Nestlé: Sustaining Growth in Mature Markets, Research Paper Example

Describe the characteristics of each of the following elements in the Current Competitive Landscape: Globalization, Technology, Knowledge, Strategic Flexibility, Quality, and Profit Pool.

Globalization: There is a variety of forces impacting the economic and political landscape of globalization. For the most part, our national borders have become minimized and free trade is increasing across the world. With the surge of major developments in technology, our globalization efforts have mirrored this same result. We have incorporated a variety of technological strategies to improve our efforts towards the benefits of globalization and look forward to adding significance to our economic infrastructure by branching out to various parts of the world.

Technology: Technology integration is critical to business growth. We are fully aware that to successfully incorporate global and competitive strategies, technological integration must continue to surge within our organization. While technology integration is important to our business development, it is also important to ensure that our technological strategies model the social audience and business developments of our vision. If successfully integrated, technology will continue serve as a catalyst to stabilizing our business ventures and objectives. Going forward, technology will leverage our competitive advance through clear guidelines, expectations, training and informational content. The incorporation of new business systems through technology and the replacement of antiquated systems will increase our position within the marketplace by developing multiple systems and technology that can interact and improve response time and efficiencies.

Knowledge: One of our greatest challenges is the organization of our business knowledge. Knowledge exists on all levels and employees are very competent about our business processes and procedures; however, as with all business, we have struggled with the ability to centralize our knowledge in order to expand cross training and troubleshooting across all business lines. Our recent incorporation of our online business knowledge center, managers and front line employees have immediate access to new and changing information. Through this venue, we are able to provide instantaneous training and development for all employees. Additionally, our change control department has recently implemented new roles such as our business process engineers. These individuals are responsible for beta testing and implementing any changes to the operation and looping these changes through our enterprise wide change control meetings. All new and updated changes must be accompanied with an information memo and training plan.

Strategic Flexibility: Strategic flexibility is the key to growth. Implementing globalization, technology and competitive strategies all rely on the ability for businesses to be flexible and adaptable to social and environmental changes. With the changes and unpredictability to businesses and society, managers and business leaders must be able to make effective decisions quickly and must also ascertain the best strategies to move forward. In order to foster an environment of strategic flexibility, we must continue to ensure that (1) managers understand the inner workings of all departments as well as their impact to business processes (2) managers are trained and developed effectively and quickly in identifying problems, challenges and feasible resolutions and (3) managers are developed in identifying barriers to strategic flexibility and how these barriers can be resolved.

Quality:  “At its most basic level, quality is doing the right thing, at the right time, in the right way, for the right person” (Eisenberg, 1997). The term quality means different things to different people and different organizations. For us, quality to a productivity environment means the ability to provide a product or methodology that continues to develop us as a leading manufacturer. In short, quality is people and quality is action. It means that employees are successfully conforming to the expectations of the specification required by our organization. The common denominator however, is the fact that the end result produces a service or product that meets customer expectations, provides a solution to customer needs and meets organizational standards.

Profit Pool: To ensure that our managers and business leaders gain a full understanding of business revenues as well as profits, we have spent a substantial amount of time training on and charting our profit pool. Our business leaders and managers are able to effectively analyze and translate the data and measurable variations that impact the organizations overall profit. We utilize a centralized framework for analyzing how profits are allocated within events and activities that creates the value chain. By identifying the minimized and maximized profit points, managers and business leaders are able to develop business processes and strategies to increase profitability and strategic thinking.

Discuss the Vision and Mission of Nestlé.

“Nestlé is dedicated to providing the best foods to people throughout their day, throughout their lives, throughout the world.  With our unique experience of anticipating consumers’ needs and creating solutions, Nestlé contributes to your well-being and enhances your quality of life” (Nestlé, 2009). The success of our business has been and will continue to be our ability to meet the demands of our consumers. In doing so, we must continue to provide the best possible products and the best possible solutions to meet buyer demand.   One of the most critical areas in ensuring that our mission, goals and vision are accomplished is the managerial style of people, product and brand versus convoluted systems and bureaucracy. Keeping our product at its best requires our organization to ensure employee satisfaction just as importantly as consumer satisfaction.

Identify and describe the fundamental principles that guide the company’s
strategy.

Quality Products – Our goal is to develop business strategies that will manufacture and market our products for long term success for consumers as well as stakeholders and employees.

Integrity in Business – We strive to foster a culture of positive behaviors, philosophies and actions which mirror the success of the organization. We believe that developing and maintaining guiding principles to legislate and safeguard our product and product name will play a key role in the continued success of our brand. By maintaining a professional, productive and responsible attitude from the highest level of the organization to front line employees ensures that each day in our operation will be a successful one; regardless of any challenges we may face. We realize that all of our efforts can be destroyed in an instant if we do not ensure that every stage of the operation complies with all applicable state and federal laws.

Responsive to Demand – We respond to changing times. We understand that consumer demand and consumer expectations are changing rapidly. Our goal is to continue to maintain a relationship with our consumers and stakeholders that can maintain the open lines of communicating to ensure that we are aware of the needs of our communities and the environment.

Explain how Nestlé establishes and manages relationships with its primary stakeholders.

Our stakeholders have invested time, money and trust into the success of the Nestlé organization and the Nestlé brand. Stakeholders reserve the right to provide constructive feedback to our organizational members within any level of the business. Whether the stakeholder is an employee, a community member or a financial investor, responding to issues and concerns from external support systems helps to maintain an organization at the highest level of consumer satisfaction.

Discuss the leadership tasks that are fundamental to Nestlé’s success.

Leaders must also come equipped with the skills and attributes to motivate and direct positive change. Leadership styles, whether directive (task) behaviors or supportive (relationship) behaviors, must consist of patterns that influences others (Northouse, 2007). Effective leadership is key to the continued success of Nestlé. Quantitative leadership requires an inclusive, methodical and transparent description of principles (Ospina and Schall, 2001). Leaders within our organization are expected to provide the intellect and the vision to drive an organization forward. Our employees expect our leaders to possess more than just charisma and influence. They expect leaders with depth and aptitude. Leaders who have the skills and traits to emerge as a leader do not necessarily maintain their ability to lead. Additionally, emerging as a leader in certain situations may not be applicable in every situation.  Leadership requires discipline and the absence of self-control can lead to moral failure.

Reference

Eisenberg, John M. (1997). Testimony on Health Care Quality. Retrieved April 26, 2010 from website: http://www.ahrq.gov/news/test1028.htm

Nestlé. (2009). Human Resources Department: Nestlé Management and Leadership Principles. Retrieved April 26, 2010 from website: http://www.nestle.com/Resource.axd?Id=1353AE38-2F44-4F5F-A31F-72D57EE0CF35

Northouse, P. (2007). Leading Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks:  Sage Publications.

Ospina, S., & Schall, E. (2001). Leadership for a Changing World: Perspectives on Leadership: Our Approach to Research and Documentation for the Leadership for a Changing World

Program. Retrieved April 26, 2010 from website: http://www.leadershipforchange.org/insights/conversation/files/perspectives.php3