It's news you've probably watched in disbelief: Ben & Jerry's co-founder Jerry Greenfield has quit the ice cream company he started in 1978 (he was serving as brand ambassador, holding no official role inside the company) over a dispute with owner Unilever, according to his partner, Ben Cohen:
https://x.com/YoBenCohen/status/1968161740757119057
While outside observers mourn the death of Ben & Jerry's quirky soul, they're missing the real story. Buried in the legal fine print is a "kill switch" capable of crippling Unilever, and Ben & Jerry's has shown before that it isn't afraid of using it.
But the corporate giant is fighting back. Unilever plans to spin-off Ben & Jerry's, and it isn't just a business move; it's a calculated strike to disarm the kill switch once and for all. The next few months will decide if this is an empty threat or not.
Before the endgame plays out, let me show you how the mechanism at the center of it all works:
Agafonow, A., & Perez, M. (2024). "Overhauling multinationals for the Anthropocene: How a rogue subsidiary offers a blueprint for sustainable development." Ecological Economics, 222 (August), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108232
The United States Society for Ecological Economics (USSEE) has featured this paper on its YouTube series. Watch the full presentation here:
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRAX6wgekw8
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Professor Alejandro AGAFONOW CORDERO, PhD (Complutense)
ESSCA School of Management
Paris, France
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alejandro_Agafonow------------------------------