Cadbury's takeover by Kraft is an 'emotional' issue, says its HRD

David Woods, 21 January 2010

Cadbury's HR director has described the inevitable takeover of her organisation by Kraft as "very emotional".

Kraft, the world's second-largest food company, has said it will continue to invest in Cadbury's iconic Bourneville site, and says jobs are also likely to go in its own organisation as the deal unfolds. Some 10,000 jobs could be cut by Kraft worldwide. The first jobs expected to go are in Cadbury's Uxbridge head office.

Speaking yesterday at the European HR Directors' Business Summit in Birmingham, Diane Tomlinson, corporate HR director, organisation effectiveness for Britain and Ireland at Cadbury's, said: "Our organisation has been in the news quite a bit. Our board has recommended our shareholders should accept Kraft's [$7 billion] takeover offer.

"I can't answer any questions about the take over bid, but I have been with Cadbury's for 20 years, so as you can imagine it is a very emotional time. It is interesting being at the other end of an acquisition as we are usually the ones acquiring."

Discussing the subject of improving decision-making at the company, which employs 6,000 in the UK and Ireland, Tomlinson said: "Our culture is our biggest strength, but it also casts a shadow. We are focusing on increasing the pace of our actions, improving our attitude to risk and leveraging passion and pride among our staff. We took this for granted in the past but we have to stoke the fire again."

The company has worked over the past five years to speed up its decision-making processes, to reduce the time spent in internal meetings and emphasising the role of coaching for business improvement.

Tomlinson added: "Our focus is to inject pace into the organisation."