I. Strategic Profile and Case Analysis Purpose
a. Chiquita bananas have a long complicated history. They have had their ups and downs over the years with some troubling circumstances. Bananas make up for about 43% of their earnings which is a huge chunk of their revenue and is vital to their company. To put more focus, we will talk about Chiquita in Columbia. Columbia has a very interesting government. They are ruled by three terrorist groups that control the way of life in Columbia. All three terrorist groups kidnap and hurt people and hold them up for ransom. This is how they make much of their money. Even the AUC which was supposed to protect the people ended up being another terrorist group in the three that are in Columbia. The final ruling in court is very controversial with the fact that Chiquita was not really punished at the end of the day. But it’s hard to punish a company that was only trying to protect its people. The only way to move on is to learn and readjust. I will discuss their situational environment and an alternative of how Chiquita can move on from the past and succeed in the future.

II. Situation Analysis
a. General Environment Analysis- Chiquita had to make payments to these groups to protect their employees and land. They would make payments monthly and under the table and record them as different outside accounts. When the United States government stepped in, things became chaotic. There were trials where no one knew how to respond to these terrorist activities. It was/is looked down upon to help fun terrorist organizations, but what can one do when they are only trying to protect their people and employees. They do not have a good reputation at the moment with the public and the United States as whole.
b. Industry Analysis- The banana industry is very strong. They produce a great deal amount of money every year. Chiquita made about 48.4 million dollars solely on bananas within a ten year period. The industry started changing when the primary purchases of bananas were from supermarkets. The largest consumers come from the United States, European nations and Japan. The industry exists all over the world however and ranges from Africa to China to South America. Bananas are critical cash crops in some areas that include the Caribbean and Asia.
c. Competitor Analysis- There is three powerhouses that are in the banana industry. They include Chiquita, Del Monte, and Dole. They make up about 60% of the market by themselves. They are all located in different parts of the world and deal with the same issues of getting bananas in a timely manner to locations. Chiquita was the first refrigerator cargo ship to transport bananas which put them ahead of their competitors for some time.
d. Internal Analysis- The Company’s value chain is long and important to the company. They need to be able to cut, transport, and deliver in a timely manner with minimal damage to fruit. Fruit should be fresh when reached to stores and should not be over ripe. The company is great at transporting, however they falter when it comes to running the business with ethics.
III. Identification of Environmental Opportunities and Threats and Firm Strengths and weaknesses
a. Chiquita has many strengths and weaknesses. Some of their strengths are that they were the first to create refrigerator cargo ships. These ships would help slow down the process of bananas ripening, which means they would last longer because the whole process of transporting bananas takes about two weeks. They have a huge amount of land to farm on in Columbia and they have a huge workforce. Some of their weaknesses are very controversial are that they help fund terrorist groups. They are also located in a corrupt country and they keep changing their leadership and advisement board. They pull and add people constantly. They lie to their shareholders about what funds are going out and they do not provide the best working conditions.
IV. Strategy