Publications

November 2004
Case

Deere & Company

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Hal Hogan

John Deere & Co. wants to improve shareholder value and provide incentives to do so. The task is difficult in a volatile agriculture and construction industry. It also wants to be more global and provide machinery that traces commodities from the field to the consumer. View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Volatility; Machinery and Machining; Multinational Firms and Management; Goods and Commodities; Goals and Objectives; Strategic Planning; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

January 1990 (Revised October 1993)
Case

Monsanto's March into Biotechnology (A)

By: Gary P. Pisano

Very early in the history of biotechnology (about 1979), Monsanto made a major commitment to move into this field. This case recounts the history from the point of view of the eminent scientist hired to head up corporate R&D. He took Monsanto from a very traditional... View Details

Keywords: History; Transition; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

February 1985 (Revised September 1988)
Case

Caterpillar Tractor Co.

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Describes the structure and evolution of the earth moving equipment industry worldwide in the post war era, particularly focusing on developments in the 1960s and 1970s. Describes Caterpillar's strategy in becoming the dominant worldwide competitor (industry market... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

06 Sep 2016
First Look

September 6, 2016

and shared significant export agribusiness sectors, but whose organic food sector became significantly larger. While the power of incumbent vested interests and unsupportive public policies emerge as major explanatory factors, the article... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

28 Feb 2012
First Look

First Look: Feb. 28

Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop, and Matthew PrebleHarvard Business School Case 912-402 George Weston, CEO of Associated British Foods, and his top executives are deciding how to position the company, a major agribusiness involved in a range... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Jun 2017
News

Alumni and Faculty Books for June 2017

aimed at promoting spatially defined agribusiness/agro-industrial investments and strengthening agribusiness and agro-industrial competitiveness. It analyzes five agroterritorial planning and policy instruments—economic corridors,... View Details

January 1998 (Revised February 2002)
Case

Funai Consulting Company, Ltd. (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Tomoya Nakamura

In the summer of 1997, a consultant at Japan's Funai Consulting Co. Ltd., must decide how to respond to a client's proposal to offer "open pricing" (based on willingness to pay) to customers unable to pay the standard price for the client's product. The client, Akita... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Price; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Decisions; Agribusiness; Management Practices and Processes; Business Ventures; Consulting Industry; Japan

Find at Harvard

September 1989 (Revised July 1991)
Case

Caterpillar, Inc.: George Schaefer Takes Charge

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

For over half a century, Caterpillar, Inc. (CAT) had been a world leader in the manufacture of earthmoving and construction machinery. In 1982, just months after it recorded the highest sales and profits in its history, CAT experienced its greatest crisis. Demand fell... View Details

Keywords: Machinery and Machining; Crisis Management; Labor Unions; Demand and Consumers; Management Teams; Problems and Challenges; Competitive Strategy; Business Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

December 2024
Case

Smithfield Cattle Company

By: Forest Reinhardt and Natalie Kindred

Keywords: Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Australia

December 1986 (Revised March 1991)
Supplement

Caterpillar-Komatsu in 1986

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Provides an update to the global competitive interaction between Caterpillar and Komatsu described in companion cases Caterpillar Tractor and Komatsu Ltd. Caterpillar's response to Komatsu's growing market share is outlined, then the impact of rapidly changing... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Currency Exchange Rate; Price; Global Strategy; Policy; Market Participation; Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

03 Oct 2017
First Look

First Look at Research and Ideas, October 3, 2017

sustained, recipients will flee these threats or otherwise reshape their network to attenuate the negative psychological effects of the threat. Analyzing four years of peer feedback and social network data from an agribusiness company in... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

10 Apr 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research, April 10, 2018

was a vertically integrated food company with a management system that allowed it to innovate and grow systematically. With sales of $2 billion in 2016, the firm not only produced flour, vegetable oil, and packaged food products, it also owned a port terminal, a... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Aug 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 1

World Trade Organization. What does this mean for future agricultural programs in the United States? For future trade policies of the United States, Brazil, and others in the global agribusiness system? The future role of the WTO?... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

20 Nov 2018
Cold Call Podcast

Building a Nonprofit Marketplace to Feed America

Keywords: Re: Scott Duke Kominers; Agriculture & Agribusiness; Agriculture & Agribusiness; Agriculture & Agribusiness

August 2012 (Revised November 2014)
Case

Intuit Inc.: Project AgriNova

By: Thomas Eisenmann and Tanya Bijlani

In late 2008, a team from Intuit's office in Bangalore, India, is evaluating an opportunity to launch a new venture that would use SMS to deliver crop price information to farmers in India. The case describes the structure of Indian agriculture and the problems... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Venturing; Entrepreneurship; Research; Business Ventures; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Bangalore

June 1987 (Revised May 1990)
Case

John Deere Component Works (B)

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Having installed an activity-based system, the division is now exploring the insight provided by that system. In particular, it is studying the economics of lot-size process planning and product mix management. View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Production; Business or Company Management; Planning; Cost Accounting; Cost Management; Product Marketing; Management Practices and Processes; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

15 Mar 2016
First Look

March 15, 2016

planned to market internationally, had the potential to disrupt the global grocery retail market. Purchase this case: https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/516059-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 516-057 COFCO In 2015, COFCO, China's state-owned View Details

February 2014
Case

BGI: Data-driven Research

By: Willy Shih and Sen Chai

BGI has the largest installed gene-sequencing capacity in the world, and to Zhang Gengyun, general manager of the Life Sciences Division, this represented an opportunity to apply his training as a plant breeder and his early career work as a biochemist to improving... View Details