United Fruit once dominated business and politics in Central America. It was the first truly multinational modern corporation. As well as harvesting the region's bananas, the company also wielded formidable influence over small nations, which were often ruled by corrupt dictators. United Fruit began in the 1870s as a business sideline of Minor Cooper Keith, who was also building a railway line in

Costa Rica. Both ventures were successful, and by 1890, Keith owned vast banana plantations, and demand in the United States for bananas outstripped supply. By the 1920's was growing bananas for the working classes in the U.S. and in Europe. United Fruit gained a reputation for ruthlessness when crossed and acted to remove governments that did not comply with its wishes. By the 1970s, United Fruit was no longer profitable and had lost its power. It is clear from the description that United Fruit operated a(n):
a. open system
b. entropy
c. controlled system
d. scientifically managed system
e. closed system

A
Open systems are systems that can sustain themselves only by interacting with their environments, on which they depend for their survival.