ABSTRACT
Nestlé does it. PricewaterhouseCoopers does it. Accenture does it. If these global giants can do it, why shouldn’t we?
The Harvard Business Review featured in December 2006 an article titled “Strategy and Society: The Link Between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility” (Porter and Kramer). One of the examples was Nestlé. Once criticized for promoting formula over breast milk in developing countries, today Nestlé is making a difference and making a profit. Responsible social practices along with production goals led Nestlé to establish a dairy operation in one of the poorest rural areas of India. Nestlé’s objective was not targeting poverty per se but, more strategically in this instance, raising the standard of living on rural farms to a level that helped the firm increase local dairy production “50-fold” while at the same time providing huge economic benefits to the region How did they do that? They introduced experts in a variety of fields to support not just the core business product, but also the people who served as Nestlé’s producers.
