Business Case Studies & Business Publications

Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and...

Werhane, Patricia ...

Case

Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts

Werhane, Patricia H.; Mead, Jenny; Koehn, Daryl; Saito, Akira; Wolfe, Regina

E-0348 | Published February 26, 2010 | 7 pages Case

Collection: Darden School of Business

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This case outlines the turnaround efforts Snow Brand undertook to address its grave missteps: shifting to a consumer-oriented, integrity-focused management style; providing greater transparency and communication; establishing a corporate ethics committee and a Snow Brands Code of Conduct. In June 2002, after much consideration and reflection on Snow Brand's issues (as outlined in the A case), consumer activist Nobuko Hiwasa joined its new board as its sole outside director, serving as the impetus for the changes the company made. Her appointment indicated Snow Brand was indeed serious about reform and revitalization.

(1) Learning what might be involved in bringing about a full-scale turnaround in a company's way of doing business, particularly when that company has a history of serious operational, corporate, and public relations mistakes. (2) Learning how a company, with a deeply entrenched institutional culture in which employees became "prisoners of self-protection," leading to self-serving employee behavior at all levels, could learn to transcend and overcome that debilitating behavior. (3) Learning how one company totally transformed its internal culture to become a better, more responsible corporate citizen.