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Case Study

Sustainable agribusiness investment (C): Landolt’s challenge

By Ulrich Steger, Paul Strebel and Aileen Ionescu-Somers

7 pages

June 2006

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Reference: IMD-2-0114

Pierre Landolt is a farmer with a difference. He not only manages a ‘model’ organic farm in the toughest and most arid zone of Brazil, but he sits on the boards of several companies. He has experienced farming from both macro and micro angles. A passionate supporter of social and environmental sustainability, he is in a very exceptional position both by personal experience and by the fact that he can choose his own investments and causes while steering the world towards change. But has he fully capitalised on his position? Participants will get an opportunity to explore the world of this individual and discuss how moving in such widely diverse yet related sectors can provide learning for the future. The question is how to apply such learning effectively such that it can make a difference in either world?

Learning Objective

Understand how an exceptional individual with a foot firmly in two worlds; the macro business environment of global agribusiness and the more micro business environment of sustainable start-ups in a developing country, can capitalise on a singularly privileged position to stimulate groundbreaking change and new perspectives in agribusiness as a whole. The case should show various different angles to the corporate sustainability debate.

Keywords

Organic Farming, Corporate Responsibility, Sustainable Development, Agribusiness, Corporate Sustainability Management

Settings

Europe, Brazil
1973-2006

Type

Field Research

Available Languages

English

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