Case Study-Cadbury In Egypt
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Cadbury Schweppes is a company that makes responsibility for realization of the company’s vision and strategy that of the top management. Championing CSR requires leadership both internally within their own organisation and externally where their history and heritage, combined with their strong market position, means that they are well placed to offer that leadership.
The Board Corporate and Social Responsibility Committee address all key aspects of CSR. It has been chaired since its inception by Baroness Wilcox, one of the non-executive directors.
CSR issues also regularly feature on the agenda of the Chief Executive’s Committee (CEC) and the Board. Senior steering and working groups oversee and review progress. At a Group level, these groups are:
в™Ò Food Issues Strategy Group and Food Issues Strategy into Action Group
в™Ò Environment Health & Safety Steering Group
в™Ò Human Rights & Ethical Trading Working Group
в™Ò Diversity & Inclusiveness Leadership Team
в™Ò The Cadbury Schweppes Foundation (which reviews corporate giving)
в™Ò Compliance Steering Group
When, at the end of 2002, Cadbury Schweppes embarked on a series of changes to transform its business, its share price fell to a five-year low within a few months. The company had to adjust to the appointment of a new CEO, a $4.2 billion acquisition involving a 25% increase in headcount and sweeping cultural changes to meet ambitious financial targets.
The HR team, led by chief HR officer Bob Stack, devised a new, globally led but regionally managed business structure that aimed to align employees behind the organisations goals.
Employee commitment was key, with Cadbury Schweppes staff required to undergo a drastic change. To communicate this, HR devised Working Better Together – a programme that identified five key areas for change and linked them in a holistic way so employees could better understand them.
The biggest challenge was to evolve historic pockets of excellence into a global culture. Key to this was a review of the companys recognised leadership behaviours. To the existing five – accountable; aggressive; adaptable; forward-thinking; and motivating – were added collaborative; living our values; and growing people.
The results have been impressive.
Financial performance is strong, and the share price has risen 80% in two years. Globally the business has been aligned to these core goals and managers are all consistently measured against the eight leadership imperatives. In addition, there has been a dramatic improvement in the transfer of ideas, technology and brands across businesses.
The most compelling evidence, however, comes from the companys first global employee satisfaction survey. It found that 97% know the companys core purpose and values; 87% feel empowered to innovate; and 95% are proud to tell people they work for Cadbury Schweppes – sentiments that help to explain why it has the highest staff retention rates in the FTSE 100.
Once the separation is complete, the company plans to rename as Cadbury plc, and undertake a cost reduction initiative in order to “focus on fewer, bigger and more value-creating initiatives” and “significantly reduce complexity across all aspects of the business”.
Today, Cadbury announced its plans to close 15 per cent of its manufacturing sites around the world, and cut 15 per cent of its workforce. It hopes to increase its percentage margins to the mid-teens by 2011, from the 2006 confectionery margin of 10.1 per cent.
“We believe the business has significant under-exploited potential. Over the next four years our aim