Solubles Instantaneos C.A.: A Family Heritage, Looking To The Future (Spanish Version)

Description

In July 2017, Jorge Salcedo-Benitez was reflecting on his first decade as president of Solubles Instantaneos C.A. (SICA). Under his leadership, SICA had retained ownership of two leading brands of instant coffee in Ecuador: Don Café and Café Oro. As his descendants prepared to take the helm, Salcedo-Benitez wondered whether the company was still headed in the right direction. Giants like Nestlé S.A. dominated the markets elsewhere, in part by consolidating small, family-owned operations such as his own. Salcedo-Benitez wondered whether it was time to seek new markets, develop new products, or update the brand image; yet he was hesitant to make large strategic moves while his sons were still preparing to take the helm.

Learning Objective

This case works well in a variety of strategic management, international management, and emerging markets courses, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The simplicity of the company and its products make this an ideal case for use in strategy capstone courses. At more advanced levels, the course can be used to examine the relationship between business, government policy, and macroeconomic conditions. Working through the case will allow students to do the following: ·Learn the process of industry analysis, with emphasis on rivalry between foreign and domestic companies of greatly varying sizes. ·Analyze and assess a company’s internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as its external opportunities and threats in a developing country. ·Understand the fundamentals of brand positioning and assess options for updating and repositioning a brand. ·Generate and evaluate options for developing international markets when a firm has limited resources to invest in marketing activities.

Keywords

agribusiness Emerging markets Industry analysis