Maui Land & Pineapple

Running head: MAUI LAND & PINEAPPLE

Maui Land & Pineapple

I. FIRM DESCRIPTION

Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc. is a Hawaiian corporation that was started in 1909. It has two major operating companies, Maui Pineapple Company, Ltd, and Kapalua Land Company, Ltd., and it also has several other wholly owned subsidiaries. The company concentrates on selling pineapple products and developing resorts and commercial property (Mauiland.com).

ML &P owns about 28,600 acres including 1,650 acres bordering the ocean with three white sand beaches. On this land are three resorts, three golf courses, and eight residential subdivisions (business.com). Approximately one-third of the company's land is used directly in the company's operations (mauiland.com).

In 2003, pineapple products accounted for 53% of the company's revenues (ML & P 2004 1st Quarter Results). Maui Pineapple Company, Ltd. is the only supplier of 100% Hawaiian canned pineapple products to the U.S. supermarkets (mauiland.com). These products are sold as store-brand names. Any can that has "100% Hawaiian U.S.A." stamped on the top is a product of ML & P (ML & P Financial Report 2003). The company also sells its products to food service suppliers and processors. Harvested pineapple is processed at the company's cannery, the only pineapple cannery in the U.S., where a range of canned pineapple products is produced: varieties of solid pineapple, juices, and juice concentrates (ML & P Financial Report 2003).

About 37% of the company's revenue in 2003 came from its commercial resort (ML & P 2004 1st Quarter Results). Kapalua Land Company, Ltd. is the development and operating subsidiary for a luxury, golf resort community on the northwest coast of Maui. Most of the company's land holdings remain as open space, much of that being used as nature preserves. The company also includes the following subsidiaries: water company, waste treatment plant, public utilities for the resort, advertising company, and realty company (ML & P Financial Report 2003).

Commercial property resulted in about 10% of ML & P's revenues for 2003 (ML & P 2004 1st Quarter Results). The largest retail and entertainment center on Maui was recently sold by ML & P. Also sold was a 45,000 square foot retail and commercial plaza (ML & P Financial Report 2003). This division of the company includes the land entitlement and land and water asset management activities (ML & P Financial Report 2003). Other operations of the commercial and property subsidiary include non-resort real estate development, rentals, and sales.

II. MARKET STRUCTURES

Since Maui Land & Pineapple's company-owned cannery is the only U.S. canner of pineapple, it has a monopoly market structure in the States. If all other pineapple canneries in the world are taken into account, then it is probably more of an oligopoly market structure. Maui Land & Pineapple's canned pineapple, fresh pineapple, and juice product lines are examples of oligopoly market structures. In this case, ML & P's main U.S. competitors are Dole Food Company, Inc., Del Monte Food Co., and Del Monte Fresh Produce Company. A large portion of these competitors' pineapple products are produced outside the U.S., mainly in Central America and Southeast Asia (ML & P Financial Report 2003). If all other canned fruits and juices were included, the market structure would be monopolistic. Royal Coast Tropical Fruit Company, Inc. is a subsidiary of Maui Pineapple Company, Ltd. They market and sell pineapple products imported from Indonesia and previously, Costa Rica. This is monopolistic behavior, as they are competing with many other pineapple and fruit producers from around the world.

The Kapalua Land Company, Ltd. operates in a monopolistic market structure with its reports, as it has a great deal of competition both from other resorts in Hawaii and those of the rest of the world. This company owns three golf courses on its property and the Kapalua Golf Academy. The golf courses are a part of a monopolistic market structure, as there are at least 16 golf courses on the island of Maui (The Hawaii Golf Network, 2002). The Kapalua Golf Academy partners with Hale Irwin and has a monopoly in Maui and pretty much of a monopoly in Hawaii as well. Searching the internet, there are a few smaller "golf academies" in Hawaii, but they looked more like small clinic-type operations, run by unknown people.

The Kapalua Land Company, Ltd. subsidiary of Kapalua Realty Company, Ltd. operates in a monopolistic market structure in its development and sales of subdivision and residential lots. There are numerous other lots available on Maui and on the other Hawaiian islands. The subsidiaries Kapalua Water Company, Ltd, and the Kapalua Waste Treatment Company, Ltd. provide resources to the Kapalua Resort. They are the only firms providing these resources to the resort, so that would be a monopoly. However, there are many public utility companies in Maui and Hawaii that provide water and waste transmission services. This would be exemplary of a monopolistic market structure. The Kapalua Advertising Company, Ltd. provides advertising for the Kapalua Resort. This is monopolistic as well, as there are numerous advertising agencies available.

III. COST STRUCTURE

Most of Maui Land & Pineapple's costs are variable. However, in the long-run, all costs are variable. In the short-run, the fixed costs for Maui Pineapple Company, Ltd. would include the pineapple plantation land and loan repayments. The cannery building and machinery are fixed costs, as well as all the other equipment necessary to run the company. The rents paid on storage warehouses on the mainland are also fixed costs. All of the administrative salaries, pensions, severance pay, workers' compensation, insurance, and benefits for the company and all of its subsidiaries are all fixed costs. On their financial statements, Maui Land & Pineapple group these costs under "general and administrative" (ML & P Financial Report, 2003).

The fixed costs for Kapalua Land Company, Ltd. would also include the land and loan repayments and the equipment needed to maintain its grounds, golf courses, and resorts. Also included for his subsidiary are the villas that are used for vacation rentals, the golf academy structures, and marketing costs. These marketing costs would be fixed costs incurred by the other subsidiaries as well.

The variable costs encountered by ML & P and