Why Fonterra accepted defeat in the dairy aisle
OPINION: Fonterra's sale of its consumer dairy business to Lactalis is a clear sign of the co-operative’s failure to compete in the branded consumer market.
It is as though Underhill has done a Captain Oates and gone out for a walk – leaving after only two years on the job and with no official word from the co-op; he no longer appears as a co-op management teams or on the website. This is a mystery and ironically another communications gaff by the giant dairy co-op that leaves a great many questions to be asked about Fonterra's old head-in-the-sand, 'nothing to see here' comms approach that has so far been an unmitigated disaster.
