Chiquita, as an International Company
1. Chiquita, as an international company, used to have an unethical approach to global management. There operations were conducted pretty much the same everywhere. It seemed that there business model was based on profit only. They were very quiet about there policies and were very ethnocentric in their business policies. This ultimately led to human rights groups to question how all banana companies treat there employees. Although these actions made by Chiquita werent the right thing to do, I can understand how that they could get into a situation like this. The situation being that most of Chiquitas suppliers are located in Latin America and that is a place where cultural differences dont matter very much and that these practices were common. An example of this is when they were paying off forces in Columbia to protect their employees. It sounds terrible, but they were giving money to these groups to stop the killing and bombing. Chiquita also had a bad reputation from the beginning when they used to be called United Fruits. That still doesnt give them a pass to conduct business this way. A much higher degree of social responsibility was needed in order for this company to survive in these changing times.
2. As the purchaser, producer, and supplier of this commodity the best way for Chiquita to manage the situation was by cutting costs. This is how Chiquita made their business decisions. Since Chiquita is a company that sells bananas, it is very hard to establish brand recognition. There are a lot of competitors in such a business and they have to do their best to get by. Customer uncertainty and price-consciousness consumers also contribute to these challenges. This is probably why investments in human resource management activities such as higher pay, better benefits and working conditions, training and development as unnecessary costs and threats to the companys profit.
Chiquita has addressed these challenges