Publications

April 1981 (Revised June 1982)
Case

Social Impact of Agribusiness: A Field Study of ALCOSA in Guatemala

By: Ray A. Goldberg

January 2009
Teaching Note

The Octopus and the Generals: The United Fruit Company in Guatemala (TN)

By: Geoffrey G. Jones and Marcelo Bucheli

Teaching Note for [805146]. View Details

Keywords: Policy; Vertical Integration; Economy; War; Poverty; Government and Politics; Food and Beverage Industry; Guatemala; North and Central America

03 Jul 2019
Cold Call Podcast

The Controversial History of United Fruit

Keywords: Re: Geoffrey G. Jones; Food & Beverage

18 Oct 2017
Research & Ideas

How Economic Clusters Drive Globalization

institutions gathered and disseminated knowledge about the country’s biodiversity, an effort that, with government support, led to the creation of national reserves and parks. As with Malaysia, Costa Rica’s relative political stability, compared to neighboring View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Agriculture & Agribusiness

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; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States; California; Peru; Guatemala; Colombia; Mexico; Chile

12 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

Entrepreneurship and Multinationals Drive Globalization

constraints on the autonomy of firms. The book has several case studies that explore this issue. The instances when firms could really dictate to governments, as when the United Fruit Company orchestrated the CIA overthrow of the government in View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Beauty & Cosmetics; Manufacturing; Consumer Products; Pharmaceutical

May 2025 (Revised June 2025)
Background Note

Social Enterprise in Latin America

By: Brian L. Trelstad and Karina Souza

This research note provides an overview of the social enterprise ecosystem in Latin America, exploring current dynamics across key markets, including country-specific insights on Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and Central America. In a region characterized... View Details

January 1995 (Revised March 1995)
Case

GuateSalud

Dr. Glenn Lopez, the founder and general director of GuateSalud, faces cash flow problems and some crucial choices about how to expand his innovative health maintenance organization for agricultural workers in rural Guatemala. The case describes Lopez's six-year... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Government and Politics; Conflict and Resolution; Health Industry; Guatemala

13 Feb 2006
Research & Ideas

The Hidden Market for Babies

largely limited to those who can pay. Right now, it's simply too hard for would-be parents to get accurate and reliable information. Q: What about the market for babies who have already been born? In your book you bring up Guatemala and... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls; Biotechnology; Health; Technology

June 2024 (Revised October 2024)
Case

Equifruit

By: Elizabeth A. Keenan and Annelena Lobb

Jennie Coleman, president of Fairtrade banana company Equifruit, considered how best to position her firm and brand to increase sales of Fairtrade bananas in the U.S. and Canada. She saw her biggest challenge as convincing retailers that consumers would be OK spending... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Food; Goods and Commodities; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Sales; Social Enterprise; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Ecuador; Guatemala; Canada; United States

April 2014
Case

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc.: Taking on Seasonal Starvation in Latin America

By: Christopher Marquis and Zoe Yang

A company with a strong commitment toward corporate social responsibility since its founding days, Green Mountain faced an ethical decision point in 2007 as new information from the field uncovered a chronic dire problem facing coffee communities—seasonal starvation.... View Details

Keywords: Fair Trade; Coffee; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Food and Beverage Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Latin America; Central America; Mexico; Guatemala; Nicaragua

November 2024
Case

Fyffes International SA

By: David E. Bell, Damien McLoughlin and Tonia Labruyère

Helge Sparsoe, CEO of Fyffes since 2020, had taken the tropical produce importer and distributor back to a path of stable level of profitability since he joined in 2020. He was now thinking about next steps for the business, which mainly traded in bananas. He was... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Change Management; Environmental Sustainability; Brands and Branding; Demand and Consumers; Supply Chain; Competition; Price; Value Creation; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Switzerland; United Kingdom; Republic of Ireland; Colombia; Guatemala; Costa Rica; Ecuador

May–June 2013
Article

Can Global Brands Create Just Supply Chains? Response: Promoting Political Mobilization

By: Jodi L. Short and Michael W. Toffel

Codes of conduct indicate that working conditions are improving overall at the factories being monitored by multinational corporations, and that these codes of conduct also create possibilities for political mobilization that can improve labor conditions more broadly. View Details