Successful Joint Ventures of South Dakota Soybean Processors Rodney Christianson, CEO South Dakota Soybean Processors Michael Boland and David Barton, case writers Arthur Capper Cooperative Center Kansas State University Funding provided by a cooperative agreement with USDA RBCS

Motivation SDSP has grown considerably since The case describes the industry environment and how SDSP adapted to changes in its industry over the past five years. Main issue in the case is what to do when SDSP’s major soybean oil customer no longer needs SDSP’s oil.

Objective The objective of this case and discussion is to describe the options considered by SDSP and the resulting alliances that SDSP has undertaken in recent years.

Strategic Alliances Find new use for soybean oil Achieve economies of size in soybean crushing Vertically integrate further Find new customers Build an oil refining plant

Find new use for soybean oil What can you tell us about SoyOyl®? –What is it? –How did you find out about it? –What is your relationship with its owners?

Achieve economies of size in soybean crushing What can you tell us about Minnesota Soybean Processors? –What is your relationship with them? –How is it progressing?

Vertically integrate further How is the business plan for alternatives such as soy diesel or soy proteins coming along? –Can you talk about what you have found from your USDA VADG grant results?

Find new customers How did you find a new customer? –What does that relationship look like?

Build an oil refining plant Why did you decide to acquire an oil refinery?

Future What does the future look like for SDSP?