General Mills Commits to Sourcing 100% Sustainable Cocoa (pdf abstract)
Purchase the full report on GlobaLens (Case study #1-430-479) – published 02/2016, 16 pages

Developed by: Rebecca Baylor, Zhanyang Gao (Erb ’17) and Katherine Price. This case was written under the supervision of Andrew Hoffman, Erb Faculty Member.

Description: Jacob Madisson is wondering how General Mills will make it to its goal of sourcing 100% sustainable cocoa by 2020. Demand is increasing and some are wondering if the supply of the precious raw material will dry up. Prices will certainly increase, nevertheless. With only 10% of its African-based cocoa sourced sustainably, General Mills needs a new strategy. How will the company move forward?

Teaching Note: Available to Registered Educators. Please login to view it.

Teaching Points: After reading and discussing this case, students should be able to:

  • Identify the prospects and challenges of sustainable sourcing of raw ingredients from international markets.
  • Explore future actions and responsibilities for accomplishing sustainability objectives.
  • Explain the role of business in implementing sustainable sourcing goals.
  • Generalize the learnings of this case to other business challenges and decisions in organizations other than the one analyzed in this case study.