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A poignant chapter in Chocolate Wars by Deborah Cadbury (www.harpercollins.co.in) is ‘Gone. And it was so easy,' which recounts ‘the hotly contested takeover of Cadbury' by Kraft just about a year ago.
Theory and practice
The author opens by stating ‘the theory' that if the rationale used by Kraft to persuade Cadbury shareholders is correct and the projected synergies between the two companies are realised, Cadbury will become a leaner and more efficient organisation, and Kraft will sell more overseas, creating opportunities for all Kraft employees, reaping higher profits for investors, and producing confectionery and other goods at a lower cost.
How has ‘the practice' been? Sample this, from a report dated January 2 in www.dailymail.co.uk, about the end of production at the Somerdale plant near Bristol: “The factory that the US food giant Kraft pledged to keep open during its bitter takeover battle for Cadbury — but then said would close — has made its last chocolate bar.” The reporter Jonathan Petre explains that the closure of the plant — which specialised in bars that were dipped in chocolate and made Fry's Chocolate Creams from 1919 as well as favourites such as Curly Wurly, Double Decker and Crunchie for decades — has meant the loss of more than 400 jobs.
Community benefits
The effect of the merger on the workforce is not simply about job security; there is the wider community around Bournville that has benefited for years from the use of chocolate wealth to fund schools and colleges, hospitals, convalescent homes, churches, housing and sporting facilities, reminds the author. These contributed to the local sense of unity and belonging and also brought employment to the area, she adds.
The idea of a garden city around the factory, as Bournville village was conceived of, could have been considered Utopian, but it was in 1893 that the ambitious project of George Cadbury began with the building of 142 homes around the chocolate factory in a 118-acre estate.
“The key to his plan was land. Each home should have enough land around it for a family to cultivate a garden and grow food. This, he believed, would improve their quality of life and lead to a better diet,” the author narrates. Based on George's reasoning that about a sixth of an acre is as much as a man working in a factory could cultivate in his leisure time, the village was designed with six or seven houses to the acre.
Model village
At the heart of the model village was ‘a green, graced with established trees, winding paths and rose beds,' with homes ‘nestled around this green, each one individually designed to avoid ugly uniformity and set back from wide, tree-lined carriageways,' one learns.
The thriving communities created by enlightened nineteenth-century business leaders lie in sad contrast to the antisocial attitudes of modern business magnates who think only of profit and the shareholder, rues A. N. Wilson, a Daily Mail columnist, in a January 2010 piece. The book cites his lament that globalisation of the marketplace has made us all come socially adrift, as victims of hostile takeover of one kind or another.
In conclusion, the book's author raises questions such as whether Kraft will act for the betterment of the world, not just the top management, and whether it will be a tangible force for good in our global village — and frets that it is difficult not to feel sceptical.
A book that can leave you with a lingering taste of nostalgia.
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