...Ben and Jerry Case study By Shelly Lee May 22, 2011 History: The Company was founded b y two friends who were unhappy in their current jobs. Deciding that being business owners would make them happier they decided to go into business. The first venture in to bagels did not work out. Upon taking a class from Penn University in ice cream they opened a dip shop. The company carried the owners resolve to live in a more rural culture. The company experienced a lot of growth, rapid, and the owners did not have the business knowledge to control the company strategically nor did they want or like the idea of creating a large business. Ben Cohen wanted a company that created loyalty, motivation, and pride which is what the 5 -1 ratio represented to him. One of the core competencies is the following that Ben & Jerry’s create products that represents its rural values. These need to be nurtured as they are the reason that the company has such continued growth. I fell the company has a strategy; the social mission that they have is a good strategy for the company to have. Key Management: Ben Cohen had very set ideals for this company. He wanted to get back to the simplicity of rural life. He also wanted his business that way. He believed that the company should keep upper management pay tied to the entry level employees with a 5-1 ratio for pay increases. He did not have any formal business training and did not have a business mind. He was not in business to get rich...
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...FIN 689 Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Case 3 Ang Xiao Case Study: Ben & Jerry’s Homemade (Case 3) This case focuses on the issues of asset control of Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Inc with the four outstanding takeover offers by Dreyer’s Grand, Unilever, Meadowbrook Lane Capital and Chartwell Investment in 2001. Through the analysis of the four offers, I suggest the Board accept the Unilever’s offer. The advantage and disadvantage of each offer is discussed following. Dreyer’s Grand The offer does not maximize the shareholders wealth but retain the management philosophy. It is the best offer for Ben & Jerry’s management since the management team is maintained. In addition, Dreyer’s was also involved in community-service activities. It implies that the social drive will be strengthened after the acquisition offered by Dreyer’s Grand. However, the $31 per share offer is much less attractive than other rest offers from the shareholders perspective. In stock transaction, Ben & Jerry will share the synergy risk with the Dreyer’s Grand. Unilever The offer maximizes the shareholders wealth but disturbs the management philosophy. Unilever, as a profit oriented organization, may not encourage the philanthropy that is so important to B&J. There is a threat over the management philosophy. However, Unilever maintain select members of B&J management team. The select management team may influence policies to some extent. FIN 689 Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Case 3 Ang Xiao The offer with...
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...Strategic Analysis of Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Inc. Can B&J Serve a Double Scoop of Being Green and Making Green? ESM 210 Professor Delmas Final Paper November 21, 2000 Alex Tuttle Vicky Krikelas 1 BEN & JERRY’S ICE CREAM Table of Contents INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………. MARKET DESCRIPTION………………………………………………………………….. FIRM DESCRIPTION………………………………………………………………………. THE MISSION STATEMENT……………………………………………………………… 1 1 1 2 GENERAL CORPORATE STRATEGY…………………………………………………… 2 CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY………………………………………… 4 STRATEGY ANALYSIS……………………………………………………………………... 8 Five Forces Model of Competition…………………………………………………….…8 SWOT Analysis…………………………………………………………………………..11 Key Success Factors……………………………………………………………………..11 STRATEGIC CONSISTENCIES……………………………………………………………..12 STRATEGIC DISCONNECTS……………………………………………………………….13 UNILEVER ACQUISITION………………………………………………………………….14 RECOMMENDATIONS & CONCLUSION………………………………………………...15 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………………...17 Figures FIGURE 1. FIGURE 2. FIGURE 3. FIGURE 4. FIGURE 5. ANNUAL REVENUES…………………………………………………………..4 ANNUAL RECYCLING………………………………………………………...7 PORTER’S 5 FORCES MODEL ………………………………………………9 SWOT ANALYSIS………………………………………………………………11 KEY FACTORS OF SUCCESS………………………………………………..12 2 3 INTRODUCTION Ben & Jerry’s is an innovative leader in the super premium ice cream industry. The company blends a commitment to provide all natural, high quality ice cream with a commitment towards social activism and environmental...
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...MBA 653: Organizational Behavior Ben & Jerry Case Executive Summary In the past three decades, Ben & Jerry’s has made a transition from a local ice cream maker into a large multinational corporation. The unique history and culture has made Ben & Jerry’s brand into a social icon. The core values and mission of the company have been defined as three interrelated parts in Ben & Jerry’s mission statement. The ever changing market has posed constant challenges to Ben & Jerry’s, which calls for a comprehensive strategy that addresses the competitive difficulties, while allowing Ben & Jerry’s to remain consistent with its mission and background. This report analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of Ben & Jerry’s organizational design during this transitional period in terms of its culture, social mission, marketing, competition, product development, manufacturing and distribution. We recommend that Ben & Jerry’s continues to strive in the global business market by taking following actions: protect the brand name while maintaining core cultural values, continue social activism at a local level, while exercising caution in the overtly politically arena, develop products that remain true to their roots, while using the new resources available from Unilever, and adopt a Lean manufacturing and distribution platform. Analysis Following the merger with Unilever, Ben & Jerry’s faces challenges as it navigates within a larger corporation while...
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...SWOT ANALYSIS STRENGTHS Reputable International branding High-quality products Promotes CSR Products caters for most age groups OPPORTUNITIES Healthy/healthier choice (fat-free, lesser sugars) Peanut-free products HFC-free freezers (ECO friendly) WEAKNESSES High in sugars (fattening) High pricing THREATS Government legislation on products high on fats and sugars. Consumers are more health conscious No strong barrier to entrants (competitors) TOWS ANALYSIS EXTERNAL OPPORTUNITIES EXTERNAL THREATS INTERNAL STRENGTHS Easier to push out new products Stronger support from society on Social responsibility Introduce healthy/healthier products INTERNAL WEAKNESSES Healthy/healthier choice products Pricing strategies/lower pricing Introduce healthy/healthier products Pricing strategies/lower pricing PEST ANALYSIS POLITICAL • High stability and reliability country • Strong government policies in assisting SMEs locally & globally. ECONOMICAL • Healthy GDP growth all these years • Strong government support in retail industry. SOCIAL • Strong spending power from youngsters & adults. • Consumers are more health conscious. • Social responsibility is a must today. TECHNOLOGICAL • Internet is a norm today (social media). COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE BROAD NARROW COST Cost Leadership Cost Focus DIFFERENTIATION Differentiation Leadership Differentiation Focus High-quality product, Strong branding, Consistent promotional...
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...Introduction • Founded by two Brooklyn school mates Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield in Vermont, 1978. • Combination of high fat content, chunky ingredients and catchy flavor names helped to create its own demand. • Sales grew with time and the company went public in 1984. • Besides being a fun company, it was determined to be socially responsible with an objective of caring capitalism. • By 1994, sales exceeded $150million and the company had 600 employees with a global distribution network. • However, 1994 actually brought loss and net income suffered. • In 1995, the company’s sales started to increase with a substantial rise in net income. • By 1997, Ben and Jerry’s was doing well but slow growth and retreating market share was an issue. • Japan was being considered for future expansion. Current Strategy • Focused Differentiation - To make, distribute and sell the finest quality, all natural ice cream. - Socially responsible company known for its caring capitalism. Problem Statement Given that the company has declining profits and is losing its market share in both total ice cream market and super premium market……… • Should Ben and Jerry’s enter the Japan market in summer 2008? • If yes, then how should they perform the market entry, through Seven-Eleven Japan or collaboration with Ken Yamada? External Analysis Industry Structure • Ice cream industry is categorized...
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...Ben & Jerry’s Case Study By: Niesha M. Felder February 22, 2014 MRKT 454 1. What do you believe is Ben & Jerry's management orientation and view toward global expansion? Provide evidence from the case to support your opinion. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the forefathers of Ben and Jerry’s, management orientation skills were very unique, promoting a free spirit approach for employees. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield were not the standard corporate managers, instead they were quite bias against traditional business practices because of the short-term interests as well as large profits; most commonly corporate managers are under pressure to produce shareholders’ demands. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield did not place emphasis or value, on cash, equipment and inventory; the “tangible assets” of the firm. Instead, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield focused on “intangible assets” such as social concerns, quality of life, charity, and reputation, but in their minds the “intangible assets” were just am important if not more important. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield business values were based on growth, shareholder value, and the overall care/quality of employees. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield were intentionally slow to embrace the foreign market (Kursh, Lant, Majeske, Olver, Plant, 2014). Ben Cohen was quite reluctant to embark on global expansion because he felt that it did not coincide with the mission of Ben & Jerry’s. On the other hand, Jerry Greenfield...
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...Ben & Jerry: Case Study 1. How has Ben & Jerry’s fulfilled its mission statement? Ben & Jerry’s has 3 dimensions on its mission statement: * Product: Ben & Jerry are making and distributing the finest quality of all natural ice cream with innovative flavors. For example they created Chocolate Fudge Brownie flavor but also Chubby Hubby, Chunky Monkey and Bovinity Divinity, which all are innovative and creative flavors with original names. For instance, they successfully avoided to ship back an amount of frozen brownie, a decision that you have both hurt Ben & Jerry and the supplier and created a new flavor with the frozen brownie. * Economic: In 1994 Ben & Jerry issued 75,000 shares at $10.5 per share exclusively to Vermont residents allowing the first supporters of Ben & Jerry to profit from its success. That both a financial and social decision. Later, the shares were listed on the NASDAQ to offer greater liquidity and capital. Ben & Jerry were also successful to cut expenses when they moved to their plant in Waterbury: instead of spending money to eliminate liquid waste they made a deal with a local farmer that would feed his pigs with the milky water. They later loaned money to the farmer to purchase 200 more pigs to eliminate all the liquid waste of Ben & Jerry. This satiation was profitable for both parties and was a financial and social success. However, at the end of the 60’s Ben & Jerry were not making any...
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...Ben & Jerry's Homemade ice cream Inc. Tutor’s Introduction This case study comes from the second edition of Business Strategy: an introduction published in 2001. It is very readable and interesting, providing students with insights into how two entrepreneurs who set up an ice cream shop in a renovated petrol station became the names behind one of the most well-known ice cream brands around the globe. Students will find out how Ben and Jerry tackled the almighty (at the time) Pillsbury and Häagen-Dazs, how they developed a brand to distinguish them from competitors which included a focus on people and giving back to society, and how they successfully used PR to come up trumps in the ‘ice cream war’. At the end of the case study you will find a series of questions for students to get them thinking critically about Ben & Jerry’s strategy from its humble beginnings to where it is now. The case also provides the opportunity for students to conduct research into the current state of play. They could find out how Ben & Jerry’s have further developed their brand and product offerings (they now have ice cream counters in cinemas, they offer a full selection of Fair Trade ice creams, etc.) and what competition they now face, if any. Students will find it helpful to read chapter 20 on social responsibililty and business ethics. They could also use this longer case study as a springboard for their work on the Strategic Planning Software (SPS), to which they have free access with...
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...the creation of a relationship that allows the client to perceive, understand, and act on the process events that occur within an organization in order to improve the situation as defined by the client (Cummings & Worley, pg. 253). In the case involving Ben and Jerry’s a consultant was brought in to work with the founders, board of directors, managers, and employees in order to undertake organizational development and also to bring the people, functions, aspirations, and directions together (Cummings & Worley, pg. 306). Schein proposes ten principles to guide process consultant’s actions: • Always try to be helpful • Always stay in touch with the current reality • Access your ignorance • Everything you do is an intervention • The client owns the problem and the solution • Go with the flow • Timing is crucial • Be constructively opportunistic with confrontive interventions • Everything is information; errors will always occur and are the prime source for learning • When in doubt, share the problem (Cummings & Worley, pg. 254). As the consultant in this case dove into the workings of Ben & Jerry’s these principles were apparent throughout the case. After spending time with the board, and interviewing key managers and staff at Ben & Jerry’s, the consultant concluded that the company had much strength and also some concerns. It was decided that while the leadership was seen as the company’s greatest strength, they were also seen and its greatest weakness. As a result...
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...Ben & Jerry: Case Study 1. How has Ben & Jerry’s fulfilled its mission statement? Ben & Jerry’s has 3 dimensions on its mission statement: * Product: Ben & Jerry are making and distributing the finest quality of all natural ice cream with innovative flavors. For example they created Chocolate Fudge Brownie flavor but also Chubby Hubby, Chunky Monkey and Bovinity Divinity, which all are innovative and creative flavors with original names. For instance, they successfully avoided to ship back an amount of frozen brownie, a decision that you have both hurt Ben & Jerry and the supplier and created a new flavor with the frozen brownie. * Economic: In 1994 Ben & Jerry issued 75,000 shares at $10.5 per share exclusively to Vermont residents allowing the first supporters of Ben & Jerry to profit from its success. That both a financial and social decision. Later, the shares were listed on the NASDAQ to offer greater liquidity and capital. Ben & Jerry were also successful to cut expenses when they moved to their plant in Waterbury: instead of spending money to eliminate liquid waste they made a deal with a local farmer that would feed his pigs with the milky water. They later loaned money to the farmer to purchase 200 more pigs to eliminate all the liquid waste of Ben & Jerry. This satiation was profitable for both parties and was a financial and social success. However, at the end of the 60’s Ben & Jerry were not making any...
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...Ben & Jerry’s Analysis By:Group 2 The case presented on Ben & Jerry’s Homemade ice-cream is complex and produces a considerable amount of deliberation. In the following pages we hope to give you a synopsis of Ben Cohen & Jerry Greenfield, as well as the company they created, while attempting to carefully construct answers to the questions posed on specific issues raised by Mr. Brasel in the power point slides he provided to the class. The history of Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield can be dated back to when the men first met in the seventh grade. Both Cohen and Greenfield grew up in Merrick, Long Island and quickly became friends during Junior high school. After high school, Jerry finished college. His goal was to attend medical school to become a doctor, but he could not get in. (benjerry.com). On the other hand, Ben applied and was accepted to several colleges, but always dropped out of them. The beginnings for the development of Ben & Jerry’s Homemade were launched in 1977 from the front porch of Jerry’s parent’s house. Neither Ben nor Jerry knew anything about running or opening a business, but both men knew about food and shared the great passion of eating. They pondered on what type of business they would start. The men came across an AD in the local newspaper for an ice-cream-making course offered through a local college. There was a $5 fee associated with the course. Due to the extreme poverty...
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...Jer ry: Ben: Jerry: Ben: Jerry : Ben: What's interest ing abo ut me a nd my role in the company is, I'm j ust this guy on the street. A pe rson who 's fai rly conventional , mainstream. accepting of life as it is. Salt ofthe earth. A man of the pe opl e. But then I'v e go t this friend , B en, who challenges everything. It' s against his nature to do anything the same wa y any one 's ever do ne it befo re. To which my response is always , " I don 't think that'll wo rk." To which my response is always, "How do we know till we try ?" So I get to go through this leading -edge, risk -takin g exp erience with Beneven tho ugh I' m really ju st like everyo ne else. The perfect duo. le e cream and chunks. Business and social chonge. Ben and Jerry. • - Be n & Jer ry 's Double Dip , As Henry Morgan's plane passed over the snow-covered hills of Vermont' s dairy land, throngh his mind passed the events of the last few months. It was late January 2000. Morgan, the retired dean of Boston University'Sbusiness school, knew well the trip to Burlington. As a member of the board of directors of Ben & Jerry's Homemade over the past This case was preparedby Professor Michael J. Schill with researchassistancefrom D aniel Burke. VernHines. Sangyeon Hwang, Won sang Kim, Vincente Ladinez, andTyrone Taylor. It was written as a basis forclass discus sion rathe than to illustrat effectiveor ineffectivehandlingof an administrative situation Copyright 0 2001 by r e . the University of Virginia Darden...
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...Motivations for forging strategic alliance Despite the inherent risks, it is often necessary for firms, because of their lack of necessary resources, to forge strategic alliances with other firms for acquiring complementary skills. Before establishing a formal relationship with other enterprises, an enterprise must realize its motivations and priorities. four motivations with different orientations: 1. Strategy-oriented. Enterprises forge alliance for strategic objectives such as maximizing the profit and possible cooperation. Tactic practices are increasing the market share, stepping up the pace of employee exchange, shortening the time for technological development and new products to enter market, and preventing vicious competition from competitors. 2. Cost-oriented. Another motivation behind forging an alliance is to reduce cost. To share the cost for developing a technology and avoid duplicating investment, to reduce the cost for searching the necessary information, to reduce the risk of R&D, and to cooperate with governmental organizations for tax policy are the common considerations for this motivation. 3. Resource-oriented. The availability of critical resources is the third motivation for establishing an alliance. To exchange the critical equipment and technologies with the alliance partner for reducing the risk of R&D, and to make use of the marketing channels of the partner will bring benefits to the participants of the alliance. 4. Learning-oriented...
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...Case Study: Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Inc. Mohammad A. Hoque Professor Jane Storm MKT 315 Aug 27, 2011 Ben & Jerry’s expects more from its partners than simply earning profits Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc., the Vermont-based manufacturer of super-premium ice cream, frozen yogurt and sorbet, was founded in 1978 in a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont, by childhood friends Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield with a modest $12,000 investment. Ben & Jerry's is a founding member of Business for Social Responsibility ("BSR"), an association of some 1400 or so businesses that aims to furnish "members with innovative products and services that help companies be commercially successful in ways that demonstrate respect for ethical values, people, communities and the environment." The company is now a leading ice cream manufacturing company known worldwide for its innovative flavors and all-natural ingredients made from fresh Vermont milk and cream (www.benjerry.com). Ben & Jerry's corporate strategy strives to implement the three integrated missions described as: developing a high-quality product, achieving economic growth and profitability, and incorporating social activism. The general corporate strategy can be characterized as a focused or market niche strategy based primarily on product differentiation and quality production. Although focused differentiation strategies target a narrow buyer segment, this strategy helps Ben & Jerry’s gain a strong...
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