Bananas and business : the United Fruit Company in Colombia, 1899-2000

Resource Information

The work Bananas and business : the United Fruit Company in Colombia, 1899-2000 represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in University of Missouri-St. Louis Libraries. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Bananas and business : the United Fruit Company in Colombia, 1899-2000

Title remainder

the United Fruit Company in Colombia, 1899-2000

Statement of responsibility

Marcelo Bucheli

Creator

• Bucheli, Marcelo

Author

• Bucheli, Marcelo

Subject

• BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Industries | General
• Banana trade
• Banana trade -- Colombia | Magdalena (Department) -- History -- 20th century
• Banana trade -- Colombia | Urabá, Gulf of, Region -- History -- 20th century
• Banane -- Commerce -- Colombie | Magdalena (Département) -- Histoire -- 20e siècle
• Banane -- Commerce -- Colombie | Urabá, Région du golfe d' -- Histoire -- 20e siècle
• Bananenhandel
• Colombia -- Magdalena (Department)
• Colombie -- Politique et gouvernement -- 20e siècle
• Electronic books
• Fruitteelt
• Geschichte 1899-2000
• History
• Kolumbien
• United Fruit Company
• United Fruit Company
• United Fruit Company -- Histoire
• United Fruit Company -- History
• Exportondernemingen
• 1900-1999

Genre

• History
• Electronic books

Language

eng

Summary

For well over a century, the United Fruit Company (UFCO) has been the most vilified multinational corporation operating in Latin America. Criticism of the UFCO has been widespread, ranging from politicians to consumer activists, and from labor leaders to historians, all portraying it as an overwhelmingly powerful corporation that shaped and often exploited its host countries. In this first history of the UFCO in Colombia, Marcelo Bucheli argues that the UFCO's image as an all-powerful force in determining national politics needs to be reconsidered. Using a previously unexplored source--the internal archives of Colombia's UFCO operation--Bucheli reveals that before 1930, the UFCO worked alongside a business-friendly government that granted it generous concessions and repressed labor unionism. After 1930, however, the country experienced dramatic transformations including growing nationalism, a stronger labor movement, and increasing demands by local elites for higher stakes in the banana export business.In response to these circumstances, the company abandoned production, selling its plantations (and labor conflicts) to local growers, while transforming itself into a marketing company. The shift was endorsed by the company's shareholders and financial analysts, who preferred lower profits with lower risks, and came at a time in which the demand for bananas was decreasing in America. Importantly, Bucheli shows that the effect of foreign direct investment was not unidirectional. Instead, the agency of local actors affected corporate strategy, just as the UFCO also transformed local politics and society

Member of

• Ebook Central Academic Complete

Cataloging source

JSTOR

Dewey number

338.7/634772/098610904

Illustrations

• illustrations
• maps

Index

index present

Language note

English

LC call number

HD9259.B3

LC item number

C7228 2005eb

Literary form

non fiction

NAL call number

HD9259.B3

NAL item number

C7228 2005

Nature of contents

• dictionaries
• bibliography