Nestl as the Worlds Largest Food Conglomerate - Essay Example

Nestlé’s Nescafé, the leading coffee brand, drinks in almost every country and the company owns scores of other household names, including confectionery such as Kit Kat, Smarties, Yorkie, and Aero along with Perrier water, in the UK.  Hot Pockets in the US, Baeren Marke in Germany, Mucilon in Brazil, Orion chocolate in Czechoslovakia and Slovakia, and Maggi seasoning in Asia are among its well-known brand names. (Johnston)

The past two years have seen Nestlé’s Maggi ready-mix seasoning targeting Asian ethnic cuisine with mixes for sautés, broths, and others.  The new Cranberry Raisenets was launched in March last year as an addition to the Nestlé Raisinets family. To take care of distribution Nestlé has 406 subsidiaries and offices in 104 countries and joint ventures with Coca-Cola, General Mills, L'Oreal, and Fonterra, not to include several other corporations not as large (“Nestlé SA: Who, Where, How Much?”) Nestlé aggressively promotes its products and is highly visible in energy drinks and supplements for athletes.  In developing countries where it sources some of its raw materials, Nestlé is highly visible in events that build up the goodwill and image it has established over the decades of doing its businesses.  Nestlé’s Milo in Asia has built a solid image as an energy drink indispensable in the growth of young aspiring athletes. It has sponsored numerous fun runs, amateur, and professional athletic events, as well as non-athletic charitable events.  In calamity-stricken areas worldwide, Nestlé’s products often accompany relief packages.

Its presence on the internet is overwhelming. The word “Nestlé” alone generated 55 pages as a result of a Google search.  Each country's website differed according to the Nestlé product preferred and marketed in the country which in turn is determined by the country’s contribution to the raw material procurement for the product.  Milo, for example, le is strong in Asia because cacao is a tropical fruit.  A company as large as Nestlé must spend much in research and development such that it can independently verify and anticipate a brewing controversial issue.   What it cannot prevent, is it minimizes its effect on its image by spending on an advertising campaign over all the major networks and broadsheet set, or by filing a suit. On August 8, 2010, Nestlé won a lawsuit against an enterprising Filipino for infringement (SOCIETE DES PRODUITS NESTLE, S.A., Petitioner, vs. MARTIN T. DY, JR., Respondent).   Its overwhelming presence on the internet is only a part of Nestlé’s aggressive advertising promotion which has already established itself in traditional media.   Kit Kat Canada, for example, is on Facebook. Furthermore, the proliferation of anti-Nestlé campaigns on the internet is being directly addressed, ostensibly to minimize its adverse effect.   If need be, Nestlé can tie up with a media conglomerate to neutralize any bad publicity it will be faced with.