The Era of Fat and Happy Is Over

摘要

The late Malcolm Forbes said, "The greatest obstacle to business is success," and for most of the past the food industry has been successful. However two things are taking place that are likely to have a negative impact on the industry if some major changes are not made. The first is innovation. It appears the major food companies have eschewed risk by letting entrepreneurs start food businesses; then the big companies buy the fledgling businesses. This is less risky but it is also less likely to produce long term growth. Yet history shows that, in at least half of all cases, after the deal closes the acquisitions sour. There are dozens of studies and papers and estimates of how many M&A deals fail to meet financial expectations. This can run from 50 percent to as high as 90 percent according to Jim Price of the University of Michigan.