Background
Nestlé Company had started off from a single man's idea, and developed into a giant corporation. Our history begins back in 1866, when the first European condensed milk factory was opened in Cham, Switzerland, by the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company.
Nestlé’s headquarters are located in Vevey, Switzerland, but the Nestlé Company has factories or operation in almost ever country in the world
In 1866 Henri Nestlé, German pharmacist, launched his Farine lactée, a combination of cow’s milk, wheat flour and sugar,, and developed a milk food formula for infants who were unable to tolerate their mother milk (Nestle.com). His product became a success, and it created a demand throughout Europe. As Nestlé’s popularity grew more businesses wanted to merge and become partners with Henri Nestlé's business.
From 1866 to 1947 the Nestlé Company had gone through several name changes.
In 1905, Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Co. and Farine Lactee Henri Nestlé merged, and the company’s name became Nestlé & Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Co.
Then in 1929, Peter-Cailler-Kohler Chocolats Suisses S.A. merged with the company. The name was then changed to Nestlé & Anglo-Swiss Holding Co. Ltd, on November 27, 1936.
In December 1947, Co. acquired all the shares capital of the Alimentana S.A. company in exchange for fifteen Nestlé shares and fifteen Unilac shares for each of Alimentana S.A. share, so this point the name was at Nestlé Alimentana S.A. And then finally, the last name change that the company would endure was in 1977, where it adopted the name Nestlé SA (Mergent Online).
In 1981 the World Health Assembly adopted the International Code for the Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (“WHO Code”) and recommended that its Member States implement it. Nestlé was the first company to develop policies based on the WHO Code and apply them across our entire operations in developing countries.
In 1984, An improved bottom line allowed us to make new acquisitions, including a public offer of USD 3 billion for the American food giant, Carnation. At the time, this was one of the largest acquisitions in the history of the food industry.
In 1986, The Nespresso story began in 1986 with a simple idea: enable anyone to create the perfect cup of espresso coffee, just like a skilled barista.
In 1988, The Italian brand Buitoni, in Sansepolcro, became part of our portfolio in 1988. Nestled in the hills of Tuscany, Casa Buitoni is the symbol of the brand’s ongoing commitment to quality, creativity, and tradition.
The UK-based organisation, Baby Milk Action, launched a boycott against Nestlé. While there are still boycott activities in the UK today, the following organisations have officially ended their support for it: the General Synod of the Church of England in July 1994, the Royal College of Midwives in July 1997, the Methodist Ethical Investment Committee in November 2005 and the United Reformed Churches in November 2011.
In 1993, The first half of the 1990s were favourable for Nestlé with the opening up of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as China – good news for a company with such far-flung and diverse interests.
In 2001, We merged with the Ralston Purina Company, which had been founded in 1983, in 2001 to form a new pet food company, Nestlé Purina PetCare Company.
in 2002, Two major acquisitions were made in North America in 2002: in July, the merger of our U.S. ice cream business with Dreyer’s; and in August, a USD 2.6 billion acquisition of Chef America Inc., a leading frozen food product business.
In 2003, Nestlé acquired Mövenpick Ice Cream, enhancing our position as a market leader in the super premium category.
In 2005, Our Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe recognised that the eating habits of the world’s population were changing and we began our own transformation. We began to move away from being a processor of agricultural commodities towards becoming a producer of food with added benefits and ultimately a provider of a wide range of products and services in the areas of nutrition, health and wellness.
In 2006, We acquired Jenny Craig and Uncle Toby's
With the help of Harvard’s Michael Porter and Mark Kramer, we articulated for the first time the concept of Creating Shared Value. Creating Shared Value expresses our conviction that we can only be successful over the long term if we create value, not just for our shareholders, but also for society.
In 2007, We acquired Novartis Medical Nutrition, Gerber and Henniez.
In 2009, We held the first Creating Shared Value Forum in New York, with leading experts in the areas of nutrition, water and rural development coming together to discuss serious global challenges facing us in these three areas and the role of business in helping to solve them. The Creating Shared Value Forum has been held on an annual basis since then, with London in 2010 and Washington, D.C.
In 2011, We celebrated the opening of the Chocolate Centre of Excellence in Broc, Switzerland.
January 2010, We sold our remaining Alcon shares to Novartis and also acquired Kraft Foods’ frozen pizza business.
March 2010, We faced a challenge from Greenpeace who wanted to be reassured about our commitment to sustainable Palm Oil. It was the first time we saw social media being used in a substantial way to challenge us and ask questions. We didn’t get the handling of our response to the campaign itself quite right in social media, but on the issue at its heart – palm oil - we took steps to both strengthen our position and to explain it more clearly.
May 2010, This month Nestlé launched Special.T.
We launched the Nestlé Cocoa Plan which will supply 38 million high quality, disease-resistant plantlets to farmers helping them rejuvenate their farms and increase productivity. The Nescafé Plan was also launched – investing CHF 500 million to address responsible farming, sourcing and consumption across our coffee supply chain.
We also awarded the first Nestlé Prize in Creating Shared Value to IDE Cambodia for its Farm Business Advisors programme and we announced our partnership with the Forest Trust to work to combat deforestation.
September 2010
We announced the creation of Nestlé Health Science and the Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences, innovative ventures aimed at the prevention and eventually treatment of chronic medical conditions with science-based personalised nutrition solutions.
Along the way Nestlé’s company remain successful, which allowed them expand to new region and territories throughout the world, making them the world’s biggest food and beverage company.
Since the Nestlé case was published in 1998, it stated that Nestlé had employed 230,000 people worldwide, with $71.7 billion in sales (Rodgers, 2000). Now moving forward to 2003, Nestlé has increased the amount of employees to 253,000 people, with $88 billion in sales (Nestle.com).
Nestlé is increasing the size of their company year by year. In addition, to the increase in the size of the Nestlé Company; Nestlé also has increased the variety in the different products they offer. In Nestlé’s business strategy they encourage product growth through innovation and renovation (Nestle.com).
This strategy has allowed Nestlé to develop many different products in the various fields: baby foods, dairy products, breakfast cereals, ice creams, chocolates and confectionery, prepared foods, beverages, food services, bottled water, and pet care. 