Publications

December 2022 (Revised July 2023)
Case

Applegate Farms

By: Forest L. Reinhardt, José B. Alvarez and Natalie Kindred

Keywords: Agribusiness; Food; Consumer Behavior; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Brands and Branding; Integration; Strategy; Change Management; Change; Organizational Structure; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States

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

28 Apr 2010
Research & Ideas

Earth Day Reflections

we need to learn to do now is optimize the use of energy and water. Since it's not something we've been focusing on very much, I suspect we'll see enormous progress." That's my sense as well. We need to transform the entire economy—the built environment, our View Details

Keywords: by Staff

17 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

Navigating Tradeoffs: How Purpose Becomes a Company's ‘Lighthouse in the Storm’

company so dedicated to reinventing agriculture to be more sustainable and less polluting use planet-friendly packaging? It wasn’t an oversight. As founder Viraj Puri recalls, when the company was starting out, his team researched... View Details

Keywords: by Ranjay Gulati

22 Apr 2015
Op-Ed

Reforming Greece: Myths and Truths

goods rather than agriculture or services. Industrial exports increased as a percentage of total exports from circa 25 percent to 40 percent between 2007 and 2013. It is no coincidence that the largest increase in labor productivity over... View Details

Keywords: by George Serafeim

18 Jul 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, July 18, 2017

fossil fuels, changes in land use and agriculture practices, and geoengineering. The note concludes with the debate over how much should be spent to mitigate and adapt to climate change, who should pay, and the implications for the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2010
Supplement

Esquel Group: Building a Sustainable Partnership with Cotton Farmers in Xinjiang (B)

By: James K. Sebenius and Jason Cheng Qian

Details and evaluates results in Esquel's 2002 initiative to negotiate long-term partnerships with often-exploited farmers in Xinjiang (western China) to procure a superior cotton variety. View Details

Keywords: Contracts; Agreements and Arrangements; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Outcome or Result; Leasing; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Partners and Partnerships; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Hong Kong; Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu

November 2006
Supplement

Sarah Talley and Frey Farms Produce: Negotiating with Wal-Mart (B)

By: James K. Sebenius and Ellen Knebel

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

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

14 Dec 2010
First Look

First Look: Dec. 14

asset class. In recent years, a growing number of individual and institutional investors have allocated a portion of their capital into agricultural farmland. Private investors, public companies, and sovereign wealth funds are now all... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

How South Africa Challenges Our Thinking on FDI

still contains many subsistence farmers or folks who are living off of meager agricultural incomes and transfers from the state or their relatives in the big cities. So to compete with all of those site-specific issues would be a... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

March 2021 (Revised January 2023)
Background Note

The Pandemic's Impact on the U.S. Food System

By: José B. Alvarez and Natalie Kindred

This note is intended not as a comprehensive account but as a starting point for discussion about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the U.S. food system. Written in late 2020, the note describes, in part through the voices of industry leaders, how the pandemic... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Agribusiness; Risk and Uncertainty; Risk Management; Leadership; Change Management; Safety; Health; Health Pandemics; Disruption; Adaptation; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Consumer Behavior; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States

05 Sep 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 5, 2017

urban and rural, the new urbanization does not upend China’s longstanding duality between those categories. The central goals of the new urbanization are to manage urbanization so as to generate domestic demand and reorganize agricultural... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

02 Jun 2010
First Look

First Look: June 2

Pontal, a partially built irrigation project in the SFV. In exchange for partial reimbursement from the Brazilian government and free use of 30,000 hectares land for 25 years, the private-sector partner would finish constructing the irrigation infrastructure and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

05 Apr 2016
First Look

April 5, 2016

Scale versus Scope in the Diffusion of New Technology By: Gross, Daniel P. Abstract—Using the farm tractor as a case study, I show that lags in technology diffusion arise along two distinct margins: scale and scope. Though tractors are now used in nearly every View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthlorne

02 Apr 2013
First Look

First Look: April 2

Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=44534 Cases & Course Materials Harvard Business School Case 513-065 Agriculture in Mexico No abstract available. Purchase this case: http://hbr.org/search/513065-PDF-ENG... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2020
Supplement

Luvo (B)

By: José B. Alvarez and Natalie Kindred

This case, a follow on to HBS No. 517-049 "Luvo," provides a brief look at changes that have occurred at Luvo, now called Performance Kitchen, since the timing of the first case (mid-2016). Set in January 2020, “Luvo (B)” touches on developments such as the company's... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Nutrition; Food; Strategy; Product Positioning; Product Marketing; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States; Canada