Discussions:
1. Why was the workers' strike so damaging to Hostess?
2. Why was Hostess struggling prior to the workers' strike?
3. Do you believe the union or Hostess management is more responsible for the downfall of Hostess?
At the end, there was a lot of finger pointing. Basically the bottom line for Hostess was that it suffered from an attack from corporate raiders in the form of hedge fund companies that basically took from the company and put nothing back in return. Combine that with overpaid CEOs and other top management who tried to blame everything on the baker's union when they went out on strike. This is a classic story of how not to run a company.
Watch the following video before reading the case.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErpJZnj7tKU (Links to an external site.)