Danone in a Bind_达能公司简介
Danone in a Bind由刀豆文库小编整理，希望给你工作、学习、生活带来方便，猜你可能喜欢“达能公司简介”。
Case 6-1 Danone in Bind Background For Danone,China is one of the most activitive markets.With its two joint ventures and its own subsidiary operations,it is China’s largest bottled maker,with 39 percent of the makert,and the largest seller of soft drinks,with an 18 percent share.China’s soft drinks sector is growing between 10 percent to 15 percent annually,and Danone’s prospects appear,on the surface,to be lucative.Danone has created the Wahaha joint venture with Hangzhou Wahaha,its local partner.Danone owns 51 percent of the joint venture,which brought in $1.4 billion in sales in 2006 alone.The relationship between the joint venture partners has been smooth;however,in 2007,Groupe Danone SA of France filed suit againist the joint venture partner,accusing it of creating a paraller manufacturing and distribution structure for the Wahaha band,against the terms of the 1996 joint venture agreement.The Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co., Ltd.Anyone traveling to China has drunk at least one bottle of Wahaha water or some of the company’s other drinks.(“Wahaha”in chinese,mimics the sound of a baby laughing.)The Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co., Ltd.,is chinese’s leading domestic beverage producer.Its predece, the Hangzhou Shangcheng District School-Run Enterprise Sales Deparment,founded its start-up operations in 1987 with a government loan and Zong Qinghou,the company’s founder,and two retired school-teachers initially sold milk products and popsicles at the local school store.With the support of the Hangzhou government,the company bought a large,old state-owned enterprise and change its name to the Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co.After joining with Danone,in 1996, Hangzhou Wahaha’s prpduction increased dramatically.Today,the company has 70 subsidiaries and 40 manufacturing bases in China,with a workforce of 10,000.The state owns a majority share of Danone’s joint-venture partner, Hangzhou Wahaha,and the company has foreign investment,as well as Chinese investment.Zong,its founder and chair,has played such an active role in the company,that,in the Chinese marketplace, Hangzhou Wahaha is regarded as a private enterprise.Its products are sold in France,Germany,China Hong Kong,Japan,Malaysia,the Netherlands,Spain,China Taiwan,Tailand,and the United States.Its product mix includes milk and yogurt drinks,purfied and mineral water,carbonated sfot drinks,fruit and vegetable juice,sport drinks,tea,as well as rice porridge,canned food,and health products,such as children’s vitamins.The company expanded into children’s clothing in 2002,and is planning to diversify into personal care products,including shampoo and toothpaste.One of its brands,Future Cola,is pasitioned as a challenger to Coke and Pepsi.The company emphasizes its Chinese origins,encouraging consumers to support their country by selecting the Wahaha brand.The Conflict In May 2007,Groupe Danone SA of France filed suit against the joint venture partner,Zong Qinghou,and his daughter.It filed for arbitration with a body in Sweden specializing in commercial disputes involving China.Danone accused Zong of producing and selling Wahaha products outside of the joint venture structure established in 1996.Danone found evidence of the existing parallel busine in 2005.Danone,which owns 51 percent of the 39 joint ventures with Wahaha,accused Wahaha of setting up independent companies to sell products identical to those sold by the joint ventures.In the lawsuit,Danone demanded a 51 percent stake in the Wahaha companies that are not part of joint venture---the Wahaha group rejected the demand.In response,Zong Qinghou,Hangzhou Wahaha’s founder and chairman,used nationalistic imagery,accusing Danone of trying to control subsidiaries that were not part of the partnership.He claimed that the terms of the joint venture were not fair.Danone also decided to use Western courts to challenge its joint venture partner,filing a lawsuit in the United States against one of Wahaha’s subsidiaries and two of Zong’s relatives owning an offshore company.It claimed that a Wahaha company registered in the British Virgin Islands has been illegally selling the joint venture’s drinks.In response to this action,the joint venture partner accused Danone of utilizing global preure to force Wahaha to concede.Chinese customs,in response,seized 118,000 liters of Evian mineral water---a Danone brand---which officials claimed had unacceptable levels of bacteria.Danone claimed that this seizure was directly related to its actions against Hangzhou Wahaha.With this conflict,there are concerns on the part of distributors that the supply of Wahaha drinks will be disrupted.Wahaha employees even showed up at Danone’s Shanghai hesdquarters protesting against the company.In the meantime,Danone is still trying to fix the joint venture.Analysis Suggestions1、Describe the joint venture between Danone and Hangzhou Wahaha.What are some of the ownership characteristics?Who is contributing what to this relationship?
2、What are the advantages to Danone, and to Hangzhou Wahaha for setting up the joint venture?
3、What are the disadvantages to Danone and to Hangzhou Wahaha in this joint venture relationship?
