Chiquita Brands Inc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Chiquita Brands Inc - Essay Example The company operates in three divisions or segments – Bananas, Salads and Healthy Snacks, and Other Produce. The Bananas segment originates, transports and distributes bananas to retailers, wholesalers and chain stores; it also cultivates and produces its own bananas through its plantations. The Salads and Healthy Snacks segment carries snacks under the Fresh Express labels, aside from distributing fresh vegetables and food ingredients. It distributes fresh vegetables to food retailers, foodservice distributors and restaurants. The Other Produce sources and distributes fresh fruits, other than bananas, in Europe and North America (Chiquita Brands website). Chiquita is the company that succeeded United Fruit Company, then the leader in banana production and transport operations throughout the Caribbean and Latin America, in 1984 and moved its headquarters to Ohio after it was bought by Cincinnati billionaire Carl Lindner Jr. who named himself the CEO. The company adopted the na me Chiquita Brands in 2002 after the company exited from a prepackaged Chapter 11 debt structuring plan and acquiring several fruit processing companies and distributors and expanded outside of banana sales to marketing and distributing other fresh and processed fruits and vegetables (Chiquita Brands website). Chiquita Brands has two main business units: Chiquita Fresh and Chiquita Global Logistics. Chiquita Fresh is responsible for the production, distribution and marketing of fresh fruits and vegetables around the globe, with Chiquita bananas as the signature product symbolizing its commitment for fresh and nutritious food. Chiquita Fresh’s website offers these data about the company: $1.5 Billion in revenues; 23,000 employees; 130 Million boxes of bananas sold annually representing 67% of total mother company’s revenues. Chiquita Fresh also operates 115 banana plantations in Latin America and one farm in Africa that produce half of all bananas sold, the other half c oming from independent producers in Latin America and the Philippines (Chiquita Brands website). Chiquita Global Logistics handles the supply flow of products and information in 19 countries via their network of cargo ships and other supplier facilities. Global Logistics has 11 modern ships and contracts 13 more to complement its Great White Fleet to undertake the delivery of bananas and other produce to Europe and North America. Aside from this, Global Logistics is also involved in commercial cargo operation in the US, Europe and Latin America. The website has the following information about Global Logistics: 430 employees;$160 Million in assets; 40,000 cargo containers moved annually; 2.9 Million nautical miles covered per year (SourceWatch website). In its 2010 annual report, Chiquita Brands cited the following data: 21,000 employees in nearly 70 countries; $3.2 Billion in net sales, generating $57 Million net income. The annual report boasted of a consistently positive operating net income from operation for the last three years from 2008 despite that the period covered the height of the recession. Issues Besetting Chiquita Brands In that annual report, the chief executive officer Fernando Aguirre reported on the progress relating to several issues from past operations that have affected Chiquita Brands in some ways. Violations of EC Competition Laws One of these issues pertained to some reported past violations of European competition laws by former employees of the company.