Chiquita Brands Inc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Chiquita Brands Inc - Essay Example The company operates in three divisions or segments – Bananas, Salads and Healthy Snacks, and Other Produce. The Bananas segment originates, transports and distributes bananas to retailers, wholesalers and chain stores; it also cultivates and produces its own bananas through its plantations. The Salads and Healthy Snacks segment carries snacks under the Fresh Express labels, aside from distributing fresh vegetables and food ingredients. It distributes fresh vegetables to food retailers, foodservice distributors and restaurants. The Other Produce sources and distributes fresh fruits, other than bananas, in Europe and North America (Chiquita Brands website). Chiquita is the company that succeeded United Fruit Company, then the leader in banana production and transport operations throughout the Caribbean and Latin America, in 1984 and moved its headquarters to Ohio after it was bought by Cincinnati billionaire Carl Lindner Jr. who named himself the CEO. The company adopted the na me Chiquita Brands in 2002 after the company exited from a prepackaged Chapter 11 debt structuring plan and acquiring several fruit processing companies and distributors and expanded outside of banana sales to marketing and distributing other fresh and processed fruits and vegetables (Chiquita Brands website). Chiquita Brands has two main business units: Chiquita Fresh and Chiquita Global Logistics. Chiquita Fresh is responsible for the production, distribution and marketing of fresh fruits and vegetables around the globe, with Chiquita bananas as the signature product symbolizing its commitment for fresh and nutritious food. Chiquita Fresh’s website offers these data about the company: $1.5 Billion in revenues; 23,000 employees; 130 Million boxes of bananas sold annually representing 67% of total mother company’s revenues. Chiquita Fresh also operates 115 banana plantations in Latin America and one farm in Africa that produce half of all bananas sold, the other half c oming from independent producers in Latin America and the Philippines (Chiquita Brands website). Chiquita Global Logistics handles the supply flow of products and information in 19 countries via their network of cargo ships and other supplier facilities. Global Logistics has 11 modern ships and contracts 13 more to complement its Great White Fleet to undertake the delivery of bananas and other produce to Europe and North America. Aside from this, Global Logistics is also involved in commercial cargo operation in the US, Europe and Latin America. The website has the following information about Global Logistics: 430 employees;$160 Million in assets; 40,000 cargo containers moved annually; 2.9 Million nautical miles covered per year (SourceWatch website). In its 2010 annual report, Chiquita Brands cited the following data: 21,000 employees in nearly 70 countries; $3.2 Billion in net sales, generating $57 Million net income. The annual report boasted of a consistently positive operating net income from operation for the last three years from 2008 despite that the period covered the height of the recession. Issues Besetting Chiquita Brands In that annual report, the chief executive officer Fernando Aguirre reported on the progress relating to several issues from past operations that have affected Chiquita Brands in some ways. Violations of EC Competition Laws One of these issues pertained to some reported past violations of European competition laws by former employees of the company.

Strategic Human Resource Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Strategic Human Resource Management - Essay Example Horizontal fit refers to the congruence among various HRM practices (Baird & Meshoulam, 1998), and vertical fit refers to the alignment of HRM practice with strategic management process of the firm (Schuler & Jackson, 1987)†. Several approaches have been developed to strategic international human resource management and each of these has their own advantages and disadvantages. The following section will detail the various approaches and aims to compare and contrast these approaches. Approaches to Strategic International Human Resource Management: There are four main approaches to strategic international human resource management. These include: a) Strategy Focused Approach: Some authors are of the view that human resource management and strategic HRM are the same. Authors believe that the nature of HRM is strategic (Dowling, Festing, & Engle, 2007). However this view has not been clearly accepted by a number of authors and it is believed that strategic human resources and HRM a lthough might be similar in a few aspects are not the same. This approach focuses on the strategy based view. b) Decision Focused Approach: Authors like Tichy et al express that there are three main levels of management. These they explain include, the long term, i.e. strategic, medium term, i.e. managerial and the short term, i.e. operational (Dowling, Festing, & Engle, 2007). Authors believe that the functions of human resources that are completed at strategic level together form strategic international human resource management. However there have been arguments that the managerial or also the operational level of human resource functions are more so the... This paper stresses that several approaches have been developed to strategic international human resource management and each of these has their own advantages and disadvantages. The following section will detail the various approaches and aims to compare and contrast these approaches. This report makes a conclusion that some approaches clearly include different views of the organization and also take into account different aspects of the organization which help give rise to the strategic human resource planning. Here it is important to note that although most of these are interlinked the main difference among them is the nature of the approach. Each approach takes into account various elements of business and on how the strategic international human resource management is developed within the organization. The author talks that it is also important to note here that these approaches are based on six main elements which include, a) The transformation of the human resource staff and structure, b) improving the overall administrative efficiency, c) creating a sync between human resource and strategic planning process of the organization, d) creating a fit between the human resources practices and the business strategy itself, e) taking into account the impact of the human resources on the business and also f) development of relationship with the line management. These elements clearly indicate all the areas that together help in the development of Strategic International Human Resource Management. Although all the approaches might be different and might undertake different areas to develop the human resource management, the main crux of all the approaches is clearly the above mentioned six elements.