Transnational
Research Associates
Ben and Jerry’s: Does This Firm Belong in Japan?
Art Madsen, M.Ed.
Is entering
the Japanese market for super-premium ice cream consistent with Ben and Jerry’s
social mission? Can any conflict be
worked out to the satisfaction of Ben Cohen and other Board Members?
·
The
conflicts initially experienced between Ben and Jerry’s social outlook, or
corporate culture, and Japanese society could be, it was generally agreed,
worked out by the intervention of intermediaries such as Masaki Iida, of 7-11,
who agreed to provide a retail market channel for Ben and Jerry’s
products. Further, Bob Holland helped
to conceptualize marketing strategies and social stances that could be
reasonably adapted to Japan. In fact, he
smoothed over some of the ‘rough spots’ that might have alienated Cohen and Greenfield.
·
It
must be remembered that Cohen’s co-partner, Jerry Greenfield, was quite
interested in Japan in spite of a ‘lack of a social mission’, and Greenfield’s
marketing employee, Valerie, had excellent contacts in Japan – who helped brush
aside obstacles and created a business friendly transactional base.
·
So,
after initial talks, a strategy to “piggy-back” Ben and Jerry’s products on the
established distribution networks of Dreyer’s, Dominos and 7-11 was considered
workable – without objections from Cohen.
·
This
is not to say that some prospects for distribution of Ben and Jerry’s products
could be easily negotiated. In fact,
because of Ben and Jerry’s outspoken criticism of Mitsubishi’s deforestation
policies, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi (known as Meiji Milk Products) was never
able to obtain even a potential contract to distribute Ben and Jerry’s
products, even though they wanted to do so. This type of “denial” appeased
Cohen.
·
On
balance, Ben and Jerry’s was offered two major options for distribution in
Japan. One was through 7-11, and
another through Yamada, a frozen-food distributor. Because the Yen was quite strong in the first stages of Ben and
Jerry’s negotiating process, in relation to the US Dollar, it was financially
attractive to Ben and Jerry to go ahead with this scheme.
·
However,
at the last moment, the Bangkok Bank of Commerce was unable to honor its
financial commitments to foreign banks throughout Asia, plunging the whole
continent into chaos. The Asian
Financial Crisis of 1997 and 1998 destroyed hopes for Ben and Jerry’s potential
operations in Japan.
·
Nonetheless,
through intervention of professional marketing intermediaries, the social
mission of Ben and Jerry’s would not have necessarily directly conflicted with
the policies and practices of Japanese business and industry. Indeed, all potential conflicts were worked
out to the satisfaction of Cohen and the Board Members – even though our Case
Study ends at the point where a major decision [between distributing via 7-11
or Yamada] had to be made.
·
No
actual sales of Ben and Jerry’s products are therefore actually mentioned in
this particular study, but the stage had been set for what would have been a
successful experience, free of conflicts between the Vermont firm’s social mission
and Japanese cultural and social practices.