Nestle Supply Chain Case Study

Nestle, an international recognized multinational corporation is the world’s leading nutrition, Health and Wellness Company. Nestlé’s mission of “Good Food, Good Life” aims at providing customers with the finest quality of nutritional choices within a wide range of food and beverage classifications (NESTLÉ - Vassos Eliades. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.vassoseliades.com/consumer-goods/nestle.html, para. 1). The merger in 1905 between Nestle and the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company created the Nestle we know today. Nestle is one of the world’s largest suppliers of food and nutritional products operating with 461 factories in 83 countries, with 328,000 employees worldwide (Fries, Lorin, Goldberg, Ray, 2012. Nestle: Agricultural Material Sourcing within the Concept of Creating Shared Value, para. 31). Because Nestle operated within such a broad scope, they were subjected to significant vulnerability. Nestle realized that a risk to its producers had potentially severe implications for the company (Goldberg, 2012, para. 31). This directed the company on the path of incorporating sustainability and the concept of creating shared value within its value chain to match the companies’ core concepts and business values with regards to the triple bottom line.
This paper centers on Nestlé’s role in the future global food system and how partnering with competitors and suppliers impacts sustainability within the supply chain, the potential conflicts Nestle faces as a leader in the chocolate, dairy, and coffee industry, and how conflicting issues be in opposition with the company's sustainability efforts.
Nestle has globally positioned themselves with their unmatched research and development teams and their sustainable agriculture platform called SAIN (Sustainable Agriculture Initiative). Research and development gives Nestle a competitive advantage and plays a vital role in the creation of Nestlé’s products, which have the proven advantage of taste and a specific nutritional