BEN & JERRYS

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 foodi.e
ice cream
Started in 1978 inBurlington, Vermont after conducting a manual
market search based on the criteria of warm weather and college
kids
Founders:Ben Cohen& JerryGreenfield
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 & Jerrys has been successful in making,distributing&sellingthefinestquality,all

natural products in a wide variety of innovative flavors
madefromVermontdairyproducts.

ECONOMIC MISSION
To operate the company on a sound financial basis ofprofitable growth, increasing value for
our shareholders and creating career opportunities and financial rewards for employees
Sound financial & profitable growth: Proven in its financialstatements
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 companys 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 Jerrys Foundation donates minimum $1.1 million peryear
Since 1985 the company has donated 7.5% ofits 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 ofits 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 asa gift to gratify their initial support to thecompany
YES,B &Js hasfulfilled itssocial mission

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

Increased competition pressure

Decreased financial performance

on social

d by large
ey,
bothB
ers value
o sell that

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

As the representative of the shareholders, Morgan should support the takeover based on the
following: Too much focus on social commitment
Low shareholders value
High operational cost

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