New FrieslandCampina CEO must win back

It is not a task for the CEO alone, but he does leave a heavy mark on the direction and image of the dairy company. In recent years, the top management has regularly antagonized the members with an attitude that is not listening enough and an attitude that is too 'corporate', as if it were hardly a dairy farmers' cooperative. The course may have been socially responsible, but many dairy farmers did not experience it. It has cost FrieslandCampina a lot of milk and money in recent years. But even if Van Karnebeek wanted to, he cannot change course too wildly, because his predecessor, Hein Schumacher, is now one of his most important customers (Unilever).

Be careful with members
Yet dairy farmers, especially Dutch ones, are the crown jewels of FrieslandCampina. The operating area has recently expanded in Belgium and now also in a larger part of Germany than before, but unlike, for example, Arla, the company has little geographical spread in terms of milk intake and the number of non-Dutch members and suppliers is limited. There was once quite consciously chosen. It was actually not that long ago that FrieslandCampina felt it had to get rid of most suppliers in Belgium. Now she's moving the other way again. Given this situation, it is therefore important for the cooperative enterprise to nurture and also protect its own members.

Decreased supply
The dairy company itself appears to be doing reasonably well, but financially there is something that can be done. Last year was a great year, now the belt needs to be tightened again. For example, with the current lower dairy prices, inventories must also be written down. The production equipment must also be better attuned to the decreased milk supply. There is also work to be done in overseas markets, although perhaps not much credit can be given to the important Nigerian market, for example. Africa's most populous country is sinking further and further. A frequently heard complaint is that FrieslandCampina needs people who understand dairy again, but this has been heard for a long time and yet the company usually continues to operate as usual. Maybe that won't be so bad.

Good turn
So there is no shortage of challenges. In one respect, Van Karnebeek has already made a good impression among the members of FrieslandCampina. Barely fourteen days after his appointment on March 17, he handed over his chairmanship of the Nijmegen-based Rewilding Europe to an ad interim chairman. He didn't want to take that burden with him to his new job.

Van Karnebeek has to hold his own in the commercial field. He has made his mark at Heineken. Yet Van Karnebeek must prove himself. At Heineken he was considered a crown prince. However, the crown did not go to him. He then left and found a 'lighter' job in horticulture. FrieslandCampina offered him work again at the level he was used to. Van Karnebeek is at the crossbar.