Publications

2011
Other Unpublished Work

Lords of the Harvest: Third-Party Signaling and Regulatory Approval of Genetically Modified Organisms

By: Shon R. Hiatt and Sangchan Park

Little is known about the factors that influence regulatory agencies' decision making. We posit that regulatory agencies are influenced by the firms they regulate, but not exclusively via political influence as is argued in the traditional regulatory-capture... View Details

Keywords: Genetics; Decision Choices and Conditions; Reputation; Agribusiness; Power and Influence; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States

October 2003 (Revised January 2004)
Case

ITC eChoupal Initiative, The

Soybean farmers in India have traditionally sold their product through ineffective and frequently dishonest physical marketplaces (mandi). Farmers are generally poor and often illiterate and are forced to be "price-takers" after an arduous journey to the mandi. They... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Fairness; Internet and the Web; Supply Chain Management; Emerging Markets; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; India

January 2004 (Revised November 2004)
Case

Rwandan Tea Industry, The: Looking into the Future

By: Debora L. Spar

In 2003, the Rwandan government was focused on transforming the nation's tea industry into a world-class competitor. To accomplish this objective and stave off the downward prices that plagued the international tea market, the government believed that the industry... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Market Entry and Exit; Competitive Strategy; Privatization; Government and Politics; Developing Countries and Economies; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Rwanda

Find at Harvard

October 2015
Case

Clearwater Seafoods

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

Clearwater sought to market value-added shellfish products in a traditionally commodities based industry, while facing supply uncertainties and regulatory, environmental, and foreign exchange challenges. Clearwater harvested lobsters, clams, scallops, shrimp, and other... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Profit; Goods and Commodities; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Product Marketing; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Canada

31 Jan 2018
Research & Ideas

American Idle: Workers Spend Too Much Time Waiting for Something to Do

representative sample of 1,003 people across 29 occupations—including lawyers, managers, agricultural workers, and soldiers. They found that 78 percent of employees reported experiencing some kind of idle time. Moreover, in every one of... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

09 Jun 2022
HBS Case

From Truck Driver to Manager: US Foods’ Novel Approach to Staff Shortages

workers to select and manage products in its warehouses. By the middle of 2021, US Foods, which employs about 26,000 workers, had 1,000 unfilled driving and warehouse positions. "You’re saying you might be a truck driver for a while, but... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

26 Jun 2020
Research & Ideas

Why Japanese Businesses Are So Good at Surviving Crises

When the supply of the probiotic drinks dwindled due to the Yakult factory shutting down and the Yakult Ladies ran out of products to deliver, some decided on their own to deliver water and instant noodles to their customers, for free.... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

10 May 2016
First Look

May 10, 2016

Agricultural Advice: Technology Adoption, Diffusion and Sustainability By: Cole, Shawn A., and A. Nilesh Fernando Abstract—We examine the role of management in agricultural View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

25 Sep 2007
First Look

First Look: September 25, 2007

are significantly different to the inter-industry vertical FDI visible at the two-digit level. These subsidiaries are not readily explained by the comparative advantage considerations in traditional models, where firms locate their low skill View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

August 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

New Hope Liuhe: Building an Integrated Agri-Food Business

By: Forest L. Reinhardt, Shu Lin, Natalie Kindred and Nancy Hua Dai

In October 2018, LIU Chang (Angela), chairman of Beijing-based New Hope Liuhe (NHL), was considering the strategy of the firm. With $9 billion in sales and a presence in nearly 20 countries, NHL was China’s largest animal feed producer and a major pork and poultry... View Details

22 Mar 2011
First Look

First Look: March 22

waste. This increase reflects a change in the behavior of households, which keep unaltered the production of total waste but sort it to a larger extent. In addition, we show that several factors that may discourage local administrators... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

20 Oct 2010
Op-Ed

Export Competitiveness: Reversing the Logic

Foreign investment introduced capital and provided jobs for people previously occupied in agriculture. At an aggregate level, capital intensity rose, productivity grew, and prosperity improved, and poverty levels dropped dramatically.... View Details

Keywords: by Christian Ketels

20 Feb 2008
First Look

First Look: February 20, 2008

information about how to switch to export crops, makes in-kind loans for the purchase of the agricultural inputs, and provides marketing services by facilitating the transaction with exporters. The experimental evaluation design randomly... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

September 2007 (Revised November 2007)
Case

Bunge: Food, Fuel, and World Markets

By: Tarun Khanna, Santiago Mingo and Jonathan West

In 2007, Bunge, an agribusiness company, had over $26 billion in worldwide sales and was considered, along with Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), one of three very integrated worldwide agribusiness companies. Headquartered in White Plains, NY, the company has... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Operations; Organizational Design; Situation or Environment; Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; White Plains; Brazil

20 Dec 2010
Research & Ideas

Panama Canal: Troubled History, Astounding Turnaround

West Coast headed to eastern ports, with a smaller flow of manufactured goods and agricultural products headed the other way. The canal supercharged the growth of the West Coast (at the expense of Venezuela... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Transportation

September 2022 (Revised November 2022)
Case

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act: Trade and Genocide in U.S.-China Relations

By: Jeremy Friedman and David Lane

On June 21, 2022, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) went into effect, requiring companies to prove that goods imported from the People’s Republic of China were not made with forced labor. The bill was a reaction to reports of products being made with... View Details

December 2023 (Revised July 2024)
Case

Boortmalt: The Master Maltster

By: Forest Reinhardt, Jose B Alvarez, Damien McLoughlin, Lena Duchene and Emer Moloney

By May 2023, Boortmalt was the world’s leading producer of malt, with a production capacity of 3 million tonnes, 15% of global market share, and 27 malting plants across five continents. It had recently acquired a major competitor and had sustained an EBITDA growth of... View Details