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Communities of Leadership: Paul Bulcke’s Nestlé
No comments · Posted by Scott in Case Studies
In Forbes’ “Food, Drink & Tobacco” category, Nestlé (Paul Bulcke, CEO) is the largest company in the world by each of three measure: sales ($97.1 billion), profits ($10.1 billion) and market value ($173.7 billion). At number 38, it also makes Business Week’s List of the the 50 most innovative companies, and at number 38, Fortune’s list of the world’s most admired. The company says, “We employ about 280,000 people and have factories or operations in almost every country in the world.”
Nestlé define themselves as “The world’s leading nutrition, health, and wellness company.” The tag line on their website is ” Good food, good life.”
Further quotations about how they define their culture, from their website, annual report, and published leadership principles follow.
“Nestlé is a human Company providing a response to individual human needs throughout the world with specific concern for the well-being of both its consumers and its employees. This is reflected in its attitude and its sense of responsibility towards people. Nestlé aims to increase sales and profits but, at the same time, to raise the standard of living everywhere it is active and the quality of life for everyone.”
“Nestlé is also convinced that it is the people who form the strength of the Company and that nothing can be achieved without their commitment and their energy, which makes people its most important asset. Involvement of people at all levels starts with appropriate information on the Company’s activities and on the specific aspects of their work. Through open communicaiton and active co-operation, everyone is invited to contribute to improvements enhancing Company results and personal development.”
“Apart from its commitment to safety and quality and its respect for diversity, Nestlé is committed to a number of cultural values. These values come partly from its Swiss roots and have been developed during its history. They are also evolving so as to support the permanent reshaping of the Company.
They can be described as follows:
• Commitment to a strong work ethic, integrity, honesty and quality.
• Personal relations based on trust and mutual respect. This implies a sociable attitude towards others, combined with an ability to communicate openly and frankly.
• A personalised and direct way of dealing with each other. This implies a high level of tolerance for other ideas and opinions, as well as a relentless commitment to co-operate proactively with others.
• A more pragmatic than dogmatic approach to business. This implies being realistic and basing decisions on facts.
• Openness and curiosity for dynamic and future trends in technology, changes in consumer habits, new business ideas and opportunities, while maintaining respect for basic human values, attitudes and behaviour.
• Pride in contributing to the reputation and the performance of the Company. This calls especially for nurturing a sense of quality and long-term achievement in the daily work beyond fashion and shortsighted gain.
• Loyalty to and identification with the Company.”
“..Broad interests, a good general education, responsible behaviour as well as fostering a balanced lifestyle are required to hold high-level management positions.”
These sound like great principles to me, and I have quoted more extensively than I usually do because I found the comments appealing.
At the same time, I recognize that Nestlé’s products are primarily processed and packaged foods, including such things as confections, ice cream, instant coffee, and bottled water, that are most connected to a wealthy, Western-oriented lifestyle. As the world industrialises and develops, I can see how demand for these products will grow, but also it would not surprise me see Nestlé challenged to continue to be relevant in all its markets. Nestlé notes its strong commitment to be present almost everywhere in the world. Its sales now come 36% from Europe, 44% from the Americas, and 20% from Asia and Africa. Asia and Africa at 7.4% had by far the highest organic growth.
Nestlé’s management principles attract me; I look forward to seeing how its role and leadership experience evolve as the world continues to flatten.
The growing list of Interesting Communities of Leadership is athttp://lovingwork.org/interesting-communities-of-leadership
Scott is scott@lovingwork.org and @scottdowns3 on Twitter.
community · customers · emerging markets · global · innovation · leadership · Nestle · people · sustainability · value · values
