Bunge SA –
Status: A global company with subsidiaries which manage a total of over 450 facilities in more than 30 countries, with over 25,000 employees (Bunge Ltd, n.d.)
Business: Agribusiness
Areas of business
These are basically three,
1. Agribusiness trading
a. grain origination
b. oilseed processing
c. international marketing in soybean
2. Fertilizer division
3. Bunge's food products
a. edible oil products
b. wheat milling and bakery products
c. soy ingredients, and
d. corn products (FundingUniverse.com, n.d.)
Bunge’s Global Strategy
Strategy is defined by Slack and Lewis (2008, p5) as including:
1. Setting broad objectives that direct an enterprise towards its overall goal;
2. Planning the path(in general rather than specific terms) that will achieve these goals;
3. Stressing long term rather than short term objectives;
4. Dealing with the total picture rather than stressing individual activities
Bunge’s strategy statement was communicated as “To become the best integrated agribusiness and Food Company in the world.” (Bunge Global Overview, n.d)
In order to achieve this, Bunge will need to be able to align its operational capabilities with the requirements of the market. To pursue the consideration of how the company strove to achieve this strategic fit this author will try to first draw attention to the requirements of the market and then take a look at the firm capabilities and how they were brought to bear on the market requirements and the ensuing results.
Agribusiness at the scale at which Bunge is involved as a necessity needs industrialisation. Agricultural industrialisation is defined by Boehlje (1996 cited in Doyer O.T, & Van Rooyen C.J., 2003 p2 ) as the application of modern manufacturing, production, distribution and co-ordination methods to the food supply chain, and...