Publications

March 2016
Teaching Note

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Inge Skjelfjord and the Cacao Supply Chain

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

Inge Skjelfjord, with a long career in international finance focused on agribusiness projects, had a vision to build a cacao research center that would help smallholder cacao farmers, who benefited the least from the chocolate value chain. He aimed to support the... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness Industry; Farming; Farm; Policy; Change Management; Innovation; Agribusiness; Education; Economic Growth; Research; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Ecuador

February 2013
Teaching Note

Kepak and the Future of the Irish Beef Industry (TN)

By: David E. Bell, Damien P. McLoughlin and Mary Shelman

Keywords: Agribusiness; Ireland; Beef; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

July 2013
Case

Amul Dairy

By: Ray Goldberg and Ian McKown Cornell

In 2013, Rahul Kumar, the managing director of Amul dairy, India's leading dairy firm, had to decide how to position his firm for the future in light of India's growing population and demand for dairy. How could he maintain the firm's cooperative structure, address the... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Dairy; Policy; Corporate Strategy; Nutrition; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; India

April 2014
Teaching Plan

Beidahuang

By: Ray A. Goldberg and David Lane

This teaching plan is designed to support the teaching of Beidahuang, HBS No. 914-412, rev. March 2014. Beidahuang is a major new Chinese player in global grain trading that in 2013 is seeking access to grain both to help assure China's food security and in pursuit of... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Sourcing; Beidahuang; S; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Supply Chain Management; Trade; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Brazil; China

December 2014
Case

Louis Dreyfus Commodities

By: David E. Bell

Louis Dreyfus Commodities (LDC or Dreyfus) is the D of the ABCD grain-trading giants. The case describes how their business works and details the strategy by which management turned the company around in recent years. The case presents a number of issues facing the... View Details

Keywords: Commodities; Commodity Trading; Agriculture; Agribusiness; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Goods and Commodities; Financial Markets; Business Strategy; Product Marketing

December 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Beidahuang

By: Ray A. Goldberg and David Lane

Beidahuang is a major new Chinese player in global grain trading that in 2013 is seeking access to grain both to help assure China's food security and in pursuit of its own commercial goals. Focusing on potential trade in Brazilian soybeans, the case asks students to... View Details

Keywords: China; Brazil; International Trade; Grain; Soybeans; Agribusiness; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Globalized Markets and Industries; Cooperation; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; China; Brazil

Article

National Image as a Competitive Disadvantage: The Case of the New Zealand Organic Food Industry

By: Geoffrey Jones and Simon Mowatt

This article examines why organic agriculture and food consumption developed more strongly in some countries than others between the 1970s and the 2000s. The focus is the limited growth of the New Zealand organic sector, which contrasts with countries such as Denmark,... View Details

Keywords: Industrial Organization; Chinitz; Agglomeration; Clusters; Cities; Mines; Political Economy; FDI; Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture; Agribusiness; Entrepreneurship; Business History; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; New Zealand; Denmark

Find at Harvard

December 2014
Case

JBS

By: David E. Bell

JBS is a Brazilian protein company that started in beef, but has quickly expanded into pork and chicken, and around the world. The company has many critics who say it has expanded too quickly and that it is overextended financially. The case allows the reader to form... View Details

Keywords: Protein; Beef; Brazil; Prepared Foods; Agribusiness; Agriculture; Expansion; Growth Management; Food; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Brazil

December 2014 (Revised August 2015)
Case

Muñoz Group: Sustaining Global Vertical Integration Through Innovation

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Annelena Lobb

Muñoz Group, which supplied supermarket chains and food distribution chains around the world with fruit, flowers, juice and ice cream, was at a strategic crossroads in 2014. CEO Alvaro Muñoz had to choose the best way to achieve profit goals and provide his company... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Supply Chain; Retail; Agribusiness Industry; Globalized Firms and Management; Supply Chain Management; Competitive Advantage; Vertical Integration; Profit; Innovation and Invention; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; North and Central America

December 2014 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Simplot Plant Sciences: Designing a Better Potato

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Mary Shelman

Privately held Simplot has developed a new genetically engineered potato that substantially reduces waste and does not turn brown after cutting. Unlike other GMOs, it does not contain foreign genes. The case describes the company's commercialization plans in light of... View Details

Keywords: GMO; Sustainability; Agribusiness; Biotechnology; Food And Environment; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Food; Disruptive Innovation; Technological Innovation; Marketing; Product Positioning; Genetics; Value Creation; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States

February 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

The Climate Corporation

By: David E. Bell, Forest Reinhardt and Mary Shelman

Climate Corporation is a San Francisco–based data analytics company focused on agricultural applications. It was acquired by Monsanto in 2013. In 2015, Climate's decision support platform was used on 75 million acres of farmland in the U.S.; however, most of those... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness Industry; Farming; Big Data; Data Analytics; Agriculture; Agribusiness; Decision Making; Analytics and Data Science; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

May 2016 (Revised June 2017)
Case

India's Amul: Keeping Up with the Times

By: Rohit Deshpandé, Tarun Khanna, Namrata Arora and Tanya Bijlani

Amul is an Indian dairy cooperative founded in 1947—eight months before India's independence from British rule—and owned by over three million farmers in the state of Gujarat. It is India's largest food product marketing organization, selling 46 products, including... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Expansion; Dairy; India; Cooperatives; Milk; Leadership; Agriculture; Agribusiness; Competition; Marketing; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; India

February 2014
Case

Diageo: Innovating for Africa

By: David E. Bell, Damien P. McLoughlin and Mary L. Shelman

Diageo, the world's leading premium drinks business, had a long history in Africa starting from its beer brand, Guinness, first exported to Sierra Leone in 1827. By 2013, 13% of Diageo's global revenues were from Africa, up from 9% in 2007. Diageo Africa President Nick... View Details

Keywords: Africa; Emerging Market; Innovation; Agribusiness; Beverage Industry; Emerging Markets; Innovation Strategy; Marketing; Food and Beverage Industry; Africa

January 2016 (Revised March 2016)
Background Note

The Promise of Agriculture in the Republic of Cuba

By: Jose B. Alvarez, Andrew Otazo and Carin-Isabel Knoop

This background note explains Cuba's past and current agriculture policies, as well as provides insights into its future potential as relations with the U.S. normalize. View Details

Keywords: Cuba; Agribusiness; Agriculture; Errosion; Embargo; Fidel Castro; Raul Castro; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Cuba

January 2013
Teaching Note

Domino's Pizza (TN)

By: David E. Bell and Mary Shelman

Teaching Note for Domino's Pizza View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Commodity Prices; Price Volatility; Agribusiness; QSR; Franchise; Food; Supply Chain Management; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States

February 2017
Teaching Note

India's Amul: Keeping Up with the Times

By: Tarun Khanna, Rohit Deshpandé and Namrata Arora

Teaching Note for HBS No. 516-116. View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Expansion; Dairy; India; Cooperatives; Milk; Leadership; Agriculture; Agribusiness; Competition; Marketing; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; India

January 2014
Case

Tesco Group Food

By: Jose B. Alvarez, Damien P. McLoughlin and Mary Shelman

In 2010, the world's third largest retailer created a new centralized sourcing department for fresh food and store-brand grocery products in response to changes in global supply and to better meet the needs of a new multi-channel retail environment. The case, set in... View Details

Keywords: Food Retailing; Multichannel Retailing; Sustainable Supply Chains; Agribusiness; Food Marketing; Supply Chain Management; Marketing; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry; United Kingdom

Research Summary

Overview

Hisano’s research addresses the social and cultural implications of technological development and economic changes mainly in the twentieth-century United States. By analyzing the regulation, manipulation, and presentation of food color, her current book project links... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Consumer Behavior; Agribusiness; Food And Environment; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Business And Government; Advertising; Goods and Commodities; Food; History; Government and Politics; Marketing; Business and Government Relations; Advertising Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Chemical Industry; United States

November 2018 (Revised April 2019)
Case

Zespri Grows

By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred

Controlling about a third of global kiwifruit exports by volume and nearly half by value in 2018, Zespri was a grower-owned “corporatized cooperative” with the exclusive right to export New Zealand-grown kiwifruit (except to Australia). Zespri did not grow fruit but... View Details