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Case Study

Royal FrieslandCampina: A moo-ger equals (B)

By Robert Hooijberg and Nancy Lane

10 pages

December 2015

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Reference: IMD-7-1600

In December 2007, two diary cooperatives – Campina and Royal Friesland Foods – based in The Netherlands decided to merge. The cooperatives both owned operating companies that were responsible for buying the milk of their members and transforming it into value-added dairy-based products. Despite their common Dutch origins, their operating companies – Campina BV and Royal Friesland Foods BV – had very different cultures. Cees ‘t Hart was appointed the CEO of the newly merged company and given ambitious cost cutting and growth targets. He faced a difficult economic climate and a changing landscape for the European-based dairy industry. ‘t Hart realized that to reach his targets, the merged company had to build a common culture. Yet he knew that the cultures of the founding companies were much different. How could he create a culture based on the best the two companies brought to the table?

Learning Objective

Culture change
Post-merger integration
Leadership

Keywords

Team Leadership, Culture Change, Post-merger Integration

Settings

FrieslandCampina, Consumer Goods, Dairy
2007-2013

Type

Field Research

Available Languages

English

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