Moving fast in business thanks to human resource management

Danone started to establish itself in Argentina in 1994. Argentina is a big country with surprising contrasts and a successful past. Since it has a number of European roots, its culture is similar to that of France: This fact allowed Danone to apply the policies and methods, which had already been successful in Europe, to be applied in Argentina without much difficulty, and necessitating only a few changes. This is not to say that the communication, the participation and the openness, which are among the foundations of Danone’s “double economic and social project”, were easily implemented ; on the contrary, they were seen as something new by the personnel of the companies which were taken over, and were rapidly integrated into a new business culture. The results hoped for by Danone were instantaneous, but one should not forget that there was a price to be paid : one in two employees was asked to look for work elsewhere.