Fundamentals of Financial Management,10th edition

Book Preface

For many companies, the decision would have been an easy “yes.” However, Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Inc. has always taken pride in doing things differently. Its profits had been declining, but in 1995 the company was offered an opportunity to sell its premium ice cream in the lucrative Japanese market. However, Ben & Jerry’s turned down the business because the Japanese firm that would have distributed their product had failed to develop a reputation for promoting social causes! Robert Holland Jr., Ben & Jerry’s CEO at the time, commented that, “The only reason to take the opportunity was to make money.” Clearly, Holland, who resigned from the company in late1996, thought there was more to running a business than just making money.

The company’s cofounders, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, opened the first Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shop in 1978 in a vacant Vermont gas station with just $12,000 of capital plus a commitment to run the business in a manner consistent with their underlying values. Even though it is more expensive, the company only buys milk and cream from small local farms in Vermont. In addition, 7.5 percent of the company’s before-tax income is donated to charity, and each of the company’s 750 employees receives three free pints of ice cream each day.

Many argue that Ben & Jerry’s philosophy and commitment to social causes compromises its ability to make money. For example, in a recent article in Fortune magazine, Alex Taylor III commented that, “Operating a business is tough enough. Once you add social goals to the demands of serving customers, making a profit, and returning value to shareholders, you tie yourself up in knots.”

Ben & Jerry’s financial performance has had its ups and downs. While the company’s stock grew by leaps and bounds through the early 1990s, problems began to arise in 1993. These problems included increased competition in the premium ice cream market, along with a leveling off of sales in that market, plus their own inefficiencies and sloppy, haphazard product development strategy.

The company lost money for the first time in 1994, and as a result, Ben Cohen stepped down as CEO. Bob Holland, a former consultant for McKinsey & Co. with a reputation as a turnaround specialist, was tapped as Cohen’s replacement. The company’s stock price rebounded in 1995, as the market responded positively to the steps made by Holland to right the company. The stock price, however, floundered toward the end of 1996, following Holland’s resignation.

Over the last few years, Ben & Jerry’s has had a new resurgence. Holland’s replacement, Perry Odak, has done a number of things to improve the company’s financial performance, and its reputation among Wall Street’s analysts and institutional investors has benefited. Odak quickly brought in a new management team to rework the company’s production and sales operations, and he aggressively opened new stores and franchises both in the United States and abroad.