INTRODUCTION
Nestl S.A. is a Swiss multinational food and beverage company headquartered in Vevey,
Switzerland. It is the largest food company in the world measured by revenues.
Nestls products include baby food, bottled water, breakfast cereals, coffee and tea,
confectionery, dairy products, ice cream, frozen food, pet foods, and snacks. Twenty-nine of Nestls
brands have annual sales of over CHF1 billion (about US$1.1
billion),
[3][5]
including Nespresso, Nescaf, Kit Kat, Smarties, Nesquik, Stouffers, Vittel, and Maggi.
Nestl has 447 factories, operates in 194 countries, and employs around 333,000 people. It is one of
the main shareholders of LOreal, the worlds largest cosmetics company.
[6]
Nestl has a primary listing on the SIX Swiss Exchange and is a constituent of the Swiss Market
Index. It has a secondary listing on Euronext. In 2011, Nestl was listed No. 1 in the Fortune Global
500 as the worlds most profitable corporation.
[7]
With a market capitalization of US$233 billion,
Nestl ranked No. 9 in the FT Global 500 2013.
HISTORY
Nestl was formed in 1905 by the merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company, established in 1866
by brothers George Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lacte Henri Nestl, founded in 1866
by Henri Nestl. The company grew significantly during the First World War and again following
the Second World War, expanding its offerings beyond its early condensed milk and infant formula
products. The company has made a number of corporate acquisitions, including Crosse &
Blackwell in 1950,Findus in 1963, Libbys in 1971, Rowntree Mackintosh in 1988, and Gerber in
2007.
Nestls origins date back to 1866, when two separate Swiss enterprises were founded that would
later form the core of Nestl. In the succeeding decades, the two competing enterprises aggressively
expanded their businesses throughout Europe and the United States.
In August 1867, Charles (US consul in Switzerland) and George Page, two brothers from Lee
County, Illinois, USA, established the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company in Cham, Switzerland.
Their first British operation was opened at Chippenham, Wiltshire, in 1873.
[9]
A 1915 advertisement for Nestls Food, an early infant formula.
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The logo that Nestl used until 1966.
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The Brazilian president, Lula da Silva, inaugurates a factory in Feira de Santana (Bahia), in February 2007.
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Joint ventures[edit]
The Laboratoires Inneov is a joint venture in nutritional cosmetics between Nestl and L'Oral,
while Galderma is a joint venture in dermatology with L'Oral. Other joint ventures include:
Cereal Partners Worldwide with General Mills
Beverage Partners Worldwide with The Coca-Cola Company
Lactalis Nestl Produits Frais with Lactalis (40%/60%)
[26]
Nestl Colgate-Palmolive with Colgate-Palmolive (50%/50%)
[27]
Nestl Indofood Citarasa Indonesia with Indofood (50%/50%)
[28]
Dairy Partners Americas (DPA) with Fonterra (50%/50%)
[29]
Nestl Snow with Snow Brand Milk Products (50%/50%)
[30]
Nestl Modelo with Grupo Modelo
Japan headquarters
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Brazil headquarters in Brooklin Novo, So Paulo
According to a 2006 global survey of online consumers by the Reputation Institute, Nestl has a
reputation score of 70.4 on a scale of 1100.
[31]
Financial data[edit]
Nestl is the biggest food company in the world, with a market capitalisation of roughly 210 billion
Swiss francs, which is more than 200 billion U.S. dollars.
[3]
In 2013, consolidated sales were CHF 92.16 billion and net profit was CHF 10.02 billion. Research
and development investment was CHF 1.50 billion.
Sales by activity breakdown
22% from drinks (coffee, tea, etc)
7% from bottled water
19% from dairy products
15% from ready-prepared dishes and ready-cooked dishes
11% from chocolate, candies, other sweets
12% from pet products
13% from Nestl Nutrition (incl. baby food) and HealthCare
Sales by geographic area breakdown
28% from Europe
44% from Americas (25% from US)
28% from Asia, Oceania and Africa
Major competitors[edit]
Nestl's largest international competitors
are PepsiCo, Kraft Foods, Unilever and Mars Incorporated.
It also faces competition in local markets or specific
product ranges from numerous companies, including Sara
Lee, Cadbury and Danone.
[32]
Controversy and criticism[edit]
Chocolate price fixing[edit]
In Canada, the Competition Bureau raided the offices of
Nestl Canada (along with those of Hershey Canada Inc.
and Mars Canada Inc) in 2007 to investigate the matter of
price fixing of chocolates. It is alleged that executives with
Nestl, the maker of KitKat, Coffee Crisp and Big Turk,
colluded with competitors in Canada to inflate prices.
[33]
The Bureau alleged that competitors' executives met in .
Marketing of formula[edit]
Main articles: Infant formula and Nestl boycott
One of the most prominent controversies involving Nestl
concerns the promotion of the use of infant formula to
mothers across the world, including developing countries
an issue that attracted significant attention in 1977 as a
result of the Nestl boycott, which is still ongoing.
[34]
Nestl
continues to draw criticism that it is in violation of a 1981
World Health Organization code that regulates the
advertising of breast milk substitutes.
[35]
Groups such as
the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN)
and Save the Childrenclaim that the promotion of infant
formula over breastfeeding has led to health problems and
deaths among infants in less economically developed
countries.
[36][37]
Nestl's policy states that breast-milk is the
best food for infants, and that women who cannot or
choose not to breast feed need an alternative to ensure
that their babies are getting the nutrition they need.
[38]
Corporate social responsibility[edit]
World Cocoa Foundation[edit]
In 2000, Nestl and other chocolate companies formed the
World Cocoa Foundation. The WCF was set up specifically
to deal with issues facing cocoa farmers, including
ineffective farming techniques and poor environmental
management (disease had wiped out much of the cocoa
crop in Brazil). .
Sustainable Agriculture Initiative[edit]
Together with Danone and Unilever, Nestl founded in
2002 the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) to
promote sustainable agriculture in a comprehensive way. .
Creating Shared Value[edit]
Creating Shared Value (CSV) is a business concept
intended to encourage businesses to create economic and
social value simultaneously by focusing on the social
issues that they are capable of addressing. In 2006, Nestl
adopted the CSV approach, focusing on three areas
nutrition, water and rural development as these are core
to their business activities.
[84]
.
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Expanding Business in Health Care
Nutrition[edit]
In September 2010, Nestl announced to invest more than
$500 million between 2011 and 2020 to develop health and
wellness products to help prevent and treat major ailments
like diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular
disease and Alzheimers, which are placing an increasing
burden on governments at a time when budgets are being
squeezed. Nestl created a wholly owned subsidiary,
Nestl Health Science, as well as a research body, the
Nestl Institute of Health Sciences.
[91]
Member of Fair Labour Association[edit]
In 2011, Nestl started to work with the Fair Labor
Association (FLA), a non-profit, multi-stakeholder
association that works with major companies to improve
working conditions in their supply chains.
On 29 February 2012, Nestl became the first food
company to join the FLA. Building on Nestl's efforts under
the Cocoa Plan, the FLA will send independent experts
to Cte dIvoire in 2012 and where evidence of child labour
is found, the FLA will identify root causes and advise
Nestl how to address them in sustainable and lasting
ways.
[92]
Sponsorships[edit]
Good Food, Good Life[edit]
Nestl launched in several countries such
as France, United Kingdom and Russia "Good Nutrition
Programs" to help children adopt healthy nutrition habits as
a component of a healthy lifestyle.
In Russia, the programme has been introduced in 27
regions. Over 300,000 children in 5,000 schools are
annually involved in the programme, and in total nearly 1,5
million Russian children have learned about good nutrition
as a result of it.
[93]
Nesquik in the Tour de France
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Selected awards, certifications and
rankings[edit]
In May 2006, Nestls executive board decided to
adapt the existing Nestl management systems to full
conformity with the international standards ISO
14001 (Environmental Management Systems)
and OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health and Safety
Management Systems), and to certify all Nestl
factories against these standards by 2010.
[103]
In the
meanwhile a lot of the Nestl factories have obtained
these certifications. For instance, Nestls three
factories in Japan (Himeji factory: Hygo
Prefecture, Shimada factory:Shizuoka
Prefecture and Kasumigaura factory: Ibaraki
Prefecture) have each obtained ISO standard
certifications: ISO14001, ISO 22000 (Food Safety
Management Systems) and OHSAS 18001 as of the
end of December 2008.
[104]
In 2009, Nestl Waters earned a sixth LEED
certification. The certification was given by the U.S.
Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design which the company become its
first recipient. It highlights the environmentally
conscious elements of the facility which enables them
to receive the certification.
[105]
Nestl Purina received in 2010 the Malcolm Baldrige
National Quality Award for their excellence in the areas
of leadership, customer and market focus, strategic
planning, process management, measurement,
analysis and knowledge management, workforce focus
and results.
[106]
In September 2011, Nestl occupied 19th position in
the Universum's global ranking of Best Employers
Worldwide.
[107]
According to a survey by Universum
Communications Nestl was in 2011 the best employer
to work for in Switzerland.
[108]
Based on independent research by the Corporate
Research Foundation Institute, Nestl (South Africa)
has been certified in 2011 as a Best Employer in South
Africa.
[109][110]
Nestl USA has been recognized
by BusinessWeek magazine as one of the "Best
Places to Launch a Career." BusinessWeek ranked
Nestl USA No. 25 on their annual list of the best
companies for new college graduates to launch their
careers.
[111]
For the twelfth consecutive year, Fortune Magazine
included in 2011 Nestl in their list of The 10 Most
Admired Companies in the World.
[112]
Nestl won in 2011 the Stockholm Industry Water
Award for its leadership and performance to improve
water management in its internal operations and
throughout its supply chain.
[113]
The International Union of Food Science and
Technology (IUFoST) honoured Nestl in 2010 with
the Global Food Industry Award.
[114]
In May 2011, Nestl won the 27th World Environment
Center (WEC) Gold Medal award for its commitment to
environmental sustainability.
[115][116]
In 2011, Nestl Malaysia won an award of
the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants for
their Sustainability Reporting.
[117]
On 19 April 2012, The Great Place to Work Institute
Canada mentioned Nestl Canada Inc. as one of the
'50 Best Large and Multinational Workplaces'
in Canada (with more than 1,000 employees working in
Canada and/or worldwide).
[118]
In April 2012, Nestl obtained an A+ rating from
the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) for their global
annual report on Creating Shared Value. To reach A+
the company provided new data in their annual report
on a number of criteria such as human
rights, diversity and gender, climate
change, biodiversity and corruption. Nestl was the
first food and beverage company to achieve an A+
rating from the GRI for a global sustainability
report.
[119][120]
On 21 May 2012, Gartner published their annual
Supply Chain Top 25, a list with global supply
chain leaders. Nestl ranks 18th in the list.
[121]
In June 2014, Nestl was awarded the International
Coaching Federation's Prism Award in Switzerland for
outstanding organisational coaching.
[122]
