In 2015, Nestl Middle Easts total revenue, from a range of 60 products, was $2.4 billion. Nestl

In 2015, Nestlé Middle East’s total revenue, from a range of 60 products, was $2.4 billion. Nestlé gains the consumer’s trust not only by considering serious concerns over the quality of food and the variety it serves to its consumers, but also by investing in research labs to ensure that they exceed food safety and quality requirements. The Middle East is an important market globally and has been identified as a potential growth market with a lot of opportunities.

In March 2019, Nestlé Middle East announced that the number of women in management or senior leader roles had risen from 16 percent to 30 percent over the last eight years. This was a crucial step for the company’s goal of improving gender balance across all its offices around the world. Another recent investment is the advanced Sensory Lab Unit for Renovation–Innovation of Products (SLURP), located in Dubai. This lab is fitted with high-end technological facilities to serve as a center of expertise for advanced sensory profiling analyses on shelf-stable dairy, coffee, and confectionery products.
Nestlé believes that investing in factories is extremely important as they support and facilitate research in various ways. As a market, the Middle East does not have homogenous consumers. Different countries have different tastes and preferences; the Middle East comprises 22 different countries with varying economies, cultures, and belief systems. 

Manufacturing products locally allows Nestlé to adapt to the cultural needs and preferences of the local markets and accelerate the delivery of fresher products to the consumer. Any new information gathered from the market can be implemented effectively in a timely manner.
According to Nestlé, manufacturing products locally along with timely implementation of information gives them a prime advantage over their competition. Nestlé has thus followed this practice for many of their manufacturing plants in the Middle East. 

In March 2018, the company announced its intention to make 100 percent of its packaging reusable or recyclable by 2025. This initiative was introduced across the business with the goal of ensuring that none of the packaging or plastics is sent to a landfill. In February 2019, Nestlé Middle East announced that it was offering $50,000 to the individual who comes up with a simple and economic way of checking daily levels of vitamin D deficiencies, a problem common across the Middle East and one that Nestle aims to address with a permanent solution. This will include developing a product portfolio that provides the ideal daily amount of vitamin D, phosphate, calcium, and other nutrition that is critical for the body. The company also plans to launch a long-term scientific health study of vitamin D deficiency in the Middle East and North Africa.

Questions

1. Critically examine Nestlé’s positioning model.
2. Discuss the importance of investment in research with regard  to the Nestlé case.
3. Explain the different ways in which market research can be  used to satisfy consumers.