Basically, Nestle need to stop their extortion and their bullying of people inferior to them. They're damaging themselves as well as the people around them, though they get money out of it, which is all they seem to care about. A business' main aim, at the end of the day, is to make a profit, though it shouldn't mean that people suffer in the process. I don't see that they have any other option than to change what they're doing. Their reputation as a company, being as big as they are, is not good in any sense. This heavily links back to my previous post in the fact that they need to do something about how they are run if they want to be taken seriously. Being seen as ethical will be so much more beneficial compared to if they carry on like this. Being respected as a company is massive, as over time it can only mean more customers. There is only one way to stop the endless boycotts, they need to change.
There are many more examples of unethical practise that they have shown over the years. This website lists quite a few examples of how they been completely unethical.
http://www.phdinparenting.com/blog/2010/8/2/why-i-protest-nestles-unethical-business-practices.html
Most of the information I used came from this website, which summarises their shady business quite nicely.
http://www.brighthub.com/office/entrepreneurs/articles/115557.aspx
Finally, I will link an article from the Guardian which discusses the famous milk scandal.
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/nestle-baby-milk-scandal-food-industry-standards
People all around the world find their behaviour disgusting, yet they have done nothing to prove to people that they can be good.
Wikipedia have a really good article on the Nestle Boycott, and they go into great detail about the impact they had on struggling mothers across 3rd world countries. It highlights the full extent of their impact on 3rd world countries and such. The Nestle Boycott was quite influential and brought to light the actions of Nestle and it helped people realise the controversy happening around them. You could call this a success.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestl%C3%A9_boycott
Friday, 6 February 2015
Thursday, 5 February 2015
Nestle Part 3
As Nestle is such a huge business, with massive amounts of wealth and power, their impact on the rest of the world can be quite remarkable. The fact that they continue to act unethically brings nothing but negativity. They are in no way perfect, in fact they are far from it. Repairing the damage that they have done to their own reputation is a difficult task, and not something that can be done over night. However, it is possible for them to improve their image and the way they are seen by the rest of the world. The main reason for the boycotts was because of the baby milk incident, which i have discussed already. This gained massive media attention and controversy, and was not good for Nestle in any sense. One way they would right this wrong would be to fund the installation of clean water in underdeveloped countries, which is something that needs to be provided with the baby milk. They could possibly go a step further by providing the formula for free to mothers that need it. While this may be bad for profits, they are likely to gain more business if they manage to gain support from the media and public again. Another issue that i discussed was the fact that they sued Ethiopia for all the money that they could pay. As i have mentioned, this was very controversial, and was in no way seen as ethical at all. While this is very unlikely, one way to improve their reputation would be to repay Ethiopia, at the very least. Considering they were in their worst drought for 20 years, they should then pay extra on top of what they charged. This along with the clean water idea, won't fix people's opinions, but it would be a huge step towards redemption.
If Nestle were to put effort into changing their image, and attempt to make it more positive, then positive things will follow. If they were to do what I suggested, I believe that the only way is up. From a business stand point of view, while it may cost a lot of money at first, the long term effects would turn out to be worth it in the end. If they are seen as positive, then there wouldn't be boycotts, which then means more customers. So, this would have a positive effect on their reputaion and business if they were to make an effort and win over the public. This type of change would steer Nestle into becoming an ethical comapny, or close to it at least. While they are thriving at the moment, the benefits available for making such a drastic change can only be seen as a positive.
If Nestle were to put effort into changing their image, and attempt to make it more positive, then positive things will follow. If they were to do what I suggested, I believe that the only way is up. From a business stand point of view, while it may cost a lot of money at first, the long term effects would turn out to be worth it in the end. If they are seen as positive, then there wouldn't be boycotts, which then means more customers. So, this would have a positive effect on their reputaion and business if they were to make an effort and win over the public. This type of change would steer Nestle into becoming an ethical comapny, or close to it at least. While they are thriving at the moment, the benefits available for making such a drastic change can only be seen as a positive.
Nestle Part 2
Besides from Nestle having conflicts between their customers on more than one occasion, there would have also been conflicts between the stakeholders of Nestle. Of course, each stakeholder wishes to benefit from their involvement with the business, and so sacrifices would have to be made on other people's behalf. This causes conflict, and so also affects the business in a negative way. One example of a common conflict within stakeholders would be the shareholders and the customers. Customers demand a good service at a fair price. Of course, all the share holders care about is the money they gain from being a part of it. This would encourage them to demand that Nestle increase prices or lower quality, which completely goes against the wish of the customers. In this case, we can see how this would be a problem for the business, especially as large as Nestle. A bigger business has a bigger audience to please, so it would take a lot to win over the majority of customers.
There are many drawbacks with running a business in a while that can be considered unethical. Nestle are rather unethical, which causes a lot of controversy. There is rarely anything good with being controversial, and so this is not healthy for a company as influential as Nestle. If the company is small, then controversial tend to be dismissed, and so it isn't as much of a problem. Though with Nestle, they have generated a lot of hate over the years, raising questions about the way they are run. This is their problem, they have brought negativity onto themselves, and it will take a lot of time and effort to fix it. Reputation in business is everything, if you have a bad reputation it is likely that you wont succeed. however, there are no businesses close to the size of Nestle in the same area. this causes problems. They are somewhat allowed to get away with having a bad reputation, as they are so huge.
In terms of environmental impact, their unethical activity tends to stay away from the environment. They take pride in the fact that they attempt to protect the environment. They're so committed to this, they've publicly put out a list of their goals in order to help the environment. For example, they aim to reduce water usage by 50% before 2020. They also set themselves the target of reducing carbon emissions by 40% between 2006-2020. while it isn't huge, it does in fact set a good example, for smaller, and possibly even bigger companies to follow, which in time can only be positive. This is a touch of class from an otherwise unethical and widely hated company, constantly being boycotted. While it doesn't excuse their previous actions, which are in no way acceptable, it does show improvement. However, there are a lot of people who argue improvement is not enough. In a company infested with hatred and controversy, it could be easily believed that they don't care about the environment, they just wish to win back customers.
There are many drawbacks with running a business in a while that can be considered unethical. Nestle are rather unethical, which causes a lot of controversy. There is rarely anything good with being controversial, and so this is not healthy for a company as influential as Nestle. If the company is small, then controversial tend to be dismissed, and so it isn't as much of a problem. Though with Nestle, they have generated a lot of hate over the years, raising questions about the way they are run. This is their problem, they have brought negativity onto themselves, and it will take a lot of time and effort to fix it. Reputation in business is everything, if you have a bad reputation it is likely that you wont succeed. however, there are no businesses close to the size of Nestle in the same area. this causes problems. They are somewhat allowed to get away with having a bad reputation, as they are so huge.
In terms of environmental impact, their unethical activity tends to stay away from the environment. They take pride in the fact that they attempt to protect the environment. They're so committed to this, they've publicly put out a list of their goals in order to help the environment. For example, they aim to reduce water usage by 50% before 2020. They also set themselves the target of reducing carbon emissions by 40% between 2006-2020. while it isn't huge, it does in fact set a good example, for smaller, and possibly even bigger companies to follow, which in time can only be positive. This is a touch of class from an otherwise unethical and widely hated company, constantly being boycotted. While it doesn't excuse their previous actions, which are in no way acceptable, it does show improvement. However, there are a lot of people who argue improvement is not enough. In a company infested with hatred and controversy, it could be easily believed that they don't care about the environment, they just wish to win back customers.
Nestle
The first issue with Nestle, as you may have heard, is their involvement with baby milk and how they manipulated mothers from the poorest countries all around the world. This is quite a famous story, and bought Nestle quite a lot of negative spotlight, which is by all means a good thing. Though what they did was sickening to most, and isn't something that could be considered ethical in any sense. The first issue came when they started distributing the formula for free, long enough for the natural mother's milk to dry up. In this case, the mothers and families would become completely reliant on the formula, for which they now charged for. Since most families could not afford the formula, children received insufficient amounts. Adding to this, the formula require clean water, which we all know is quite difficult to obtain in third world countries. In this case, it is safe to assume that they took full advantage of the fact that they were so very desperate. It goes on, for most families it didn't work properly. This is due to the fact that they tried to make the formula last as long as possible, and so the babies didn't get the recommended amount. This left a lot of babies malnourished and so they suffered as a result.
Aside from the controversy over the baby milk situation, they have also been in the news for other other unethical activities. As we know, Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world, and so we can see why someone would be portrayed in a negative light if they were to sue them for 4 times what the government can afford. Nestle attempted to sue Ethiopia for $6m, far more than was possible for them to pay. This raises a lot of issues, considering the power and wealth Nestle have, it would be almost pointless to pursue such a small sum, that is so large to one of the poorest countries in the world. They used their power to their advantage, though clearly not for the right reasons. This pursuit raised a lot of controversy around the world, especially as too many it was seen as bullying. In the end Nestle managed to part with $1.5m, all the government was able to pay.
Nestle's example that they've set through their actions isn't the best representation of their mission statement. They go by the motto of 'Good Food, Good Life' which they have tended to contradict quite a few times over the years. From one view, you could argue that they have in fact lived up to the motto, considering their huge success and domination in health and nutrition. Of course, their products have to be good in order to receive such prestigious praise and success. While you can't deny that they have been incredibly successful, you can argue that they don't deserve their success. The Co-op are a great example of an ethical business, building bridges between us and third world countries. In terms of fulfilling their motto, they have done a good job of doing so, though it was a journey filled with controversy and bad spotlight which raised quite a few eyebrows along the way. Their goal was to dominate their area of expertise, which they have done without a doubt, this is undeniable. However, it is also undeniable that they have made more than their fare share of questionable decisions.
One of Nestle's most important stakeholders is of course their customers, which they have disrespected and extorted more than once over their existence as a business. Returning to my previous point regarding the baby milk, they blatantly drained their customers of natural body milk and money they didn't have. It's remarkable that they would even consider extorting such a vital part of their success, for without the customers they would be nothing. The level of disrespect shown by such an influential company is beyond surprising.
Nestle's example that they've set through their actions isn't the best representation of their mission statement. They go by the motto of 'Good Food, Good Life' which they have tended to contradict quite a few times over the years. From one view, you could argue that they have in fact lived up to the motto, considering their huge success and domination in health and nutrition. Of course, their products have to be good in order to receive such prestigious praise and success. While you can't deny that they have been incredibly successful, you can argue that they don't deserve their success. The Co-op are a great example of an ethical business, building bridges between us and third world countries. In terms of fulfilling their motto, they have done a good job of doing so, though it was a journey filled with controversy and bad spotlight which raised quite a few eyebrows along the way. Their goal was to dominate their area of expertise, which they have done without a doubt, this is undeniable. However, it is also undeniable that they have made more than their fare share of questionable decisions.
One of Nestle's most important stakeholders is of course their customers, which they have disrespected and extorted more than once over their existence as a business. Returning to my previous point regarding the baby milk, they blatantly drained their customers of natural body milk and money they didn't have. It's remarkable that they would even consider extorting such a vital part of their success, for without the customers they would be nothing. The level of disrespect shown by such an influential company is beyond surprising.
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