ABSTRACT
The 'Sambazon: Marketing the Acai Berry' business model is guided by triple-bottom-line principles and is in accord with the 'human development through the market' approach, which covers market-based environmentally and socially responsible activities that empower the poor to meet their basic needs. Shifting the focus on harvesting the acai berries, which does not harm the tree, protects the palms as well as the surrounding forest and promotes sustainable agro-forestry. The Brazilian Amazon region, especially the rainforest frontier, is a dramatically changing 'sociocultural' landscape, with a relative absence of formal social institutions often characterised by violent conflict between interest groups. There are a range of economic, social and environmental weaknesses and threats that Sambazon needs to deal with. First of all, the company relies on a single product and is therefore not sufficiently diversified to handle unforeseen market shifts or environmental disasters related to the acai fruit.
