ECR's International Commerce Institute

Who are companies for? Are they just for one group of people, such as shareholders, or do they earn their legitimacy by serving many different groups of people at the same time? 

In this issue of International Commerce Review, Nestlé CEO Paul Bulke provides one clear perspective. The foundations of sustainable success lie in creating shared value – and the trick is knowing how to do so in an integrated, systemic way. Thus, Nestlé food products don’t only aim to taste good, they also seek to deliver health and wellness. The process of making them provides jobs and, if organized properly, environmentally sustainable economic development. And if this is done well, the net result is consistent delivery of shareholder value too. Understanding value chains in these terms has far-reaching implications for the whole industry.