Incorporating Climate Change into Business Strategy: A Case Study of Nestle

Research Project Proposal 1
Research Project Proposal
Name
Course
Professor
University
City, State
The Date

Research Project Proposal 2
Research Project Proposal
Introduction
In the contemporary world, organizations of all sorts are considered to have a part to play in the
green house gas emission index of the entire globe. An excellent way for companies to support
the mitigation measures against climate change is through incorporating climate change issues to
their business strategies. Companies ought to take up campaigns to reduce their greenhouse gas
emission and supporting low carbon policies. This culture is thankfully slowly picking pace in
many parts of the globe as it is backed by the recent regulations of carbon emission compliance
reporting according to the Paris Agreement.
The move towards incorporating climate change in the business strategies of companies will in
the coming days be considered in the strategies that company use to achieve their strategic
objectives. This is due to the increase in the awareness of climate change factors by most
industries and their consumers. This research project will seek to find the distinctive
opportunities and threats that Nestle has had in incorporating climate change issues into their
strategic objectives, thus identifying how the company has been successful in incorporating
climate change into its business strategy for better progress. The study will consider the
Stakeholder’s theory which in business identifies that the sole purpose of a business or a
company is to be of value to its stakeholders, which include the clientele, suppliers and vendors,
staff, community, as well as its shareholders through profits.

Research Project Proposal 3
Literature Review
Nestle of Switzerland is the leading health and wellness company in the world. The company
seeks to enhance the quality of life by offering tastier and healthier food and beverage product
choices, as well as information and services. This is aimed at helping consumers care for
themselves and their families for all stages of life and any time of the day. As the largest food
and beverage manufacturer in the world, the company prides itself in offering more than 10000
trusted products (CDP Survey). The company is also committed to consistently developing
superior products through their unmatched research and development capability, nutrition
science and a passion for quality.
According to Kolk and Pinkse,(2007, p.371) stakeholder’s theory presents itself in one of the
company’s major strategic objective, which is create shared value in their business and in their
interaction with society. This is also demonstrated in the company’s business principles which
have been divided to incorporate all the companies stakeholders, namely the clientele, world
acceptable policies of labor and human rights, honor of the people of the community, suppliers
and the consumers, as well as the environment.

Research Project Proposal 4
A study conducted by Reid and Toffel, (2009, p.1167) demonstrates that with regard to the
environment and climate change issues companies could embrace the stakeholders theory to
contribute to improvements in agricultural production, the social and economic status of farmers,
rural communities and in production systems to make them more environmentally sustainable.
Companies could also benefit from embracing environmental issues through embracing
environmentally sustainable business practices at all stages of the product life cycle such as;
 the use of natural resources efficiently
 favouring the use of sustainably managed renewable resources
 target zero waste by embracing the reusing and recycling options