Multinational Agribusinesses

Stay a step ahead of the global competition in food and fiber production, processing, and sales!

Multinational Agribusinesses is an essential guide to the inner workings of companies with direct investments in the food and fiber system in the United States and the world. The book provides in-depth and up-to-date analysis of the crucial issues facing multinational enterprises involved in input and output supply activities, commodity investment, food manufacturing, and food distribution. An international panel of academics and researchers working in economics and agriculture presents strategic management and economic analysis of agribusinesses representing a variety of sizes and nationalities.

Multinational Agribusinesses examines the key areas of concern to multinationals involved with food and drink processing and/or upstream industries, including recent trends, growth factors, innovations, product and geographic diversification, and intra-firm trade. The book presents updated statistics (total sales, agrifood sales, net income, employment figures, number of total businesses on overseas and home markets) on the world’s 100 largest food multinationals, and updated tables on sell-offs, divestitures, and plant closures. Multinational Agribusinesses looks at enterprises in the United States, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, Southeast Asia, and Brazil, including Ajinomoto®, Coca-Cola®, Nestlé®, Ralston Purina®, Unilever®, Barilla®, and the Charoen Pokphan Group®.

Multinational Agribusinesses provides managers with answers to the questions they consider every day, including:

• Why do some multinational agribusinesses grow faster than others?
• Is product or geographic diversification conducive to good performance?
• Are Japanese food multinationals a challenge to my business?
• What industrial and geographical strategies are my competitors using?

Government officials in countries hosting multinationals can find answers to their questions, including:

• Is my food multinational taking its research and development facilities abroad?
• Will foreign direct investment outflows reduce my country’s export of food?
• Are multinational agribusinesses from new source countries viable?

And Multinational Agribusinesses will supply academics with responses to theoretical inquiries, such as:

• Is the standard theory of the multinational enterprises applicable to food multinationals?
• What are the specificities of food multinationals compared to other multinationals?

Multinational Agribusinesses is a unique resource for international business managers, officials from government or international organizations, and academics working in international business studies and agricultural economics.