Description
“A clearly written analysis that takes into account the international context in which the company operated, its characteristics as a business enterprise, and its relationship with banana workers, local entrepreuneurs, and regional governments in two key banana zones.” “The Journal of American History” “A significant contribution to a growing body of scholarship.” “Journal of Latin American Studies” “Bucheli’s narrative is theoretically informed…This book deserves consideration by groups of specialists who do not necessarily overlap: business historians, Latin America specialists, and international business scholars. “Economic History Society” “Of interest not only to students of Latin American history, but also to those concerned with how large US companies function when they invest heavily in developing countries.” “Choice” “Bananas and Business” covers such new ground, both in its postwar history of Columbia and in its analysis of UFCs managerial dicision making, that Bucheli does not need the straw man he laboriously dismantles. Ian Wliiam Read, Stanford University “This is an excellent addition to our knowledge about the UFCO….based on an exhaustive analysis of the primary sources…and a thorough understanding of the logic of the multinational enterprise. Bucheli has shown that there is indeed room for a further study of UFCO and this may will inspire others to revisit this controversial company.” “International Affairs” “A major contribution to both Latin American and international business history. Marcelo Bucheli challenges stereotyped views of the role of multinationals in developing countries byexamining the evolving dynamic relationship between the US firm, local entrepreneurs, politicians and workers. Bucheli demonstrates the complex and nuanced role of multinationals in the creation of the global economy.” Geoffrey Jones, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School “Through a case study of two Colombian banana zones, based on unique access to United Fruit’s internal archives, the author challenges the simplistic portrayal of UFCO as politically all-powerful and harshly exploitive by addressing the problems with declining profitability and risk the company faced over the long-term and the complex interactions through which local banana planters, plantation workers, and local and national governments influenced company decisions. This book makes a major contribution to the political economy of multinational corporations in Latin America and the new business history, and it highlights the agency of local entrepreneurs.” Catherine LeGrand, Associate Professor of History, McGill University “Bucheli has crafted an excellent study.” “American Historical Review” For well over a century, the United Fruit Company (UFCO) has been the most vilified multinational corporation operating in Latin America. Criticism of the UFCO has been widespread, ranging from politicians to consumer activists, and from labor leaders to historians, all portraying it as an overwhelmingly powerful corporation that shaped and often exploited its host countries. In this first history of the UFCO in Colombia, Marcelo Bucheli argues that the UFCO’s image as an all-powerful force in determining national politics needs to be reconsidered. Using a previouslyunexplored source the internal archives of Colombia’s UFCO operation Bucheli reveals that before 1930, the UFCO worked alongside a business-friendly government that granted it generous concessions and repressed labor unionism. After 1930, however, the country experienced dramatic transformations including growing nationalism, a stronger labor movement, and increasing demands by local elites for higher stakes in the banana export business. In response to these circumstances, the company abandoned production, selling its plantations (and labor conflicts) to local growers, while transforming itself into a marketing company. The shift was endorsed by the company’s shareholders and financial analysts, who preferred lower profits with lower risks, and came at a time in which the demand for bananas was decreasing in America. Importantly, Bucheli shows that the effect of foreign direct investment was not unidirectional. Instead, the agency of local actors affected corporate strategy, just as the UFCO also transformed local politics and society.
