Nestlé case study questions:
1) If all FMCG companies do SAP (or similar) how does a particular company in that sector
derive any competitive advantage?
2) In a large corporate which operates in many different countries how can you make one–size fit
all? How standardized should the template be across the different countries?
3) Does the biggest payback come from i) IT savings ii) savings elsewhere in the business iii)
higher sales iv) something else?
4) How to get the individual countries to take part and be involved in the project? How do you
avoid the “kiss of death” which would surely be bestowed on an “IT project driven from the
Centre”?
5) How quick should the roll–out be? [Risk v Reward]
6) Was this (GLOBE) even possible at any pace given the company’s culture (bureaucratic and
risk–averse) and the very low level of control which the Centre exerted over the individual
country–based businesses?
7) How was the inevitable push–back from the country CEOs going to be dealt with? They would
surely say “This is fine but I can’t be expected to run my business normally whilst this is going
on therefore I want profit relief”.
8) How do you source the solution (the overall software package)? Do you go for one vendor and
benefit from better “integration” or do you take “best of breed” in each business area and
sacrifice some integration?
9) Once the solution has been rolled–out how would you handle support? What proportion should
still be done in in–country and what should be provided from a centralized Data Centre?
10) How did the Nestlé Board handle the external communications re the GLOBE project?
Would the perception from “the market” be that Nestlé were being bounced into this? As no
other competitor was attempting this would the move be seen as overly risky (Nestlé were
traditionally a “follower” rather than a “leader” in the food industry)? Would the share price be
under duress? If any/all of these did apply what could the Board do by way of mitigation?
