Abstract
Cadbury Schweppes is one of the world's largest beverage and confectionery company, with over 50 different brands, manufacturing plants in 25 countries, sales in a further 165 and a market extension that covers countries all over the world, such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Japan, several countries in Africa and the USA. The company is a result of a successful merger in 1969 of two big British household names.
Historical background has been an important basic element for the development of the enterprise and has influenced significantly the strategic management philosophy and the company's values after the merger. Indeed Cadbury itself claims "we are proud of our heritage, whose origins go back more than 200 years and... our purpose and values capture the heritage of our past recognizing at the same time the demands of the future". Therefore the first part of our case study will be an analysis of the company's history, focusing particularly on the comparison between "Cadbury" (before 1969) and "Cadbury Schweppes".
