Executive Summary

The aim of this report is to focus on the major decision that the management team of Nestlé had to take in determining whether to introduce the Partners’ Blend Coffee into the UK market with their own Nestlé Initiative or to introduce the coffee into the market with Fairtrade certification.

This decision was prompted by the feedback they received from their customers to introduce a coffee line that has Fairtrade certification. The main idea of the Fairtrade movement is to address issues of unfair conventional trade practices that discriminate against the poorest and weakest producers in order to empower them to improve their position and have more control over their lives.

In the course of analyzing where to introduce Partners’ Blend, the management decided to incorporate it with Nestlé UK because the UK has a natural desire to donate to other less fortunate nations especially as they are a relatively wealthy nation. As a result, many charity organizations have their headquarters in UK.

This report would analyze the challenges and opportunities that Nestlé should consider in making the final decision to introduce the coffee either with or without the Fairtrade logo. It includes analyzing the power of suppliers, consumers, the competitive rivalry, the threat of substitute goods and the threat of new entrants when they want to take advantage of the opportunity to position Nestlé in a positive light with ethical coffee line.

This report concludes with analyzing the risks and benefits of the potential responses that Nestlé management should consider in making the final decision. These are for them to decide to introduce the coffee with the Fairtrade Label and forget their own initiatives; they could consider to launch the coffee with Nestlé initiatives and forego the Fairtrade label; they could also respond by accepting both Fairtrade