ABSTRACT
Edward Cadbury was the son of George Cadbury (1839-1922), the chocolate maker and social reformer. He joined the family firm on leaving school, and by 1900 was a senior manager responsible for planning and overseas sales. The period 1900-20 saw Cadbury Brothers grow from being a successful British firm with a turnover of £1 million into a position as the world’s leading chocolate maker with a turnover of £8 million. Cadbury worked closely with his father and fully shared his views on personnel management, social responsibility and ethical business. But whereas the father was a paternalistic manager of the old school whose ambitions did not extend beyond the United Kingdom, the son was a professional manager in the modern sense, whose successes laid the groundwork for the modern multinational, Cadbury Schweppes. Edward Cadbury’s career shows how the virtues of socially responsible business can be combined with modern management disciplines to achieve both a harmonious company and worldwide commercial success.
