Indupalma (A2):

Case A2 starts with the kidnapping’s aftermath. The company gives in to M-19 pressures, determined to save its manager at any cost. This pressure largely influenced the outcomes of the 1977 collective bargaining process. Successive negotiations between Indupalma and the union, featuring coercive mechanisms, paved the way for numerous labor agreements that threatened Indupalma’s productivity. By the late 1980s, local violence grew more severe as a result of a number of outlawed armies that sought to fight local guerrilla movements. A significant workload in the early 1990s was compounded by two developments that changed the local economic setting: President Virgilio Barco’s policies to open the nation’s economy, and the fall of palm oil international prices in the late 1980s. Against this backdrop, Indupalma embarked on a new decade, bringing case A2 to an end.

Cases A1 and A2 enable class participants to map the organization’s stakeholders and to gain a better understanding of the conflicts separating them and their causes. Additionally, both cases provide enough information to elaborate on the business reasons that may lead the company to engage with its surrounding communities, finding creative ways to interact and partner with its stakeholders.