Publications

March 2024
Case

From “BIG” Ideas to Sustainable Impact at ICL Group (A)

By: Linda A. Hill and Lydia Begag

In the summer of 2023, Eduard (“Eddie”) Croitoru, Vice President (VP) of ICL Group (“ICL”) Corporate Initiatives, was reflecting on ICL’s internal ideation program, the Business Innovation for Growth (BIG) Accelerator. When Raviv Zoller became the CEO of ICL in 2018,... View Details

2023
Book

Deeply Responsible Business.: A Global History of Values-Driven Leadership

By: Geoffrey Jones

Corporate social responsibility has entered the mainstream, but what does it take to run a successful purpose-driven business? This book examines leaders who put values alongside profits to showcase the challenges and upside of deeply responsible business. Should... View Details

October 1996 (Revised December 2022)
Case

Chiquita Brands International (A)

By: Debora L. Spar and Terence Mulligan

When a new banana import policy is implemented in 1993 by the European Union, Chiquita Brands International, the world's largest banana distributor, watches its sales and net income plummet. The policy, Council Regulation (EEC 404/93), uses a new tariff and quota... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Trade; Government and Politics; Policy; Market Design; Fairness; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Latin America; European Union

Web

Blog - Creating Emerging Markets

15 Feb 2023 Creating Emerging Markets Sustainability Series - Innovations to Address the Global Water Crisis Maxim Pike Harrell 10 Apr 2023 Creating Emerging Markets Sustainability Series - Leapfrogging Traditional Agricultural... View Details

Web

Faculty - Private Capital Project

delivering health, water, energy, and agriculture services to economic base of the pyramid in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. As CIO, he was a member of Acumen’s management team and helped build out the network of country operations... View Details

11 Apr 2024
Blog Post

Climate Stories: Water Series - Episode #17: Leni Peterson Redondo (HBS MS/MBA 2023), Founder & CEO of Celeste

as companies cannot operate without water or raw materials that require water to be produced.” Leni explained, “Water is key to growing agricultural raw materials, as well as in mining, manufacturing, and even technology. For example,... View Details

Web

Our Team - Social Impact Collaboratory

with an emphasis on agricultural and financial management. He received a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2005, where he was an NSF and Javits Fellow, and an A.B. in Economics and German Literature from... View Details

December 2023
Case

Raízen: Helping to Decarbonize the World?

By: Gunnar Trumbull, Pedro Levindo, Daniel Tong and Rafaella Mazza

Raízen, the world’s largest sugar and ethanol producer, strived to find ways to expand the second-generation ethanol (E2G) market, which it pioneered. The company planned to invest R$24 billion (around $4.6 billion) in 20 production plants, with a total capacity to... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Renewable Energy; Environmental Sustainability; Production; Expansion; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Energy Industry; Brazil; Europe; North America; United States; Argentina; Paraguay

06 Sep 2022
Blog Post

Student Spotlight: Summer Internships in Business & Environment

(Brazilian Energy & Infrastructure conglomerate) Tom Troxel (MBA 2023, Section K), Summer Internship: Carbon Sequestration Project MBA Intern at Conservation International Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) are actions to protect, restore, and improve the management... View Details

15 Sep 2022
Blog Post

6 Things to Know About Sustainability at HBS

interested in sustainability and the environment will find plenty of company on campus. In addition to becoming Student Sustainability Associates, students can join three clubs (the Energy and Environment Club; the Food and Agriculture... View Details

June 2013 (Revised January 2016)
Case

Château Margaux: Launching the Third Wine

By: Elie Ofek and Eric E. Vogt

Château Margaux, one of only five prestigious estates in the Bordeaux Medoc wine region to have been classified as a "first-growth", is facing a host of strategic decisions in early 2013. Up until this point the estate had been selling two red wines, a first wine whose... View Details

Keywords: New Product Launch; Marketing Plan; Brand Management; Go To Market Strategy; Channels Of Distribution; Wine Industry; Marketing Strategy; Distribution Channels; Product Launch; Brands and Branding; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; France

06 Feb 2023
Blog Post

African American Student Union Spotlight on HBCUs

about their experiences before and during the MBA program. Kristen Shipley (MBA 2024) Where is your hometown and which HBCU did you attend? My hometown is Baltimore, Maryland and I attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State... View Details

August 1980 (Revised March 1994)
Case

Freemark Abbey Winery

Freemark Abbey must decide whether to harvest in view of the possibility of rain. Rain could damage the crop but delaying the harvest would be risky. On the other hand, rain could be beneficial and greatly increase the value of the resulting wine. This decision is... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Forecasting and Prediction; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

December 2019 (Revised March 2020)
Case

Impossible Foods

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Natalie Kindred

Impossible Foods founder and CEO Pat Brown started the company out of concern over livestock production’s impact on climate change. Impossible’s mission is to end consumption of animals by 2035, and its strategy is to develop and market plant-based foods so similar to... View Details

27 Oct 2015
News

Sweet Success

agriculture, and Lydia had a background in the food industry. “It seemed a good match,” he says. “And if you do it right, harvesting maple sap is a totally sustainable agricultural practice.” Good Timing and Good Chemistry Doing it right... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg

2014
Book

Empire of Cotton: A Global History

By: Sven Beckert

The epic story of the rise and fall of the empire of cotton, its centrality to the world economy, and its making and remaking of global capitalism. Cotton is so ubiquitous as to be almost invisible, yet understanding its history is key to understanding the origins... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Globalized Markets and Industries; Society; Manufacturing Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

Find at Harvard

April 2018
Case

The Bayer - Monsanto Merger: GMOs and 'Science for a Better Life'

By: Martha J. Crawford and James Barnett

This case allows students to explore the economic, ethical and legal challenges faced by agri-business companies, after several decades of promoting and selling Genetically Modified (GM) crops. Starting in the 1980s, the widespread introduction of GM crops was... View Details

Keywords: Merger; Acquisition; GMO; Genetically Modified Crops; Neonics; Pesticides; Crop Seeds; EU; Mergers and Acquisitions; Agribusiness; Genetics; Natural Environment; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Consolidation; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Europe; United States