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Integrative Case Study 2: Ben and Jerrys: evolution of an ice cream company
1. Which external trends do you think help us understand why Ben and Jerrys has
grown so rapidly? Use the PESTLE framework to stimulate your thinking.
Indicative answers:
As they try and identify trends using PESTLE, students may want to reflect on which
of these trends seem to have real explanatory power and which seem to have far
more tenuous links. They may find that with some of the dimensions it is hard to find
a link at all. They may wish to reflect on the implications of this for using the
framework - are any difficulties they experience in using it because they do not know
enough about the company / industry? Or are some elements of PESTLE just not
relevant in this case? Or is it helpful to have all of the dimensions because it forces
them to think about possible trends and causes of growth in a more comprehensive
way?
Political growing trend towards social activism which Ben and Jerrys taps into; in
their marketing Ben and Jerrys explicitly make links to political hot topics or events
such as re-naming of a flavour Yes Pecan on Obamas election and creating the
worlds biggest Baked Alaska on the steps of Capitol Hill on Earth Day. However, it
could be argued this is not in itself a political trend, rather a manifestation of Ben and
Jerrys unique brand positioning of taking a political stance.
Economic - i) growing trend of globalization and dominance of global brands: with
the acquisition by Unilever, Ben and Jerrys became a global brand; ii) increase in
mergers and acquisitions leading to industry concentration Unilevers acquisition of
Ben and Jerrys further strengthened their market dominance in ice cream; iii) there
is also a trend towards challenger brands which are more innovative than the
mainstream brands in a sector: given their whacky marketing and anti-establishment