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From the Amazon to the World? The Challenge of Top Amazon in the Face of Internationalization
Lucas Baesso and Ariane Cristine Roder Figueira
The COPPEAD Graduate School of Business at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Eduardo Russo
Rio Grande College of Business at Sul Ross State University, USA
Volume 20: 2025, pp. 621-632; ABSTRACT
This case examines the core challenge at the heart of Top Amazon Cosmetics, a femalefounded Brazilian SME that has gained acclaim for turning traceable Amazonian ingredients into premium, socially responsible haircare products while explicitly committing to local community benefits and gender-inclusive employment. Participation in Brazil’s Elas Exportam program catalyzed learning while exposing export-readiness constraints, including production capacity limits, costly certification and logistics, and fragile cash flows. These pressures push Top Amazon, known for ingredient traceability and environmental stewardship, to balance growth with preserving product authenticity and social commitments. Unsolicited foreign interest and the export program together place the founder at a decisive and time-sensitive crossroads. The case invites students to evaluate competing priorities, namely growth versus stewardship and short-term revenue versus long-term social commitments, and to design an internationalization path that preserves the firm’s mission. Designed for undergraduate and graduate courses in international business and entrepreneurship.
Keywords: SME internationalization, export readiness, effectuation and causation, sustainable entrepreneurship, emerging markets.
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