“The local taste champion” Rieber & Søn ASA

Abstract

Rieber & Søn is a Norwegian multinational food company that currently has fully-owned production units in seven European countries and sales and market offices in a further six countries. The purpose of this rich case study is to explore Rieber & Søn’s ability to achieve knowledge flows and innovative products across its operations. Like any multinational company Rieber & Søn has had to decide on a balance between global integration and local adaptation. Drawing on a range of interviews with key personel as well as current and historical company documents we explore this balance and discuss its implications for inter-unit knowledge flows. The focus of the study is the business units Toro (Norway), Vitana (Czech Republic), Delecta (Poland ) all of which specialize in dry foods. These three business units are often referred to by Rieber & Søn headquartered managers as constituting a “triangle of business units”. In addition we also include King Oscar, a seafood operation, because of its close links to this triangle.