Date: January 19, 2014
To: CEO
From: Alexandra Padua
Subject: Conducting Business in Bolivia (Coffee)
Our business company consisting of 300 employees is interested in conducting business in South America (Bolivia). It is in the interest of company growth and sustainability that our organization transfer 25 employees conduct research for future revenue prosperity. Invalsa was founded in 2004 and ships Bolivian coffee World-wide while supplying some of the largest specialty roasts globally.
Invalsa Coffee Inc. History
Invalsa coffee inc. was founded in 2004 by the Valverde brother, Nelson and Jorge. They are both educated men starting their first commercial enterprise when they were only 16 and 10 years old. Their company makes the statement, “Our objective is to empower you to implement your direct-trade coffee supply chain strategy, giving you fully transparent access to the best green coffees available.” (Invalsa) The high percentage of coffee grown in Bolivia is grown using the small farmer family concept. This concept ensures the product is not mixed with other grown coffee beans maintaining the integrity for specifically grown green coffee beans. Traditional coffee growers and distributors will mix the different coffee beans making the product the lest common denominator for quality. Invalsa has a sourcing system for which in undeniable, “We have a unique system of buying coffee based on price per quality, as measured by the SCAA cupping
The inoculate Fair Trade coffee beans which satiate consumers ' morning desire for a pick-me-up as well as bettering the lives of the growers begin their journey in the Northern highlands of Sumatra in the Indonesian Island chain. Trader Joe’s Fair Trade Organic Sumatra Coffee beans are grown on the small Indonesian island of Sumatra in the tropical South Pacific. Rather than being produced on large Multinational Corporation owned-and-operated plantation style coffee farms, this global commodity begins its journey from creation to consumption on small, several acre large plots owned, operated, and harvested by small-scale farmers in the
The main objective is to improve the lives of small-scale coffee farmers by increasing the productivity of their farms and quality of beans in a sustainable way. It was launched in 2005 and till date, 4000 farmers worked and have influenced the lives of over 20,000 people. They help farmers learn how to succeed in today’s changing market conditions by empowering them with skills and tools. The Tin Hortons coffee partnership is based on three main pillars-Economic, Social, and Environmental.
Coffee has not only impacted the world socially, but it provides financial means for many countries who export their coffee beans.
Costa Rica now provided raw material for Starbucks which accounted for about 15 percent of the total coffee beans Starbucks needed every year. Costa Rica as one of the raw material suppliers plays an important role in global value chain. Coffee has played a pivotal role in the development of Costa Rica. It has shaped social, cultural and political institutions and is still one of country’s major agricultural exports. (Anywhere, 2016) The global value chain in this coffee industry can be described that Starbucks, the centre in this coffee global value chain, purchasing raw materials (coffee beans) from coffee farms in Costa Rica, reprocessing and reproducing in retail shops, selling the finished products (various kinds of coffee) to customers in the world.
The three organisations that that have been identified are called, Maya café, which is a micro business, La Dolce Vita – Newry, which is an SME business and Norbrook who are a large organisation. Maya café is small family run business who is dedicated to bringing you coffee and tasty grub. Maya café get their coffee beans straight from Guatemala, and have a good relationship with the suppliers and farmers that they deal with. “Before our coffee beans are shipped they are tested by our quality control consultant, who is also an accredited Star Cupper of Central America.” (http://www.mayacafecompany.co.uk/our-coffee.php).
From the New York Times the article: “Coffee’s Economics, Rewritten by Farmers”, illustrates how Kenneth Lander, a lawyer in Monroe, moved with his family to a coffee farm in San Rafael de Abangares, Costa Rica. Mr. Lander was looking for a more balanced life between work and his lifestyle. Mr. Lander started growing his own coffee from 12 acres of land that yielded 6,000 pounds of specialty-grade coffee beans a year. But in 2008, his financials started to dwindle, and he quickly struggled to support his family. Farmers in his similar financial situation usually turned to organizations like Fairtrade International who typically bailed them out, but for Mr. Lander, he sought out innovative ideas. He began to roast his own beans and sell them
It is a globalised world. Being a part of this progressive society, growth is a key indicator of success. Global Trade is one such benchmark that differentiate nations and economies. Every nation has some policies to promote the strengths of their trade globally. Likewise, Colombia has been known to be the third-largest producer of coffee after Brazil and Vietnam (in terms of volumes produced) from a long-time. Coffee is the world’s most traded commodity and most of it is produced by the small-scale farmers. Hence, globalisation has had a great impact on its production as well as trade. Therefore, Colombia’s strength lies in the production of coffee but also promoting their strengths and honing them globally to their benefit. Coffee is not just a cash crop for the Colombians but it’s a way of life for them. The farmers associated with the credulous society of small scale coffee growers called National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia (NFC) (1) was founded in the year 1927.
The 9th largest coffee producer in Latin America is Peru. It is mainly produced in the valleys of Chanchamayo and Urabamba. The coffee is described as being “mild, flavorful, and aromatic”. Most farms are small in the country, being only 5 acres. The crops are grown all over the country, but
The coffee industry is an extremely competitive one. However, the market structure of the coffee industry and specifically the coffee bean industry that provides the raw materials for Yuban could be described as an oligopoly. The specific characteristics of this oligopoly are, however, more reminiscent of a cartel because a relatively small number of suppliers control the supply and distribution of coffee beans globally (Igami, 2011). Consequently, Yuban, which is a brand within the Kraft Foods umbrella, has limited choice in selecting its supplies. The coffee bean industry was controlled officially through a cartel structure until 1989 under the International Coffee Agreement or ICA but thereafter market competition with new entrants such as Vietnam eroded the control of this official cartel organization (Igami, 2011). Yet, because coffee bean production is largely limited to certain geographic regions, these countries’ governments express a great deal of control over which entities control production and distribution.
The team from SSC discuss the importance of the story of coffee, quality and reserve.
Many multinational corporations in the coffee industry have succeeded tremendously such as Starbucks. Each of these corporations has strategies that helped them continue to expand to nations of different cultures, ethnicities, governmental practices, and locations.
Gaviña’s staff describes it as a family company committed to bring a high quality coffee to their customers and meet all their expectations. Their ethical role is make decision as work family to overcome external forces or financial challenges without affecting the quality of their products; based on the video pricing is their biggest problem since it is linked to the commodity costs; when it goes up the quality of product is affected. So, this market behavior makes other companies to cut price, eventually affecting the quality by bringing better prices or smaller units compered to the ones produced and offered at Gaviña, leaving customers dealing with a mix of coffee qualities.
For the concept of standardization of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, branding and image are consistent in host markets with that of home market. Despite the expectation that cultural differences may affect the demand for their products and services the coffee shop felt that maintaining standardization was more important than adaptation. Standardization is enforced by the company on branding to ensure that the brand image and value is being perceived consistently by the customers in all markets. Adaptation has also applied to the product offering For example in its home country, the coffee shop have a limited range of food and beverage items in their outlets. However, the coffee shop had included a wider range of hot food items in Asia as Asians need to have food with their coffees. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf also provide both the good quality of input and output has brings a big achievement. The foundation of the coffee chop is a commitment to quality. They produce and serve only the finest coffees and teas from around the world.
Raw Materials (Coffee Beans): Coffee bean farming is not vertically integrated into Starbucks; the company purchases coffee beans from farmers. Starbucks choose to outsource farming due to the low potential hold-up problem. For its coffee, Starbucks uses only high-quality Arabica beans, instead of regular commodity and lower quality robusta beans. Since there are a lot of market participants trading Arabica beans (i.e. farmers & Arabica beans buyers), there is an established market price. Moreover, farm land has a low degree of asset specificity, and therefore farmers’ investments do not depend only on Starbucks as
Starbucks inbound logistics comprises of the firm’s quality control specialist in selecting top-quality Arabia coffee beans from suppliers that maintain a sustainable approach. Starbucks supports ethical sourcing by operating “responsible purchasing practices, farmer support…” (Starbucks, 2016) also corporate social responsibility (CSR). Additionally, their tactic is utilizing the “Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices” (Starbucks, 2016), wherein this approach is the first set of sustainability benchmarks in the coffee industry and is certified by third-party logistics professionals. The C.A.F.E. Practices has assisted Starbucks in relation to generating a “long-term supply of high-quality coffee” (Starbucks, 2016) and influencing the lives of the farmers and their communities. Furthermore, Starbucks utilizes economies of scales in their inbound logistics activities by developing outstanding supply chain procedures by using C.A.F.E. and also includes collaborating internationally with managers discussing strategic alliances through suppliers for their products. Starbucks have recently