Has Nestl been able to transfer knowledge from strategic leader subsidiaries to other types of subsidiaries? Please

Has Nestlé been able to transfer knowledge from ‘strategic leader’ subsidiaries to other types of subsidiaries? Please identify an example in the case. Case 5.1 Organizational Transformation at Nestlé23 Swiss-based Nestlé, the world’s largest food manufacturing company, employs around 247,000 people and has factories or operations in practically every country in the world.24 However, Nestlé does not focus simply on building and exploiting global brands. As noted by CEO and chairman Peter Brabeck, ‘There is a trade-off between efficiency and effectiveness in global brands . . . Operational efficiency comes from our strategic umbrella brands.

But we believe there is no such thing as a global consumer, especially in a sector as psychologically and culturally loaded as food.’25 Although Nestlé

does not believe in homogeneous consumer preferences, it has started to integrate its businesses at the regional level and even the global level – it has become much more than a holder of a portfolio of national units.