Publications

March 1997 (Revised August 2017)
Case

Compagnie du Froid, S.A.

By: Robert Simons and Antonio Dávila

The owner of an ice cream company must evaluate the performance of three regional businesses. To do the analysis, students must flex the budget by seasonal temperature; calculate revenue, volume, price, and efficiency variances; analyze the effects of transfer prices;... View Details

Keywords: Analysis; Investment Return; Performance Evaluation; Revenue; Budgets and Budgeting; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe; France; Spain; Italy

01 Mar 2024
News

Unlocking the Power of Community

finding there’s strong interest in this.” Think luxury brands that sell in department stores, food and beverage brands that customers encounter in grocery stores or... View Details

Keywords: April White

2009
Simulation

Finance Simulation: M&A in Wine Country: No. 3289.

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and W. Carl Kester

In this simulation, students play the role of CEO at one of three publicly-traded wine producers: Starshine, Bel Vino, or International Beverage. Each player evaluates merger and/or acquisition opportunities among the three companies and then determines reservation... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Negotiation; Valuation; Value Creation; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

January 1996 (Revised May 2005)
Case

Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition

By: David J. Collis and Melinda B. Conrad

Bob Holland takes over as CEO of this iconoclastic ice cream company in February 1995 when it faces a major crisis. Holland must now develop a strategy that both adapts to the external environment and is consistent with the company's unique heritage. View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Business Strategy; Adaptation; Crisis Management; Organizational Culture; Food and Beverage Industry

14 Jul 2014
Research & Ideas

Pay Attention To Your ‘Extreme Consumers’

of extreme lovers or haters of their products. A project developing new menu items for a fast food restaurant chain in Malaysia, for example, used websites that were critical of the fast food View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

December 2005 (Revised January 2007)
Case

Ben & Jerry's: Preserving Mission & Brand within Unilever

By: James E. Austin and James Quinn

In the months after Ben & Jerry's was acquired by Unilever, Ben & Jerry's head social mission faces challenges and opportunities unique in the company's history, including: how to manage employee morale; whether to include synthetic ingredients to meet consumer... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Problems and Challenges; Mergers and Acquisitions; Mission and Purpose; Social Enterprise; Management Teams; Governing and Advisory Boards; Value Creation; Corporate Governance; Employee Relationship Management; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

December 2022
Case

Mission Produce in 2022

By: Forest Reinhardt, Jose B. Alvarez and Natalie Kindred

Founded by CEO Steve Barnard in 1983, California-based Mission Produce was a leading supplier of Hass avocados with a global sourcing, marketing, and distribution network and $892 million in 2021 sales. Barnard had been influential in the global avocado trade’s... View Details

Keywords: Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States; California; Peru; Guatemala; Colombia; Mexico; Chile

April 2002 (Revised May 2003)
Case

Nghe An Tate & Lyle Sugar Company (Vietnam)

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Frank J. Lysy and Carrie Ferman

In September 1998, Paul Cooper, Tate & Lyle's finance director for international investments, asked the International Finance Corp. (IFC) to consider lending up to $45 million to finance a $90 million sugar mill in northern Vietnam. Ewen Cobban, an IFC agricultural... View Details

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; Food and Beverage Industry; Viet Nam

13 Jun 2019
Blog Post

Expanding My Worldview Through FIELD Global Immersion

and funny material posted on social media, to promote health, beauty, and snack food products. Our job was to develop a new snack food designed... View Details

10 May 2022
Research & Ideas

Being Your Own Boss Can Pay Off, but Not Always with Big Pay

The research offers a cautionary tale for would-be entrepreneurs, identifying industries where the self-employed have both struggled and thrived. High-capital startups have declined Kerr says there’s clearly... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

June 2012
Class Lecture

Why You're Not Buying Venezuelan Chocolate: The Provenance Paradox

By: Rohit Deshpandé

A product's country of origin establishes its authenticity. This is the provenance paradox. Consumers associate certain geographies with the best products: French wine, Italian sports cars, Swiss watches. Competing products from other countries - especially developing... View Details

Keywords: Global Business; Branding; Strategic Planning; Strategic Positioning; Emergent Countries; Consumer Perception; Developing Markets; Brands and Branding; Geographic Location; Globalized Markets and Industries; Perception; Emerging Markets; Product Positioning; Global Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Venezuela

Find at Harvard

Web

Confronting Climate Change - Business & Environment

largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and the largest contributor to climate change. Food & Agriculture Focusing on regenerative agriculture Food View Details

22 Mar 2013
Research & Ideas

Pulling Campbell’s Out of the Soup

Douglas Conant is an introvert. But when he took over as president and CEO of struggling Campbell Soup Co., he realized he had to break out of his comfort zone, get in front of his staff, and make some bold... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage

17 Dec 2008
Lessons from the Classroom

‘Ted Levitt Changed My Life’

later: "What business are you really in?" "An industry begins with the customer and his or her needs, not with a patent, a raw material, or a selling skill," wrote Levitt, citing the... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Education; Retail

13 Mar 2018
First Look

March 13, 2018

of firm-level total factor productivity (TFP), sales and cash-flow, higher probabilities to engage in R&D, and export. We find no significant effects for firms from View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2018
Working Paper

Survival of the Fittest: The Impact of the Minimum Wage on Firm Exit

By: Dara Lee Luca and Michael Luca

We study the impact of the minimum wage on firm exit in the restaurant industry, exploiting recent changes in the minimum wage at the city level. We find that the impact of the minimum wage depends on whether a restaurant was already close to the margin of exit.... View Details

Keywords: Wages; Business Exit or Shutdown; Food and Beverage Industry