Eureka Case 30 min Undergrad

Vietnam Cafetera

You are Camila Restrepo-Aguinaga, 42, Director of International for Maquinaria Quindío, a Colombian coffee-equipment maker (USD 84M revenue, 11 export markets). Vietnam — Asia's second-largest coffee producer — is your most-promising next market. Four entry modes are on the table. The CEO wants a recommendation in 14 days.

The situation

Maquinaria Quindío designs and manufactures small-and-medium coffee-processing equipment: depulpers, pulped-bean fermenters, mechanical dryers, parchment cleaners. The firm sells to specialty-coffee cooperatives and mid-size estates across Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Costa Rica and Honduras — and over the last 3 years has opened Ethiopia, Rwanda, Kenya and India. The kit is engineering-led: durable, easy to repair, modular. Average installed-base ticket USD 28,000.

Vietnam produced 1.78 million tonnes of green coffee in 2024 — second only to Brazil. The Vietnamese specialty-coffee segment is the fastest-growing in Asia: from 4% of national volume in 2018 to ~14% in 2025. Maquinaria Quindío's product fits the specialty-segment processor profile precisely. Four entry doors are on the table: export-only via Vietnamese distributor, JV with a local processor-services firm, wholly-owned subsidiary (WOS), or acquisition of a struggling local equipment-distributor (Cafe Phú Yên Equipment Trading, USD 12M revenue, on the market at USD 8.4M).

Your job in this case: walk the four modes across Year 1 / Year 3 / Year 5, model the trade-offs in cost, control, learning and optionality, and pick one. The CEO's two questions: "What does Year 1 cost us?" and "What does each mode let us do in Year 5 that the others don't?"

The decision

Which entry mode?

  • A · Distributor agreement (export-led)
  • B · Minority JV with optionality clause
  • C · Wholly-owned subsidiary
  • D · Acquire Cafe Phú Yên Equipment Trading

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