StarKist (A)

Richard H.K. Vietor; Forest L. Reinhardt

Case | HBS Case Collection | April 1994 (Revised January 1995)

StarKist (A)

by Richard H.K. Vietor and Forest L. Reinhardt

Abstract

Set in April 1990, this case focuses on H.J. Heinz and its subsidiary, StarKist, the largest producer of canned tuna in the United States. During the 1980s, the public became increasingly concerned about tuna fishing practices that killed dolphins. StarKist was the target of a consumer boycott initiated by the environmental community. Worried that bad publicity from the boycott would threaten the StarKist brand name, as well as Heinz's other branded products, senior management at Heinz decided that StarKist would become the first tuna processor to no longer purchase tuna caught by methods that killed dolphins. In making the decision, Heinz executives were not sure how StarKist's two major competitors would react, or how the decision would impact the procurement of raw tuna, StarKist's single largest expense item. Discusses the harvesting (fishing) and processing (canning) sector of the tuna industry. Also discusses the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and U.S. trade sanctions against Mexico and other countries.

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Decision Choices and Conditions; Laws and Statutes; Management Teams; Brands and Branding; Environmental Sustainability; Competition; Mexico; United States;

Format: Print

25 pages

Educators Purchase

Citation:

Vietor, Richard H.K., and Forest L. Reinhardt. "StarKist (A)." Harvard Business School Case 794-128, April 1994. (Revised January 1995.)

Brazilian logistics company Rumo operated 13,500 km in railway networks, port terminals, and inland transshipment terminals, connecting major Brazilian ports to the agriculture hubs of Mato Grosso and São Paulo state. Controlled by Cosan, Brazil's leading sugar and ethanol producer, Rumo had been through a turnaround over the last three years, including heavy investment in operational improvements and financial deleverage, taking cash flow generation from a negative $278 million in 2015 to positive $15.3 million in 2018. In 2019, as the company planned its new expansion cycle ($3.4 billion would be invested from 2019 to 2023), Rumo's executives had to find the best way to continue to capture the value created, while preserving its relations with customers and other stakeholders.

Since its expulsion from Malaysia in 1965, Singapore had transformed itself from a third world island nation into a vibrant city-state with one of the highest levels of GDP per capita in the world. However, sluggish demand among Singapore's major trade partners began testing the nation's export-driven growth model. It was also becoming clear that the Singaporean government could no longer focus single-mindedly on economic growth. Was Singapore facing a mid-life crisis? If so, how could the government revive optimism in the nation's future?

Twenty years after the end of Apartheid, South Africa's democracy persists, albeit with problems. A tripartite coalition—the African National Congress, the labor unions, and the Communist Party—still controls the political system but with diminishing economic results and authority. Since 2010, the economy has grown at 1.4% annually, with unemployment at 25%. Several national plans have been initiated but none with success. Most recently, the National Development Plan is the Zuma administration's approach. And then, at the end of 2015, cronyism sunk the stock market and the currency, causing a political crisis. Pravin Gordhan, an experienced bureaucrat, is once again Finance Minister but faces the tradeoff between growth and debt reduction. With the recent resignation of Zuma and the instatement of former deputy president and wealthy businessman Cyril Ramaphosa as President, it was still to be determined if a change in leadership would be enough to improve the country's economic and social situation.

Faculty & Research

StarKist (A)

Abstract

Citation:

About the Authors

More from these Authors