Patent Portfolio. Nestle. IIPTA. Launch a Career. Be Awesome

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1 Patent Portfolio Nestle IIPTA Launch a Career. Be Awesome

2 Abstract 1 In order to investigate the most recent growth (2007- present) of the leading food company Nestle, a patent portfolio is generated and analyzed. To gather detailed patent information about Nestle, a search query Pa: Nestle and Dp:[ to ] is used in WIPO database. The same concept is also used in Patent Lens (another database) to retrieve the patents of the said company. After careful analysis, it is found that the rate of grant of patent fall after 2007 while there is no current record of filing after 2010 (1). The trend of year of first file is recorded in 1995 although maximum number of filing is observed in 2002 followed by a decline from Information of filing of couple of design patents is also found where the maximum filing of design patent is observed in two successive years and The analysis of years of second filing is also performed although no significant trend is noticed between the year of first filing and second filing. Among the subsidiaries, Societe Des Products Nestle S.A. has owned 80% of entire patents followed by Nestle Waters management and technology (17%). European Patent Office is the preferred place of first and second filing of inventions for Nestle group followed by the United States. A23 is the major classification under which most of the Nestle inventions are categorized although is it difficult to interpret from the classification of design patents. Technology mind maps are represented to provide an idea about the recent inventions from Nestle which includes applications of inventions, products and process involved. After preliminary taxonomy, a SWOT analysis is carried out to observe the internal positive, internal negative, external positive and external negative factors which can play important role for future business trend of Nestle group. A competitive intelligence chart is prepared for easy understanding of potential contenders of Nestle group on the basis of product ranges, finances, research and development and future plans.

3 TABLE OF CONTENTS TOPIC PAGE NO. Chapter 1: About Nestle History Infrastructure Brands Financial information Research and development Recent News Controversies Objective of project... Chapter 2: Methodology... Chapter 3: Result and Statistical Analysis Bibliographic analysis Basic Patent information from Nestle Patenting activities over time Contributions from the Nestle subsidiaries Place of first filing Patent distribution under IPCs Patent activity vs. year and place of second filing Technical analysis Applications of inventions made from Nestle Applications of design patents Products and compositions Process involved... Chapter 4: SWOT analysis... Chapter 5: Competitive intelligence... Chapter 6: Discussion... References

4 Chapter 1 About Nestle 1.1 History Nestle is world s leading nutrition, health and wellness company. Starting from baby food to weight management, the world s topmost brands for the nutritional and wellness products come under Nestle. This company first started its business by launching Farine lactee, a combination of cow s milk, wheat flour and sugar in Switzerland in After almost four decades, Nestle merged with an Anglo-Swiss Condensed milk company and started to grow in the business by launching nutritional products, chocolates, coffee etc. Nestle s first successful brand Nescafe came to market in 1938 followed by Maggi and Nesquick in 1947 and 1948, respectively. Nestle diversified from the food industry for the first time when it merged with world s leading cosmetic company L Oreal in It also acquired Alcon Laboratories Inc., an American manufacturer of pharmaceutical and ophthalmic products in 1977 in order to prove its interest in healthcare products. 1.2 Infrastructure Nestle is driven by a group of 14 directors led by the former CEO of Nestle Peter Brabeck- Letmathe 2. The entire group is managed through segregating into geographies (Europe, America, Asia/Africa/Oceania) for most of the food and beverage businesses. Highest numbers of factories are in America (38%), although maximum employees (39%) have worked in Asia/Africa/Oceania regions followed by the employees in European (28%) and American factories (33%) respectively4. The administrative and sales departments include 47% of the total employees whereas rests of them are engaged in factories 3. The last year business report, 2012 showed an increment of sales (4%) with US $ 0.20 hike in profit per share w.r.t. the financial scenario of

5 1.3 Brands: The topmost brands of Nestle are represented in Table 1 4. Baby foods Bottled Water Cereals Chocolate & confectionary Culinary, chilled & Frozen food Dairy Drinks Food Service Healthcare Nutrition Ice Cream Petcare Sports Nutrition Weight Management Cerelac, Gerber, Gerber Graduates, NaturNes, Nestum Nestlé Pure Life, Perrier, Poland Spring, S.Pellegrino Chocapic, Cini Minis, Cookie Crisp, Fitness, Nesquik Cereal Nescafé, Nescafé 3 in 1, Nescafé Cappuccino, Nescafé Classic, Nescafé Decaff, Nescafé Dolce Gusto, Nescafé Gold, Nespresso Buitoni, Herta, Hot Pockets, Lean Cuisine, Maggi, Stouffer s Carnation, Coffee-Mate, La Laitière, Nido Juicy Juice, Milo, Nesquik, Nestea Chef, Chef-Mate, Maggi, Milo, Minor s, Nescafé, Nestea, Sjora, Lean Cuisine, Stouffer s Boost, Nutren Junior, Peptamen, Resource Dreyer s, Extrême, Häagen-Dazs, Mövenpick, Nestlé Ice Cream Alpo, Bakers Complete, Beneful, Cat Chow, Chef Michael s Canine Creations, Dog Chow, Fancy Feast, Felix, Friskies, Gourmet, Purina, Purina ONE, Pro Plan Powerbar Jenny Craig 4

6 1.4 Financial information: This Company has sold the products of 41.1 bn CHF, 26.5 bn CHF and 24.6 bn CHF in the United States, Europe and Asia/Oceania/ African market 3 in 2012 with a growth of 5.9% in organic sector. The United States, France, Brazil, Greater China, Germany, Mexico, United Kingdom, Italy, Cananda and Australia are considered as the top 10 markets for Nestle products 3. The highest sales comes from powdered and liquid beverages products (20 bn CHF) followed by milk products (18.6 bn CHF), ready food products (14.4 bn CHF), petcare products (10.8 bn CHF), nutrition and healthcare product (10.7 bn CHF), confectionary products (10.4 bn CHF), and water (7.2 bn CHF), respectively Research and development: The research and development sector is one of most important pillar for the success of Nestle. Salt reduction from culinary products is a long-term project undertaken by Nestle. The food giant issued a sodium policy in 2005 in order to reduce salt by 25% in five years from frozen meals, light meals and snacks 5. Again this food giant took the attempt to decrease the amount of salt by 10% from higher salt products, 75% in original recipes, in 2007 and 2010, respectively 5. However, foods with least quantity of salt were manufactured for India, Brazil and France 5. To provide high quality beverage products, Nestle collaborated with National Centre for Agronomic Research in Cote d Ivoire and Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute in Immediately after the collaboration, Nestle became top among the food industry patent filings in In the same year, Nestle joined with Cleveland Clinic to research about the benefits of health from whole grain. Apart from these, Nestle s significant research areas are gut health, obesity and harmful pathogens in food 5. Nestle research centre also found that how several kinds of food could influence bite size, chewing time, feeling of fullness and food intake 6. It has become top of the global companies which have been working on the reduction of carbon emission. Recently, a research has been planned to find out the alternatives of salt through collaboration between Nestle and Chromocell, an American Life-Science s company 6. Also, Milo Match- Up, from Nestlé s Milo beverage brand, helps to connect people who would like to arrange a sports game but who are having difficulty finding other players- the app helps to find out the people with same level of interests in sports Recent News: The 2013 International Congress of Nutrition held in Spain was rocked by another surprising fact- the scientists from Nestle group revealed that the complex changes of the lipid levels of the body towards metabolism of amino acids influences longer live 7. In the current year (2013), Nestle s two-fingered Kit-Kat which is seconds most popular fair-trade product in the United Kingdom, has brought the opportunity to earn for more than thousands 5

7 farmers in the Ivory Coast, one of the poorest countries in the world 8. Arranging the earning opportunities for the citizens in the Ivory Coast, the food-product giant has also decided to expand their industry in Nestle 8. In future, the same strategy will be taken by Nestle group to be active in Venezuela, Ecuador, Ghana, Indonesia and other Latin American countries in future. On 8 th Aug, 2013, Nestle group has confessed about the decline in sales which frustrated the investors for four straight quarters 9 mainly in diet products, water and frozen entrees 9. To cope with the recent situation, a business strategy termed as cell methodology has been adopted by Nestle group which will analyze 1,000 distinct business units or cells in 194 countries and help to decide which ones should get more or less investment 9. Most recently (Oct., 2013), the Nestle scientists conducted a study among the women with visceral obesity and discovered distinct metabolic signature of lipids and amino acids Controversies: The most significant controversy about Nestle is that the expansion of its infant milk product discouraging breastfeeding which causes death of several babies. The mother from third world countries along with Peru, rural Mexico, and Central America was discouraged showing the best supplement of breast milk for their infants which resulted death of their babies due to the malnutrition. Interfaith Centre on Corporate Responsibility, New York filed a case on Nestle group and 3 rd World Institute called a boycott many Nestle products to protest the formula feeding in those countries in Also, a report entitled Nestle kills babies was published in In response, Nestle group defended the company believed breast feeding as the best for infants and the infant formula was promoted for the mothers who could not breast feed 11. Most recently, Ontario government has made a deal about the withdraw of water from an underground water resource near Wellington country even after knowing Nestle withdraws 1.3 million litres of water per day for bottling which can cause scarcity during draught. The Wellington Water Watchers, Eco-justice and the Council of Canadians are eagerly waiting for a full hearing of the matter Objective of project: Patent portfolio is a huge collection of patents owned by an organization or company in order to generate revenue. The importance of patent portfolio analysis of a company is to analyze and visualize the strategic position of the said company 14. In addition, the potential collaboration can be evaluated and the asset can be identified and prioritized. The aims of this report are to find out a) The trend of invention of Nestle, b) the worldwide markets of Nestle, c) strength, weakness, opportunity and threat for Nestle, and d) Potential competitors of Nestle. 6

8 Chapter 2 Methodology Considering the main objectives of the reports, the innovation timeline of Nestle is chosen between 2007 and 2012 to observe the most recent growth in innovation. To retrieve the patents- WIPO and Patent Lens are chosen because no other common databases do not provide the options of time range. Several databases require several search queries and several number of results. To make the search queries, Nestle is considered as the applicant/assignee in most databases and also the duration between 2007 and 2012 is also mentioned. Table 2 shows the search queries and number of patents from each database. Search query Pa:Nestle and Dp:[ to ] a) Applicant/assignee: Nestle b) Published between to AANM/nestle An/Nestle and ISD/1/1/2007->07/30/2013 Name of database WIPO Patent Lens USPTO Free Patent Online Number of Patents The patents which show Nestle as the person s name in the assignee/applicant are not chosen for the analysis. After retrieval of patents, patent data are tabulated as taxonomical manner. There are two types of patent data- bibliographic data and technical data. Patent number, title of patent, inventor name, applicant name, year of first filing, year of second filing, place of first filing, place of second filing, international patent classification code (IPC) are the bibliographic information whereas the application of the patent, patented product, process involved within the patents are usually considered as technical data. Statistical analyses are performed to find out the top applicants/assignees, significant IPCs, patenting activities of Nestle. Mind maps are created to signify the applications of inventions, patented products, and processes involved within the patents of Nestle. 7

9 Filling of Invention Patent Portfolio : Nestle Chapter 3 Result and Statistical analysis In this section, the patenting activities of Nestle (recent six years), patent distributions under several international patent classification (IPC), contributions from the subsidiaries of Nestle, place of patent filings are discussed. The technical information such as applications of the inventions, products and compositions, processes involved with the inventions are also included in this section. Basic Patent information from Nestle: The study is aimed to collect the patent information to evaluate the contribution of Nestle in global market of food products in most recent years (2007 to 2013). Figure 1 shows the number of filing of inventions, number of granted and published inventions in each of 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, respectively Filed Published Granted Year Figure 1: Most recent information on Nestle invention 8

10 Number of filling Patent Portfolio : Nestle No information of filing of invention is found in last two years (extending up to Sept., 2013). Only 3 inventions were filed in 2007 while each of the years 2008 and 2010 showed a record of single invention. Also, the rates of grant of invention gradually fall after Patenting activities over time: The patenting activities of Nestle depend on the first disclosure date of the inventions. The first disclosure date may be priority date or filing date. There may be more than one priority date when the inventions are disclosed in more than one territory. The patenting activity of Nestle is segregated into first disclosure date and second disclosure date (if applicable). Figure 2 demonstrates the patenting activities over time; Number of filling for normal patent Number of filling for design patent year Figure 2: Patenting activities over timeline It is said that the study is aimed to evaluate the most recent innovation history of Nestle which incorporates the collection of paten data (published since 2007 to present). The inventions which are published on or after 2007 were first filed on or before The patenting record shows that the filing activity started from 1994 which gradually increases up to 2002 followed by a decline from Highest number of filing was recorded (36) in 2001 followed by 34 (2000), 19 (1999) and 13 (2002), respectively. 9

11 For the design patent, the filing trend was started from 2003; however highest number of filing of design patent was found in two successive years and After 2011, no information about the filing of design is recorded. Contribution from the Nestle subsidiaries: Nestle group is branched in to several parts: Nestle Purina Petcare, Nestle Waters management and technology, Nestle technology, Nestle research centre, Societe Des Produits Nestle S.A., The contributions for the inventions from each of these parts are recorded (Figure 3.); 1% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 17% 80% Nestle Japan LTD Societe Des Produits Nestle S.A Nestle Water Management and Technology Nestle Research Centre Nestle Technology Inc. Nestle Singapore Ltd. Nestle Purina Petcare Figure 3: Contributions from Nestle branches The maximum contribution (80%) on invention is noticed from Societe Des Produits Nestle S.A followed by significant involvement (17%) from Nestle Waters Management and Technology. The same trend is also shown for the design patents; around 84% of the design patents are owned by Societe Des Produits Nestle S.A and remained by Nestle Waters Management. Place of first filing: The study also covers the patenting activities over geographical scope which means the places where the inventions were first filed. Figure 4. represents the patenting activities of Nestle over geographical scopes. 10

12 Number of filling Patent Portfolio : Nestle EP US France GB Japan AT Singapore CL ZA Place of first filling Figure 4.- Patenting activities over geographical scope Highest numbers of inventions (95) from Nestle were filed through regional route- European Patent Office. Apart from EP, considerable numbers of inventions (49) were first filed in United States followed by France (9), Great Britain (9) and Japan (2), respectively. Each of Austria (AT), Singapore, Chile and South Africa (ZA) shared single filing of patent. Patent distribution under IPCs: Nestle Group is famous for food products. So, the inventions of food products must have one applicationeither useful for human or pets. Also, the productions of food products adopt several chemical processes. IPCs are introduced to evaluate the fields such as applications, processes. In this section, the patent analysis is conducted w.r.t. IPC (Figure. 5). 11

13 Number of Patents Patent Portfolio : Nestle A23F A23K A23L A23J A23G A23C C12N B65D A61P C12R A21D C08G A21C A47J B08B B67D C08J C12P F16L B29C A01H C12M B67D A01K B65B B01F G07F A23B International Patent Classification (IPCS) Figure 5: Patent distribution under several IPCS Maximum inventions (74) are categorized under A23F followed by A23K (59), A23L (45), A23J (39), A23G (26), A23C (22) and C12 N (18), respectively. Several inventions are found under B65D, A61P, C12R, A21D, and C08G etc. which indicates a wide range of research works performed by Nestle. Patent activity Vs. year and place of second filing: Several invention may have more than priority document such as second place of filing associated with filing year. For example, a patent application filed in US in March, 2010 and the same application/ modified application is filed in June, 2010 in Germany- then June, 2010 is considered as the year of second filing and in this case 1 st application and 2 nd application are belong to the same patent family. So, the evaluations of patenting activities Vs. year and place of second filing are important to find the patent families of the patents. Figure 6 summarizes a comparison between number of first filing and second filing in each year; 12

14 Number of first filling Number of second filling Figure 6: Comparison between first filing and second filing in each year Figure 6. shows a trend of second filing starting from 2000 to 2004 although a single invention was filed for second time in In addition to this, regional route (EP) was considered most preferable route of filing for second time. About 24 inventions were filed through EP for second time followed by filing place as the United States (6) and Great Britain (3), respectively. 13

15 3.2 Technical Analysis Mind map 1: Applications of inventions made from Nestle 14

16 Mind map 2: Applications of design patents 15

17 Mind Map 3: Applications of design patents 16

18 Mind Map 4: Products and compositions 17

19 Mind map 5: Products and compositions 18

20 Mind map 6: Process involved in several Nestle inventions 19

21 Mind map 7: Process involved in several Nestle inventions 20

22 Chapter 4 SWOT Analysis The SWOT analysis is a beneficial tool for strategy planning between a company and its environment. It outlines the internal assets of a company as well as its external factors by setting a framework for evaluation of strategy, position and the direction of a company. It is also useful for the strategic marketing planning, competitor evaluation, and business developments, current and future researches 15. It outlines the internal assets of a company as well as its external factors. Although, it is an easy analysis tool to configure the strategy of a company, the analysis can depend on personal cognition and subjective position. Generally, strengths and weakness are considered as the internal factors whereas opportunities and threats are the external factors of a company. The internal structure of a company include infrastructure, qualities of employee, financial assets, research and development while academic or industrial collaborations, domestic market, international markets, government policies, rules and regulations are considered as the external factors. Table 2 points out the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats of Nestle. 21 Strength Wide varieties of food products such as baby food, ice cream, confectionary, water, health food, pet care food with brand strengths High level of market share 16 Worldwide branches- branches are segregated into America, Europe and Asia/Oceania/Africa. Qualified and experienced professionals Strong research and development sectorapart from food technology also work on brain health 17, mobile apps18, water management. Several IPCs reflect the several fields of researches. Strong financial asset Weakness No evidence of strong collaboration among the inventors or among the subsidiaries of Nestle group. Most current rate of filing of innovation decline; so rate of grant of also falls. Complex supply chain management 19.

23 Opportunities Can expand its business by offering the products to smaller towns and other geographies Can expand its product options by offering more brands Collaborations with research organizations to work on several fields beyond food technology. Credit policy can be adopted to increase sales 20 Threats Food contamination Expensive raw materials 21 Trends of avoiding ice-creams, tea, coffee (beverages)- healthy eating habits can decrease the use of Nestle products. Growth of private labels Innovation discouraged by strict law and regulations Price fluctuations can discourage customers to purchase the Nestle product. 22

24 Chapter 5 Competitive Intelligence Competitive intelligence is a business tool of ethical gathering and refinement of data to make a strategic business decision for a company 13. It is an analysis to the members about the early warning of opportunities and threats 13. It provides the estimations and views of market which can help a company to pick itself up. From the taxonomy, it is shown that Nestle is the leading food product company which also has several design patents. In this section, a comparative analysis between Nestle and food product companies is made on the basis of the ranges of products, finance, research areas and future plans. Table 2 summarizes the information about Nestle and Mars Incorporated, Groupe Danone, Mondoleze International Inc. and Unilever. This competitive intelligence is based on the Company Product Ranges Infrastructure and Finance Research and Development Future plans Nestle Group Baby food, b o t t l e d water, cereal, chocolate and confectionary, dairy, drinks and food services, healthcare nutrition, ice cream, pet care, weight management, sports nutrition total financial assets million CHF (financial report, 2012) Worldwide offices with h i g h l y qualified professionals Several design patents on coffee machine, cup, microwave tray, pasta, chocolate bottle tea machine etc. Working on to improve the flavor of coffee, to improve the taste of chocolate, to provide pure mineral water through hygienic processing, to provide cereals with rich minerals and proteins. Also researched on pet food. Apart from food products, the researches are done on harmful pathogens of blood, gut health, obesity, sports nutrition. Working on bioplastics to use as packaging m a t e r i a l. Application of recyclable packaging; Plan to preserve natural waste for better packaging material planning to reduce water usage by 50% during the operation in the UK considering the unavailability of water across globe. Also aims to reduce the rate of carbon emission. 23

25 Company Product Ranges Infrastructure and Finance Research and Development Future plans Mars incorporated, American global food manufacturer Pet care, chocolate, Wrigley, food drinks 22 Net Asset US $ million (Annual report 2012), worldwide offices, worldwide m a r k e t d e m a n d of food products 22. more than 90% of sales come from wrigley, pet care and chocolate 22 as rice needs more water and emits green house gases; Mars incorporated collaborates with International Rice Research Inst. in Asia. Also aimed to improve rice nutrition 22. With IBM & US Dept. of Agriculture, Mars Inc. sequencing & annotating genome of cocoa in order to produce better quality of product in less time 22. Also work on animal behavior such as cats preference of food intake system during their pregnancy, dog s natural feeding behavior 22 Plan to eliminate fossil fuel energy and reduction of green house gas. Also plan to reduce water usage due to the scarcity of water 22. It creates opportunities for better future of famers who involve in cocoa production by providing additional financial back ups 22. Unilever Ice-cream, Teabased beverages, Spreads and cooking products, household care, Deodorants, hair care, personal wash,oral care a n d perfume 23 Net Asset US $ millions, world wide offices, strong corporate c u l t u r e, s t r o n g government and NGO collaboration; but less k n o w n brands 23. working on stem cells research to investigate potential roles of stem cells technology for consumers health 23 working on effect of chemical in ecosystem in South Africa 23. Research into global variation of crops into environmental ecosystem 23. Research on Triclosan, anti bacterial ingredients important in home or personal acre product 15. Research on tea, planning to work on wood useful for tea estates. Also, another study conducted on the effect of tea to reduce blood pressure 23 Reduction of water usage and fossial fuel and less elimination of fossil fuel 23. Palm oil is useful as pesticide; working to launch pesticide product 23. Spinach pilot project in Italy and Germany will help to produce i m p r o v e d quality of food products in less time

26 Company Product Ranges Infrastructure and Finance Research and Development Future plans Dannone Group French food manufacturer MNC. Fresh dairy products, b a b y nutrition, medical nutrition, waters 24 Current net income 1, 8, 1 8 million Euro, from last annual reportsales of 20 billion Euro 24. Working on Human microbiome in order to investigate the role of microbes on human health 1 st low calorie yogurt using Stevia extract 1 st green bottle- reduction of carbon foot print (40%), lighter bottles, R-PET and biomaterialsit contains 20% plant materials 24 based on breast milk composition, this company worked on a mixture of pre-biotics (Immunofortis) which helps to enhance the number of healthy bacteria in the gut of infants, reduce allergic symptoms, infection 24. Worked on rich protein medical nutrition product (Fortisip) 24 future plan to use of ingredients f r o m genetically modified plants 24 Reduction of paper based packaging weight by product 24 use of recycled fiber 24 Cultivation on palm oil to launch new product as pesticide 24. Reduction of water usage, fossil fuel 24. Mondolez International Inc. Biscuit, chocolate, beverage, gum and candy, cheese and dairy25 Net asset 75,478 million US $; among the entire productsbiscuits and cookies grab 27% of total revenue 25. Focused on medical nutrition products such as bvitamin 25. Improvement of the recipes of kraft kitchen 25 new innovation on Kraft Foods in Snacking with Kraft Milkbite Milk & Granola Bars 25 63% of American confessed about low energy in early morning 17. Remembering this information from survey, Belvita morning biscuit has been launched in the market to complete the daily nutrition 25. f u t u r e investement of 400 million US $ to improve the living and working conditions of people To produce foods with no artificial preservatives, flavours or colors 25 25

27 Company Product Ranges Infrastructure and Finance Research and Development Future plans General Mills B a k i n g product, cereals, dough pastries, fruit, ice-cream, meals, pasta, pizza, snack, s o u p, vegetable, yogurt 26 Net sales 16, 658 US $ 26, total asset 21,096 US $ 26 ; yogurt shows 8% growth in sales wrt to other products 26 working on cereals specially oats to provide better quality cereals considering the levels of daily calories 26. Also research on providing best medical supplement for diabetic patients 26 Promotion of naturevalley protein delicious snack and energy source 26 reduction of energy and water usage, reduction of waste 26 eliminations of several position within c o m p a n y globally; also look forward to work through partnerships 26 26

28 Chapter 6 Discussion Nestle is a global food manufacturing company which is also well-known for its extensive research quality in human health. To investigate the most current growth of Nestle, we have focused on the patents which are published between 2007 to Sept., 2013 and it provides 291 patents. The detailed analysis of patent information shows that the trends of grant of patent during our selected time frame become low although there is no significant trend for the rate of publication of inventions maintained by Nestle group during the said time frame. In order to investigate the trend of filing year- we have segregated the information of filing year into two first filing year and second filing year. The patents which are published on or after 2007, must be filed on or before Considering this fact, we have conducted a statistical analysis on the first filing year which provides three noteworthy information such as 1) the trend of filing year was started from 1995, 2) maximum number of filing (first file) was recorded in 2007 and 3) after 2007, the trend of filing decline. So, the patent (ES ) which was first filed in 1995, it took almost twelve years to publishthat means the Nestle will enjoy the benefit of this particular patent for less than 8 years. This specific patent was filed for second time in the same place (Great Britain) with similar filing date. Nestle has been preferring to file the patent through the disclosure in European Patent office (EP) which shows a compact market in Europe rather than any other part of the world which conflicts with Nestle s business report. Nestle has been mostly focusing on the preparation or manufacturing of tea, beverages followed by the pet food, foods with rich protein for human, chocolate products, dairy products etc. In addition to these, researches are going on enzymes to prepare alcoholic beverages through fermentation process, tissue culture technique to obtain plant extract, manufacturing of containers to carry the liquid or solid food stuffs. Minute details such as thermal insulation for the container to avoid any accident during the food production, rejoining or reshaping of plastic products to carry the food products. Nestle also applied for design patents over coffee machine, chocolate, pasta, jar, freezer, food package. Nestle has focused on fermentation and probiotics, extrusion, foam booster technology, and malt extraction technology. With the help of fermentation and probiotics, Nestle research centre has already sequenced several probiotic genomes in order to investigate their characteristics and mode of actions. Ice-cream, chocolate, breakfast cereals, snacks are used to produce by extrusion process while Nescafe Capucino is made under foam booster technology. Milo, a nutritional drink is processed under 27

29 malt extraction technique which generates less sucrose and complex carbohydrates within the product. The portion dispensing system is well-known for processing of beverages. Food contamination is a general threat for any food company. To avoid from any type of unexpected contamination, the checking of quality and safety is always being preferred. Nestle uses to perform ELISA, HPLC, UPLC, GCMS, LC-MS-MS and TOF-MS 7 to quantify the chemical compounds. In addition, the price hikes of raw materials play as a factor of major threat of Nestle although Nestle has taken strategy to overcome this threat. Nestle s 4-point strategy is based on trend predictions, replacement of ingredients, reduction of waste, and the involving of suppliers 2. However, innovation in the name of improvement of quality of food is always being a prime choice for Nestle and it is not possible without a balanced team of technical people, non technical people and passion for growth. 28

30 Reference 1. History. Available online Last access 09th Oct., Management. Available Online Last Access 09th Oct., Nestle. Annual Report Available online documents/library/documents/annual_reports/2012-annual-report-en.pdf Last Access 09th Oct., Brands. Available Online Last Access 09th Oct., Salt reduction at Nestle. Available Online attachment/u/0/?ui=2&ik=7004d55cc8&view=att&th=142a7a41b29bcedb&attid=0.1&di sp=inline&realattid=f_homgqi0y0&safe=1&zw&saduie=ag9b_p_s_ps-y_qmesyqkon 3fg4w&sadet= &sads=6YR7qXQ5f8h_KPjb8Q-Tfoiptz4 Last Access 30th Nov., Research and Development News. Available Online Last Access 09th Oct., Quality and safety. Last Access 31st Oct., Nestlé research identifies metabolic signature for long life. Available Online nestle.com/media/newsandfeatures/nrc-longevity-study Last Access 31st Oct., J. Wills, (2013), Nestle s Fairtrade Kit Kat boosts Ivory Coast farmers, Available Online Last Access 31st Oct., M. Boyle, (2013), Nestle s Sales Slowdown Seen Leading to Fewer Brands, Available Online Last Access 31st Oct.,

31 11. Nestlé scientists help to identify biomarkers for obesity-related health problems. LAst Access 31st Oct., Nestlé: The Infant Formula Controversy. Last Access 31st Oct., Controversial water deal between Nestle, Ontario government under review. toronto.ctvnews.ca/controversial-water-deal-between-nestle-ontario-government-underreview Last Access 31st Oct., MA Bader. (2007). Strategic Management Of Patent Portfolios. Patent Portfolios. Available Online Last Access 09th Oct., SWOT Analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Available online ctb.ku.edu/en/tablecontents/sub_section_main_1049.aspx Last Access 09th Oct., Last Access 30th Nov., New US acquisition for Nestlé Health Science will strengthen Brain Health and Metabolic Health portfolios with new medical foods. nhsc-acquires-pamlab Last Access 15th Oct., Sports enthusiasts can meet their match with new Milo mobile app. Available Online last Access 15th Oct., Nestlé becomes first food company to partner with the Fair Labor Association. nestle.com/media/newsandfeatures/fair_labour_association Last access 15th Oct., Chairman s and Corporate Governance Committee Charter of Nestlé S.A. nestle.com/asset-library/documents/library/documents/corporate_governance/ CHAIRMANS-AND-CORPORATE-GOVERNANCE-COMMITTEE%20-%20April% pdf Last Access 15th Oct., J. Halliday. [2011]. CEO shares how Nestle copes with raw material price hikes. foodnavigator.com/financial-industry/ceo-shares-how-nestle-copes-with-raw-materialprice-hikes Last Access 15th Oct., Last Access 31st Oct.,

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