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.