UCLA Anderson MBA students conduct Applied Management Research (AMR) projects in lieu of a thesis. The nation’s first business school field study program, AMR partners students with top organizations to solve a key strategic problem. The Center for Global Management sponsored four UCLA Anderson Class of 2018 teams to work with Conservation International, which partners with indigenous groups internationally and pairs local expertise with student consultants.
This story is one of the four by students who collaborated with CI to help find sustainable solutions to enhance economies in environmentally sensitive parts of the world. UCLA Anderson Class of 2018 AMR students made their final presentations on March 9.
By William Roger Berman, Guilherme Mattos Kobylko, Traci Yukiye Kuratomi, Daniel Osorio, Kevin Christopher Oswald (Class of 2018)
In 2015, the Galapagos Marine Reserve instituted various “no-take zones,” which restricted fishing in areas deemed vital for adequate biodiversity and sustainability of fish stocks. Our AMR team is working with Conservation International to increase the market value of local fishermen’s tuna catch. Tuna is an important source of income for the people in the Galapagos Islands, and they need ways to sustain and improve their lives while still protecting the natural beauty and diversity of the Galapagos.
Galapagos is synonymous with nature and biology and, since the time of Charles Darwin, world-renowned for its endemic wildlife species. Therefore, protecting its biodiversity is an important task, but increased restrictions on fishing stress the local fishermen. Already under strict regulations to fish in artisanal ways without the use of more efficient but environmentally damaging industrial techniques, fishermen often struggle to make ends. With roughly 3 percent of the employed population working as fishermen, this is a problem for the local community and its economy.
While our team conducted many interviews via Skype and performed extensive secondary research online, there is no substitute for on-the-ground research. There are many important stakeholder groups that would be nearly impossible to reach online, including fishermen and local fishermen cooperatives. Published research on fisheries in the Galapagos is slim to nonexistent, so much of the necessary information had to be gathered firsthand. We traveled to the Galapagos in early January to collect the information and experience the context that would shape effective, actionable suggestions for increasing the value of Galapagos tuna. Our main goals were to conduct interviews with all the relevant stakeholders, perform local market analysis on supermarkets, restaurants and fish markets, and to see firsthand how tuna is being processed and sold.
Our team was mainly located in the town of Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz, although we took day trips to two other nearby islands to get a more complete view of the tuna industry in the Galapagos. Puerto Ayora is the main town in the Galapagos, with nearly 50 percent of all residents living here. Through collaboration with Conservation International, we conducted numerous interviews with fishermen, cooperatives, NGOs like the Charles Darwin Foundation, government organizations like the Galapagos National Park Service and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, cruise ships and seafood vendors. We surveyed local restaurants to see how tuna is marketed and prepared and visited a fish processing plant to learn how tuna is being prepared for export to mainland Ecuador and beyond.
Based on the information we gathered, we devised potential solutions that broadly fit in two buckets: (1) improving efficiency in the current supply chain to allow fishermen to capture a high percentage of the total value; and (2) identifying additional business opportunities that would increase the total value for all players in the supply chain.
Through our interviews, we developed an understanding of the local and export markets, including prices paid and value added at each point in the supply chain. We learned about various initiatives that could be leveraged to the benefit of the fishermen, including new sustainable fishing techniques. Our market analysis illuminated various marketing opportunities for local tuna. And our discussions with buyers of Galapagos tuna allowed us to be more strategic about which channels we suggest fishermen sell tuna through. Ultimately, the field study enabled us to identify supply chain improvements and new business opportunities that would provide the largest impact in the most efficient way possible.
Going to the Galapagos Islands provided a wealth of information crucial to the success of this project, which would have been impossible to gather otherwise. At the same time, we greatly enjoyed meeting people in the local community and each of us has been left with memories we will take well beyond the conclusion of this project.
We would like to thank UCLA Anderson and the Center for Global Management for the opportunity to conduct this important and personally enriching work.
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