The decision by the dairy co-op to extend the time it takes to pay suppliers, from 30 to 90 days, is a terrible, terrible look. Fonterra’s behaviour towards the firms it engages is, as one commentator rightly suggested, the sort of behaviour you’d expect from Tony Soprano. Here’s a little PR advice for the milk barons at gumboot castle – this is not good form, capice? And here’s another bit of advice: don’t put overpaid, under-prepared executives in front of the media to defend the indefensible. The performance of chief financial officer Lukas Paracavini on television with Paul Henry last month was such an unmitigated disaster it will no doubt be used for PR training of corporate big-wigs in what not to do.
