Cultural Intelligence

Another factor in the success of an expatriate involves the expatriates pre-existing culture intelligence quotient (CQ). It is still uncertain that an expatriate’s success working internationally is determined by their CQ but it is crucial for expatriates working on international assignments because it is a sign of cultural competency.

2. Kraft’s marketing strategy will benefit significantly from buying Cadbury in two different ways. Firstly, when we look at the brand portfolio of Kraft, which is the world’s second biggest food company. It is clear that there are plenty of old-timer cash cows, such as cheese, Nabisco and Suchard, but there are only very few rising stars. According to the Boston Matrix, cash cow means a product with a high share of a slow growth market, which can generate a stable

There is a relationship between intelligence and culture because intelligence is culturally shaped and defined and some cultures support and identify it as very vital in the context of social and ecological aspects. In the early years, there was a bias towards intelligence tests because they used English language and culture. The formation of Wesler Adult Intelligence Scale, Fourth Addition (WAIS,IV) in 2008 by David Wesler was meant to minimise the bias. According to Westen, Burton and Kowalski (2006), intelligence assists human beings to take control of their lives and it varies cross culturally because the power dynamics differ in each society and this leads to differences in behaviour and line of thinking. These authors describe intelligence as multifaceted, functional and can be defined by culture because it is universal and studying intelligence using different culture as a sample that can be used to question Western ideas about intelligence with some emphasis on the assessment of skills and abilities using culturally appropriate methods (Benson, 2003)

The main objective of M&A by the company is to merge their power and control over the market, and also strengthen company’s competitiveness. Not only that, financial risk also can be reduced. Besides that, by sharing resources and services will results in economies of scale, which producing greater quantity products but at lower cost. As a result, the company can gain value efficiency in new entity because of cost-saving. Furthermore, it is a strategic way to gain quick access to new resources, technologies and capabilities. Therefore, the only way to succeed in executing M&A strategies is by knowing who are the persons involved, how it can be implemented and when the strategies are best implemented. The strategic plan must be done systematically, monitoring progress, evaluating performance and taking corrective action if problem

Cultural self-awareness is strongly linked to development of a cultural intelligence for a number of reasons. Thus, this essay will critically reflect on what cultural self-awareness is and its importance on how it develops ones cultural intelligence. Before we discuss about cultural self-awareness and cultural intelligence, it is important to understand what culture is and how it impacts on our society. Culture is a complex subject that can be defined in various ways.

with its people. More and more leaders are realizing that they just don’t connect naturally

Cultural intelligence assessment will enable the individual to have certain information about himself. It is posited that cultural difference has a greater impact on business effectiveness than we think. That our cultural backgrounds really influence the way we think and act and the way we interpret each others contributions. Our success or failure in communication will depend on the extent at which we understand the different cultural background of the employees and create a fruitful collaboration in situations where cultural differences play a role. To achieve this, we need to act in an appropriate way in multicultural situations coupled with the ability to have an open mind which admits new information and this is curious about

Cadbury was bought by Kraft in 2010 and is now a part of Mondelēz International, a US company. It will be fair to call it a messy deal and it left a bitter taste in many mouths. This takeover was clearly seen as an attempt to achieve the short- term gains of the shareholders and managers. Despite previous assurances the merger was followed by the closure of the Somerdale plant in Bristol leading to several hundred job losses. Kraft also moved the corporate Headquarter of Cadbury's to Switzerland, thus taking the tax money out of UK. This merger was seen as an act of bad faith and many suggested that takeovers like these which threatened British jobs and economy should be banned.

In order to have a successful M&A many different steps are involved. Each step in the process is just as important as the next and cannot be over looked. Some of the broader area’s that require focus are; accounting, taxes, and legal. Within each of these categories are several sub categories that are important to focus on when attempting to complete a successful merger or acquisition. While every organization may have a different process for doing so, and place more importance on one than another would, all of the aspects listed are important. However, it is up to each individual organization to designate how important each one is.

In other words, developing cultural intelligence helps an organization gain a competitive edge in whatever industry they are in.

Currently, it is too early to speak of the recovery of American (and global) market of mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The volume of mergers and acquisitions fell by about 37% - to $ 1.75 trillion over the last year, and therefore fees of investment banks decreased (Zhang 2010). The deal between Kraft and Cadbury is the biggest one since March 2009, when Roche Holding completed the purchase of Genentech for U.S. $ 44 billion These transactions indicate the rehabilitation of selected major players and their optimistic assessment of their own investment prospects.

Many people think of culture as the specific food a person eat, their traditional family values or a person’s ethnic background. Although these assumptions are comprised in the explanation of culture, it is not limited to only the customs described. In fact culture refers to behavior, values and norms of a particular environment. This environment in this case is the workplace. Utilizing the CQ Model or Cultural Intelligence Model, I was able to recognize my own strengths and areas that need improvement. The CQ Model was developed by David Livermore which summed up people’s cultural capabilities and ability

In the beginning of 2010 the US food giant took-over one of the most famous British confectionary companies, Cadbury, affectively making Kraft the largest food confectionary company in the world (Smith, 2010). According to Rigby and Masters (2010) the takeover “was one of the biggest – and most hotly contested – acquisitions in the UK”. The process was exhaustively followed by media, which criticized inability of British Government to limit takeovers of such famed British brands in the future – as it is part of the British identity. Moreover, during such process a large number of employees have suffered, not only through a large number of redundancies, but also through the change in management

The market for corporate control generated $180 billion during 1985-1986 and raised $346 billion for shareholders through mergers and acquisitions in 1977-1987 (Jensen, 1988). Cadbury was viewed as a firm that integrated corporate social responsibility and Quaker values in its everyday decision-making and management (Hemingway and Maclagan, 2004). Todd Stitzer and Roger Carr both previously managed Cadbury and believe that after Kraft’s takeover in 2010 the altruistic spirit that has been embedded in the culture of the firm will be lost (Wiggins, 2010). Rowlinson (1995) argues that Cadbury was maximising the shareholder’s value instead of satisfying other stakeholder’s needs all along. Shareholder value can be defined as only carrying out investments that bring the most benefits to the shareholders. These events make it important to explore when Cadbury really lost is altruistic spirit and how it was affected by the shareholder value. In this essay I will examine whether Cadbury’s altruistic spirit was lost after or before Kraft purchased it. I will argue and further develop Lazonick (2000) and Rowlinson’s (1995) points about Cadbury losing its altruistic spirit before the takeover by Kraft through the introduction of a shareholder value strategy and expansion through external growth. I will present my argument in three main parts. Firstly I will explore how mergers and acquisitions helped Cadbury grow, the reasons behind them and how it affected the culture of the firm.

According to a study on cultural strategies (Steven H. Appelbaum et al, 2009), the assessment of these cultural variables within organisations has significant relevance to the success of their integration; simply assessing the cultural similarity/differences increase the odds of successful mergers. The more compatible the companies are, the less likely they will face adversity. When it came to operations and management, Daimler Benz and Chrysler could not properly blend due to Germans and Americans contrasting approaches of administrative issues, as well as communication styles and other differences. In fact, a vast number of significant Chrysler executives and engineers resigned which lead to the dissatisfaction of Daimler employees with Chrysler’s division performance. As a result, the two cultures were extremely unhappy working together. One of the Daimler managers (Jürgen Hubbert) stated prior to the merger, ‘We have a clear understanding: one company, one vision, one chairman, two cultures.”, however failing to realise that they were two cultures with strong distinctive heritages — in other words, it was a failure of fit (The Economist “The DaimlerChrysler emulsion”, 2000). It was evident that the people suffered from culture shock, as they were “systematically confronted with behaviour not compatible with their own culturally determined rules of behaviour” (Gerhard Fink et al, 2007). It was obvious that there was a lack of cross-cultural management from