Irene Rosenfeld challenged Kraft employees to change their thinking about the company’s brands and inspired the firm’s local marketers worldwide. Her decision to allow them to tailor products to local tastes freed employees to take a fresh look at their customers’ needs. When studies of Russian consumers revealed a preference for premium instant coffee, Kraft’s marketers there repositioned its Carte Noire freeze-dried coffee as an upscale item and offered it at events such as fashion shows, film festivals, and the opera. To capitalize on Europeans’ love of dark chocolate, Kraft introduced dark chocolate in Germany under its Milka brand. Knowing that iced tea is popular in the Philippines, Kraft introduced iced-tea-flavored Tang. But perhaps Kraft’s coolest coup was its reinvention of the Oreo in China. Local managers knew the Chinese weren’t big cookie eaters. Also, the traditional Oreo, introduced in China in 1996, was too sweet for Chinese tastes and possibly too expensive. A 14-cookie package sold for 72 cents. Kraft tested 20 Oreo prototypes before identifying the right formula. Local managers launched an Oreo ambassador program, using 300 Chinese students riding bikes with wheels resembling Oreo cookies and distributing cookies to passersby. Managers also exploited the growing Chinese interest in milk by extolling the virtues of Oreos with milk. Kraft-sponsored basketball games with an Oreo theme reinforced the concept of “dunking,” and TV spots showed children doing the famous “twist, lick, dunk” routine. Next, Kraft redesigned the Oreo as a chocolate-coated, four-layer wafer stick and repackaged it with fewer cookies at 29 cents. Today, the “new Oreo” is the best-selling cookie in China, even outpacing local brands and doubling its revenues there. Kraft has since introduced the wafer stick in Australia, Canada, and elsewhere in Asia. Rosenfeld is seeing the benefits of her turnaround plan. But she is not finished: Kraft’s global expansion strategy targets 10 markets: Australia, the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, and Germany are countries where the firm hopes to scale up its sales, and China, Russia, Brazil, and Southeast Asia are its highest potential “growth engines.” Also, Kraft will focus its overseas efforts on research and development for 10 best-selling brands, which account for about 40 percent of Kraft’s international sales and over 60 percent of its profits.

• The Oreo bicycle campaign in China was the idea of local managers, which Irene Rosenfeld characterized as “a stroke of genius that only could have come from local managers.” She stated that local managers’ opportunities to address local conditions will be “a source of competitive advantage” for Kraft. Do you agree? 

• Kraft’s strategy for future global growth involves a limited number of markets and products and focuses on going only where management believes the company can win market share. How does this strategy align with Irene Rosenfeld’s restructuring plan?