Bannanas

Jermaine R. Harkness

MG 358 AW – Business and Society

Case analysis

Chapter 5: Strategic Management and Corporate Public Affairs

Chiquita: An Excruciating Dilemma between Life and Law

Formerly known as United Fruit Company and then as United Brands, Chiquita Brands International, is a global food company that employs more than twenty-six thousand employees on six continents around the world. According to the company website, Chiquita owns around ninety thousand acres and leases about fifty thousand acres of improved land, primarily in Panama, Costa Rica, Columbia, Guatemala, and Honduras. Chiquita’s primary use of this land is for growing, packing, and shipping bananas.

It is common knowledge that handling business ventures in many parts of the world can pose numerous threats. These dangers, as demonstrated by this case, can span the entire reach and scope of the company. Chiquita Brands International, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, has learned the hard way that businesses must adhere to a strict code in order to conduct safe, practical, and profitable endeavors, especially when operations take place in such sensitive environments.

The company, Chiquita, decided to acquire land in the country of Columbia located in South America to conduct business. At the time of this decision Columbia had been described as being a “…notoriously lawless countryside”, having “narco-terrorists [run] roughshod of the forces of law and order”, or in some of the cases the terrorists even worked hand in hand with law enforcement teams in mutual shakedowns, kidnappings, and murders. Companies that decided to conduct business in Columbia became easy targets for these terrorists and paramilitary groups. In exchange for “safety” or “security” of vital business resources, companies often had to pay a price. Some even considered this payment to the groups as simply a cost of doing business in this country and proceeded with company affairs without any hesitation on any level....