bal environment, change rather than stability is necessary. Rapid changes in technology, competition and customers demands have increased the rate at which companies such as Ben & Jerry's needed to alter their strategies and structures to survive in the market place. As discussed earlier, one of the reasons why B&J have lost market share is because they failed to change themselves and adapt to a new competitive environment because of organisational inertia. To overcome this Ben & Jerry need to identify the main barrier to change such as consumer tastes. This can be overcome through the development of a marketing plan, as there seems to be no real evidence that Ben & Jerry have done this. Ben & Jerry's reliance on cause generated marketing has its benefit but it also has its pitfalls. Cause generated marketing and/or strategy has adaptability, whereas the long-term marketing plan has focus. Therefore a good marketing plan is adaptable.Employee productivity is one of the key determinants of a company's efficiency and cost structure so this needs to be improved upon in order to make the company more competitive.The culture of the organization is strongly influenced by the founders and changes will be hard to achieve. It is not recommended that the culture of the company be changed but that devising new ways to increase employee productivity through the Human Resource Function enhances it.After looking at many different options it is suggested that the employees be put into self-managing teams. Each team will be responsible for an entire task and time deadlines should be given. It is also suggested that pay rewards should be given to the teams that complete their task to the highest standard. This option could lead to a more flexible work force, as employees will get to know each others roles. It can also create a flatter organizational hierarchy, which would make the decision making process a lot quicker even though all employees are still...
