Nestle Infant Formula Controversy

Many believe that business entities should have an ethical duty to be socially responsible, to work towards increasing its positive effects on society while decreasing its negative effects. Many organizations look for opportunities to be socially responsible while also creating shareholder wealth.

One company that faces ethical challenges today is food processing company, Nestle.Nestle's mission statement is "Good Food, Good Life". Nestle is considered of the most hated companies in the world. Some of Nestle's most popular products include baby food, bottled water, dairy products, and snacks. The company has been scrutinized for modifying nutrients in its infant products. In 2005, Nestle was sued for allegedly false labeling of their bottled water products. They were also in the spotlight at one period of time for child labor abuse and human trafficking. It is said that the company uses children between the ages of 12-15 to help gather cocoa beans for the production of their products.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is something that affects all companies and should be an active factor in the company’s decision making. It is something all corporations need to care about. CSR is when business’ or corporations take part in an initiative or campaign for a cause that will benefit society and/or in some way make the world a better place (Taylor, 2015). Initially, Corporate Social Responsibility started to take shape around the 1950’s, but some say that it dates all the way back to the 1800s, the idea of CSR was seen (Carroll, 2007). One may think that because it is dated so long ago, it doesn’t have an important impact today nevertheless, it is proven that Corporate Social Responsibility is a pathway for entities to self benefit as they are in the process of benefitting society.

Corporate Social Responsibility (C.S.R.) is a theory practiced in the business sphere since fifty years. It refers to the duty of business organizations to adopt certain activities that will benefit the society in some way. Charity, health-awareness campaigns are few examples that a business undertakes to fulfil its objectives of C.S.R. According to this ideal, it is important for various corporations today to undertake such social activities, apart from merely focusing on their objective of profit maximization. But, is it an obligation that is most important than other objectives of business? This thought further leads us to another significant question – In contemporary settings, should corporations be guided by the concept of C.S.R.?

According to World Business Council for Sustainable Development, “Corporate social responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the community and society at large”. A social responsible company may be defined as a company which integrates and takes in active parts the social and environmental concerns of one’s community and society. Acting in a socially responsible manner is more then just an ethical duty for a company nowadays, it is something that essentially has long term interest in both the company and the community. The motive is to produce economic value for the company but as well for the society as

Nestle Corporation could increase the sales of infant formula and the company will keep on profiting.

Corporate social responsibility can simply be identified as a duty, which is not a legal obligation lately, under very much consideration by every multinationals, as well as the growing firm. The ongoing concern is meant to increase the awareness between the business Individuals, to implement and draw line which should clearly indicates that what social obligation an organization has towards the society.(Caroll,1970) (Caroll, Archie, B.(1991). The pyramid of corporate social responsibility is towards the moral management of organization stakeholder.

A corporation that says it is socially responsible, claims that they are concerned for society's welfare; which also includes the environment, because now days, we are a lot more concerned about our environment and how everything affect it. The corporation will make sure to insure those values within the company and also to its partners. ("Social responsibility in Marketing," 2012 - 1998) Also, if a corporation says it is ethically responsible and it really is, it shows to their customers and partners their integrity

Nestlé, one of the biggest food companies in the world, has around 50 percent of the global market share of infant formula. Nestlé was charged with being involved, besides other corporations, in the death of many babies in Third World countries. They were accused of providing formulas to countries where people do not know how to use them properly, and they also encouraged mothers to depend on formulas, which contain all the nutrition supplements that infants need. This ethical issue was very critical for Nestlé and resulted in a series of boycotts from angry consumers around the world in response to this issue.

Corporate social responsibilities are one of the most important issues that global businesses professionals may face. Nothing will cause more problems between a business relationships than if the country or even the community in which you are forming a relationship with gets the perception the company is operating in a way that may be harmful to the country.

Social responsibility and ethics indeed should not be an afterthought. IN order to be successful a company should have its core values and mission statement. These statements and values to follow by are “the soul” of an organization. It is also they was they will be perceived to the market. For example, If the Special Olympics mission statement is as follows: “The mission of Special Olympics is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing

Corporate social responsibility has been one the key business buzz words of the 21st century. Consumers' discontent with the corporation has forced it to try and rectify its negative image by associating its name with good deeds. Social responsibility has become one of the corporation's most pressing issues, each company striving to outdo the next with its philanthropic image. People feel that the corporation has done great harm to both the environment and to society and that with all of its wealth and power, it should be leading the fight to save the Earth, to combat poverty and illness and etc. "Corporations are now expected to deliver the good, not just the goods; to pursue

Numerous debates have been waging over the past few years among business elites about the whether or not a corporate entity has a responsibility to society. It’s an extremely interesting topic with real and global ramifications that impact nearly every person and animal on this planet in one form or another. Anyone who owns public shares in a company has invested hard-earned money into a corporation based upon their perception that the company will be profitable and sustainable. The corporation’s board of directors are then responsible to manage the company in such a way as to increase their share-holders’ investment. For hundreds of years, this attempt to increase a corporation’s worth was done with little or no interest in social responsibility. Until very recently this topic was not very much in the public eye. However, at the moment the global economy is rapidly changing and business transparency is increasing through the accessibility of information across the world. Social and global change is moving faster than ever and progressing through this century any business will undoubtedly need to keep up to remain profitable. More mature business students will certainly recall being bombarded with the idea that the only responsibility of a corporation was to increase the value of the company and maximize long-term shareholder wealth without regard to ethics or social obligations. Is there a correlation that occurs between large multinational corporations and their

Multinational corporations should advocate and promote healthy social responsibility. Social responsibility is the overall relationship of the corporations with its stake holders. These include the customers, employees, communities, owners/ investors, governments, suppliers and competitors. The components of social responsibility include investment in community outreach, employee relations, creation and maintenance of employment, environmental responsibility, human rights and financial performance.

changes in the country's politics can have an influence on funding agreements and public priorities. One of the products that can be affected by this is nestle's baby milk. The company will have to carry out its operations according to their legal framework and they will have to act in accordance with the laws set by the parliment of that country. Nestle is a company which tries to meet all the standard laws that are the by the particular country's government. However nestle has sometimes failed to operate according to laws like health and safety act and disability act.