Interview Summary
The late Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat, the former president and chair of the cement producer Loma Negra and one of Argentina’s leading philanthropists and art collectors, discusses the challenges of being one of the few women business executives in Latin America, and how she confronted them. She stresses the importance of maintaining a corporate culture that emphasizes loyalty and positive relationships between employees and union representatives. She further chronicles her commitment to corporate social responsibility and her investment in schools, hospitals, and daycare centers for workers and her decision to open an art museum to display her private collection. Her interview emphasizes the evolution of CSR in Argentina, and suggests that Argentina had a strategic advantage as a country in which business was sometimes demonized, but unions were particularly strong.
As a businesswoman, I feel responsible for the people around me. I feel a great social responsibility for all I have been given, and I believe it’s my obligation to give it back.
Additional Resources
María Inés Barbero, “Business Groups in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Argentina,” in Geoffrey Jones and Andrea Lluch, eds., The Impact of Globalization on Argentina and Chile: Business Enterprise and Entrepreneurship. Northampton, Mass.: Edward Elgar, 2015
Griselda Lemiez, “Relaciones laborales, conflicto y proceso de producción en la industria del cemento, Olavarría, 1940-1970,” CESOR (Centro de Estudios Sociales Regionales) de la Unidad Ejecutora en Red, ISHIR (Investigaciones Socio-históricas Regionales), Avances del Cesor (2013): 227-247
Gaggero Alejandro Javier, "La retirada de los grupos económicos argentinos durante la crisis y salida del régimen de convertibilidad,”
Desarrollo Económico 52, no. 206 (2012): 229-254
Daniel Dicosimo, “Indisciplina y consentimiento en la industria bonaerense durante la última dictadura militar: Los casos de Loma Negra Barker y Metalúrgica Tandil,”
Sociohistórica nos. 23-24 (2008): 13-37
Collección de Arte Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat. Fundación de Arte Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat, c.2008
Belmiro do Nascimento João and Adalberto Américo Fischmann, “Camargo Corrêa Cimentos e Loma Negra: Uma abordagem baseada no conhecimento,”
Revista de Ciências da Administração 9, no. 17 (2007): 71-92
Premios Fundación Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat. Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, 1999
J. R. Gonzalez, “The South American Cement Industry,” Cement Industry Technical Conference. IEEE/PCA, 1996
Federico B. Neiburg, Fábrica y Villa Obrera: historia social y antropología de los obreros del cemento. Centro Editor de América Latina, 1988
“New Peronist: Blending Grit With Wealth,” New York Times, July 16, 1989
Interview Citation Format
"Interview with Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat, interviewed by Andrea Lluch, New York, NY, USA, May 12, 2008, Creating Emerging Markets Project, Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School, http://www.hbs.edu/creating-emerging-markets/."
