Amusement

[andrewducker]

Name the following business.

It has a workforce of 39,000 outside the UK, with just 6,000 staff in Britain.

Its biggest business is chewing gum.

The focus of much recent investment has been Poland, to replace UK production.

And 50% of the business and management came from the takeover of the confectionery company Adams from an American drugs business some five years ago.

Who is this faceless, heartless global conglomerate, which opportunistically shifts its capital and people to wherever the financial returns are greatest?

It's Cadbury.

From

Comments

[andlosers.livejournal.com]

If LJ had a "like" button I'd have clicked it.

Exactly. All this pro-Cadbury anti-Kraft nonsense I'm seeing everywhere is incredibly naïve about how businesses work.

[chuma.livejournal.com]

Name another business that built housing for its staff around the plant so that living conditions were acceptable and kept jobs in the midlands for decades? Most of the stats quoted above are as a result of its success and taking over other companies rather than changing how they treat current staff.

I will accept that they always had the intention to move one of their premises to Poland. This is disappointing, but it wasn't something hidden or lied about, unlike Kraft who assured the government and shareholders they would reverse this as early as last week without any intention to do so.

[henriksdal.livejournal.com]

I'd like *this*

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

Unilever, Rowntree, Wedgewood. Those are probably the only ones still going, but quite a number of manufacturing companies did so in the late 19th / early 20th century.

[chuma.livejournal.com]

Rowntree no longer exists, but yes they are also good examples, but I think you will agree they are also rare? Plus Cadbury's still own those buildings for staff and they are still used and have to be kept in a look in keeping with the rest. It's kinda quaint, but it also reminds me of a company that cares about it's employees. In contrast, I'm always suspicious of US companies where employment law is a dirty couple of words.

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean, I have a few friends in the US and from their experiences and general working conditions, I wouldn't wish to have a job there in a million years. As for the housing, most people think Kraft will look on that employee housing as a disposable asset. Selling it whilst the factory is open would provbe difficult, but close the factory and it becomes much easier.

[marrog.livejournal.com]

I thought Wedgewood went bust last year?

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

They entered administration, but the business survived and the factory was still open last week when I drove through Stoke.

It is now owned by a US private equity firm I believe.

[broin.livejournal.com]

Buy Brit... ish?

[henriksdal.livejournal.com]

how is any of that faceless/heartless? Is it Ringtons?

[andrewducker]

Shifting production from a rich coutnry is generally seen as being heartless (I strongly disagree - I think it gives jobs to people in poor countries), and being a multinational generally goes along with being faceless, but that's just the usual anticapitalist namecalling.

[chuma.livejournal.com]

People aren't worried about Kraft moving jobs from UK to Poland, they are worried about them shutting up shop in the UK completely and moving it wholesale to the US.

[andrewducker]

I'm not sure what they'd gain from that, to be honest. Do Americans work that much cheaper than the British? Or, indeed, the Polish?

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

Not entirely. The threat of outsourcing to eastern Europe is a real threat, far more so than moving operations to the US where employment costs are comparitively high. Part of the problem is that Cadbury historically was extremely loyal to the UK and provided conditions & benefits for its employeees which were far better than those provided by most other companies.

[woodpijn.livejournal.com]

Personally I don't much mind where they're based, but I'm concerned that Kraft will backtrack on Cadbury's fairtrade commitments.

[henriksdal.livejournal.com]

I bet people were more upset when Nestle bought Rowntree, but no-one gives a sh*t about that nowadays. I feel slightly disappointed that Cadburys got sold, because we'll lose more of the world I grew up in - it's just sentementality, which is a fairly normal human emotion. I'm sure we'll have all forgotten about it by next month.

[andrewducker]

I'm sure something shiny will have distracted most of us.

What I mostly want is the government to provide retraining to people that lose their jobs, and provide grants to help new businesses start in areas with high unemployment. Which they do some of, but more would be good.

[marrog.livejournal.com]

I was sad because I had to start boycotting fruit pastilles.

[matgb]

no-one gives a sh*t about that nowadays

I do. I haven't (knowingly) bought a Nestlé product for over ten years. Given they keep expanding their product line this can be difficult (Buxton mineral water, FFS).

I love Kit Kats (well, I did ten years ago), and kinda like Rolos.

I now live just down the road from the main Mackintosh factory, which was also aquired at the same time, but I don't buy any of their products.

It really annoys me that a formerly brilliant ethical(ish) employer/business is now part of Evil Inc.

Many people will have forgotten about it. Others won't. In this case, however, I don't actually care about the takeover hugely, as long as the quality products within the line (esp Green & Blacks) remain actually quality.

It makes market positioning sense for this to happen, but Kraft have been known to make some pig ignorant business decisions.

But if they do, someone else can do what G&Bs did and set up to sell something I like again.

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

It gives jobs to people in poor countries, but it means we get cheap shit simply as a result of an economic gradient. I think that's a morally dubious thing to do.

[andrewducker]

It's not morally positive or negative. Keeping the jobs from the poor people on nationalistic grounds would strike me as incredible morally dubious, if not downright evil.

[missedith01.livejournal.com]

There'll be a lot fewer staff in the UK by the time Kraft have finished with it.

[andrewducker]

In which case I will be happy for whichever lucky workers do end up with jobs.

[missedith01.livejournal.com]

Whereas my glass will be half-empty for the workers who are redundant.

[andrewducker]

Oh, it's always sad when people lose jobs. But it's a fact of life. Nobody has a right to a particular job, and I have a loathing for nationalist idea that British jobs are better than the jobs of any other country.