BEN & JERRY’S

HOMEMADE CASESTUDY
Submitted By:
Joeline Jose
Varsha Sarah Roy
Raphael Vincent
Arun Vaco Roy
Overview

• Leading distributor of super premium ice creams, frozen yogurts

and sorbets
• Eating was their great passion- start business related to food i.e
ice cream
• Started in 1978 in Burlington, Vermont after conducting a manual
market search based on the criteria of warm weather and college
kids
• Founders: Ben Cohen & Jerry Greenfield
• Initial investment of $12,000 ($4,000 borrowed)
 Q1.  How has Ben & Jerry's fulfilled its mission statement? What evidence can you
provide regarding Ben & Jerry's performance on each of the three dimensions of
the mission statement?

PRODUCT MISSION
Ben & Jerry’s has been successful in making, distributing & selling the finest quality, all
natural products in a wide variety of innovative flavors
made from Vermont dairy products.
 ECONOMIC MISSION

To operate the company on a sound financial basis of profitable growth, increasing value
for our shareholders and creating career opportunities and financial rewards for employees

Sound financial & profitable growth: Proven in its financial statements

Creating career opportunities and financial rewards for employees:

• Among the first that offer health care benefits to employees
• The company followed a compressed payroll policy i.e. the company’s highest paid person
could NOT earn more than five times the lowest paid person
• Trade off between social missions and employees welfare e.g. some employees complain
that the company skimped on their wages and working condition to finance charity of third
parties
 SOCIAL MISSION
• Ben and Jerry’s Foundation donates minimum $1.1 million per year
• Since 1985 the company has donated 7.5% of its pre-tax earnings to various social foundations
• Supports causes such as Greenpeace International and Vietnam Veterans
• Expresses Customer Appreciation with an annual free cone day at all of its scoop shops

Social Value led Marketing

• Development of an ice cream flavour to provide demand for harvestable tropical-rainforest products and
represent an economically viable alternative to cutting down trees

Social Value led Financing

• Initial Public Offer first opened to the citizens of Vermont as a gift to gratify their initial support to the company

• YES, B & J’s has fulfilled its social mission

Q2.  How did Ben & Jerry's become a takeover target?

• Increased competition pressure

• Decreased financial performance

 Q3. Should Henry Morgan defend the agenda of the current
management team or support one of the acquisition offers?

large
value sum of
• As the representative of the shareholders, Morgan should support the takeover based on the
following:-

• Too much focus on social commitment

&J refused to
• Low shareholders value

• High operational cost

ost
• At that time, Unilever had offered largest sum of money to acquired B & J’s not tempted by
large sum of money, both B &J refused to sell that lead to them being sued by the shareholders