Research and Development (R&D) Manager
The R&D department in a seeds firm was a key and very sensitive department for
the company’s success, and was the more expensive asset in a seed company. Mr.
Ramiro was in charge of the R&D department for Cargill Seeds Mexico since 1990.
With a long career as a corn breeder within the Cargill organization, he worked for
Cargill Seeds Brazil before joining Cargill Seeds Mexico. Mr. Ramiro reported to
both the General Manager of Cargill Seeds Mexico and to the Manager of R&D
department of Cargill Hybrid Seeds International, a position occupied by a
Brazilian executive who used to be Mr. Ramiro’s coworker in Brazil. Mr. Ramiro
also maintained a close friendship with Cargill Mexico Country Director, who also
had been a co-worker in Brazil. Mr. Magaña and Mr. Ramiro only maintained a
work relationship. In the beginning years in Cargill Seeds Mexico, Mr. Ramiro was
reluctant to accept Mr. Magaña’s authority. Mr. Magaña thought that as a proxy to
objectively evaluate Mr. Ramiro’s work in Cargill Seeds Mexico, he could use the
sales history of Cargill Seeds Mexico broken into details by hybrid (Exhibit 10).