Applying Cadbury Brothers Philanthropy Principles to Business - Essay Example

The Cadbury family even tried to eliminate poverty and deprivation; John Cadbury introduced chocolate and related products to act as substitutes for alcohol since he believed alcohol was the main cause of poverty in the lower classes of society (The Story of Cadbury, n.d). More of the Cadbury's dedication towards improving life for others can be seen in the way in 1893 120 acres of land were bought by them near the Bourneville factory, to house the workers (The Story, n.d), and from the way, they were producing chocolates on a large scale and thus affordable for everyone and not just limiting it to the elite classes (The Story, n.d). The Cadburys even encouraged their customers to interact with them and their production process by setting up tours of the factory in 1988 (The Story, n.d). In my opinion, this kind of humanistic attitude should be there in managing businesses; customers are the only reason why businesses can sell their products and make profits, and it only makes sense that the customers should be paid attention to and taken care of. I especially liked how the factory tours were set up which would allow the customers to witness the production process themselves and even feel part of and connected to the business on a personal level.

The Cadbury family had created a favorable public image of themselves and their chocolate business, and this image has been maintained throughout the years into today. In my opinion, a business is nothing without its consumers; businesses have to construct a favorable image of themselves to sell a product. For example, it has set up the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership and provided money to small cocoa farms in Ghana, India, Indonesia, and the Caribbean (The Story, n.d); this money is used to improve rural businesses, set up schools in these areas and build wells for clean drinking water (The Story, n.d); this has created a very positive image of the Cadbury business in the eyes of customers since it shows a caring and humanistic side of the business. Also, Cadbury received a further boost of its public image in the way it moved to Fair Trade in 2008 (The Story, n.d); by showing that it believed in protecting the wages of local cocoa farmers in developing countries like Ghana, a positive image of the business was created. Other businesses too must aim for creating a positive public image of themselves to attract customers.