in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Argentina,” in Geoffrey Jones and Andrea Lluch, eds., The Impact of Globalization on Argentina and Chile: Business Enterprise and Entrepreneurship. Northampton, Mass.: Edward Elgar, 2015
- Mariela Ceva, “De la exportación cerealera a la diversificación industrial: Las empresas Bunge y Born en Argentina (1884-1940),” Estudios Migratorios Latinoamericanos 22-23, no. 65 (April 2009): 81-98
- Brian Caplen, “Decline of an Argentine Dynasty,” Euromoney, Jan. 1999, 51
- Jorge Schvarzer, Bunge & Born: Crecimiento y diversificación de un grupo económico. Buenos Aires: CISEA: Grupo Editor Latinoamericano, c.1989
- Raúl H. Green, El poder de Bunge & Born. Buenos Aires: Editorial Legasa, 1988
Interview Citation Format
"Interview with William Engels, interviewed by Andrea Lluch, Buenos Aires, Argentina, August 21, 2008, Creating Emerging Markets Project, Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School, http://www.hbs.edu/creating-emerging-markets/."