The product recommendation website BeM was launched in 2020 in Brazil to explore the significant and untapped potential of the country's online reviews market. Inspired by US models, BeM's webpages featured expert-generated reviews of products in four categories: air fryers, headphones and earbuds, Bluetooth speakers, and irons. Its revenue model centered on participating in affiliate marketing programs: BeM's website included links to various online merchants' pages, and the group earned commissions when users made purchases through these links. After a year of operations, BeM had attracted 186,000 visitors to its webpages, but sales conversion remained a challenge. While over 80% of customers who read BeM's reviews clicked on affiliate links, under 1% completed a purchase immediately or shortly after. The field-based case study features BeM's executive director, Josiane Schunck, as she prepares to discuss the start-up's future with its four cofounders. The key question the group needs to address is whether to keep growing the BeM website or move on to another venture, where they could apply the learnings from this experiment. Should they embrace Silicon Valley's "fail fast, learn faster" mantra, or make adjustments and double down on the BeM bet? If they decide to continue growing the business, what could be the most effective strategies to enhance BeM's financials, reducing costs and boosting revenue generation? Could partnerships with media groups, retailers, or manufacturers help BeM build alternative revenue sources, or would it be better to keep operating independently? And which product categories should BeM focus on next, not only to attract more users but also to improve its sales conversion rates? This case is appropriate for use in an MBA, executive education, or undergraduate course on entrepreneurship, marketing, innovation, digital disruption, or digital businesses.

Chile, often considered among Latin America´s greatest economic success stories, suffered a shocking wave of protests in October 2019, as its citizens demanded reforms across healthcare and education systems, and protested inequality and rising costs of living. As Chileans and outside observers reviewed the situation, many reflected on the country's long history of inequality as the underlying source for public frustration. Chile´s inequality had declined since the late 1990s, largely due to previous governments' commitment to free market policies and economic growth. The country benefitted from a robust business sector that was open to international trade, and from a large and thriving middle class. Yet, Chileans were clearly angry, and their outrage now threatened to ruin the country's robust economy and political stability. Meanwhile, a growing number of observers became concerned and inspected the role that Chile's business sector had played in the country's successes and failures. Although business drove growth, it was also the sector that had escaped the troubles that beset so many other parts of the country. Moreover, Chile´s economic performance in 2022 was lackluster. What had gone amiss with one of Latin America's most successful economies? And who had the power, and responsibility, to make changes?

The case uses the example of the opening of the first IKEA furniture store in Chile - which is operated by Chilean group Falabella - to discuss the opportunities and challenges of doing business in the country. It gives readers an overview of Chile's economic transformation since its colonial years until late-2022, when a new government, led by former student leader Gabriel Boric, faced the challenge to recover economic growth after the pandemic and as Chile advanced in a tortuous process to rewrite its Constitution. After three decades living under democracy, many Chileans seem to disagree with some aspects of the country's liberal economic model (which started to be implemented during the regime of general Augusto Pinochet). However, it is still not clear whether the Chilean society will support a radical transformation or merely a mild reform in this model. The case invites readers to discuss, first, the strengths and disadvantages of the Chilean market. Second, how the constitutional process could change the country's environment for businesses, and what are the risks involved in this process for companies such as IKEA and Falabella.

The case uses the example of a large investment made by French retail group Carrefour in Brazil to discuss the opportunities and challenges of doing business in the country. It gives readers an overview of Brazil's economic transformation since its colonial years until 2023, when leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was sworn in for his third term, after the most polarized elections in the country's recent history and having to deal with an attack against government buildings in Brasília. The case's ultimate goal is to foster a discussion about how political and economic uncertainty impacts companies operating in Brazil. For that, it summarizes the key obstacles faced by these businesses, such as the country's logistical bottlenecks, complex bureaucracy and arcane tax system. At the same time, however, the case also sheds light on the sectors that are thriving despite these difficulties and on some valuable opportunities offered by Brazil's huge consumer market and diversified economy. The descriptions about Carrefour's business in the country aim to spur a debate about these opportunities and whether they offset the risks of the local market.

Marfrig, one of the world's leading meatpackers, strived to comply with its commitment to have a deforestation-free value chain in Brazil by 2030. The company also pledged to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases in accordance with the guidelines set by the Science-Based Targets Imitative (SBTi). Controlling shareholder and chairman Marcos Molina, and Director of Sustainability and Communications for South America Paulo Painez, must figure how to achieve these goals while dealing with increased pressures from NGOs, customers, and foreign governments. The pair believed that a solution to the company's-and the sector's-challenges would only be achieved by working together with other stakeholders of the Brazilian beef industry: cattle ranchers, NGOs, the government, and civil society at large. Aligning the interests of the different players, while keeping Brazil's lead as the world's top beef exporter, was especially challenging given the country's fraught political environment and its tarnished image abroad.

After conducting an impressive turnaround in Walmart's subsidiary in Brazil, Private Equity firm Advent International has to decide how to exit this investment: through an IPO or selling the business to Carrefour.

In June 2021, Nayib Bukele, El Salvador's president, surprised the world with the announcement that the country would adopt bitcoin as legal tender, becoming the first nation to do so. Bitcoin was mostly used for trading and had one of the most volatile track records among assets. Yet, crypto adoption as a medium of exchange was starting to gain pace worldwide. Bukele claimed it would be a boon for financial inclusion, investment, innovation, and economic development. El Salvador's $27 billion economy suffered from persistently low growth, high public debt, and a strong dependence on remittances, which could potentially become cheaper and faster to access in bitcoins. The Bitcoin plan was met with both enthusiasm from Bitcoin supporters and skepticism from credit agencies and multilateral finance institutions, which believed it could bring macroeconomic instability to the local economy. Was bitcoin a viable currency for Salvadorans? Or, as some observers pointed out, was Bukele's plan another sign of weakened governance in his administration?

In 2021, public accelerator program Start-Up Chile, which ten years earlier had created a global buzz, might be losing its competitive edge to similar programs or one-year visas for digital nomads offered by other countries. The case follows SUP's CEO, Angeles Romo, as she considers how Chile could remain appealing to world-class entrepreneurs in a post-pandemic world and how to ensure SUP's impact on Chile's economy.

Bunge, one of the world's leading agribusiness traders and processors, strives to comply with its commitment to having a deforestation-free value chain by 2025 while it considers potential new business growth areas. After a complex turnaround, which involved one of the biggest corporate reorganizations in Bunge's 203-year history, the company finally has surplus cash to invest. CEO Greg Heckman and Chief Sustainability Officer Robert Coviello must figure out if they can turn sustainability into a profit maker for the company or if it will remain as another cost of doing business.

Advent International, one of the world's leading private equity firms, must decide whether to acquire Walmart's subsidiary in Brazil or not. Although Walmart Brazil is losing cash at a rapid pace, Advent thinks it has a solid plan to recover the company's finances. However, there are several execution risks associated with the deal and local analysts are skeptical about the possibility of a quick turnaround.

The case describes how Odebrecht's board of directors handled the issues raised in the (A) case and continues the story of the Group's efforts to restore its reputation and return to growth after admitting its role in Latin America's largest-ever corruption scandal. The case covers the Group's filing for, and emergence from, a court-supervised reorganization while coping with an ongoing feud within its founding family, as well as changes in the Group's leadership and governance as it attempts to regain financial stability and complete another round of changes to its compliance and internal control systems. The case concludes with the outgoing CEO's announcement of the Group's new name-Novonor-and its newly defined purpose and vision for its future.

At the center of one of the largest corruption scandals in Latin America, Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht signed a leniency agreement with American, Swiss and Brazilian prosecutors in 2016 admitting to paying bribes in 12 countries. In an effort to regain financial stability and restore its damaged reputation, the Group overhauled its governance and set in motion a major organizational transformation effort. The case describes the Group's transformation journey and details various dilemmas that the new board of directors faced as the Group sought to put the scandal behind it and forge a path to the future.

Brothers André and Daniel Albuquerque founded the company Terra Nova in 2001 to mediate land disputes between poor families illegally living in urban areas and the official landowners-with the aspiration to improve the lives of the poor. A business-led approach to the issue, like Terra Nova's, was innovative and contested amid the widespread belief that land disputes fell solely within the public sector's purview. After struggling to develop a viable business model, the company received support from impact investing firm MOV Investimentos. By 2019, Terra Nova finally broke even and was exploring opportunities for scaling. But its leaders had to decide the right expansion model for the social business.

Brazilian logistics company Rumo operated 13,500 km in railway networks, port terminals, and inland transshipment terminals, connecting major Brazilian ports to the agriculture hubs of Mato Grosso and São Paulo state. Controlled by Cosan, Brazil's leading sugar and ethanol producer, Rumo had been through a turnaround over the last 3 years, including heavy investment in operational improvements, financial deleverage, and taking cash flow generation from a negative $278 million in 2015 to positive $15.3 million in 2018. In 2019, as the company planned its new expansion cycle ($3.4 billion would be invested from 2019 to 2023), Rumo's executives had to find the best way to continue to capture the value created, while preserving its relations with customers and other stakeholders.

The case concerns the sale of Mae Terra, one of Brazil's leading brands for packaged organic foods, to the consumer goods giant Unilever in 2017. Working with Unilever management, Mae Terra's CEO Alexandre Borges must determine whether and how to keep Mae Terra's B Certification, which attests to its commitment to having a positive social and environmental impact, and what internal governance mechanisms will enable MaeTerra to maintain its mission, values, and practices even as it is integrated into a large volume-driven multinational whose governance follows standard listed company principles.

Unilever is making strides to integrate the operations of Mae Terra-one of Brazil's leading brands for packaged organic foods-into its own structures, after acquiring the company in 2017. Mae Terra's CEO, Alexandre Borges, must decide whether to implement his original plan as written into the purchase and sales agreement to create an advisory board to help ensure that the company maintain its mission, values and practices as part of a volume-driven multinational like Unilever- and, if so, how the board will operate and who its members will be. Some executives believe that such a board is not necessary given Unilever's own culture and commitments.

Brazilian Michelin-star chef Alex Atala managed four restaurants, a foundation advocating for the environment, and a seminar focused on food and sustainability. His new initiative was opening a hotel.

Technos was the market leader in the Brazilian watch market. Its CEO had made a firm commitment of evolving the company's marketing and commercial practices by focusing less on pushing product to retail clients and more on branding to end consumers to pull watches from retailers. In 2016, the company was about to re-launch its master brand's website. But the more time passed, the greater were the discrepancies between what the marketing, commercial (sales) and retail divisions of the company envisioned as an ideal ecommerce-enabled Technos website. What should be the fundamental role(s) of our master brand's website?