Business Ethics and Sustainability: A Case Study on Nestle

This case study examines Nestle's approach to corporate social responsibility and sustainability. It begins with an introduction to business ethics and responsibility, highlighting Nestle's commitment to ethical values and sustainable practices. The main body of the case study delves into the key challenges Nestle faces in corporate responsibility, including transparency, low willingness to pay for CSR, differing priorities, and training issues. It then explores Nestle's best practices, such as its Corporate Business Principles, CARE Audit Programme, and Human Rights Framework, which aim to ensure ethical conduct and protect human rights. The case study also discusses Nestle's focus on consumer nutrition, health, and wellness, as well as its commitment to quality assurance, product safety, and respecting consumer privacy. The study concludes with recommendations for Nestle to address its challenges and further enhance its corporate responsibility efforts. The case study highlights Nestle's efforts to lead in the marketplace while upholding ethical values.

Case Study

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
Key challenges related to corporate responsibility and sustainability ........................................3
Best practices followed by Nestle ...............................................................................................5
Recommendation.........................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Business ethics and responsibility is refers to the way of making differences between the right
and wrong for the welfare of the organization. With the assistance of that the organization is
able to accomplish the organizational goals and objectives in effective as well as efficient
manner. Furthermore, it improves the efficiency of the company. The present report is based on
the Nestle company which deliver wide range of product and services in demotic as well as
international marketplace (Harrison, and et.al., 2019). The organization is germinating higher
profit from the marketplace as it follow the ethical values, responsibility and focus on the
sustainability. The report will reflect the challenges to corporate social responsibility and
sustainability. Along with that it will evaluate the best practicabilities is used by the company
for improving the performance of the company. In context to that the report also provide the
recommendation to the company for dealing with the further challenges.
MAIN BODY
Key challenges related to corporate responsibility and sustainability
Corporate social responsibility refers to the management in which the organization considers the
social or environmental responsibility as the essential element in order to survive and success in
the domestic as well as international marketplace. With the assistance of that the organization is
able to derelict the concern and take initiative steps toward the natural resources and
environment in effective as well as efficient manner(Ferrell, and et.al., 2019) . This is I one of
the best plans of action which the company Nestle is using in order to lead the domestics as well
as interrelation marketplace. Along with that it deliver huge support in satisfying the large
numbers of the customers in effective as well as efficient manner. Basically the corporate social
responsibility is responsible for increasing efficiency and improving the brand image I the
various markets. It is considered as one of the effective element which is responsible for
accomplishing the goals or objectives of the company in short period. In context of
sustainability the nestle contributes its large efforts and capital for the welfare of the society.
Basically the nestle is one of the leading company which deliver the wide ranges of nutrition,
and healthy product and services in the different marketplace.
Along with that with the assistance of that the organization Is able to deliver values to the large
numbers of the employees working within the company. Apart from that with the nationalization
corporate social responsibility the organization is able to improve the quality and standard of the

services which is offer to the consumer. It is one of the best way to enhance the productivity and
profitability of the organization. Therefore, the company is able to generate high profit from the
different marketplace. In general the corporate social responsibility deliver the ethical values for
communicating the business in the different marketplace by saving the natural resources and
protecting the environment. With the help of corporate social responsibility the nestle is able to
lead the marketplace for the long term and for m the better relationship with the consumers and
suppliers in effective as well as efficient manner. The nestle take decision and perform the
activity by considering ethical behaviour and market trend regarding the social responsibility.
After the covid 19 the people of the nation are becoming highly concern for the nature in context
to that for delivering the competitive advantages it is important for the organization to develop
the ethical values for the positive and encouraging culture at workplace (Velte, P2021) .
In context to enjoy the benefit of corporate social responsibility the nestle company has
developed some policy which also provide assistance in increasing the scale of the growth.
Some major ploidy the comp[many develop for addressing the corporate social responsibility
which are mentioned as follows:
nutrition: in the current period the people of domestic as well as international marketplace are
facing the issues of malnutrition brutal. For improving this situation with the assistance of
product and services of the company The organization increase the awarenesses among the
variety of the people and targeted the students for encouraging them.
Water and sanitization: in the current situation safe drinking water is the major concern for the
people as the drinking water is limited on the earth (Chu, Chen, and Gan,2020). In order to
address this issue the organization is reducing the consumption of the water and avoid the
wastage of water. Through the various campaigns and programme the organization is increasing
the rawness among the people for the conservation of water.
Rural development: for the development of the nation the organization is delivering its attention
toward the development of the rural areas. For improving the condition of the rural area the
organization is promoting the water saving irrigation practices, acknowledging the people with
the healthy nutrition, maintenance of hygiene and thee value of healthy encouragement in
effective as well as efficient manner(ElAlfy,, and et.al, 2020).
Along with the benefits of corporate social responsibility the organization also face the
challenges in the marketplace which are mentioned as follows:

Transparency: the corporate social responsibility is to develop the trust among the people and
employees of the company. The organization utilized the plastic for the packaging of the
product and services which is one of the drawback for the company because it promotes the
plastic waste management. Due to which the organization is unable to gain the trust of the large
numbers of the customers (Carroll, and Brown, 2018).
low willingness of paying thereof CSR: during the contributing in the environment the
organization face the issues of low willingness to pay for the CSR. The people are highly
concern for environment in context to that the organization need to form more strategies which
required capital. Furthermore, it is putting high pressure on the stakeholder of the organization
for investing more capital for the programming of the CSR.
Different priorities and corporate culture: along with that the organization is facing the major
issue of developing the ethical culture at the workplace as each one presented in the organization
is having different opinion and perception regarding the corporate social responsibility.
Therefore, it is difficult for the company to bring each and every person at one point.
Training and development issues: along with that the organization need to invest lots of efforts
and time in providing awareness and training to the employees of the company. The
organization. Sometime the organization is unable to deliver the ethical values in the training
programme. Along with that it reduces the proactivity and profitability of the organization as
the people engaged in the social programme and consume lots of investment in training as well
as development programme (Quezado., Fortes, and Cavalcante, 2022).
Best practices followed by Nestle
Business environment has been changing from day to day and there are various issue
arising related to unethical practices of company. Along with this, most of the companies are
also implementing new practices so that it can deal with various business issues. Although
problems like unethical practices has encourages activist and consume, banning products by
regulator and several law suits etc. Majority of the companies has lost several million amount in
defending such case by paying penalties. Many organizations have made code of conduct that
act as guide to the company as well as help in making the decision. It need to be followed by top
management and employees are also individual adhere to the code. However, despite of this
Nestle do indulge in unethical practices and controversies (Wang and Siau, 2018). Although
Nestle is one of the most famous companies in the world and fast growing consumer goods.

Ethics is a combination of philosophy that deals in finding and recommending the best concept
related to right and wrong. Furthermore, ethics in Greek means principles related to moral and
guide company in dealing with ethical problem present in business. Along with this, it consist
of principles, values and codes that govern the decisions of company and one of the most crucial
document is the code of conduct. In addition to this, it helps in setting out the organization
values as well as describing the role of stakeholders. Further it basically provides guidance to
the company and management to select the best path for them. There is employee code of
conduct too that regulates the behaviour of employees so that it can carry out their roles in firm
and misconduct can be avoided.
Furthermore, nestle best practice has introduced Corporate Business Principles that need
to be followed by each employee while dealing with stakeholders. It includes customer,
employees and value chain of company (Pan and et.al., 2021). Although the code describes high
integrity which need to be followed by employees and business. The practice includes data
privacy, I.T. Channels and re affirms that all laws and regulation need to be followed by them.
Thus, the main motive of following this practice is to stay away from ethical issue and to give
their customer best quality services as well as to maintain their sustainability.
The strategic approach of Nestle compliance of fairness and integrity enabled by risk
management and it always look for opportunities to improve and automate their system
Moreover, the culture of company and business ethics are controlled by senior management and
it try to fulfil on the ethics, policy and standards that is required to meet the expectation of
customer (Nicolaides, 2021). Although it conducts training and development session in order to
communicate about share ethics, principles and values to employees so that it can serve their
customer the best services. Another practice that has been followed by Nestle is to monitor and
reporting CARE Audit Programme that ensue all our employees and sites operated by them
follow code of conduct. The external auditors have to follow seven Corporate Business Principle
such as condition of work, business strategy, safety and health as well as local communities.
Nestle has recently issued Human rights framework that helps in developing strategies to protect
human rights that are involve in their business.
In addition to this, nestle also feel the closing gaps by identifying the risk and give
priority to compliance program. It measures ethical discussion, consequence management and
action plans that ensure there is no unethical issues (Indriasih and Sulistyowati, 2021).

Moreover, it has introduced practices names right to speak up in which external and internal
stakeholders have right to share their information through various communication channels
regarding any misconduct happening within company. Furthermore, integrity is embedded in
their business practices as well as principle and policies from different local legislation have to
maintain higher standard. A strong code of business conduct specifies particulars non-negotiable
minimum standards in some particular areas of employee’s behaviour and it is consisting of
fairness, compliance with laws, bribery, discrimination and corruption.
The Nestle Corporate Business practices focus on consumer nutrition, health and
wellness as well as it aims at giving their customer best taste, healthier food and motivate them
to adopt for healthy lifestyle. It also laid emphasize on quality assurance and product safety in
which it ensures that in every country the brand represent highest level of product quality and
safety. In addition to this, it also maintains communication with their customer and give them
reliable information as well as promotes healthier diets. One of the most important thing is it
respect their consumer privacy and protects their data through following IT laws.
Moreover, it follows human rights and labour practices in which it fully supports the United
Nations Global Compact guiding principles related to human rights and it aims to promote good
human rights and labour practices while doing the business activities. The main motive behind
following this practices is to make sure there is no kind of misconduct that will harm human life.
In addition to this, the company focus on their people in which it follows good leadership
quality that develop culture that show case dignity and culture as well as equal level of
opportunity for development given to employees (Ikelegbe, 2018). Moreover, it protects their
privacy and discrimination against them as well as at the same time it keeps their employees
motivated and communicate them to respect values set out by Nestle. It is also concern about
safety and health in which it promotes good work condition so that it can reduce work related
accidents, illness and injuries as well as protect workers from any kind of misconduct. The
business is also concern with environmental sustainable business practices and lay emphasize on
using natural resources in order to achieve zero waste and sustainable managed renewable
resources.
Thus, nestle not only follow CSR policy but it also follows other code of conduct practices in
order to deal with ethical and moral issues.

Recommendation
 It is to be recommended to Nestle that it should Green wash the business by making use
of marketing techniques that include trust, fair and honesty as well as reflect company
integrity. In addition to this, company should not promote advertisement that can be
harmful for the public and of manipulative nature. It already has good market image so in
order to maintain that it need to keep their activities monitor so that it can take right
action for dealing with any kind of misconduct and unethical practices (DeTienne and
et.al., 2021). However, it is one of the crucial part when company is dealing at
international level. Although while making the CSR policy it should focus on current
social issue so that it can participate in it and attract stakeholders.
 Nestle can take B Corp Certification as many public and society minded business are
selecting it. This certificate is given to beneficial organization whose purpose is to create
value in the society and to earn profit by satisfying the needs of customer. Although
Nestle has to meet high standards of transparency and accountability as well as create
positive social environmental benefits as contribution toward development of society.
 It is to be recommended d to company that it should encourage participation of external
and internal stakeholders in CSR initiative program in order to build good global image.
Along with this, it will give boost to company as well as encourage healthy programme
by providing fund raises campaign, rewiring people for contribution and encourage
employees to take volunteer participation in the programme (Chen, Treviño and
Humphrey, 2020). Although aligning goals of company with objectives of programme
will help them in achieving faster. Moreover, advertise about Nestle working culture and
others ethics followed by them so that investor will invest in them and to gain customer
trust. Furthermore, it need to collaborate with small NGO’s in order to cover regional
areas of various country and it will act as promotion of brand. Thus, making use of such
techniques will improve company brand name in international and local market.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that CSR is known as management concept in
which company mainly focus on social issues and environmental concern operating due to their
business operation. Along with this, it is one of the crucial concept in company that helps in
contributing towards social development and in many countries this policy is mandatory to be

followed. In addition to this, the report has summarized about various CSR challenges that has
been faced by Nestle such as lack transparency in which company promotes not to make use of
plastic but still majority of its product packaging is done by it. Although the another challenges
are lack of low willingness to pay for CSR and due to that it is not able to deal with current
social issues. Lastly it has summarized about best practices that has been followed by company
regarding ethics and values. It communicates its values to their stakeholders and have introduce
human rights practices so to protect customer. The study has recommended the best solution for
increasing global presence.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
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