By $2023,$ single$-$use water bottles continued to be a source of plastic waste that heavily polluted the Earth$$s environment. Despite the widespread acceptance and use of refillable water bottles by consumers, plastic bottle waste was expected to continue to mount if the bottled water industry failed to implement packaging improvements. Companies operating in the plastic bottled water industry had come under considerable stakeholder scrutiny to rethink their packaging strategy. Nestl$$ S$.$A$.,$ PepsiCo Inc., The Coca$-$Cola Company, and Primo Water Corporation comprised $55\mathrm{.}7$ percent of the U$.$S$.$ bottled water industry. PepsiCo and The Coca$-$Cola Company had already taken baby steps to reduce their impact on the environment via plant$-$based plastic bottles, but most other companies, including Nestl$,$ took a different approach.

Nestl$$ had announced that $100$ percent of its packaging would be recyclable or reusable by $2025.$ Nestl$$ had also set a nonfinancial key performance indicator to cut the use of virgin plastics in their packaging by a third by $2025.$ As of $2021,$ Nestl$$ claimed it had already reduced its use of virgin plastics by $8\mathrm{.}1$ percent and said it was on target of reaching its $2025$ goal of reducing virgin plastics use.

For this case study assignment, after reading the case, and using your critical thinking skills, discuss the following questions using at least four citations and at least two outside references:

Discuss whether Nestl$$ operates in a socially responsible manner based on the five components of a socially responsible strategy depicted in Figure $9\mathrm{.}2$ in Chapter $9$ and how does it compare to its competition

Discuss what the operating and financial data in case exhibits $13$ reveal about Nestl$$s recent performance

Discuss why Nestl$$ links rewards and incentives to strategically important employee behaviors, and the company$$s targeted sustainability outcomes

Discuss the specific recommendations regarding bottled water packaging would you make to management to increase Nestl$$s triple$-$bottom$-$line performance? Provide a justification for these recommendations based on the outlook for Nestl$$ and the attendant risks