1. What motives (strategic, financial and managerial) of corporate strategy can be identified in:

a. the three principal M&A events identified in the case – the acquisition of Cadbury PLC, the demerger of Kraft and Mondelēz and the divestment of the Mondelēz coffee business into the equity alliance of JDE.

b. the organic development strategies for improving Mondelēz’s operating margins between 2012 and 2015.

2. How can an analysis of acquisition processes give us an insight into the challenges of the Cadbury PLC acquisition in 2009-2010? Was the acquisition of Cadbury PLC, after all, a ‘bad idea’ for the Kraft group?

3. Why did Kraft choose the acquisition of Cadbury as a route to global expansion of its confectionery business, rather than expanding through growing organically or through alliancing?

4. What were the key opportunities and threats of Mondelēz’s international growth strategy, on demerger in 2012? What corporate development tools (organic growth, M&A, alliances) would have been best placed to respond to these opportunities and threats?

5. What were the strategic drivers that led to the divestment of Mondelēz’s coffee business into the JDE equity alliance?

6. ‘Everyone knows the growth is there, but there is high year-to-year variability. One year of turmoil does not really break long-term trends. No company should be choosing to invest in developing markets for a short-term bump. It’s about riding the 10-year doubling, tripling of market size’. (M. Silverstein, BCG)

Evaluate Mondelēz’s response to the slow-down of growth in the emerging markets in 2012–2015, amidst the challenge to deliver the promised increased shareholder value. Should Mondelēz have bowed to pressure and embraced the strategies for improving operating margins?

7. Do you consider the senior management of Kraft/Mondelēz to be ‘responsible’ corporate managers? Whose interests should they have prioritised in (a) the Cadbury acquisition and (b) later, between 2012–2016, in responding to the slow-down of growth and valuecreation from emerging markets? What other actions and behaviours would you have followed?