Case Study: "Blood Bananas"
Case Study: “Blood Bananas”
Core Issue
Chiquita Brands Company was a well-established international fruit growing and processing company in the 90’s. They had subsidiaries around the world; Colombia was one of those countries. With the creation of Banadex, Chiquita’s subsidiary in Colombia, revenues for the parent company increased a great amount. Banadex was Chiquita’s most profitable international operation; they had been working in that country around 100 years in the business of growing huge bananas’ fields.
However, in the late 90’s, Chiquita Brands faced a dilemma; the leader of the bloody and violent United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), Carlos Castaño, “offered” their services to Chiquita Brands. Those “services” included the protection of their Banadex’s 12,000 employee’s lives and well-being.
When I write “offered” is because there is no option to say no and just be in peace with that paramilitary organization. I know this by experience, in my beloved home country Mexico, this is happening right now; when those men approach to you or your business “offering” to protect you in exchange for money, either you pay them or run away. The outcomes of saying no is getting you, your family or employees kidnapped, raped or even killed in the cruelest ways possible. They have no mercy.
The issue in this case is simple: What Chiquita Brands Company should have done when they were blackmailed in the late 90’s? Three were the possible complex solutions,
1. Pay a few thousand dollars per month to the AUC in exchange of their “services”.
2. Say no and continue its operations as they used to.
3. Leave the country and shut down its Banadex’s operations.
Ethical and Moral Dilemmas
I remember a year ago, I had one accounting class with Dr. Rubik Atamian in UTPA and since the beginning of it, he thought us and wanted us to know the difference between morals and ethics. In the accounting field, professionals are faced with these two things, that is
Core Issue
Chiquita Brands Company was a well-established international fruit growing and processing company in the 90’s. They had subsidiaries around the world; Colombia was one of those countries. With the creation of Banadex, Chiquita’s subsidiary in Colombia, revenues for the parent company increased a great amount. Banadex was Chiquita’s most profitable international operation; they had been working in that country around 100 years in the business of growing huge bananas’ fields.
However, in the late 90’s, Chiquita Brands faced a dilemma; the leader of the bloody and violent United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), Carlos Castaño, “offered” their services to Chiquita Brands. Those “services” included the protection of their Banadex’s 12,000 employee’s lives and well-being.
When I write “offered” is because there is no option to say no and just be in peace with that paramilitary organization. I know this by experience, in my beloved home country Mexico, this is happening right now; when those men approach to you or your business “offering” to protect you in exchange for money, either you pay them or run away. The outcomes of saying no is getting you, your family or employees kidnapped, raped or even killed in the cruelest ways possible. They have no mercy.
The issue in this case is simple: What Chiquita Brands Company should have done when they were blackmailed in the late 90’s? Three were the possible complex solutions,
1. Pay a few thousand dollars per month to the AUC in exchange of their “services”.
2. Say no and continue its operations as they used to.
3. Leave the country and shut down its Banadex’s operations.
Ethical and Moral Dilemmas
I remember a year ago, I had one accounting class with Dr. Rubik Atamian in UTPA and since the beginning of it, he thought us and wanted us to know the difference between morals and ethics. In the accounting field, professionals are faced with these two things, that is