Nestle Sustainability
Nestle's key sustainable environmental policies are broken down into several core areas: resources, packaging, products, climate change, natural capital, information, water efficiency, training, and product life-cycle. They want to improve resource efficiency, improve packing, optimize the environmental impact of products, be a leader in climate change, examine how production impacts natural capital, provide accurate information about the environmental impact of their products and processes, improve overall water efficiency, train employees in conservation practices, and examine sustainability from all parts of the water cycle (Nestle, 2014). From a social perspective, Nestle is examining all components of the supply chain in order to implement more socially responsible practices, not just for environmental sustainability, but also in terms of human rights. This means the elimination of child labor and other questionable labor practices in the supply chain.
The initiatives relate to the company's principles, values, and culture because the stated initiative align with Nestle's goal to bring quality food and beverages to people. However, the information on the website seems incomplete. Given that Nestle's leadership has made questionable statements about access to water and that Nestle has been involved in lawsuits over water rights that would strip people of access to drinking water, the information on the website seems insufficient to address concerns about Nestle's real sustainability programs and goals.
Nestle's initiatives are placating consumers who were worried about Nestle's sustainability performance, which may be helping it retain consumers that would have left because of social concerns. However, it is very difficult to assess how its policies are helping create a competitive advantage. Nestle controls more of the world's available fresh water than any other single entity, which gives it a competitive advantage since water is the only non-replaceable human need. That control will give Nestle an advantage, regardless of any sustainability practices it implements. However, sustainable practices will allow it to stretch the resources it controls and ensure more profit per unit of water, which will, ultimately, give it an advantage over competitors.
References
Nestle. 2014. Environmental sustainability. Retrieved November 4, 2014 from Nestle website:
http://www.nestle.com/csv/environmental-sustainability
