Business philosophy of Nestle Company
-Arrangement of speeches made by President Maha of Nestle Company during his visit to Japan.
People-oriented, product-oriented corporate philosophy
Before getting into the topic, let's briefly introduce the general situation of Nestle. Nestle's annual turnover is about 30 billion Swiss francs, equivalent to about 3 trillion yen (this is the number of 1983). Net profit1300 million Swiss francs, accounting for about 4.5% of turnover. The number of employees is140,000, and there are 280 factories in the world, of which 100 is in developing countries. Because of the exchange rate changes, there will be some differences, but generally speaking, the turnover of Switzerland is less than 3% of the whole company, while the turnover of Europe accounts for 40% of the total turnover. There are currently five production plants in Japan, accounting for 6.7% of Nestle's total turnover.
Nestle's main business projects are traditional foods and beverages, and it also has investments in medicines and cosmetics. For example, Mr. Dahl, who was introduced to you just now, is the head of L 'Oreal Company. Nestle actively participates in the cosmetics industry through L 'Oreal Company, but the turnover of this company is not included in the total turnover of Nestle. Now and in the future, the company's policy of investing in other businesses is the same as the current business. We don't intend to go in the direction of group enterprises, but we still hope to seek development in food processing.
Then, it mentioned the corporate philosophy and policies of Nestle. Sounds a little contradictory. After all, we are entrepreneurs and don't like philosophy. We prefer Swiss pragmatism and realism. Nestle's enterprises are all over the world, and the real turnover of Switzerland itself is only 3%. Based on this reality, we don't want to stick to any philosophy, beliefs or policies. We just want to meet the needs of various countries and markets.
This spirit explains most of Nestle's corporate philosophy. If we stick to the basic philosophy, it should be "humanism" and "product firstism", not "organization firstism". Why? We firmly believe that "people" is the most important key to success. The so-called people here not only refer to special expertise and experience, but also attitude, character and personality. "People-oriented" refers not only to people in enterprises, but also to customers and consumers. No matter where we do business in the world, we must first take care of and attach importance to the local people. We are always interested in people and treat people with an "interested heart". We are convinced that people who are not interested in people can hardly have active space in Nestle. At the same time, we should also care about others.
With regard to "product firstism", in large enterprises in current economic society, the higher the position, the easier it is to be ignored. In fact, to win the support of consumers, the most important thing is to have good products. Of course, product marketing is also very important, but in any case, product marketing should be based on good quality. Nestle is holding these beliefs to implement "people-oriented" and "product first". This truth is easy to say, but it is quite difficult to do. As long as you look up at the companies and products around you, you can understand. Most people despise these basic principles and are busy with things that have nothing to do with people and products day and night. These forgotten basic ideas can be said to be Nestle's corporate philosophy.
I am now in Japan, and as we all know, Japan has a very good system and system. However, if the system and enterprise-related factors are removed, these systems and systems will be meaningless to enterprises. The bigger and more complex an enterprise is, the more it needs a system. These systems can help the smooth progress of enterprise activities, but the system itself is not the purpose of the enterprise. Basically, people, products and systems are indispensable, but we must judge the appropriate priority. That's why I asked this question first. Therefore, "people-oriented" and "product first" are the basic concepts of Nestle.
Complete decentralization.
Then, the second point I want to say is decentralization, which is authorization. Authorization is a topic that managers often talk about, but we are actually implementing it. In fact, Nestle's structure and business spread all over the world, forcing the company to fully authorize. Once faced with a problem, we tend to solve it in the direction of "dispersion" rather than "concentration". Therefore, the whole organization has considerable flexibility, and everyone and work have a sense of unity, good work efficiency and strong willingness to work. In addition, the actions and means we take are to meet local needs and requirements. This move, no matter in any market, can produce stronger competitiveness. Therefore, there is a saying in Nestle called "market mind" (Mark
Et head), that is, the idea should be linked to the actual market. The function and responsibility of this market mind has played a great role in Nestle's corporate philosophy and organization. This statement is not because I trust the talent of General Manager Singh (who is in charge of Nestle Japan). In fact, this is the creed of our Nestle company. Nestle's success in Japan is not only due to the good leadership of general manager Singh, but also because of our basic attitude.
Of course, when we "authorize", we should also judge by actual analysis, not by theory. For example, should the field of research work be centralized or decentralized? Must be tried. Although this is a very simple thing, it is often forgotten by us. When a job must be carried out in a decentralized direction, the most important thing is to entrust the job to the most suitable person. This kind of thing must not be vague. When assigning work and assigning responsibilities, it is necessary to confirm whether this person is really suitable for this job. This is cheaper and more effective than using incompetent people who need a lot of assistance.
From this point of view, Nestle's international headquarters not only formulates basic concepts and business strategies, but also shoulders the training of employees, the business experience of local countries and the information exchange of successful products. In a broad sense, it is a management and supervision organization, and the right person is a trustworthy person by selecting the right person to do the right job. Trust and credit are very important factors for Nestle.
Of course, to realize the system of "decentralization" or "authorization", the company must establish its own policies and guidelines. However, as pointed out earlier, we are not stubborn in theoretical guidance. We often call ourselves pragmatic entrepreneurs, not missionaries who sing dogmas and theories. In fact, this life world is more significant than those imaginary theories.
Look at the long-term strategy
The third point to mention is that Nestle is always making long-term prospects, focusing on long-term strategies and avoiding short-term efficiency. So the company must always be in good condition. As we all know, if an enterprise wants to have a long-term vision and prospects, it must first have actual profitability and the overall state should be quite sound, otherwise it will be difficult to achieve. When enterprises suffer from the immediate situation, they often fall into short-term thinking, and even worry about the survival of enterprises without taking into account the long-term prospects. Therefore, a steady enterprise should strive to maintain a moderate balance in the long-term and short-term vision.
Long-term strategy, as mentioned above, is a very important factor in the development of enterprises, but before considering long-term strategy, enterprises must have a stable and healthy state. Often we see that some enterprises are enthusiastic about various ideological movements, but turn a blind eye to reality, thus making these ideals empty talk. Therefore, if the enterprise is in a good state, it will have a long-term prospect. And this long-term vision and long-term vision, not narrowly for the benefit of the company, but should be broader, without ignoring the overall general society or ideology. Why? In fact, conflicts of interest between human beings, employers and employees, and groups, if traced back to the source, are mainly caused by focusing on short-term and short-term interests. Some attacks or slanders on an enterprise or multinational enterprises are also the result of taking short-term interests as the first priority of the enterprise. In the long run, we are all partners of the same company or society. Therefore, we should not aim at narrow enterprises, but always take a long-term view.
Pay attention to straight-line personnel
Then, we talk about the fourth point. In the past 25 years, our company has developed rapidly. Our organization has become more complex and needs many excellent professionals or assistants. Using these assistants and staff is a very effective means in a sense, but on the other hand, it will damage efficiency and make the enterprise fall into a crisis of vague organization. For these reasons, we have returned to the management policy of attaching importance to the responsibility of the line personnel (referring to the actual actors). Paying attention to offline personnel is to make responsibilities clearer.
After we think so, we will put it into practice. In other words, once there is a problem, first of all, we will seek countermeasures through straight-line personnel. The responsibility lies with the front-line personnel, who must shoulder the responsibility of carrying out their work. However, when front-line personnel carry out their work, they sometimes need the professional knowledge of employees. Before joining the post, the managers of the line personnel must discuss the implementation methods with employees in different deployments of 17. However, most production line personnel don't like this.
If the straight-line personnel exchange knowledge and experience with the staff, the straight-line personnel feel that they have brought trouble or even embarrassment to the staff, which is a problem that cannot be ignored. Therefore, we think it is necessary to make some improvements. Of course, this is not to say that the specialized post itself is of little value. The question is where to focus. This change has greatly accelerated the action and decision-making speed of the whole company. Especially in such a competitive society, time is as important as the appropriateness of the action itself, and it is an important key to success or failure. What I want to explain is that if we simplify the system and rely heavily on line personnel, the actions of decision-making and implementation will inevitably be accelerated, and we can grasp a better opportunity.
This means reducing the number of classes as much as possible and increasing the control and management of each class. In this way, the principle of "decentralization" or "authorization" can naturally be realized. When a supervisor has more subordinates, he must have a higher level of authorization. At the same time, once the number of classes is reduced, the opposition and misunderstanding between classes will be reduced, and all the work in the organization will be completed faster.
Attach importance to the "chick spirit" of human nature
Speaking of the fifth point, although it is a bit difficult to explain, I call it "the company's style and attitude." We like a simple, direct, fair and upright attitude. These attitudes are commonplace to everyone, but they are rarely put into practice. Let me emphasize them here. Although we say we should be modest and simple, we should not go too far and form hypocrisy.
We should give others full trust, not knowledge. We should trust each other. In other words, we should have appropriate talents and respect each other's expertise. This spirit of maintaining good interpersonal relationships, helping each other and caring for each other is called "Nestle Spirit". No matter where there is Nestle in the world, there is "Nestle Spirit". This can also be said to be a big property of Nestle.
Serve and contribute to society through products.
Sixth, I want to explain social responsibility and corporate activities. Of course, we must understand the social environment and social environment problems in our life and work, and do our due duty. We should fulfill our social responsibility to everyone. This truth is understandable without taking time to explain, and Nestle's business philosophy also includes these responsibilities.
Here, it is necessary for us to re-examine the issue of priority. Our long-term dedication is to meet consumers' requirements for product quality, price and cost, whether for human beings or for the country where we work. This is the most important and effective focus for our enterprises to fulfill their social responsibilities. From this perspective, we have made the best contribution to the well-being of mankind. In today's world where opposition, criticism and attacks are commonplace, our products explain our activities, convey each other's ideas and avoid unnecessary misunderstandings. Therefore, we are very sensitive to the impact of our actions on the environment and the response to specific groups. As most people know, we have experienced a very painful experience in the past ten years. We have learned a lot from these experiences. As long as we live in this world, we should consider the reaction of the world or other groups when making any decision. We need these people who constantly urge us to examine and reflect on ourselves. In order to avoid these people's negative reactions and carry out correct activities, we have to change, revise or give appropriate explanations when necessary.
Pay attention to the attitude towards consumers.
The seventh point is the principle of marketing. This may take time to explain, so I'll try to be brief here. Generally speaking, we pay more attention to the vast marketing market than the marketing means. In other words, it is to pay more attention to providing consumers with suitable products, and to communicate with consumers appropriately for products, and to hold appropriate attitudes and make effective contacts with consumers. Appropriately contacting consumers and listening to their opinions is not only to find out marketing and sales methods from their opinions, but also to understand their real needs, likes, expectations and reactions. I think this attitude of opening to consumers is also very important for Nestle, so it is also one of the policies of the enterprise.
This attitude towards consumers, we think, is more important than complicated knowledge such as complicated technology, several staff departments or marketing headquarters.
Speaking of which, I would like to mention the issue of technological innovation by the way. "Technological innovation" is very important, even becoming a worldwide slogan, but sometimes it becomes an exaggerated evaluation, but I am not pessimistic about the concept of product life cycle. We constantly make existing products meet the needs of consumers, produce better products and improve products. In fact, product improvement and technological innovation are equally important to many enterprises, especially in Japan, where all kinds of products are constantly improved and refined in a competitive environment, and we have benefited a lot from Japan's experience. The so-called improvement, development, pioneering and innovation do not refer to dramatic and revolutionary changes, but to accumulated achievements, which is also a part of our enterprise policy that is very important.
From the marketing point of view, we don't need to explore what we expect, but what do people really want? How will the world develop? This kind of realistic prediction and prospect is necessary. We sometimes hear people say, "Are you doing things in a scientific way? Or do things by instinct? " For me, intuition means using information creatively. Therefore, the functions of intelligence and intuition can be said to be integrated.
Pursue the "quality" of employees and goods
Eighth, I want to talk about quality. Any enterprise cares about quality to a considerable extent, and everyone will pay attention to quality. We are also seriously pursuing higher quality, which is why Nestle Coffee can be successfully listed in Japan. However, I want to talk about "quality" from all aspects. Of course, the quality of products is the most important, but quality also includes the quality of employees, the quality of advertisements and the quality of research. The company's concept of "quality" belongs to a higher level. If someone only considers the quality of products, but not the quality of other people or things, this person can't succeed in Nestle.
Cultivate middle-level managers
The ninth point I want to talk about is personnel policy. As mentioned above, "people-oriented" is the principle that our company adheres to. In personnel policy, try to reduce the centralized management of this department. On the one hand, we attach importance to the principle of decentralization of responsibilities, and on the other hand, we must find ways to integrate with the environment, concepts, habits and behavior patterns of local countries. We never believe in short-sighted behaviors such as lies or dishonesty. I mention this here. In order to avoid misunderstanding, I must emphasize that Nestle is a Swiss multinational company with some basic concepts. I don't want to deny that we are a "Nestle" company. What we think and say is absolutely consistent with our actions. If these are inconsistent, others will certainly notice at once. Next, I will explain several general personnel policies. The first is the cultivation of managers, which is the most important part of personnel. In this regard, we try to emphasize quality rather than quantity. In the choice of talents, we don't pay much attention to schools, grades and exams. I may disappoint those who value these factors. But we do pay more attention to these people's future potential than their past records. Another important thing is the importance of middle managers. They are the bosses of the global10.4 million Nestle employees. For these employees, these managers can be said to be "Mr. Nestle".
Middle managers are the most important people in the company, and they are given the most difficult job of "interpersonal communication". Therefore, how to help these people, give them opportunities for further study and train them in a planned way is a very important responsibility of the company.
I think this is also a bit political. Without planned and systematic training, these people may run counter to the company's policies. This kind of thing is not only in Japan, but also all over the world.
It must be repeatedly emphasized here that in personnel policy, we feel that we should not rely too much on technology or system, such as job classification, evaluation system, salary system and other personnel management technologies, but should pay attention to understanding others, give them the necessary information, explore their inner expectations as much as possible, and spend time communicating with others. These are not the roles that the system can play, but they are very important in the organization.
Secondly, the issue of balance. This is a very delicate issue in any country. For example, if we want to strike a balance between international management and local management, we must find a suitable point in the selection and training of talents. We can't give special courtesy to people in a certain country, especially our own. This phenomenon is very dangerous in multinational enterprises. In the past, we had a lot of experience. Non-local managers usually get some extra treatment when they go to work in other countries. Speaking of these international measures, it may be endless. In short, the Swiss are not the only ones who can attend management classes at Nestle. I am a German myself, which is a good example.
Social responsibility of large enterprises to employees
Of course, the selection and training of managers are aimed at internal employees, but there are also cases of hiring people from outside. We are somewhat similar to Japan, preferring lifelong system. Because it can increase the stability of work and increase the experience in the company. This move is also the company's social responsibility to employees. We all hope that every employee can enjoy a good standard of living after retirement, so we think it is necessary to give special care to those who have worked for the company for many years and contributed to the company in all aspects. In addition to paying pensions, the company will also keep in touch with retirees who have served the company for many years.
Next, I'll talk about Nestle's situation in Japan. As we all know, Nestle has five factories in Japan with an annual turnover of about 200 billion yen. In the past, the annual turnover of Nestle's entire group has been growing steadily, with Japan's turnover ranking fourth or fifth among all branches in the world. We believe that in addition to product policies, marketing skills and technical knowledge, the basic concepts of our company have also made considerable contributions to the turnover itself. In particular, Nestle's clear intention to integrate with the local market and its decentralized management and decision-making have a certain effect on the growth of local performance. General manager Singh often said that we strive to be "good neighbors" of Japan.
Secondly, let me talk about some similarities and differences. When I say this, I hope you will pay a little attention, because although I personally have a full understanding of Nestle and spent a lot of time studying Japan, I dare not say that I know Japan like the back of my hand, so I hope you can make a little judgment, evaluation or comparison after listening to it. This is just my personal opinion, there is no such thing as right or wrong.
Similarities and differences between culture and tradition
I think there are many similarities when we compare Japan and Switzerland. For example, both countries produce watches with long working hours, and neither country has enough natural resources. More importantly, both sides respect people and are not arrogant in dealing with people. Both attach importance to long-term prospects rather than short-term optimism. As mentioned above, both of them know that close contact and modesty are more important than system and interpersonal management skills. Both societies pay more attention to respecting the elderly and loving the virtuous. For good quality, the definition is broader, and there are considerable requirements for the cleanliness of individuals and factories. Try to meet the demands and hopes of others, but don't like an overly tolerant society.
As for the differences, we can learn from many books and records. For example, the proposal (the system that employees of Japanese enterprises send the proposal to relevant personnel for approval), the quality control circle, the method of making consensus or the method of making implementation complete quickly, etc. I don't want to go into details here. I will only make two or three points here to illustrate my personal differences. When studying affairs, Japanese people often hold an open attitude of seeking truth from facts in order to improve and improve constantly. However, some European countries and societies tend to "not use other people's inventions", which is a great loss for enterprises. Secondly, Europe often advocates remuneration and social rights. The French word "Acquisssociaux" and the German word "Besitzstand" or "Anspruchsinfration" both stand for social rights and increasing personal assets. On the other hand, in Japan, the focus of the whole society is to support enterprises or factories and make every effort to promote the success of enterprises. This morning, I just heard a Japanese friend say that work is a "sacred activity". If Europe wants to avoid future problems, it should learn more from Japan. The above is personal knowledge, and I will explain it to you with a fair mind. We can't elaborate on other difficulties. Switzerland and Nestle are places that are not polluted by "modern" actions and thinking. Personally, I think this is lucky.
Truth exists in mutual understanding.
Finally, I want to compare the decision-making modes in Japan and Europe. Before I speak, I believe everyone knows quite well, that is, the functions, prestige and authority of Japanese enterprise presidents and their efforts to reach a consensus before making a final decision. In Europe, the president of a company is very dictatorial and often bossy when making decisions. Of course, Nestle is an exception, which I think everyone knows to a considerable extent. And some enterprises adopt the management mode of * * *, and a team carries out irresponsible and loose management. I have said many times that I don't like extremely tolerant or strict systems. We know what truth often means.
Above, I have explained Nestle's policy a little, so you can compare your own ideas. Here, I want to encourage you with a German proverb, that is, "the crops in the farmland next door are often more lush than their own." All of us should pretend that we are at the stage of learning (from others or other countries) and ask ourselves at any time, what will happen in Japan? For example, those young people, transportation, shops, clothes and so on. I have also been to their fast food restaurants and restaurants, and we must imagine what will happen in this country; And think about it, what are the deep-rooted cultures or concepts in the hearts of Japanese people. Judging from the current development, what will the future look like? Generally speaking, we can exchange views, learn from each other and explore each other's experiences from several large and important regions in the world, such as the United States, Europe and Japan. In this way, we can certainly find ways to improve from other people's experience, which is also the way to form our attitude towards life and overall concept.
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