Publications

August 2014 (Revised May 2016)
Case

Husk Power

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and Sid Misra

In late 2013, Husk Power Systems found itself falling further and further behind plan. The founding CEO had decided to resign. His co-founder is faced with the decision of quitting his corporate job in the US to head to India and help form a new management team. Husk... View Details

01 Sep 2008
News

Farming for Fuel

would be the book value, roughly $50 million. The third option is to maintain current levels of operation until the situation becomes clearer. Reinhardt has taught the case in his Energy course in the second-year MBA elective curriculum, as well as the View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Animal Production and Aquaculture; Agriculture; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

01 Dec 2019
News

Regional Alumni Events Address Climate Change

technologies in New York, to the importance of business leaders speaking out politically in Los Angeles, to the risks facing Midwest agribusiness in Chicago. The BEI will continue the series in 2020 and plans to extend it overseas by... View Details

Keywords: Jen Myers

03 Dec 2012
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Against the Grain

of Associate Professor Karthik Ramanna, the Henry B. Arthur Fellow of business ethics at Harvard Business School. In a nutshell, the case goes like this: "Jim" accepts a summer internship as a loan officer from a US-based social investment firm seeking a... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Food & Beverage

November 2003 (Revised January 2004)
Case

XS, Inc.

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Joan McRobbie

XS, Inc. created a seller and buyer Internet for the $200 billion farm supply industry. How can this start-up remain the nonpartisan hub of this network, and how will it aid in the traceability of the U.S. food system? View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Food; System; Business Startups; Agribusiness; United States

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February 2015
Teaching Note

Eataly: Reimagining the Grocery Store

By: Sunil Gupta and Michela Addis

Within a few years of its operations, the Italian-based supermarket Eataly created a lot of buzz and excitement among consumers and media. Eataly's initial success was even more impressive in an industry known for its intense competition and low margins. How did Eataly... View Details

Keywords: Customer Engagement; Innovation; Retailing; Supermarkets; Agribusiness; Entrepreneurship; Food; Customers; Innovation and Invention; Marketing; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe; North and Central America; Asia

06 Dec 2021
News

Tipping Point

Illustration by Erin Robinson At one end of the global coffee supply chain are the diners who gather for brunch at the sidewalk tables outside Chloe’s Cafe in San Francisco’s Noe Valley neighborhood. Regulars there order the fluffy banana-walnut pancakes and steaming... View Details

Keywords: April White; Food Manufacturing; Manufacturing

01 Dec 2022
News

Educating, Connecting, and Mobilizing Around Climate Change

third in three years addressing climate and sustainability topics that faculty and the BEI have developed. BUSINESS AS A FORCE FOR GOOD IN SOCIETY READ MORE STORIES BUSINESS AS A FORCE FOR GOOD IN SOCIETY READ MORE STORIES Additionally, Executive Education offers... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie

21 May 2019
News

Confronting the Future of Climate Change in the Midwest

the sector, as well. Putting a price on carbon was also mentioned as a key element in motivating changes that would have a meaningful impact for agribusiness and society, overall. View Details

Keywords: Agriculture

January 2024
Supplement

Frank Cornelissen: The Great Sulfite Debate (B)

By: Tiona Zuzul and Susan Pinckney

In 2018, artisanal Italian vineyard Frank Cornelissen was one of the world’s leading natural wine vineyards. Its founder, Frank Cornelissen, faced weather related conditions that forced him to have to decide between staying true to the tenets of the natural wine... View Details

August 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Supplement

Arla Foods: Data-Driven Decarbonization (B)

By: Michael Parzen, Michael W. Toffel, Susan Pinckney and Amram Migdal

The case describes Arla’s history, in particular its climate change mitigation efforts, and how it implemented a price incentive system to motivate individual farms to implement scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions mitigation measures and receive a higher milk price. The... View Details

December 2004 (Revised May 2005)
Case

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research

By: David E. Bell and Hal Hogan

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) has a long, successful history at inventing solutions that help developing countries improve their agriculture. Their research centers are spread across the globe. For many years, they were funded by... View Details

Keywords: History; Adaptation; Investment; Research and Development; Agribusiness; Developing Countries and Economies; Innovation and Invention; Consulting Industry

01 Dec 2019
News

Case Study: Farming It Out

photo courtesy of Charlie Andersen Charlie Andersen (MBA 2014) grew up on a 200-acre organic family farm west of Philadelphia that produced everything from apples and blueberries to sweet corn. Andersen absolutely loved it—for the most part: “What I disliked were all... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Agriculture

November 2000 (Revised December 2000)
Case

Commercial Capital SA (B)

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Laure Mougeot Stroock

Keywords: Agribusiness; Privatization; Venture Capital; Financial Services Industry; Greece; Romania

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10 Aug 2015
News

Seeding a Better Future for Colombia

Part architectural spectacle, part tourist attraction, and part government-sponsored stage for forums and meetings that seed progress on key economic and diplomatic fronts, World Expos have been taking place since the 1850s. Colombia native Juan Pablo Cavelier (MBA... View Details

2012
Article

Behavioral Economics and the Psychology of Fruit and Vegetable Consumption

By: Joe Price and Jason Riis

Behavioral economics is an emerging paradigm that challenges the assumptions and predictions of classical economics. This new paradigm emphasizes that consumers do not always make optimal use of available information nor do they always make choices and tradeoffs in a... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Food; Social Marketing; Decision Choices and Conditions; Consumer Behavior; Nutrition

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December 2016 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Elders Limited

By: Forest L. Reinhardt and Dawn H. Lau

Keywords: Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Australia

December 2016 (Revised April 2019)
Case

Rice in Japan

By: Forest Reinhardt, Gunnar Trumbull, Naoko Jinjo and Mayuka Yamazaki

Keywords: Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Japan

September 2012 (Revised September 2015)
Case

Doing Business in Ghana

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Elena Corsi

An entrepreneur considered investing in tomato paste manufacturing in Ghana, an emerging economy, and pondered the opportunities and challenges of investing here. Ghana's economy had been growing over the last decade, reaching a peak of 14.4% growth rate in 2011. Now a... View Details

Keywords: Emergent Countries; Strategy; Opportunity Cost; Emerging Markets; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Ghana