BEN & JERRY

GROUP 4

MEMBERS:
1. NG SOON LEONG (P116717)
2. MUHAMMAD AMIRUL ARIFFUDIN BIN SAZALI (P117234)
3. KAZI ARHAM AHMED (ZP05581)
4. THEVENDRAN A/L DAGARAJAN (P117360)
5. THEVARASAN IYADURAI (ZP05585)
6. ARJUN A/L S DAGARAJAN (P117226)
7. NAJWA HAMBALI (P116726)
8. MUHAMMAD FITRI BIN ABDULLAH (P118713)
9. FATIN HIDAYU BINTI ZULKIFLI (P117559)
INTRODUCTION

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield opened their first ice cream shop on May 5, 1978. Since its start,
the founders have instilled in a strong sense of social responsibility among the workers towards
their neighborhood and the globe at large. Three goals had been identified as product, economic
and social. Ben and Jerry have made sure that organizational principles, values and norms are very
much focused towards the betterment of the community. The company had the belief that product
quality, economic viability and surroundings are all equally important for their growth.

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield are both long advocate of practicing social responsibility that
promotes grassroots activism and community organization for social and environmental justice for
many years. They were one of the first corporations to formally report on its performance with
respect to its social responsibility vision and goals back in 1999. This value has incorporated as
part of their corporate culture over the course of time; even after being acquired by Unilever back
in 2000. Despite the acquisition, Ben & Jerry has continued to honor social responsibility in their
daily implementation for their businesses and events.

ETHICAL DECISION-MAKING FACTORS

Ben & Jerry was performed in s supportive ethical climate that provided psychological security to
the stakeholders, shareholders and the employees. These efforts helped to improve their
performance as a firm. They are making decision based on ethical decision makin factors. (How
We Do Business | Ben & Jerry’s, n.d.). The factors are:

1. Supplier Diversity

Ben & Jerry has committed to increase the procurement spending over the years with Black-
owned or Black-led suppliers as part of their effort to increase distribution of wealth to this
community.

2. Thriving Farmers and Farmworkers

Ben & Jerry has help to ensure that all farmers and farmworkers in their supply chain are
treated as equal business partners to enable better working conditions and practices. One of
the steps taken is to work with Fairtrade International, where farmers make up half of the
 general assembly, and Milk with Dignity, a pioneering farmworker-led human rights labor
standard.

3. Social Enterprises and Shared Value Creation

Ben & Jerry will show that businesses can also thrive concurrently with social mission. This
led to programs such as hiring of the refugees and partnership with B-Corp (benefit
corporation).

4. Regenerative Agriculture and Animal Welfare

Ben & Jerry has taken the environmental factors into the consideration for their sourcing. A
positive environmental farming system should ensure that the animals are healthy, non-
deforestation and non-degradation on natural environment.

BEN & JERRY SUPPORT’S ON SOCIAL MOVEMENT

Ben & Jerry drives the progressive social change through their advance strategies which deal with
large movement in events for issues in social equity and climate justice (How We Do Business |
Ben & Jerry’s, n.d.). They had used their resources and business streams to support the social
movement such as:

• Protection of voting rights among its citizen,

• Dismantle of the system that perpetuate white supremacy, systemic racism, and racial bias,
• The LGBTQ community in the struggle for LGBTIQ’s justice, rights, and equality,
• The on-going issue in climate justice that has impacted us differently,
• Championing finance reforms to disintegrated businesses with politics.

SUSTAINABILITY IN BEN AND JERRY’S

Ben and Jerry had made tremendous effort in their sustainability for the environment. Based on
the latest update, they pledged to not buy ingredients that have been dried with the ‘herbicide
glyphosate’, an harmful chemical compound. However, they have yet to be able to do so this is
due to Ben and Jerry’s having many suppliers thus making it hard to trace who is using what. They
have also promised to use organic dairy source for their new line of products (Issues We Care
about | Ben & Jerry’s, n.d.).

For sustainable packaging, they are aiming for 100% petroleum based free plastic and recyclable
by 2025. Plastic and production pollution is linked to environmental health, social justice, and
climate change. Their approaches for these problems are to reduce petroleum based plastic amount
used in supply chain and packaging, finding a plant based or compostable alternative and R&D
reusable packaging options (Issues We Care about | Ben & Jerry’s, n.d.).

In addition to that, Ben and Jerry are fighting for global warming. They had run campaigns with
Dave Matthews Band, invested early in manufacturing factories, supply chain and shops to reduce
carbon footprint. Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) is also becoming a global leader for
clean energy, where they have purchased energy from renewable sources that is certified by
renewable energy certificates (RECs). There are also other campaigns that are joined by Ben &
Jerry such as “The Chinkinator” where waste is being transformed into biogas from power factory,
“Manure Separators” a campaign that encouraging reducing of methane gas, “Reforestation” to
reduce soil erosion and diversify agricultural plans also “Greener Freezer” that reduces
hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) (Issues We Care about | Ben & Jerry’s, n.d.).

ETHICAL DECISION-MAKING FRAMEWORK

Ben & Jerry is one of the most ethical and socially responsible companies nowadays. Up till now,
they had proven their businesses are not solely about gaining profits but also taking into
consideration on how it will effect ethically, environmentally, and socially There are several
ethical approaches that suit the behavior of Ben & Jerry’s companies and their decision-making
process framework which are the Common Good Approach and The Fairness/ Justice Approach.

i. Common Good Approach

In this ethical approach, it is defined as the ethical decision which compromises between individual
needs and social needs (Arjoon et al., 2015). It provides guideline for individuals to make decision
which promotes harmony between individual, the environment, and society. This approach
emphasizes the common conditions that are important to society’s welfare such as environmental
aspects, rules regulations and health care. For example, Ben & Jerry is committed to social change
by donating a portion of their annual profits to raise awareness and funds for peace, as well as
improving the quality of life of their employees and local communities.

ii. The Fairness/ Justice Approach

According to Samara and Paul (2018), ethics and justice must include fairness distribution
designed to reward employees according to their business performance. Justice approaches are
against favoritism and discrimination. In addition of that, this approach promotes equality, support,
and justice among human beings. Regarding this approach, we could observe that Ben & Jerry are
practicing this approach by conducting the values such as generosity, fairness and helpfulness.
Moreover, we could see that their organization also supports human rights and individuality such
as LGBTQ rights, racial justice, voting rights and climate justice.

ETHICAL ISSUES AND CONTROVERSIES

Ben & Jerry has always been outspoken and taking strong stand on their view in any social and
environmental issues. Due to that, they could be facing frequent backlash on hot-button social
issues because of different perspectives by some ethics or critics. One of the example is the ending
sales in the Israeli-occupied territories (Feuer, 2021). This boycott by Ben & Jerry has plunged
itself into one of the most contentious debates on the international arena. Some ethics or critics
have argued that the boycott is not in line with the true values of equitability supported by Ben &
Jerry, which instead they are taking a political stand in support for Afghanistan.

Back in 2012, Ben & Jerry is being portraited as racially stereotyping Jeremy Lin, an Asian-
American basketball player through the introduction of a new flavor called "Taste the Lin-
Sanity" that contain fortune cookies. The fortune cookies are purported to be heavily associated
with the Chinese culture (Boren, 2012). Subsequently, Ben & Jerry has issued an apology to
Jeremy Lin and decided to replace the fortune cookies with waffle cookies.

According to Ethical Consumer, Ben & Jerry has several ethical problems, receiving a score of 2
out of 15. The score is based on a negative scale. Ben & Jerry's are being graded on four separate
categories: environment, people, animals, and politics. However, the websites discovered not just
Ben & Jerry misconduct, but also the unethical behavior of its parent corporation, Unilever.

Other ethical issue that Ben & Jerry was convicted is deceptive labelling, marketing, and selling
of factory produced dairy using glyphosate. According to the case, Ben & Jerry's declared that
their ice cream is made from organic cow as a support for its 'Caring Dairy' programme. However,
The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) argued that Ben & Jerry's marketing could mislead
customers into believing that all their dairy’s products satisfy the Caring Dairy programme
requirements. This issue has arisen because the firm received its dairy from Vermont Cooperative
in which only less than 25% of participating farms were satisfied with their dairy’s products. In
spite of that, no formal decision was made since the court permitted the matter to proceed. Ben &
Jerry had shown on their websites on how their products were manufactured, indirectly
demonstrating that they are not scared of concealing any unethical behavior during manufacturing.
The court presumably dismissed the complaint because there was no genuine proof that Ben &
Jerry was distributing suspect goods.

HOW CARING CAPITALISM PLAY A ROLE IN BEN & JERRY?

Caring Capital is another noble concept induced and implemented by Cohen for the betterment of
the employees and community. In this concept, part of the company’s revenues was used for the
welfare of the employees and local people. This organization behaved ethically and contributed to
the economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families,
as well as society. The organization has not only been fulfilling legal requirements which they are
bound to maintain but also were going beyond compliance. Thus, they had been creating a positive
impression while maintaining obligation and accountability to society. During the Peace Pop
campaign, money was collected in a percentage manner for the promotion of peace across
localities. All these programs helped them to get acquainted with their stakeholder more and more.

Ben & Jerry’s environmental concerns are causing them to replace the packaging of their ice
creams from standard paper packaging that uses chlorine compounds for bleaching to an
unbleached paperboard container.
In addition to that, the founders of Ben & Jerry had extended their social awareness towards their
employees, in which as an organization they limit the salary ratio from the top executives to all
other employees to have a sense of all the employees working as a team. Moreover, all employees
at Ben & Jerry will receive three pints of ice cream per week, free health club memberships, and
a partially subsidized company childcare center.

CHALLENGES FACED BY BEN & JERRY’S WHEN ACQUIRED BY UNILEVER

Ben and Jerry as a firm often emphasize philanthropy activity by providing necessary support to
the community such as lobbying, providing job opportunities, and funds. As a firm, Ben and Jerry
are proud of the culture. However, during the year 2000, Ben and Jerry are required by law to sell
the company. Despite that, Ben and Jerry had refused because as an act to increase interest of
shareholders (Bourgeois, Mariani and Yu, 2017). Thus, Ben and Jerry sold it to Unilever.

The challenge that Ben and Jerry had faced during the Unilever takeover is the termination of the
staff. Ben and Jerry almost never terminate the staff as they believe providing job opportunities
within the community is a form of respecting and helping the community. However, during the
takeover, Unilever closed two manufacturing sites and fired sales representative in headquarters.
The decision that Unilever took was against the value that Ben and Jerry believe. Despite that,
Unilever defended the action and claimed that it is necessary for the synergies of the firm (Gelles,
2015).

The leadership style that Ben and Jerry adopt to the firm is to improve the broad community life
in an innovative way. After the acquisition in 2000, Unilever refused to use Ben and Jerry’s name
to distribute a $5 million fund to assist philanthropic activity, this is because Unilever wanted to
protect Ben and Jerry’s company brand name. Unilever concerned as some social activity that run
by the foundation using Ben and Jerry’s name could be controversial for example, the foundation
previously provides $100,000 to Ruckus Foundation to train demonstrators on protesting strategies
(Treanor, 2001). Ben Cohen was upset about that decision as it is against the strong standing and
the direction that he believes the firm should take. Unilever handle this issue by suggesting the
name to Ben’s Venture Capital fund rather than “Ben and Jerry’s” to stay separated as an entity
(Tampa Bay Time, 2005). Different styles of leadership can create ethical conflict among the
higher management hence it is important that the firm leaders compromise and stick with the core
value of the company.
BEN & JERRY’S SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT REPORT (SEAR)
FOR 2020

This report indicates that there is racial and ethnicity imbalance in the employment of Ben & Jerry
central office and retail business in the United States. The white employee consists of 92% of the
total employee; and nearly 94% of the management constitutes white employee only (2020 SEAR
Report, 2020). This percentage is quite high given the fact that the racial breakdown for the white
in US for 2020 is about 60% only (Ghosh, 2020). This has been contradicting to the racial justice
that Ben & Jerry is championing; for example, in improving the lives of the black people in United
States. Arguably, the high composition of the employment for the whites could coincidence due
to the merit and capability of each employee. Having said, Ben & Jerry could do more in
demonstrating to their stakeholders its commitment towards socially responsible in the area of
equitable racial justice in their recruitment process. This could be done through more robust human
resource policies; for example, creating a pipeline in giving out adequate education and training to
the minorities. Only through education and training, the likelihood of the minorities fostering
positive social change will be greatly improved over the period. As for now, we believe that Ben
& Jerry truly appreciate the value and ethic in governing their business as they have moved into
the 32nd anniversary of SEAR. They might not be “socially responsible perfection” towards the
communities, but they have shown great results over the years in committing themselves into a
fully integrated CSR program. Besides that, they do make the effort in acknowledging their
weakness and provide action plans to address the racial equity issues that they are facing.

FUTURE CSR PROJECT RECOMMENDATION

(1) Academic Scholarship

According to Carroll’s CSR Pyramid, businesses must aim for social responsibility at four (4)
levels which are (a) economics, (b) legal, (c) ethical, and (4) philanthropic. Over the years, Ben &
Jerry had depicted a significant contribution to society and the environment. To expand Ben &
Jerry’s beneficiary group in society, they can choose scholarships as their CSR education
initiatives, following what Taco Bell Foundation did. Scholarships make a direct impact on the
community by helping deserving students with passion afford higher education. By empowering
the next generation through education and career-building programs, Ben & Jerry will also be
positioning their business as an attractive employment option for tertiary education graduates. The
program should be supplemented with a mentoring program for the scholars to provide career
guidance and make sense of the future.

(2) Home Dealer Network

Ben & Jerry can contribute to the economic empowerment of micro-entrepreneurs by creating a
home dealer network for their ice creams. People who are unemployed or interested in self-
employed will be trained for entrepreneurship skill sets including technical and management skills.
This kind of opportunity will attract young people and women, especially housewives, to earn
extra income. In Malaysia, The Holstein Milk Company Sdn Bhd which is more familiar with their
product brand Farm Fresh, has been awarded an ‘Inclusive Business’ at the 2020 ASEAN Business
Awards (ABA). An inclusive business (IB) model is a type of business model that seeks to create
value for low-income communities and make them part of the value chain of companies’ core
business as suppliers, distributors, retailers, or customers.

(3) Mental Health Awareness

The COVID-19 pandemic and economic hardship have negatively affected many people’s mental
health and wellbeing. The pandemic also has increased suicidal behavior. As the pandemic
continues, businesses should modify their CSR strategy to fulfill societal needs. Many evidence-
based psychological interventions for mental health problems were available for use. Ben & Jerry
Foundation can donate their money to mental health service providers to help the most vulnerable
live their lives better. Stress is a part of our lives and inevitable. It won’t disappear when the
pandemic ends. Therefore, Ben & Jerry can multi-pronged this strategy by promoting a self-care
strategy - good care of body, mind, and connection with others to benefit mental health.
CONCLUSION

Throughout the years, we have seen small firms grow into a large conglomerate and even went
globally. There is always a success story associated to their business expansion or growth. Ben &
Jerry is one of the classic examples of a society-driven business that substantially attracts investors.
Unilever, a large conglomerate acquired Ben & Jerry back in 2000 and they have maintained the
vision and mission of Ben & Jerry, which is to be a socially-driven business.

As we know, many smaller firms have lost track of their core values after being acquired by large
entities. This is because most of the small firms get entangled into the bureaucracy and hierarchy
of the large entities. Their core values and principles will be a sidetrack compared to the business-
driven view by most large entities in which is to maximize profitability at all costs. Core values
and principles will be treated as a mere annual compliance training instead of the team actively
practising on it.

REFERENCE

How We Do Business | Ben & Jerry’s. (n.d.). Https://www.benjerry.com.

https://www.benjerry.com/values/how-we-do-business#ingredients

Issues We Care About | Ben & Jerry’s. (n.d.). Https://Www.benjerry.com.

https://www.benjerry.com/values/issues-we-care-about

Arjoon, S., Turriago-Hoyos, A., & Thoene, U. (2015). Virtuousness and the Common Good as a
Conceptual Framework for Harmonizing the Goals of the Individual, Organizations, and the
Economy. Journal of Business Ethics, 147(1), 143–163. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-
2969-6

Samara, G., & Paul, K. (2018). Justice versus fairness in the family business workplace: A
socioemotional wealth approach. Business Ethics: A European Review, 28(2), 175–184.
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Feuer, W., 2021. Ben & Jerry’s criticized for selling in Texas -- but not West Bank. [online]
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Gelles, D., 2015. How the Social Mission of Ben & Jerry’s Survived Being Gobbled Up (Published
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Treanor, J., 2022. Unilever cash goes to protest groups. [online] the Guardian. Available at:
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Tampa Bay Times. 2000. Ben bemoans Ben & Jerry’s corporate future. Tampa Bay Times [online
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