Ben and Jerry’s Meltdown in Moscow

Ben and Jerry’s Meltdown in Moscow

Introduction

Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc., the Vermont-based manufacturer of ice cream, frozen yogurt and sorbet, was founded in 1978 by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield. Their first shop was in a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont, with a $12,000 investment ($4,000 of which was borrowed). Within a short time, they became popular for their innovative flavors, made from fresh Vermont milk and cream. The main products of Ben & Jerry’s are ice cream, low fat ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet and novelty products and are produced in pints, quarts, and 2.5-gallon tubs. Their products are distributed nationwide as well as in selected foreign countries in supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores, franchised Ben & Jerry's scoop shops, restaurants and other venues. Ben & Jerry's franchises scoop shops in both the U.S. and Canada.

Q.1 Describe the types of risks that Ben and jerry’s faced in the Russian market .In your opinion was the a good idea?

Ben and jerry Ice cream Company has wholly-owned operations in France, Japan and the United Kingdom, and licensees in the Benelux countries, Israel, Canada, Peru and Lebanon. In 1999, Ben & Jerry's employed 814 people worldwide, primarily covering only the manufacturing, central and distribution facilities in Vermont. However, Russia has a known reputation in the ice-cream industry. They are known for their flavorful ice creams that are of a wide flavor varieties. The Ben and Jerry 's Homemade , Inc. founded in Burlington, Vermont decided to have a franchise in Russia, which longs modernization of its market economy . Since ice-cream is considered as a commodity, Ben and Jerry thought of using it as an entry point to strengthen their economic growth. The franchise was named `Iceverks ' - Ice Cream of Vermont and Karelia. This was also thought of to bring together diplomacy in America and Russia although there were risks on doing such kind of business, even if Vermont and...