Note to Wrigley: Don't gum up growth strategy.(Hershey Foods Corp. gets $12.5 bn acquisition bid from Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co.)(Brief Article)

Crain's Chicago Business, September, 2002

Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. moved into the merger and acquisition big leagues when it bid $12.5 billion to buy Hershey Foods Corp. Although the offer was rebuffed, CEO William Wrigley Jr. signaled that the once-stodgy and narrowly focused Chicago-based maker of Juicy Fruit and Doublemint is ready to transform itself into a much larger company.

It's always heartening to see a tradition-bound company like Wrigley stretch itself, but Mr. Wrigley should proceed with caution. Far bigger and savvier companies have gotten into trouble when their reach exceeded their grasp, whether by spending too much, failing to integrate operations quickly, not taking into account disparate cultures or even being pre-empted by more aggressive managers at the acquired company. Mr....

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