The business group and the industry

Nestle is the largest food and beverage company headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. With
a market share of about 96.5% in Instant cereals, 65.2% in instant pasta, 59.5% in instant
noodles, 62.6% in white chocolates and wafers, Nestle is a market leader in various
categories. The company sells more than 1 billion products per day. The company operates in
more than 189 countries, has 447 factories, and employees around 3,39,000 people. It is
described as “The most multinational of the multinationals” in the current food industry
market.
The success of the company is attributed to its huge Research and Development network with
the food processing industry. Nestle deals in a wide range of products such as bottled water,
instant coffee, milk and cheese products, nutrition and baby food, ice cream, frozen foods,
throughout the entire world in the competitive position within the food industry.
Millions of people choose to consume Nestle every day because of the company’s ideology
of believing in the purpose of enhancing the quality of life and contributing to a healthier
future. Twenty-nine of Nestles brands have an annual sale of over 1 billion CHF including
Nespresso, Nesquik, Stouffers, Vittel and Maggi. Nestle has been continuously listed in the
FTSE4 Good Index since 2001 and was the 1st breast milk substitute company.
Nestle was ranked No. 64 on the Fortune Global 500 in 2017 and No. 33 in the 2016 edition
of the Forbes Global 2000 list of the largest public companies. In the 2021 Access to
Nutrition Index and in the 2018 Access to Nutrition index it was ranked 1st out of the 25
global food and beverage manufacturers in the world. These ratings reflect the market
attractiveness and company’s competitiveness in the food industry.
Despite being a huge company, Nestle cannot stand apart from its competitors until they have
comprehensively designed products to offer. One of the largest competitors of Nestle is
General mills. General mills is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of
branded consumer foods sold through retail stores. Other competitors of Nestle include Kraft
Foods, Danone, Mondelez, Mars, Heinz, Unilever etc.
However, many threats lie on the horizon for Nestlé not least as its status as one of the market
leaders in confectionery. With Rowntree, Kit-Kat and many other famous confectionery
brands under the Nestlé umbrella, it now faces a significant challenge with respect to
consumer demand for healthy and nutritious alternatives. Nestle has been able to survive this
competition by investing in research and development activities and an efficient supply chain
management which allows market penetration letting Nestle to supply its products to the last
supplier making the availability of stock high, making the products vulnerable to be sold
against its competitors.
 The business group and its impact on the society
Nestle believes in the purpose “Enhancing the quality of life and contributing to a healthier
future”. The company focuses on the ideology that success will be achieved in long term by
creating values for both the shareholders as well as the society. Nestle aims to make a
positive difference in the society while contributing to its own ongoing success. The company
has always worked for various communities across the world through their Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) and Creating Shared Values (CSV) activities. Their work is guided by
their three global ambitions: to support children, develop communities and preserve the
planet for the future.
Nestle aims at launching more nutritious foods and beverages, simplifying ingredients lists
and removing artificial colours to help tackle these global public health issues and to meet
evolving consumer preferences. Through micronutrient fortification of affordable staples,
Nestle helps address conditions like anemia and wasting, especially in vulnerable
populations. They are further decreasing sugars, sodium and saturated fat in their products
while increasing vegetables and whole grains. Nestle aims to help 50 million children lead
healthier lives by 2030.

 Nestle focuses on supporting young people to navigate and overcome barriers to

employment, as well as improving the livelihoods of the farmers and rural communities who
provide their raw materials. They provide skills and opportunities to youth and farmers, and
help rural communities diversify their income. Underpinning their work is a drive to promote
human rights wherever they operate. This ensures that the communities they are helping build
are fair, sustainable and provide dignified livelihoods for all. Some of the initiatives taken by
Nestle are Global Youth Initiative, Global Alliance for Youth, Nestle gender balance
attribution plan.
Nestle relies on raw materials to make their products. To continue doing so, they believe in
using raw materials responsibly, safeguarding these shared resources for the future. Their
2030 ambition is to strive for zero environmental impact in their operations, with special
focus on reducing water withdrawals, increasing renewable energy use, achieving zero waste
to landfill and innovating sustainable packaging solutions.

Alongside their 2030 operational ambition, in December 2020 they launched their Net Zero
Roadmap (pdf, 7Mb), announcing their intention to halve absolute emissions by 2030 and
bring them to net zero by 2050. Achieving this will require addressing emissions throughout
our value chain, implementing regenerative agriculture and nature-based solutions such as
agroforestry and land restoration. The roadmap will transform the way they operate, helping
them to inspire change and deliver impact. To support their efforts, they are investing CHF
3.2 billion in initiatives over the next five years. Some of the initiatives taken by then are
Caring for water global initiative, 1.5 degree pledge, Tackling plastic pollution etc.

The company has framed 36 commitments to support the work they do in three impact areas
‒ individuals and families, communities and the planet. They are also fundamental in
enabling them to meet their three ambitions for 2030, in line with the timescale of the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Some of these are: launch foods and beverages for
mothers-to-be and children, address under nutrition through micronutrient fortification,
inspire people to choose water to lead healthy lives, partner for promoting healthy food
environments etc.