Kraft & Cadbury ” Everything we hoped it would be...and More”

For colleagues and students with access to FT.com, this short interview with Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld is worth a quick read and then bookmarking.

Quite a bit in here about her background and interests, which provides a little more colour and flavour to counter-balance the somewhat negative image she has in the UK business media.

However, I was also taken with a couple of quotes she makes about the Kraft / Cadbury takeover. A neat link here between evaluating the success of a significant takeover and also the basis of management decision-making:

To quote from the interview:

Ms Rosenfeld defends the logic of the acquisition, and maintains that Cadbury has been “everything we hoped it would be and more”.

“I think any business decisions are a combination of good analytical work, and then good gut judgment,” she continues. “So, at the end of the day, there is going to be no definitive answer that will come out of a pure numerical analysis.”

What a superb evaluative point that students could build into their exam answers and essays. Which is best - scientific (analytical) or hunch decision-making. Of course, the answer is a bit of both.