Nestle Company Analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, and Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Nestle, one of the largest companies in the food and drink sector. It begins with an introduction and overview of the company, including its history and mission. A detailed SWOT analysis identifies Nestle's strengths, such as its extensive R&D network and global presence, and weaknesses, like past criticisms and product recalls. The report then explores Nestle's ethical and CSR approaches, recommending a fairness and justice approach and a community-focused CSR strategy. It delves into key organizational elements, including objectives, actions, resources, and implementation, and examines aspects of company culture such as communication, unity of command, and centralization versus decentralization. The report also discusses span of control, formalization, and the functional organizational structure. It further analyzes contemporary leadership theories, focusing on transformational leadership, and motivational theories, specifically Maslow's hierarchy of needs, recommending their application within Nestle. Finally, the report offers recommendations, such as a focus on diversity, and concludes with a summary of the findings.

Running head: Nestle
Nestle company

Nestle
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
SWOT ANALYSIS OF NESTLE...................................................................................................1
Ethics approach................................................................................................................................2
CSR approach..................................................................................................................................2
4 key elements.................................................................................................................................2
Aspects of company culture.............................................................................................................3
Unity of command...........................................................................................................................3
Centralization v/s decentralization..................................................................................................4
Span of control.................................................................................................................................4
Formalization...................................................................................................................................4
Organization structure.....................................................................................................................4
Functional structure......................................................................................................................4
Contemporary leadership theory......................................................................................................5
Motivational theory.........................................................................................................................5
Recommendations............................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7
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Nestle
Introduction
Nestle is one of the largest company in the food and drink sector. Headquarter of the
company is in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. The company was established in 1905 and the merger
was also done with the Anglo Swiss Milk company. There are more than 447 production units
that operate in more than 194 countries. The tagline of the company is “Good food, Good life”.
Nestle emphasizes on the efforts to boost the understanding of the changing lifestyle and also it
helps in satisfying the needs of the customers in order to offer taste, nutrition, health and
wellness projects through product offerings (Nestle, 2018a).
SWOT ANALYSIS OF NESTLE
 Strength
Nestle has spent approx. CHF 1.678 Billion on R&D in 2015. Strength can be related to
the research and development area as it has biggest R&D centers network of the food and
beverages with 34 R&D facilities. The products and services are sold in 189 countries and
different geographical areas such as Americas, Europe, North Africa and sub Saharan Africa.
The largest share market of Nestle is in United States and in France and China (Ramesh, 2018).
 Weakness
The practices of Nestle have been criticized such as Misleading labeling, Anti Unionism
and unethical marketing of the baby formula. With the strict quality control measures, Nestle has
to recall its products in the different markets due to contamination. In 2014, the company
recalled and also destroyed 37,000 tons of the Maggi noodle. Recently, the company has recalled
the different dishes in the US, in which pieces of glasses were present (Espinoza-Orias, Cooper
& Lariani, 2018).
 Opportunities
Transparency in the material sourcing is also one of the opportunities that should be
considered by the company. The customers in the present era, the customers are more conscious
towards the food quality (Ramesh, 2018).
 Threats
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The competition level is high and due to this the impact is on the food and beverages
sector. The competitors present in the market are Heinz, Danone and Mars.
Ethics approach
Fairness and justice approach is the best approach that assumes that individuals should be
respected equally in every situation, and discrimination should be not present in the workplace.
Nestle should consider this approach to make the ethical decisions. It has been analyzed that if
this approach used by the company then it will help to make the accurate decisions as it will
reduce the negative feeling among the employees. If fairness and justice is maintained in the
workplace, the employees will engage and involve themselves more in relation to the operational
functions of the company (Nestle, 2018c).
CSR approach
Community approach is one of the CSR approaches that focus on supporting the
organizations, programs and events in the local communities. If this concept is considered by the
companies considering the interest of the society then it positively impacts the business society
relations. This concept can be considered by the Nestle Company by organizing different events
in the society and due to this the positive impact will be on the stakeholders. By organizing the
events, the company can satisfy the needs of the society and can also it will help in boosting the
knowledge of the customers in relation to the activities (Nestle, 2018b).
4 key elements
To instill the four key elements to the plan, the focus can be given on the planning
concept. There are four planning elements that should be considered by the company such as
objectives, actions, resources and implementation. The factor that should be considered is
objectives in which the company can make the statements for the future conditions that manager
focus on attaining. The overall objectives can be concerned with the priority, timing and
measurement. The objective should be implied at the given time and also the time dimension can
focus on the activities that are guided by the different objectives and also which depends on the
overall duration of the actions that are being planned. It is important for the company to set the
objectives so that it could be easy to manage the operations. If the proper objectives are set then
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it can assist the employees to give their best towards the organizational activities. For proper
planning it is important to measure the objectives. The variety of the measurements can take
place in relation to the quantify objectives in the different areas. The company emphasizes on
market standing, productivity and also the on the overall profits. The next is actions in which
there are specific activities that are important to be attained. Actions should be concerned with
the particular operations that should be planned so that objectives can be attained. In this focus
can also be given on the terms concerned with strategies and tactics (Pai, 2018).
The third one is resources that should be considered by the company for plan and it also
involves budgeting and identifying the sources. It is necessary for the management to choose the
type of the budget that can be best for the planning needs of the company. The fourth aspect is
related to implementation that focuses on giving direction to the personnel to carry out the plan.
At the time of implementation the focus should be given on the direction of the personnel to
complete the plan. In this three approaches can be considered such as authority, persuasion and
policy. These three factors can help in implementing the plan in a proper manner and also will
help to accomplish the set targets in the competitive market (Ramesh, 2018). So, these four
elements should be considered by the Nestle Company as it can assist to achieve success.
Aspects of company culture
Communication can be considered as one of the aspect of company culture. If there is
proper flow of communication then it would be easy for the employees to complete their work
with proper clarity. Nestle can create the strong culture by focusing on proper flow of
communication among the members in the workplace. It is important that in the company, the
employees should be given a chance to share their views and opinions with the management. If
the employees are free to share their views then it could be easy for the employees to work with
efficiency and dedication towards the assigned work (Navaneetha, Punitha, Rashmi &
Aishwariyaa, 2017).
Unity of command
Nestle can achieve unity of command by making leader or the team member on every
department. For example: In the marketing and customer and sales department, there should be
one leader so that it could be easy for the employees to get the direction from one leader or
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supervisor. If there is a leader on every department then employees can easily solve their queries
with their managers and also the command will be given by a leader to the large audience. Also,
the overall activities can be controlled if a leader is there to guide the employees in the
workplace (Godwin, Handsome, Ayomide, Enobong & Johnson, 2017).
Centralization v/s decentralization
Nestle can achieve decentralization by emphasizing on the subordinates. The top
management should collect the information from the managers and subordinates as it is
beneficial for them to achieve goals. If the information is collected from the subordinates then
accurate data can be gathered as employees are the one directly interact with the employees. It
can be seen that by considering the decentralization approach the employee’s interest towards the
activities of the company can be boosted (Shah, 2017).
Span of control
In Nestle, span of control should be exercised in which 10 members of the team should
be controlled directly by the managers. For example: In the sales department, there should be
two managers and they should guide the employees or they should control the overall activities
of the team (Havaei, Dahinten & MacPhee, 2015).
Formalization
In Nestle, the managers should specify the procedures and rules for the employees or for
the groups and teams. One of the best examples that can be considered is related to fixing the
timings of the employees. The managers should fix the timings of the employees in the
workplace so that performance and also productivity can be enhanced. The rule should be set by
the managers that they should join the office in their office timings assigned by the management
(Mone & London, 2018).
Organization structure
Functional structure
The functional structure is the best structure that should be considered by the company.
In this the company should be divided into the small groups with specific job role. For example:
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for the marketing team, there should be a group of employees. This structure will help to manage
and control routine operations of the business. With the help of this structure, the flow of
communication can be maintained and also the strategy related to boost the communication can
be beneficial (Albers, Wohlgezogen & Zajac, 2016).
Contemporary leadership theory
Transformational leadership theory should be considered by the Nestle as it helps to
boost the motivational level of the workers. In this style of leadership the leaders works with the
team to identify the required change and also create the vision to guide the employees towards
the change. It is basically a style of leadership that helps in inspiring and also assists in executing
the change in relation to the overall management of the company. The transformational
leadership is the process where the leaders and also their followers raise each other to the high
level off morality and motivation (Bedeian, 2018).
Transformational leadership helps the employees to solve their queries and also it brings
improvement in the overall working pattern of the employees. This style of leadership is best to
boost the dedication and engagement level of the workers towards the assigned work. When the
leaders give assistance to the employees then they can give their best towards the allocated work
and also it will help to accomplish the set goals and objectives. So, transformational leadership
theory is the best approach that should be considered by the company so that operations can be
managed effectively (Hoch, Bommer, Dulebohn & Wu, 2018).
Motivational theory
The motivational theory that should be considered by the NESTLE is Maslow hierarchy
of needs. This is one of the best theories that can help in boosting the needs of the workers. The
Nestle should emphasize on the five stages of the motivational theory such as physiological,
safety, love and belongingness, esteem and self-actualization needs. These are the needs that
should be fulfilled by the management so that it could be easy to enhance the engagement level
of the workers towards the assigned task (Hale, Ricotta, Freed, Smith & Huang, 2019).
In relation to the physiological needs the emphasis should be on the basic needs such as
air, food and clothing. In safety needs, security and freedom should be given to the workers, in
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love and belongingness needs the emphasis should be on trust and friendship, as it can motivate
the workers to accomplish the set targets. Fourth stage is esteem needs in which the focus should
be given on dignity and achievement. The last need is self-actualization needs in which the
emphasis is given on personal growth and experiences. Therefore, it can be stated that this
motivational theory should be considered by the management so that it could be easy to enhance
the engagement level towards the specified working structure (Harrison & Lock, 2017).
Recommendations
It is recommended that company should focus more on diversity approach so that it could
be easy for maintaining the retention rate in the workplace. If the retention rate is maintained
then workers will be more dedicated and company will achieve success in the next 5 years.
Training is also the best approach that should be considered by the company as it can boost the
skills and knowledge of the workers towards allocated task. It is recommended that Nestle
should emphasize more on in house training as it gives proper knowledge of the nature of work
of the company.
Conclusion
It is concluded that Nestle is one of the largest company and it is important to focus on
the different aspects such as centralization, unity of command and span of control. It is necessary
for Nestle to focus on transformational leadership approach and Maslow hierarch of needs theory
so that employees can be motivated towards the work. It can be said that motivated work is more
efficient towards work and they give their best. So, Nestle should implement this theory to
accomplish the set goals. To achieve growth in next 5 years, the emphasis will be on training and
diversity approach so that growth can be attained.
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References
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Bedeian, A. G. (2018). A standardization of selected management concepts. Routledge.
Espinoza-Orias, N., Cooper, K., & Lariani, S. (2018). Integrated product development at Nestlé.
In Designing Sustainable Technologies, Products and Policies (pp. 447-456). Springer,
Cham.
Godwin, A., Handsome, O. E., Ayomide, W. A., Enobong, A. E., & Johnson, F. O. (2017).
Application of the Henri Fayol Principles of Management in Startup Organizations. IOSR
Journal of Business and Management, 19(10), 78-85.
Hale, A. J., Ricotta, D. N., Freed, J., Smith, C. C., & Huang, G. C. (2019). Adapting Maslow's
hierarchy of needs as a framework for resident wellness. Teaching and learning in
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Harrison, F., & Lock, D. (2017). Advanced project management: a structured approach.
Routledge.
Havaei, F., Dahinten, V. S., & MacPhee, M. (2015). The effects of perceived organisational
support and span of control on the organisational commitment of novice leaders. Journal of
nursing management, 23(3), 307-314.
Hoch, J. E., Bommer, W. H., Dulebohn, J. H., & Wu, D. (2018). Do ethical, authentic, and
servant leadership explain variance above and beyond transformational leadership? A meta-
analysis. Journal of Management, 44(2), 501-529.
Mone, E. M., & London, M. (2018). Employee engagement through effective performance
management: A practical guide for managers. Routledge.
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Navaneetha, B., Punitha, K., Rashmi, M. J., & Aishwariyaa, T. S. (2017). An analysis of cost
volume profit of Nestlé limited. International Journal of Commerce and Management
Research, 3, 66-68.
Nestle. (2018a).Good food, good life.Retrieved from : https://jobs.nestle.com/en/inside-nestle
Nestle. (2018b).HR Initiative.Retrieved from : https://www.nestle.com.au/creating-shared-
value/our-people/hr-initiatives-
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at-nestl%C3%A9/performance-culture/home
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decentralization. In Evaluation and Development (pp. 81-107). Routledge.
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