Publications

December 2002 (Revised May 2003)
Case

Fonterra: Taking on the Dairy World

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Jose M. M. Porraz

Fonterra was a cooperatively owned dairy company--New Zealand's largest company and the world's largest exporter of dairy products. To maintain its leadership, Fonterra had to respond to increased competition, new consumer tastes, consolidation of its customers, and... View Details

Keywords: Cooperative Ownership; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Trade; Global Strategy; Food; Business Model; Developing Countries and Economies; Competitive Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; New Zealand

December 2001 (Revised January 2002)
Case

Nestle S.A.

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Hal Hogan

Peter Brabeck wants to focus Nestle as a wellness company in the global food system and do so in a way that provides both growth in sales and margins in both developed and developing countries. View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Product Development; Supply Chain Management; Food; Multinational Firms and Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Sales; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Switzerland

May 1985 (Revised February 1990)
Case

American Food and Grains: Commodity and Ingredient Procurement

By: David A. Garvin

Keywords: Operations; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States

October 1988
Case

Beef Industry Council: ""Beef--Real Food for Real People"" Campaign

By: Stephen A. Greyser

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

February 1977 (Revised December 1985)
Case

Deere & Co.: Industrial Equipment Operations

By: Benson P. Shapiro

Describes the pricing of Deere's crawler tractors used in a variety of construction and industrial applications. Includes a strategic, multimillion-dollar move into the large bulldozer market as well as the pricing of tractors, accessories, and parts. View Details

Keywords: Machinery and Machining; Price; Brands and Branding; Market Entry and Exit; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States

April 1991 (Revised January 1997)
Case

Beatrice Companies--1985

By: David J. Collis

Describes the history of Beatrice Companies from its beginning as a dairy in 1891 to 1985, when the company was a $12 billion conglomerate. Focuses on the corporate strategies that Beatrice followed under each of its CEOs and concentrates on the company's strategic... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Change; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

1982
Chapter

The Capacity Expansion Process in a Growing Oligopoly: The Case of Corn Wet Milling

By: A. Michael Spence and M. E. Porter

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Food; Performance Capacity; Expansion; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

2018
Book

Food Citizenship: Food System Advocates in an Era of Distrust

By: Ray A. Goldberg

The global food system is the largest segment of the world's economy. As agribusiness-studies pioneer Ray Goldberg suggests, it is also the largest health system on the planet. And it is changing fast. Its size and importance to human, environmental, and economic... View Details

Keywords: Food; System; Global Range; Health; Environmental Sustainability; Development Economics; Partners and Partnerships; Public Opinion; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

September 2006
Case

Earthbound Farm

By: William A. Sahlman and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Describes a set of decisions confronting the senior management of Earthbound Farm, the largest organic produce company in the world. Focuses on what to do with an East Coast distribution center that is losing money but may be useful strategically. View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Distribution; Food; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Management Teams; Capital Budgeting; Business or Company Management; Business Strategy; Corporate Finance; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

December 2019
Supplement

Mãe Terra and Unilever (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Ruth Costas and Mariana Cal

Unilever is making strides to integrate the operations of Mãe Terra—one of Brazil's leading brands for packaged organic foods—into its own structures, after acquiring the company in 2017. Mãe Terra’s CEO, Alexandre Borges, must decide whether to implement his original... View Details

Keywords: Brand Management; Sustainability; Mergers and Acquisitions; Mission and Purpose; Social Enterprise; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Environmental Sustainability; Organizational Culture; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Brazil; Latin America

December 2019 (Revised June 2025)
Case

Mãe Terra and Unilever (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Ruth Costas and Priscilla Zogbi

The case concerns the sale of Mãe Terra, one of Brazil's leading brands for packaged organic foods, to the consumer goods giant Unilever in 2017. Working with Unilever management, Mãe Terra’s CEO Alexandre Borges must determine whether and how to keep Mãe Terra's B... View Details

Keywords: Brand Management; Sustainability; Mergers and Acquisitions; Mission and Purpose; Social Enterprise; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Environmental Sustainability; Organizational Culture; Brands and Branding; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Brazil; Latin America

January 2025
Technical Note

U.S. and Global Agriculture: The Next Four Years

By: Forest Reinhardt, Sarah Dankens and Natalie Kindred

Keywords: Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States

10 Apr 2013
News

Tapped In

ARIAS-KING: Planting pine trees to promote social change. Photo Courtesy of Fredo Arias-King Fredo Arias-King (MBA 1996) President of Texas's T&R Chemicals, is aware that—outside of his industry—people aren't necessarily cognizant of the historical and cultural... View Details

Keywords: pine resin; Agriculture; Agriculture; Agriculture; Agriculture

22 Apr 2020
Research Event

How Investors Are Sizing Up Climate Change’s Risks—and Opportunities

Until a few years ago, climate change’s potential impact seemed abstract for many investors. Now, as sea levels rise, hurricanes intensify, and droughts threaten food supplies, many investors are confronting its financial realities. But it’s not a simple calculation.... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Financial Services

19 Apr 2016
First Look

April 19, 2016

middle class—outweigh the challenges of operating there. And indeed, as embodied by Nigeria's status as a net food importer despite having 80 million hectares of potential agricultural land, the challenges are considerable. Animal feed is... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Global Entrepreneurship - Course Catalog

countries, agriculture still represents a large share of the domestic economy. Small farms and lack of resources often means that agriculture is highly inefficient. Technology can dramatically improve... View Details

01 Jun 2019
News

City on a Hill

more than $1 million in grants to renovate the aging West Wind dormitory, provide technical assistance to local farmers, and establish a commercial kitchen that local growers can use to make value-added agricultural products; turned the... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; photographed by Clay Cook

May 2024
Case

Naked Wines: The Profit vs. Growth Decision

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Edward A. Meyer

Nick Devlin faced a difficult strategic decision in October 2022. As the CEO of a UK-based subscription business connecting wine drinkers in the US, UK, and Australia with winemakers from around the world (which one journalist called the “Netflix of Wine”), he had to... View Details

August 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Supplement

Arla Foods: Data-Driven Decarbonization (A)

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

Arla implemented a data-based price incentive system to measure, track, and influence climate friendly changes to reduce CO2 emissions across the world’s fourth largest dairy cooperative. View Details

Keywords: Dairy Industry; Business Earnings; Earnings Management; Environmental Accounting; Agribusiness; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Acquisition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Decision Making; Decisions; Voting; Environmental Management; Climate Change; Environmental Regulation; Environmental Sustainability; Green Technology; Pollution; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Financial Strategy; Price; Profit; Revenue; Food; Geopolitical Units; Global Strategy; Ownership Type; Cooperative Ownership; Performance Efficiency; Performance Evaluation; Problems and Challenges; Natural Environment; Science-Based Business; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Cooperation; Corporate Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Europe; United Kingdom; European Union; Germany; Denmark; Sweden; Luxembourg; Belgium