Unlocking Brand Advantage: The Mediating Role of Green Development in the ESG–Brand Competitiveness Nexus of Food Enterprises

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-801-6_76How to use a DOI?

Keywords

ESG; Brand Competitiveness; Green Development; Mediating Role; Food Industry

Abstract

In the global drive for sustainable development, ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) has become the key force pushing food companies to shift to green development. This paper studies how food companies use ESG to boost green development and then improve their brand competitiveness, and it has important practical value. Taking Nestlé Group, a global leader in the food industry, as a case, the paper analyzes the company’s ESG-based green practices, their effects, the problems faced and possible ways to make things better. The study finds that following ESG ideas can drive green development, and green development in turn strengthens brand competitiveness by building a better brand reputation, raising operational efficiency and becoming an industry leader. However, Nestlé also met some big problems in its ESG green transformation: green practices were rolled out unevenly across different regions; heavy early investment in green development brought pressure on short-term profits; and the low-carbon transformation of the supply chain and the reduction of Scope 3 emissions made slow progress. To solve these problems, the paper puts forward targeted solutions: make different green strategies for different regions, optimize green investment plans, adjust market positioning, and work with different stakeholders to cut carbon in the supply chain. This paper makes clear the inner link between ESG, green development, and brand competitiveness. It provides practical ways for food companies to carry out ESG transformation and offers ideas for the sustainable development of the whole industry.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Xingyu Liu
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/23
TI  - Unlocking Brand Advantage: The Mediating Role of Green Development in the ESG–Brand Competitiveness Nexus of Food Enterprises
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 2nd International Conference on Financial Innovation and Marketing Management (FIMM 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 720
EP  - 729
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-801-6_76
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-801-6_76
ID  - Liu2026
ER  -