Agricola Himalaya was a family-owned Colombian company, the national leader in the tea industry, and the owner of the only tea plantation in the country, located in the middle of a mist forest. In Colombia, owing to the labour costs involved in tea production, importing tea was less expensive than producing it locally, but if Agricola Himalaya decided to import the tea, what would be the environmental and social impact of closing the plant and plantation? .....more

Confecciones La Montana (CLM), a social business founded by former Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) combatants in rural Colombia, emerged out of the peace deal signed between FARC and the Colombian government in 2016. The business was part of the effort of former combatants to rejoin civilian life and help alleviate poverty in conflict-affected areas, thereby nurturing appropriate conditions to sustain peace in the country. However, .....more

Rappi Inc. (Rappi) was an on-demand delivery mobile application (app) that allowed users in Latin America to shop online for groceries, meals, and other products and have these delivered to them. It also provided various other services, such as cash withdrawals and dog walking. Rappi was founded in 2015, and in less than five years, it had evolved from operating in improvised headquarters in a parking lot in Bogota to becoming a member of an exclusive .....more

The Hatsu brand of tea beverages and healthy food products emerged from the idea of two Colombian entrepreneurs in 2010 and evolved, in just over five years, to capture the interest of the leading company in the Colombian beverage market, Postobon SA (Postobon), which acquired it. In this context, Hatsu faced the challenge of consolidating itself in the tea beverage market while also venturing into other product categories (e.g., cereal bars, nuts, .....more

Rappi Inc. (Rappi) was an on-demand delivery mobile application (app) that allowed users in Latin America to shop online for groceries, meals, and other products and have these delivered to them. It also provided various other services, such as cash withdrawals and dog walking. Rappi was founded in 2015, and in less than five years, it had evolved from operating in improvised headquarters in a parking lot in Bogota to becoming a member of an exclusive .....more

In May 2020, Scenic Floral Inc. (Scenic), a Beamsville, Ontario start-up that sourced fresh cut flowers from Colombian farms and the Niagara Peninsula, was aggressively looking to expand the business. The company’s Mother’s Day sales had started out very slowly in 2020 as the floral industry in Canada and worldwide began to recover from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. While a flurry of last-minute orders from Scenic’s two largest customers meant .....more

In late 2019, the Colombian company Agricola Himalaya SA was undertaking a strategy to double its sales by 2030. The company’s popular Hindu brand of teas, developed over six decades, had expanded to include not only black and green teas but also herbal teas, fruit teas, ready-to-drink products, and an iced tea line. Over the past 10 years, the company had enjoyed steady growth, distributed its products throughout the Americas, and developed a communications .....more

In June 2020, UBits faced the uncertainties of a global health crisis—the COVID-19 pandemic. The company had experienced several temporary setbacks, but the chief executive officer and co-founder was encouraged by the shifts in market dynamics that seemed to hold a bright future for online training. However, major competitors had also intensified their efforts to capitalize on the new opportunities in the market. UBits needed to re-evaluate its options .....more

At the start of 2020, the main strategic challenge for UBits (a start-up focused on online corporate training in Latin America) was how to continue to scale up the operation. Although UBits had gained a foothold in Colombia, Mexico, and Peru, the company had no presence in Brazil—Latin America’s largest economy—or in any other major regional economies, including Chile and Argentina. UBits was offering only one type of service—subscription-based courses .....more

Diana Uribe was a successful cultural personality in her native Colombia, best known for her national radio show about world history. Since 2000, the show had aired every Sunday on Caracol Radio, Colombia’s most popular news radio station. On October 9, 2018, Caracol Radio announced to Uribe the unilateral termination of her contract, effective in one week. Uribe felt pressured to act. She knew that her future work opportunities would depend on her .....more