Case - Ben & Jerry's

In many organizational settings, the founders of the business set the cultural tone to which workers assimilate. Here, the personality, beliefs, and attitudes of the founders permeate throughout the organization to inform the prevailing culture. Although the culture is likely to change over time, or sub-cultures may emerge, the core values and beliefs instilled by the founders can resonate throughout the organisation long after they have gone. Thus, organizational culture is shaped very early in the development of the organization and can be difficult to change., if indeed, change is what is desired. In the case of ice cream makes Ben & Jerry's very distinct set of values and beliefs set the tone of the organisation's culture.

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield established Ben & Jerry's as a small-scale venture in the late 1970s with the aim of supplying homemade ice cream to their local community. Ben Jerry were two products of the hippie era of the 1960s in the USA who held idealistic convictions on a range of issues such as ecology, sustainability, social activism, and others. These beliefs and values played out in the way they ran their business and the expectations they had of workers and the business grew throughout the 1980s.

The core values defined the organizational culture even though the company experienced huge growth on a global scale and found itself part of the firmament of large-scale corporate bodies with a global brand presence. The company was sold to Unilever in 2000 but one of the attractions that drove the purchase was the added value that the organisational culture brought to the sustainability of the business and is an asset that Unilever is keen to preserve and nurture.

Question

In 2000, the British-Dutch conglomerate Unilever bought the American Vermont-based ice cream manufacturer Ben & Jerry's. A key asset of Ben & Jerry's was its market niche and unique culture. Discuss why Unilever likes to preserve and nurture Ben & Jerry's culture. (5 marks)