In Search of Value Creation: Innovate. Elevate. Inspire. (27 IESE Food & Beverage)

The 27 IESE Food & Beverage Industry Meeting focused on creating value within the Food & Beverage industry, a considerable challenge, in the words of Antonella Sottero, Managing Director at Ferrero Ibérica, who exposed that a brand's value lies in its ability to bring value to society.
Marta González-Mesones, Managing Director at Unilever España, stated that if a brand wants to have value forever, it must be consistent and true to the essence of its value proposition but also know how to adapt to consumer evolution.
Ana Aguilar, Chief Economist at Deloitte España, affirmed that building resilience is necessary. Still, it cannot be at the cost of efficiency nor the benefits of specialization that globalization has brought.
Enrique Domínguez, Partner Responsible for the Consumer Goods and Distribution sector at Deloitte Spain and Meeting Co-organizer, pointed out that inflation has been very hard for the sector and that managing an income statement while rising costs hasn't been simple.
Nuria Pedraza, Director of Communications, Institutional Relations, and Public Affairs at AECOC, highlighted that the current European legislature has 600 delegated acts on sustainability. Because of this, Javier Solans, Vice-Chair at Ecoembes, added that the only feasible way for companies to face this is to foster competitiveness and sustainability in parallel.
For Jordi Gual, Professor at IESE Business School, the only way to maximize long-term benefits is to incorporate the concerns of the workers, customers, and the general public into the business strategy.
Rosa Maria Carabel, CEO at Eroski, focused on paying the same attention to talent as to the "why" of a project. And Prof. Miquel Lladó, Academic Director of the Meeting, insisted on this because he believes talent development will bring long-term results.
Carmina Chia, Development and People Management Corporate Director at Vall Companys, insisted that managing projects like a jazz band without too many protocols and hierarchy increases the process's profitability.
The other big topic discussed during the meeting was artificial intelligence, which, according to Prof. Miquel Lladó, Academic Director of the Meeting, will help us be more efficient and faster and will alleviate monotonies in areas like transportation, logistics, and warehouses.
Álvaro Ortín, Partner of AI & Data at Deloitte, said that all this is not science fiction; it's here now. That's why Manuel Neumann, Global Head of Data Science at Red Bull, insisted on being less afraid and getting started.
Sandra Sieber, Professor at IESE Business School, remarked that everyone knows we must digitalize, but it's also essential to understand the difference between digitization and digital transformation. Eduardo Sanchez-Colorado, CEO at SCRM Lidl International Hub, exemplified this difference. Digital transformation uses technology to make processes more efficient and scalable, but the moment another retailer asks for that software, that's digital transformation: generating new business models on top of the digital transformation shift.
To know more: https://industrymeetings.iese.edu