Kellogg Company is the world’s largest producer of branded cereals and a leading manufacturer of packaged foods including cereal bars, cookies, chips, crackers and frozen waffles. The consumer packaged foods industry is under pressure from increased competition, a changing retail environment, and evolving consumer tastes. Kellogg’s leadership aimed to protect and increase its global presence in the breakfast foods and snack categories through innovation. The company identified four innovation priorities: hyper-convenience; strength, energy, and physical performance; next-generation of natural products; and digestive wellness. These priorities were to be manifested in new products along with renovations and extensions of existing products.

In 2016, Kellogg established an internal venture capital (VC) arm, eighteen94 capital, to invest in compelling innovations in ingredients, food products, and packaging. Eighteen94 capital was managed in partnership with a VC advisory firm, supported by a lean team within Kellogg. By 2017, eighteen94 had announced investments in three startups: Kuli Kuli a producer of food products that contained an ingredient called moringa, positioned as a new “superfood”; Bright Greens, which made single-serving smoothie products containing only fruits and vegetables; and Myco Technology, whose fungi-root-derived product could be used as a substitute for sweeteners to reduce bitterness in foods. Were these the right kinds of companies to invest in? Did this corporate VC model have potential?

Controlling about a third of global kiwifruit exports by volume and nearly half by value in 2018, Zespri was a grower-owned “corporatized cooperative” with the exclusive right to export New Zealand-grown kiwifruit (except to Australia). Zespri did not grow fruit, but rather managed an integrated marketing and distribution system across the value chain. This coordinated structure enabled Zespri to control quality, build a premium brand, and command high prices in export markets. In 2018, Zespri had a strategic goal of marketing the world’s leading portfolio of kiwifruit year round, with a target of nearly doubling sales by 2025.

Rapid growth presented several challenges including the need to preserve product quality and consistency while working with new growers, prioritizing customers and markets as demand outpaced supply. At the same time, the Zespri team aspired to launch new kiwifruit cultivars that met consumer demand for sweeter taste and convenience—an increasingly urgent priority as global competition in kiwifruit intensified. As it looked to the future, Zespri had to think about where its value truly lay: whether in the fruit it exported, its proprietary cultivars, its distribution network, or its marketing.

In 2006, Irene Rosenfeld took over as CEO of Kraft Inc., and in 2012, oversaw the spinout of Kraft Foods Group, a North American grocery business, and Mondelēz International an international snacking company. The case examines Mondelēz’s growth strategies in an international market with shifting consumer consumption patterns, and the challenges and opportunities Mondelēz faces. At the time of the spinout, Rosenfeld believed emerging market economies would drive Mondelēz growth and planned to introduce the company’s full product portfolio to every country. In 2014, after worsening macro-economic conditions slowed emerging market sales, Rosenfeld also focused on cost controls and increasing margins. By 2017, Mondelēz had a global footprint and the top one or two market positions in its five biggest categories: biscuits (cookies, crackers, and salty snacks), beverages, candy and gum, cheese and grocery, and chocolate. As Rosenfeld transitioned out of the CEO role, had the promise of Mondelēz been fulfilled?