Commentary Of A/lice and Elephants

摘要

Ben & Jerry's, Stonyfield Farm Yogurt, and Tom's of Maine-as James Austin and Dutch Leonard aptly note in "Can the virtuous mouse and the wealthy elephant live happily ever after?" CMR, 51/1 (this issue)-have since their founding served as exemplars or what the authors call "icons" of companies that attempt to combine social mission with a profitable and wealth-generating business. The linking of profits and social mission has not come without controversy for any of these companies (or for other companies more briefly noted in the article). Now as the article details, all three have been absorbed by much larger brand name companies. Because of the relatively paucity to date of highly visible, branded, and successful values-driven companies like these three, the implications of their being acquired are interesting and potentially controversial.