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Hortifruti´s Tierra Fertil (Fertile Land) Program was created in Costa Rica in the 1970s as a result of an initiative carried out by the Uribe family, founders of Corporacion de Supermercados Unidos - Corporacion de Companias Agroindustriales group (CSU-CCA). In 1973, with only five supermarkets, the group had a hard time supplying its points of sale with quality farming products to respond to its consumers´ demands. As a result, that year, Hortifruti-a company owned by CCA--started to organize Costa Rican farmers in order to establish some business criteria, including profit margins and minimum and maximum quality standards. Once these criteria were determined, Hortifruti proceeded to introduce production programs based on market demands. Safer and more hygienic product conditions were promoted both at the packaging and transport stages, including special requirements for suppliers. Small farmers who were unable to meet these requirements and who lived along the way to a point of sale, had their produce picked up at the farm. In 2005, Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world, bought CSU-CCA. Strategies, business model, management practices and work procedures of the newly-acquired organization were revised in order to adjust them to Walt-Mart's equivalents. Given that the Tierra Fertil program had entailed challenges in technical and economic infrastructure development, education, financial resources and cultural differences, the initiative represented a new conceptualization of the "conventional" value proposition as well as a deep understanding of local needs and CSU-CCA believed that Wal-Mart Central America should continue the program. Jorge Cordero, recently-promoted Agriculture Director for Central America, was in charge of elaborating and presenting arguments to help Wal-Mart executives decide about the usefulness of this supply model in Central America operations.

Deals with the concept of how to orchestrate a consistent CSR strategy consolidating many diverse social initiatives started within a business group. The CSU-CCA Group (CSU-CCA) is one of the leading retailing businesses in Central America. The Group includes the Corporacion de Supermercados Unidos (CSU), a supermarket chain, and the Corporacion de Companias Agroindustriales (CCA), in charge of fresh- and private-label product storage and distribution for CSU supermarkets. The CSU-CCA Group was involved in several social programs for both its personnel and other members of the communities in which it operated. Some of these programs were institutionalized, while others were not. In some cases, the Group's involvement had stemmed from a personal initiative driven by one of its employees or managers, although the programs were not aligned to company strategies. By mid-2002, the Group made a corporate decision to articulate its social engagements within its business strategy as a means of becoming more effectively involved in the communities in which it operated. Accordingly, in May 2002, the Corporate Affairs Department (CAD) was created to oversee corporate social responsibility issues and external communications with stakeholders. The CAD reported to the CSU-CCA Board Chairman. Discusses the role of Manuel Zuniga, Corporate Affairs Department Director and Social Responsibility Committee member, who, at the next meeting, will need to propose an overall CSR strategy for the Group, including a recommendation as to which social ventures to support and which not to. He would also need to answer other questions: How should the company draw away from the programs it would no longer support while preventing the alienation of those in charge of them? How should CSU-CCA develop future programs? How should it go about raising personnel awareness of, and commitment to, social programs?

Presents the corporate social responsibility initiatives of Pantaleon, a leading sugar company from Guatemala, and their relation to its competitive strategy. Since 1990, Pantaleon's management invested in projects aimed at the communities surrounding the mill, featuring educational, health-related, and environmental programs. These activities reinforced corporate strategy, which included infrastructure and agricultural practices updates, vertical integration, and internal and regional expansion of productive capacity and markets. In the second half of 2004, becoming a worldwide leading sugar mill entailed significant strategic challenges for Pantaleon's top executives. In turn, these challenges posed two problems: defining the company's position on social projects undertaken by Pantaleon Foundation and Fundazucar and analyzing the internal consistency of its competitive strategy.

The Emprendedores Juveniles de Nicaragua (EJN, Nicaragua's Young Entrepreneurs) program was created in 1991 as an affiliate of Junior Achievement International (JAI). Since 1997, EJN developed a new approach to JAI's traditional model for young entrepreneurs' education by choosing youths at risk to participate in its programs. Although the new young entrepreneurs' model managed to get ongoing support from UNICEF, the traditional program, basically funded by private sector contributions, lost momentum and finally had no beneficiaries in 2000. In late 2002, the program's executive director had to find strong support for the traditional program and expected to keep or increase the number of beneficiaries in the new format. Provides information on the social programs developed by three private companies--Texaco, Pizza Hut, and Coca Cola--and their relationship with EJN.