Casos Docentes

Supercompra: abasteciéndose con pequeños agricultores andinos
Fecha de Publicación: 2013
Publicado Por: Harvard Business School Publishing
Autores:Josefina Bruni Celli y Manuela Plaza.
Número del producto: SKS098


Resumen

El caso plantea las dificultades que enfrenta una empresa como Supercompra para relacionarse con proveedores de bajos ingresos mediante mecanismos de mercado y cómo la empresa ha manejado estas relaciones. Se sitúa cronológicamente en marzo de 2006, cuando Supercompra debe decidir cómo proceder en cuanto a las relaciones de la empresa con sus proveedores de bajos ingresos: 1) dejar que la relación con los pequeños agricultores de Pallatanga desapareciera poco a poco, abandonando los esfuerzos de organizarlos y dedicándose exclusivamente a la relación de negocio con los intermediarios y proveedores de mayor tamaño; 2) continuar el trabajo con los pequeños agricultores, pero re-enfocando la iniciativa como un proyecto de RSE; 3) ó, destinar mayores esfuerzos y recursos a la construcción de relaciones estables de negocio con los pequeños agricultores, lo cual implicaría realizar una importante inversión por parte de la empresa, así como una mayor dedicación en busca del lograr establecer relaciones comerciales duraderas y rentables con estos productores en el mediano y largo plazo.

Para adquirir este caso en español ingresa a: http://www.thecasecentre.org/educators/products/view?id=113856

 

Abstract

Grupo Mazaplan, a Mexican giant, entered the Ecuadorian market by purchasing controlling interest in Supercompra, a large local retailing company. Juan Pedro Zapata, Supercompra's incoming CEO discarded a purchasing model whereby a central company office sourced all produce from national distributors who then made direct deliveries to points of sale, and substituted it with another featuring decentralized company units called 'proximity platforms' located in various parts of the country, which bought produce directly from local farmers. The first platform was established in the Andean region, where farmers were smallholders. The case looks at the difficulties faced by companies when trying to develop commercial relations with low-income suppliers through market mechanisms, and elaborates on how Supercompra handled these relationships. It is chronologically situated in March 2006, the moment when Supercompra must decide how to proceed regarding its relationship with its low income suppliers: 1) allow relations with small Pallatanga growers to dwindle away, discontinuing further efforts and resources invested in organizing them, and dedicating efforts entirely to building relationships with local middlemen and larger commercial farmers; 2) continue to work on the relationship with small growers, but reframe it as a social or CSR initiative; or, 3) allocate more efforts and financial resources to building stable and solid business relationships with small producers, which would imply making a major investment, and dedicating additional time and effort organizing and fostering small farmers with the hope of achieving profitable commercial relations with them within a few years.

To acquire this case in English go to this address: http://www.thecasecentre.org/educators/products/view?id=113799

Palabras Clave: Responsabilidad social en los negocios; Funciones de la producción; Comercialización; Supermercados: Ecuador; México