“Major Offensive From Nestlé"

Martial Rolland, who has been Nestlé Turkey General Manager forapproximately 2.5 years, says that the company ranks first in most of the categories in which it has a presence in Turkey and he adds: “In commodity-type categories we are still quite small. In these educate and train the consumer. For example, itcategories we really need to is essential that we bring more consumers to instant coffee.”  
 
Rolland says that the company has set a target of increasing its turnover to US$500 by 2009 when it will celebrate its centenary in Turkey. He argues that in order to do this they need to grow quickly each year by two steps at a time. The interview with Capital was the first that Martial Rolland had given to anyone in Turkey. He says that they are working on contents, components which will bring new things to the consumer.  
 
He stresses that after this they want to turn to things which add nutritional value to renovated products and they are working to realize this in Turkey. He continues: “Our main, qualitative target is to become a real nutritional and wellness company. Martial Rolland told Capital about the Turkish foodstuffs market and Nestlé’s plans and targets and analyzed the Turkish consumer. l What is Nestlé’s position today in different categories? Can you evaluate this position?  
 
To be honest, we are not satisfied or happy with the position we have in the categories. A company’s greatest enemy is thinking that everything is okay. In some categories we are the leader by some margin. Of course we want to be the leader. We have an important track record in Turkey. We are currently the biggest foodstuffs company in the world but unfortunately this is not the situation in Turkey.  
 
For this reason there is a little disappointment. As a result there are still a lot of things for us to do in Turkey. In most of the categories in which we have a presence we are ranked either first or second. When one looks at it like this, the situation does not look bad at all. But at the same time we are still quite small in commodity-type categories. In these categories we really need to educate the consumer. For example, instant coffee is an extremely small category.  
 
We need to bring more consumers to this category. There is a great oppor tunity here. Because instant coffee was created by Nestlé in 1938. We have always been in the forefront of the production technology for this coffee. This product is not an easy one and it needs a lot of technology. In addition to technology we are also leaders in terms of resources. We know where the coffee beans come from. We have a very good agricultural service. We know that our coffee beans are of the best quality.  
 
We have accumulated considerable knowledge about instant coffee as a product and the technology we use its production is very advanced. As a result, our presence in the market is with unrivalled, very successful products.  
 
l What will you do in this situation? Do you have a set strategy?  
 
All of these positive factors that we have should help us to grow in this category in Turkey and attract more people to this category. We should increase our market share in categories in which we are not yet the leader. Because, as I said before, we are still not satisfied. We should grow rapidly in 2004, two steps at a time. At the same time 2009 will represent our centenary in Turkey. We opened our first office in 1909. As a result, we are probably one of the oldest multinationals in Turkey.  We should have many things to say to the consumer in our centenary year.