Remember the ‘plastic cheese’

Rob Gifford

Rob Gifford of National Public Radio gives listeners a look at the cultural issues related to foreign bids to buy British chocolate maker Cadbury.

Gifford starts his piece noting that Rolls Royce is now a German brand, and Americans own the Manchester United team. He says, “Hands off British chocolate!”

Rob notes Cadbury’s almost 200-year history and its relationship to its employees, who the founder didn’t want to “live or work where a rose couldn’t grow.”

He quotes the great-great granddaughter of the company’s founder expressing shock that the company could “disappear into an American plastic-cheese company,” referring to Kraft Foods, whose offer was rejected.

Today’s Tip: Check out the cultural angle.

With international mergers and acquisitions, think about the cultural differences that could affect the “relationship.” Think about employee relations, as well as how the companies are perceived in their respective countries.

Eighty-three percent of mergers and acquisitions produced no benefit for the shareholders, according to a 1999 study by the audit-and-tax firm KPMG. More than 100 senior executives who were involved in over 700 deals during a two-year period said that the overwhelming cause for failure was the people and their cultural differences.