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Ahold was the largest food retailer in the Netherlands. Under Cees van der Hoeven (Hoeven) it rose to the position of the third largest food retailer in the world through acquisitions and other growth strategies. Initially Hoeven was prudent in his strategy by adhering to Ahold''s six golden principles on acquisition. But as the company became bigger he over-promised investors and in order to deliver his promise he overlooked the company''s rules and implemented his acquisition strategy too swiftly. This ultimately led to many problems including that of integrating the various acquired entities to function as one organisation. Finally he, along with some of his key executives, was forced to resign when the problems at Ahold were announced to the public. This case discusses the perils in trying to implement an acquisition strategy too swiftly. A structured assignment ''304-014-4'' is available to accompany this case.