Nestlé
Type
|
Société Anonyme
|
Traded as
|
SIX: NESN
|
Industry
|
Food processing
|
Founded
|
Vevey,
Switzerland (1866)
|
Founder(s)
|
Henri Nestlé
|
Headquarters
|
Vevey, Switzerland
|
Area served
|
Worldwide
|
Key people
|
Peter Brabeck-Letmathe (Chairman), Paul Bulcke (CEO)
|
Products
|
Baby food,
coffee, dairy products, breakfast cereals, confectionery, bottled water, ice cream, pet foods
|
Revenue
|
CHF 109.72 billion (2010)
|
Operating income
|
CHF 16.19 billion (2010)
|
Profit
|
CHF 34.23 billion (2010)
|
Total assets
|
CHF 111.64 billion (end 2010)
|
Total equity
|
CHF 62.60 billion (end 2010)
|
Employees
|
281,000 (2010)
|
Website
|
Products
Nestlé has some 6,000 brands, with a wide range
of products across a number of markets, including coffee (Nescafé,
Nespresso, etc.), bottled water (Buxton, Perrier, etc.), milkshakes and
other beverages (Nesquik, Milo, Carnation, etc.), chocolate (Milky
Bar, After Eight, and many others), ice cream (Häagen-Dazs,
Skinny Cow, etc.), breakfast cereals (Cheerios, Golden Nuggets, Shreddies,
etc.), infant foods (now
including Gerber products), performance and healthcare nutrition (Nesvita,
PowerBar, etc.), seasonings, soups and sauces (Maggi, Buitoni, etc.), frozen
and refrigerated foods (Findus, Lean Cuisine, etc.), confectionery (Rowntree
products, Caramac, Wonka products, etc.), and pet food (Winalot,
Felix).
A brief introduction of how the business
started.
In September 1867 in Vevey Henri Nestlé
developed a milk-based baby food, and soon began marketing it. The following
year saw Daniel Peter begin seven years of work perfecting his
invention, the milk chocolate manufacturing process.
Nestlé's was the crucial cooperation that Peter needed to solve the problem of
removing all the water from the milk added to his chocolate and thus preventing
the product from developing mildew. Henri Nestlé retired in 1875 but the
company under new ownership retained his name as Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé.In
1877 Anglo-Swiss added milk-based baby foods to their products and in the
following year the Nestlé Company added condensed milk so that the firms became
direct and fierce rivals.In 1905 the companies merged to become the Nestlé and
Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company, retaining that name until 1947 .
Controversy and criticism
- Marketing of formula
One of the most prominent controversies involving Nestlé 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 Nestlé boycott,
which is still on going.
- Ethiopian debt
In 2002, Nestlé demanded that the nation of Ethiopia repay $6 million of debt to the company. Ethiopia was
suffering a severe famine at the time. Nestlé backed down from its demand after
more than 8,500 people complained via e-mail to the company about its treatment
of the Ethiopian government.
- Melamine in Chinese milk
In late September 2008, the Hong Kong government claimed to have
found melamine in
a Chinese-made Nestlé milk product. The Dairy Farm milk was made by Nestlé's
division in the Chinese coastal city Qingdao.
- Greenwashing
A coalition of environmental groups filed a complaint against
Nestlé to the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards after Nestlé took out
full-page advertisements in October 2008 claiming that "Most water bottles
avoid landfill sites and are recycled", "Nestlé Pure Life is a healthy,
eco-friendly choice" and that "Bottled water is the most environmentally
responsible consumer product in the world".
- Child labour
The 2010 documentary The Dark Side of Chocolate alleges
that Nestlé purchases cocoa beans from Ivory Coast plantations that use child
slave labour. The children are usually 12 to 15 years old, and some are
trafficked from nearby countries. In September 2001, Bradley Alford, Chairman
and CEO of Nestlé USA, signed the Harkin-Engel Protocol (commonly called the Cocoa Protocol),
an international agreement aimed at ending child labour in the production of
cocoa.
Business Strategies
- Joint ventures
Nestlé holds 26.4% of the shares of L'Oréal, the world's largest
company in cosmetics and beauty. The Laboratoires
Inneov is a joint venture in nutritional cosmetics between Nestlé and
L'Oréal, while Galderma is a joint venture in dermatology with
L'Oréal. Others joint ventures include Cereal Partners Worldwide with General Mills, Beverage Partners Worldwide with Coca-Cola, and Dairy Partners Americas with Fonterra.
- Ethical and sustainable efforts
Nestlé is a founding participant in the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI),
an independent foundation set up in 2002 and dedicated to ending child and
forced labour in cocoa growing, and eliminating child trafficking and abusive
labour practices. However, there is little evidence that Nestlé has reduced any
of its child labour practices in countries such as the Ivory Coast.
In October 2009, Nestlé announced its Cocoa Plan. The company will
invest CHF 110 million over ten years to achieve a sustainable cocoa supply. On
23 October 2009, Nestlé and CNRA (the Ivorian National Centre for Plant Science
Research), signed a frame agreement for cooperation in plant science and
propagation, with a target of producing 1 million high-quality,
disease-resistant cocoa plantlets a year by 2012. The aim is to replace old,
less productive trees with healthier new ones.
