From the Ground Up - McCain Foods Limited
From the Ground Up - McCain Foods Limited
From the Ground Up - McCain Foods Limited
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LEFT: Scott <strong>McCain</strong> presents<br />
an award to a Grand Falls<br />
employee.<br />
MIddLE: Allison <strong>McCain</strong><br />
(centre), in Turkey, 1998. Han<br />
van den Hoek, vice-president<br />
of agriculture for continental<br />
Europe, is on <strong>the</strong> far left;<br />
beside him is Folkert Sneep,<br />
CEO for nor<strong>the</strong>rn, central,<br />
and eastern Europe.<br />
rIGhT: Michael <strong>McCain</strong> and<br />
Bill Boehm of Kroger at a<br />
<strong>McCain</strong> party, c.1992.<br />
By <strong>the</strong> 1980s, <strong>the</strong> days of Wallace and Harrison pounding <strong>the</strong> pavements trying to<br />
convince restaurant chefs of <strong>the</strong> advantages of frozen french fries were long gone. The<br />
company had built up a full-time sales force, one of whose members was Wallace’s<br />
son, Michael. After graduating from <strong>the</strong> University of Western Ontario with a business<br />
degree, Michael stayed in London, Ontario, to begin his <strong>McCain</strong> sales career,<br />
later moving to Hamilton.<br />
When Michael moved to Florenceville to work in marketing, his mentor was<br />
Archie McLean, senior vice-president of marketing, who later became CEO of<br />
<strong>McCain</strong> <strong>Foods</strong> Canada. He sent Michael a note upon his arrival. “I don’t care if your<br />
name is <strong>McCain</strong>,” <strong>the</strong> note read. “That’s not worth a cup of coffee to me. Time to get<br />
to work.”<br />
A year later, McLean gave him ano<strong>the</strong>r piece of advice that stayed with him.<br />
Michael was complaining about not having enough responsibility to get necessary<br />
things done. McLean told him, “Don’t ever forget this: responsibility is 90 percent<br />
taken and 10 percent given.”<br />
Michael wasn’t <strong>the</strong> only member of <strong>the</strong> <strong>McCain</strong> family eager for responsibility.<br />
Allison <strong>McCain</strong>, chairman of <strong>McCain</strong> <strong>Foods</strong> <strong>Limited</strong>, worked his way up from<br />
draftsman in <strong>the</strong> Florenceville engineering department to coldstore manager and<br />
production manager in Florenceville, manufacturing director in Australia and <strong>the</strong>n<br />
<strong>the</strong> United Kingdom, and CEO of <strong>McCain</strong> GB.<br />
Michael’s bro<strong>the</strong>r, Scott, started as production supervisor in <strong>the</strong> Scarborough<br />
plant in England, <strong>the</strong>n had several production positions in Florenceville before<br />
becoming manufacturing director for <strong>McCain</strong> Refrigerated, a cheese business in<br />
Oakville, Ontario. He also was general manager of <strong>the</strong> Grand Falls, New Brunswick,<br />
operation, which includes potato-processing, pizza, and juice factories. Scott and<br />
his family moved to Grand Falls, helping to cement good relationships among <strong>the</strong><br />
<strong>McCain</strong> family and company, its employees, and <strong>the</strong> community. Scott later became<br />
vice-president of manufacturing for <strong>McCain</strong> <strong>Foods</strong> Canada.<br />
Harrison’s son Peter joined <strong>McCain</strong> <strong>Foods</strong> Canada in 1981. He took <strong>the</strong> manufacturing<br />
training program in Florenceville and <strong>the</strong>n worked as a salesman. Peter<br />
had a series of management jobs before being appointed vice-president for export<br />
sales for <strong>McCain</strong> <strong>Foods</strong> Canada. In 1994 he became <strong>the</strong> first president of <strong>McCain</strong><br />
International. Peter died in a snowmobile accident in 1997.<br />
Harrison’s o<strong>the</strong>r son, Mark, for many years worked as a business analyst for <strong>the</strong><br />
corporate development department and was instrumental in launching <strong>the</strong> company’s<br />
South African business, of which he is chairman.<br />
In family-owned businesses, <strong>the</strong> issue of who will lead <strong>the</strong> company once <strong>the</strong><br />
founding entrepreneur steps down often provokes discord. That was certainly <strong>the</strong><br />
case for <strong>McCain</strong> <strong>Foods</strong>. The company needed to plan for a future without Harrison<br />
and Wallace. But <strong>the</strong> bro<strong>the</strong>rs couldn’t agree on what that plan should be. Their inability<br />
to reach agreement led to an open family dispute that damaged <strong>the</strong> working<br />
relationship that had so successfully built <strong>McCain</strong> <strong>Foods</strong> into a major multinational<br />
company.<br />
Most families avoid <strong>the</strong> problem of next-generation leadership by selling <strong>the</strong><br />
business. According to <strong>the</strong> Business Development Bank of Canada, only 30 percent<br />
of family-owned businesses are passed on to <strong>the</strong> second generation. Only<br />
10 percent move on to <strong>the</strong> third generation, and subsequent succession rates are<br />
less than 5 percent.<br />
156 f rom <strong>the</strong> <strong>Ground</strong> up<br />
<strong>the</strong> home front 157<br />
LEFT: Peter <strong>McCain</strong> on a 1989<br />
sales trip to Japan.<br />
rIGhT: Mark <strong>McCain</strong> (second<br />
from left), on a feasibility<br />
study trip to South Africa<br />
during <strong>the</strong> 1990s. Ponnie<br />
Marais of <strong>the</strong> West Free State<br />
Seed Growers Association is<br />
on <strong>the</strong> far right.