STUDY QUESTIONS 1. Why does the price of coffee fluctuate so widely? 2. How can farmers respond to a chronic oversupply problem? How do policies of consuming nations impact the potential exporting-country responses? 3. Can supply and demand be overruled by a suitably designed international organization, or is an organization like the International Coffee Organization doomed to failure? 4. Evaluate the NGOs' proposals for improving the market. Are they workable? 5. Viewing yourself as a technocrat whose job is to revamp the global green-coffee market so that it operates more in the growers' favor, what changes to the rules of the marketplace and/or national policies would you recommend? Reference THE GLOBAL COFFEE TRADE CASE: IB-53 DATE: 02/19/04 Stanford graduate school of business