HRMD 650 Case Study 2 - Ben & Jerry’s. University of Maryland. Ben & Jerry’s is an independent ice cream producer based out of Burlington,
... [Show More] Vermont.
Founded in 1978 by two childhood friends, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield had very little experience in the making of ice cream and started off their business by initially borrowing
$4000.00 and putting in $8000.00 of their own savings. From its start as a simple ice cream scoop shop, Ben & Jerry’s has been steadily gaining market share to where today the little company from Burlington Vermont is considered one of the leaders in the super premium ice cream market in both Boston and New York City (Cummings & Worley, 2009).
In addition to being involved in the super premium ice cream market competition against Häagen-Dazs - run by Pillsbury, Frusen Glädjé - run by Kraft and Steve's Ice Cream - based out of Boston, Ben & Jerry’s has over 80 ice cream scoop shop franchises and distributes their product throughout the United States. Ben & Jerry’s company headquarters and manufacturing facility located in Burlington have become synonymous with the state of Vermont and has become the second largest tourist attraction for the state, attracting over 600,000 visitors per year (Cummings & Worley, 2009).
Ben & Jerry’s organizational culture was originally designed to be very different when compared to any other corporate culture found in the United States. One of the keys to the Ben & Jerry’s culture is the belief that a business draws from its local community. Because of this link the company has an obligation to give something back to the local community in appreciation of the received support. Ben & Jerry’s supports its local community by only using Vermont based dairies as its milk suppliers and it is heavily involved with local charities. Also, when it came time to expand the business, instead of going through venture capitalists for its funds, Ben and Jerry instead offered and sold stock options by going door to door to local Vermonters. [Show Less]