Item 1. Business
Item 1. Business.
General
Mondelēz International’s purpose is to empower people to snack right. We sell our products in over 150 countries around the world. We are one of the world’s largest snack companies with global net revenues of $28.7 billion and net earnings of $4.3 billion in 2021. We make and sell primarily snacks, including biscuits (cookies, crackers and salted snacks), chocolate, gum & candy, as well as various cheese & grocery and powdered beverage products. Our portfolio includes snack brands such as Cadbury, Milka and Toblerone chocolate; Oreo, belVita and LU biscuits ; Halls candy; Trident gum and Tang powdered beverages.
We strive to create a positive impact on the world and communities in which we operate while driving business performance. Our goal is to lead the future of snacking around the world by offering the right snack, for the right moment, made the right way. We aim to deliver a broad range of delicious, high-quality snacks that nourish life’s moments, made with sustainable ingredients and packaging that consumers can feel good about. We remain committed to driving longstanding and enduring positive change in the world.
Mondelēz International at a Glance
Strategy
We aim to be the global leader in snacking by focusing on growth, execution and culture. Our strategic plan builds on our strong foundations, including our unique portfolio of iconic global and local brands, our attractive global footprint, our market leadership in developed and emerging markets, our deep innovation, marketing and distribution capabilities, and our profit dollar expansion in recent years that allows us to make ongoing investments in our brands and capabilities.
Our plan to drive long-term growth includes three strategic priorities:
• Accelerate consumer-centric growth. Our consumers are the reason we want to be the best snacking company in the world, and we put them at the heart of everything we do. With our consumers in mind, we are focused on accelerating growth by investing in both our global and local brands. We are working to implement innovative ideas and programs, drive growth in new channels, and build and develop new and existing partnerships that serve our consumers. As demands on consumers’ time increase and consumer eating habits evolve, we aim to meet consumers' snacking needs. We plan to test, learn and scale new product offerings quickly to meet diverse and evolving local and global snacking demand.
• Drive operational excellence. Our operational excellence and continuous improvement plans include a special focus on the consumer-facing areas of our business and optimizing our sales, marketing and customer service efforts. To drive productivity gains and cost improvements across our business, we also
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plan to continue leveraging our global shared services platform, driving greater efficiencies in our supply chain and applying strong cost discipline across our operations. We expect the improvements and efficiencies we drive will fuel our growth and continue to expand profit dollars. At the same time, we are continuing our efforts to sustainably source key ingredients, reduce our end-to-end environmental impact and innovate our processes and packaging to reduce waste and promote recycling.
• Build a winning growth culture. To support the acceleration of our growth, we are becoming more agile, digital and local-consumer focused. We are committed to investing in a diverse and talented workforce that helps our business move forward with greater speed and agility. We empower our local teams to innovate and deliver consumers’ snacking needs while continuing to leverage our global scale to efficiently support our growth strategy. We have given our local teams more autonomy to drive commercial and innovation plans as they are closer to the needs and desires of consumers. We will continue to leverage the efficiency and scale of our regional operating units while empowering our local and commercial operations to respond faster to changing consumer preferences and capitalize on growth opportunities. Our digital transformation program will also help to enable consumer demand and sales opportunities. We believe our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and operating and cultural shifts to continue building a winning growth culture will help drive profitable top-line growth.
We run our business with a long-term perspective, and we believe the successful delivery of our strategic plan will drive top- and bottom-line growth and enable us to create long-term value for our shareholders.
In addition, we also continue to focus significant efforts to drive progress against our core initiatives for more sustainable and mindful snacking. For the last several years, we have been following the principles of the Science Based Targets initiative (“SBTi”) as we continued to measure our greenhouse gas footprint, worked to reduce our emissions and accelerated our existing sustainability initiatives to become a more sustainable snacking company. In November 2021, we set a goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions across our full value chain (including Scope 1 through 3 greenhouse gas emissions) by 2050. We have signed the SBTi’s Business Ambition for 1.5°C , aligning our long-term emissions mitigation goals with the aim of limiting temperature rise in accordance with the Paris Agreement, the 2015 international treaty on climate change. We also joined the United Nations Race to Zero campaign to help build momentum toward a decarbonized economy. These goals are a strategic priority and help guide us as we continue our sustainability work to drive lasting progress at scale and create long-term value for the business and our stakeholders. We continue to report on our progress in our annual Snacking Made Right report, where we discuss our performance against our environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) goals and initiatives. Please also see our Sustainability and Mindful Snacking section below.
In 2020 and 2021, while the COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected economies, marketplaces, communities and businesses around the world, including ours, we prioritized our employees, customers and communities and largely continued to execute against our strategic priorities. In this way, we positioned ourselves to emerge stronger. Please refer to our COVID-19 discussion in Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations for more information.
Global Operations
We sell our products in over 150 countries and have operations in approximately 80 countries, including 131 manufacturing and processing facilities across 45 countries. The portion of our net revenues generated outside the United States was 75.1% in 2021, 73.2% in 2020 and 74.4% in 2019. For more information on our U.S. and non-U.S. operations, refer to Note 18, Segment Reporting; on our manufacturing and other facilities, refer to Item 2, Properties ; and risks related to our operations outside the United States, see Item 1A, Risk Factors .
We also monitor our revenue growth across emerging markets and developed markets—
• Our emerging markets include our Latin America region in its entirety; the Asia, Middle East and Africa (“AMEA”) region, excluding Australia, New Zealand and Japan; and the following countries from the Europe region: Russia, Ukraine, Türkiye, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, the Baltics and the East Adriatic countries.
• Our developed markets include the entire North America region, the Europe region excluding the countries included in the emerging markets definition, and Australia, New Zealand and Japan from the AMEA region.
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Operating Segments
Our operations and management structure are organized into four operating segments:
• Latin America
• AMEA
• Europe
• North America
We manage our operations by region to leverage regional operating scale, manage different and changing business environments more effectively and pursue growth opportunities as they arise across our key markets. Our regional management teams have responsibility for the business, product categories and financial results in the regions.
We use segment operating income to evaluate segment performance and allocate resources. We believe it is appropriate to disclose this measure to help investors analyze segment performance and trends. For a definition and reconciliation of segment operating income to consolidated pre-tax earnings as well as other information on our segments, see Note 18, Segment Reporting .
Our segment net revenues for each of the last three years were:
For the Years Ended December 31,
2021 2020 2019
(in millions)
Net revenues:
Latin America $ 2,797 $ 2,477 $ 3,018
AMEA 6,465 5,740 5,770
Europe 11,156 10,207 9,972
North America 8,302 8,157 7,108
$ 28,720 $ 26,581 $ 25,868
Our segment operating income for each of the last three years was:
For the Years Ended December 31,
2021 2020 2019
(in millions, except percentages)
Segment operating income:
Latin America $ 261 5.5 % $ 189 4.3 % $ 341 8.1 %
AMEA 1,054 22.0 % 821 18.8 % 691 16.4 %
Europe 2,092 43.8 % 1,775 40.6 % 1,732 41.1 %
North America 1,371 28.7 % 1,587 36.3 % 1,451 34.4 %
$ 4,778 100.0 % $ 4,372 100.0 % $ 4,215 100.0 %
Please see Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations for items affecting the comparability of results and a review of our operating results.
Product Categories
Our brands span five product categories:
• Biscuits (including cookies, crackers and salted snacks)
• Chocolate
• Gum & candy
• Beverages
• Cheese & grocery
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During 2021, our segments contributed to our net revenues in the following product categories:
Percentage of 2021 Net Revenues by Product Category
Segment Biscuits Chocolate Gum &
Candy Beverages Cheese & Grocery Total
Latin America 2.8 % 2.6 % 2.0 % 1.3 % 1.1 % 9.8 %
AMEA 7.8 % 8.3 % 2.8 % 1.9 % 1.7 % 22.5 %
Europe 11.6 % 20.4 % 2.1 % 0.4 % 4.3 % 38.8 %
North America 24.9 % 1.0 % 3.0 % — % — % 28.9 %
47.1 % 32.3 % 9.9 % 3.6 % 7.1 % 100.0 %
Within our product categories, classes of products that contributed 10% or more to consolidated net revenues were:
For the Years Ended December 31,
2021 2020 2019
Biscuits - Cookies and crackers 37 % 39 % 37 %
Chocolate - Tablets, bars and other 32 % 31 % 32 %
Seasonality
Demand for our products is generally balanced over the second and third quarters of the year and increases in the first and fourth quarters primarily because of holidays and other seasonal events. Depending on the timing of Easter, the holiday sales may shift between and affect net revenue in the first and second quarter.
Customers
We generally sell our products to supermarket chains, wholesalers, supercenters, club stores, mass merchandisers, distributors, convenience stores, gasoline stations, drug stores, value stores and other retail food outlets. We also sell products directly to businesses and consumers through various pure play e-retail platforms, retailer digital platforms, our Direct to Consumer websites and social media platforms.
No single customer accounted for 10% or more of our net revenues from continuing operations in 2021. Our five largest customers accounted for 16.7% and our ten largest customers accounted for 23.0% of net revenues from continuing operations in 2021. For a discussion of long-term demographics, consumer trends and demand, refer to our Financial Outlook within Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations .
Distribution and Marketing
We distribute our products through direct store delivery, company-owned and satellite warehouses, distribution centers, third party distributors and other facilities. We use the services of independent sales offices and agents in some of our international locations. Through our global digital commerce organization and capabilities, we pursue online growth with partners in key markets around the world, including both pure e-tailers and omni-channel retailers. We continue to invest in advertising and consumer promotions, talent and digital capabilities. Our digital commerce channel strategies play a critical role in our ambition to be the global leader in snacking.
We conduct marketing efforts through three principal sets of activities: (i) consumer marketing and advertising including digital and social media, on-air, print, outdoor and other product promotions; (ii) consumer sales incentives such as coupons and rebates; and (iii) trade promotions to support price features, displays and other merchandising of our products by our customers.
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Research, Development and Innovation
We work to understand consumer needs and deliver snacks with consistent quality and taste. We continue to invest in a global network of technical centers to research and support our growth while continuing to innovate our processes. Our innovation and new product development objectives include continuous improvement in food safety and quality, growth through new products, superior consumer satisfaction and reduced production costs. Our innovation efforts focus on anticipating consumer demands and adapting quickly to changing market trends. We work to test-and-learn new ideas and implement successful ones into other areas of our business. Mindful snacking and sustainability are a significant focus of our current research and development initiatives. We work to introduce new varieties of our core products, including new taste or nutrition profiles based on consumer preferences, such as Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate bars with 30% less sugar, Sugar-free Oreos and the Cadbury Plant Bar , a vegan (100% plant-based) sustainably-sourced cocoa chocolate bar wrapped in plant-based packaging. We aim to address consumer needs and market trends and leverage scalable innovation platforms, sustainability programs and breakthrough technologies in order to delight our consumers and fuel our growth. We are focusing our technical research and development resources at 12 technical centers around the globe to drive growth, creativity, greater effectiveness, improved efficiency and accelerated project delivery.
We also have a dedicated innovation and venture hub, SnackFutures, which is designed to capitalize on consumer trends and emerging growth opportunities in well-being snacks. The group’s priorities support incremental growth against three key strategic areas: invent new brands and businesses, invest in early stage entrepreneurs, and amplify SnackFutures’ impact with the CoLab start-up engagement program built to provide start-ups with tools, technologies and expertise that can help them learn, grow and succeed.
Competition
We face competition in all aspects of our business. Competitors include large multinational as well as numerous local and regional companies, including new start-up brands and businesses. Some competitors have different profit objectives and investment time horizons than we do and therefore may approach pricing and promotional decisions differently. We compete based on product quality, brand recognition and loyalty, service, product innovation, taste, convenience, nutritional value, the ability to identify and satisfy consumer preferences, effectiveness of digital and other sales and marketing, routes to market and distribution networks, promotional activity and price. Growing our market share or introducing a new product requires substantial research, development, advertising and promotional expenditures. We believe these investments lead to better products and stronger brands for the consumer and support our growth and market position.
Raw Materials and Packaging
We purchase and use large quantities of commodities, including cocoa, dairy, wheat, palm and other vegetable oils, sugar and other sweeteners, flavoring agents and nuts. In addition, we purchase and use significant quantities of packaging materials to package our products and natural gas, fuels and electricity for our factories and warehouses. We monitor worldwide supply, commodity cost and currency trends so we can sustainably and cost-effectively secure ingredients, packaging and fuel required for production.
A number of external factors such as changing weather patterns and conditions, commodity market conditions, effects from the current COVID-19 global pandemic, supply chain disruptions, currency fluctuations and the effects of governmental agricultural or other programs affect the cost and availability of raw materials and agricultural materials used in our products. We address higher commodity costs and currency impacts primarily through hedging, higher pricing and manufacturing and overhead cost control. We use hedging techniques to limit the impact of fluctuations in the cost of our principal raw materials; however, we may not be able to fully hedge against commodity cost changes, and our hedging strategies may not protect us from increases in specific raw material costs.
Due to factors noted above, the costs of our principal raw materials can fluctuate. During late 2021 in particular, commodity costs have primarily increased due to recent supply chain disruptions. We expect commodity cost volatility to continue, and our commodity hedging activities cannot fully offset this volatility. Despite the recent and expected supply chain, transportation and labor disruptions, at this time, we believe there will continue to be an adequate supply of the raw materials we use and that they will generally remain available. However, we continue to monitor the near-term and long-term impacts of the pandemic, supply chain disruptions, climate change and related factors that could affect the availability or cost of raw materials, packaging and energy. For additional information,
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refer to Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and Commodity Trends . For information on our ongoing sustainability efforts and programs, refer to Sustainability and Mindful Snacking below.
Human Capital
We believe the strength of our workforce is one of the significant contributors to our success as a global company that leads with purpose. All our employees contribute to our success and help us drive strong financial performance. Attracting, developing and retaining global talent with the right skills to drive our business is central to our purpose, mission and long-term growth strategy.
Workforce Profile : Consistent with 2020, at December 31, 2021, we had approximately 79,000 employees. At December 31, 2021, we had approximately 11,000 U.S. employees and approximately 68,000 employees outside the United States, with employees represented by labor unions or workers’ councils representing approximately 28% of our U.S. employees and approximately 61% of our employees outside the United States.
Workplace Safety and Wellness : We promote a strong culture of safety and prioritize keeping all our employees, contractors and visitors safe. To accomplish this, we employ comprehensive health, safety and environment management policies and standards throughout the organization. In addition, we strive to continuously improve our work processes, tools and metrics to reduce workplace injuries and enhance safety.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have implemented strict health and safety protocols and taken appropriate measures in our facilities, including implementing temperature screening, social distancing, mask-wearing and work-from-home policies where applicable. As local governments began planning their vaccine rollout programs, we developed and deployed a three-phased vaccine advocacy strategy to understand intent, drive interest and secure vaccine availability for our colleagues all around the world. We will continue to employ a flexible approach to how and where we work for our office-based employees, focusing on new ways of working in the workplace that enables colleagues to work remotely when appropriate and evolves our office spaces to foster great connection and collaboration.
Culture and Employee Engagement: We conduct confidential engagement surveys of our global workforce that are administered and analyzed by an independent third party. Aggregate survey results are reviewed by executive officers and the Board of Directors. We create action plans at global, regional, functional and managerial levels. By acting on results both at an aggregate enterprise level and a department/business/work group level, we have been able to enhance our culture and improve our overall engagement.
We believe this reflects our ongoing efforts during the pandemic to focus on our employees, their well-being and the issues that matter to them. In 2021, we had over 12,000 colleagues actively participating in training that supported their well-being and provided them with new tools and resources to support remote work. We also launched initiatives to further agile ways of working and streamline decision-making processes to enhance productivity and employee engagement. We continue to build a winning growth culture and continue our commitment to work on the areas that matter to our people and build on our momentum.
Total Rewards : As part of our total rewards philosophy, we offer competitive compensation and benefits to attract and retain top talent. Our compensation programs are designed to reinforce our growth agenda and talent strategy as well as drive a strong connection between the contributions of our employees and their pay. We believe the structure of our compensation packages provides the appropriate incentives to attract, retain and motivate our employees. Further, to foster a strong sense of ownership and align the interests of employees with shareholders, we grant stock-based incentives to most senior-level employees.
We also continue to evolve our programs to meet our employees’ health and wellness needs. We provide access to medical and welfare benefits and offer programs to all employees that support work-life balance, including paid parental leave, as well as financial, physical and mental health resources.
We are committed to equal pay for equal work, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity or other personal characteristics. To deliver on that commitment, we benchmark and set pay ranges based on market data and consider various factors such as an employee’s role and experience, job location and performance. We also regularly review our compensation practices to promote fair and equitable pay.
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With the support of an independent third-party expert in this field, we conduct global pay equity reviews for salaried employees comparing employees in the same pay grade within a country/area to help identify any unsupported distinctions in pay between employees of different genders and races (as permitted by local country law).
Our last global analysis in 2021 encompassed 81 countries and over 32,000 employees. From this analysis, we noted our pay gap between male and female employees was less than 1%. We anticipate this gap will further decrease through pay adjustments for employees identified during the review. In the United States, we also review pay for salaried employees in the same pay grade by race/ethnicity (Asian, Black and Hispanic). The 2021 independent analysis found no systemic issues and no negative pay gap between non-white and white employees.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion : Diversity, equity & inclusion (“DE&I”) significantly contributes to our winning growth culture. We work to reflect the diversity of ideas and people in our world and to maximize the power and potential of our employees.
In addition, we have many communities and sponsored programs tailored for our diverse workforce, including those that foster gender and race equality. At the end of 2021, women held 39.3% of global management roles (defined as Director and above) and 27.3% of executive leadership roles (defined as the Management Leadership Team plus one level below). In September 2020, we announced our goal to double Black representation in our U.S. management team by 2024, and we are exceeding our expected annual progress toward that goal. For our U.S. leadership, Black employees held 5.1% of management roles (defined as Director and above) at the end of 2021 and 3.2% at the end of 2020.
Our DE&I commitment is led from the top and driven throughout the organization by our Management Leadership Team, Board of Directors and Mondelēz Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Steering Committee. As an important step in our DE&I journey, we established a team, including C-suite officers and other key senior leaders, charged with collectively setting the strategy and DE&I commitments across the organization.
We also include specific DE&I metrics as a part of the strategic scorecard within our annual incentive plan for our CEO and other senior leaders. The scorecard is used consistently across the Company at both the corporate and region level and is linked directly to the three pillars of our strategy – growth, execution and culture.
As a global employer, we recognize and value differences and are championing DE&I around the world. We are creating local and global opportunities to further racial equity and economic empowerment by expanding our DE&I initiatives across three key areas: colleagues, culture and communities. These opportunities include mobilizing our consumer-facing brands and leveraging our partnerships with agencies and advertising platforms to drive change, equity and inclusion.
Talent Management and Development: Maintaining a robust pipeline of talent is crucial to our ongoing success and is a key aspect of succession planning efforts across the organization. Our leadership and people teams are responsible for attracting and retaining top talent by facilitating an environment where employees feel supported and encouraged in their professional and personal development. Specifically, we promote employee development by reviewing strategic positions regularly and identifying potential internal candidates to fill those roles, evaluating job skill sets to identify competency gaps and creating developmental plans to facilitate employee professional growth. We invest in our employees through training and development programs, on the job experiences, coaching, as well as tuition reimbursement for a majority of our employees in the United States to promote continued professional growth. We provide technical and leadership programs across the organization that enable colleagues to grow skills and capabilities to become more successful. We also have dedicated talent programs that support and accelerate leadership development and strengthen our succession plans. Additionally, we understand the importance of maintaining competitive compensation, benefits and appropriate training that provides growth, developmental opportunities and multiple career paths within the Company.
For additional detail on DE&I, our workplace safety practices and measurements and workplace wellness, please see our latest Snacking Made Right report on our website and our upcoming 2021 report, which we expect to publish in May 2022.
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Sustainability and Mindful Snacking
Our mission is to lead the future of snacking by creating snacks the right way for both people and planet. We are focused on making our snacks more sustainably by using ingredients consumers know and trust, using less energy and water and creating less waste. Our mindful snacking strategy aims to encourage consumers to snack with moderation through portion control offerings and portion size labeling, and we continue to evolve our portfolio to meet consumers’ needs. We have specific goals and continue to make progress and scale our efforts to deliver meaningful change. By living our purpose to empower people to snack right, we believe we can continue to have a positive impact on the lives of our consumers and the world around us.
We have been focused on sustainability for many years and are committed to making a meaningful difference, including in reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. In our end-to-end assessment of our supply chain from suppliers to consumers, raw ingredient sourcing (including primarily cocoa, dairy, wheat, palm and other vegetable oils) and related land use is the predominant contributor to our Scope 1 through 3 estimated greenhouse gas emissions. We have been continuing to work to reduce emissions and in November 2021, we announced our goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions across our full value chain (including Scope 1 through 3 greenhouse gas emissions) by 2050.
“Net zero emissions” refers to achieving a balance between greenhouse gas emissions released through human activities and those removed from the atmosphere. Getting to net zero emissions means we plan to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with SBTi mitigation pathways, using low-carbon technologies and agricultural practices. In line with the SBTi net zero protocol, we would then neutralize the impact of any residual emissions that cannot be eliminated by permanently removing an equivalent amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide, such as through certified greenhouse gas emission reduction projects and sequestration. To date, we have not focused on using carbon credits or similar instruments, and our priority is to continue to reduce our emissions in line with the SBTi protocol. Our strategies could change over time through 2050 as new emission reduction options become available.
As we work to accomplish these goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across our full value chain, we are focused on helping to expand the use of regenerative agricultural methods, preserve forested protected lands, conserve resources such as water and energy and foster safe and equitable workplaces and communities. We continue to expand our raw material sourcing programs, such as Cocoa Life for cocoa and Harmony for wheat, and leverage our supplier relationships and industry-sector coalitions to promote the use of new agricultural methods and technologies and tools focused on improving yields and reducing related greenhouse gas emissions. Within our operations, we plan to increase our use of low-carbon technology to reduce emissions and increase our use of renewable energy. We also plan to invest in low-carbon solutions as we replace ovens and refrigerants and increase our use of recycled plastic and other types of packaging materials.
In addition to our 2050 net zero greenhouse gas emissions goal, our 2025 sustainability and mindful snacking goals include:
• Reducing food waste in manufacturing, end-to-end CO 2e emissions and priority water usage
• Designing all packaging to be recyclable
• Scaling our Cocoa Life sustainability program so that Cocoa Life will produce 100% of the cocoa volume we require for our chocolate brands
• Growing portion control products to 20% of snacks net revenues
• Including mindful snacking portion information on all packages globally by 2025
In September 2021, we issued our first green bonds, raising nearly €2.0 billion or approximately $2.4 billion, further enabling us to cost-effectively fund eligible projects that align with our sustainability priorities in the areas of building a thriving ingredient supply chain and reducing our environmental impact.
The Governance, Membership and Sustainability Committee of our Board of Directors oversees our environmental and social sustainability and well-being initiatives. Our ESG goals are part of our strategic planning process and are also embedded across our organization and within our annual incentive compensation program for our leadership. Our businesses and senior leaders work to deliver progress that is regularly reviewed with business leadership teams and our Board of Directors.
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We discuss our ESG goals and programs in detail in our annual Snacking Made Right ESG report available on our website. Under Snacking Made Right - Reporting and Disclosure , we also publish an ESG disclosure data sheet that outlines our alignment with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (“SASB”) and Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (“TCFD”) reporting frameworks. We also provide our CDP Climate Change , Water Security and Forests annual disclosures.
We have been recognized for our ongoing economic, environmental and social contributions. Each year since we created Mondelēz International in 2012 we have been listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (“DJSI”) – World and North American Indices. The DJSI selects the top 10% of global companies and top 20% of North American companies based on an extensive review of financial and sustainability programs within each industry. We are at the 96th percentile of our industry according to the latest DJSI report issued in November 2021.
Intellectual Property
Our intellectual property rights (including trademarks, patents, copyrights, registered designs, proprietary trade secrets, recipes, technology and know-how) are material to our business.
We own numerous trademarks and patents in many countries around the world. Depending on the country, trademarks remain valid for as long as they are in use or their registration status is maintained. Trademark registrations generally are renewable for fixed terms. We also have patents for a number of current and potential products. Our patents cover inventions ranging from packaging techniques to processes relating to specific products and to the products themselves. Our issued patents extend for varying periods according to the date of patent application filing or grant and the legal term of patents in the various countries where patent protection is obtained. The actual protection afforded by a patent, which can vary from country to country, depends upon the type of patent, the scope of its coverage as determined by the patent office or courts in the country, and the availability of legal remedies in the country. While our patent portfolio is material to our business, the loss of one patent or a group of related patents would not have a material adverse effect on our business.
From time to time, we grant third parties licenses to use one or more of our trademarks, patents and/or proprietary trade secrets in connection with the manufacture, sale or distribution of third-party products. Similarly, we sell some products under brands, patents and/or proprietary trade secrets we license from third parties. In our agreement with Kraft Foods Group, Inc. (which is now part of The Kraft Heinz Company), we each granted the other party various licenses to use certain of our and their respective intellectual property rights in named jurisdictions following the spin-off of our North American grocery business in 2012.
Regulation
Our food products and ingredients are subject to local, national and multinational regulations related to labeling, health and nutrition claims, packaging, pricing, marketing and advertising, data privacy and related areas. In addition, various jurisdictions regulate our operations by licensing and inspecting our manufacturing plants and facilities, enforcing standards for select food products, grading food products, and regulating trade practices related to the sale and pricing of our food products. Many of the food commodities we use in our operations are subject to government agricultural policy and intervention. These policies have substantial effects on prices and supplies and are subject to periodic governmental and administrative review. In addition, increased attention to environmental and social issues in industry supply chains has led to developing different types of regulation in many countries. The lack of a harmonized approach can lead to uneven scrutiny or enforcement, which can impact our operations.
Examples of laws and regulations that affect our business include workplace safety regulations; selective food taxes; labeling requirements such as front-of-pack labeling based on nutrient profiles or environmental claims; sales or media and marketing restrictions such as those on promotions or advertising products with specified nutrient profiles on certain channels or platforms or during certain hours of the day; sanctions on sales or sourcing of raw materials; cross-border trade concessions or border barriers; corporate tax policies of the United States and other countries; and packaging taxes. In addition, over 25 countries in the European Union have implemented extended producer responsibility (“EPR”) policies as part of national packaging waste policies that make manufacturers responsible for the cost of recycling food and beverage packaging after consumers use it. These range from mandatory regulations to voluntary agreements between government and industry to voluntary industry initiatives. EPR policies are being implemented or contemplated in other jurisdictions around the world, including India, Vietnam and certain states in the United States. Single-use plastic bans and other plastic taxes are being considered in Europe as well as countries including Indonesia and the Philippines.
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Throughout the countries in which we do business, we are subject to local, national and multinational environmental laws and regulations relating to the protection of the environment. We have programs across our business units designed to meet applicable environmental compliance requirements. In the United States, the laws and regulations include the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. We are also subject to legislation designed to reduce emissions from greenhouse gases, and many countries are considering introducing carbon taxes that could increase our production costs or those of our suppliers.
We continue to monitor developments in laws and regulations. Also refer to Note 1, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies – Currency Translation and Highly Inflationary Accounting , for additional information on government regulations and currency-related impacts on our operations in the United Kingdom, Argentina and other countries.
Information about our Executive Officers
The following are our executive officers as of February 4, 2022:
Name Age Title
Dirk Van de Put 61 Chief Executive Officer
Luca Zaramella 52 Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Paulette Alviti 51 Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer
Maurizio Brusadelli 53 Executive Vice President and President, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa
Vinzenz P. Gruber 56 Executive Vice President and President, Europe
Robin S. Hargrove 56 Executive Vice President and Chief Research and Development Officer
Sandra MacQuillan 55 Executive Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer
Laura Stein 60 Executive Vice President, Corporate & Legal Affairs and General Counsel
Gustavo C. Valle 57 Executive Vice President and President, Latin America
Henry Glendon (Glen) Walter IV 53 Executive Vice President and President, North America
Mr. Van de Put became Chief Executive Officer and a director in November 2017 and became Chairman of the Board of Directors in April 2018. He formerly served as President and Chief Executive Officer of McCain Foods Limited, a multinational frozen food provider, from July 2011 to November 2017 and as its Chief Operating Officer from May 2010 to July 2011. Mr. Van de Put served as President and Chief Executive Officer, Global Over-the-Counter, Consumer Health Division of Novartis AG, a global healthcare company, from 2009 to 2010. Prior to that, he worked for 24 years in a variety of leadership positions for several global food and beverage providers, including Danone SA, The Coca-Cola Company and Mars, Incorporated.
Mr. Zaramella became Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in August 2018. He previously served as Senior Vice President Corporate Finance, CFO Commercial and Treasurer from June 2016 to July 2018. He also served as Interim Lead Finance North America from April to November 2017. Prior to that, he served as Senior Vice President and Corporate Controller from December 2014 to August 2016 and Senior Vice President, Finance of Mondelēz Europe from October 2011 to November 2014. Mr. Zaramella joined Mondelēz International in 1996.
Ms. Alviti became Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer (now Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer) in June 2018. Before joining Mondelēz International, Ms. Alviti served as Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer of Foot Locker, Inc., a leading global retailer of athletically inspired shoes and apparel, from June 2013 to May 2018. Prior to that, Ms. Alviti spent 17 years at PepsiCo, Inc., a global snack and beverage company, in various leadership roles, including Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer Asia, Middle East, Africa.
Mr. Brusadelli became Executive Vice President and President, Asia Pacific in January 2016 and Executive Vice President and President, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa in October 2016. He previously served as President Biscuits Business, South East Asia, Japan and Sales Asia Pacific from September 2015 to December 2015, President Markets and Sales Asia Pacific from September 2014 to September 2015 and President United Kingdom,
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Ireland and Nordics from September 2012 to August 2014. Prior to that, Mr. Brusadelli held various positions of increasing responsibility. Mr. Brusadelli joined Mondelēz International in 1993.
Mr. Gruber became Executive Vice President and President, Europe in January 2019. He previously served as President, Western Europe from October 2016 to December 2018 and President, Chocolate, Europe from August 2011 to September 2016. Mr. Gruber was formerly employed by Mondelēz International, in various capacities, from 1989 until 2000 and resumed his employment in September 2007.
Mr. Hargrove became Executive Vice President, Research, Development, Quality and Innovation in April 2015 and Executive Vice President, Research, Development and Quality (now Executive Vice President and Chief Research and Development Officer) in January 2019. Prior to that, he served as Senior Vice President, Research, Development & Quality for Mondelēz Europe from January 2013 to March 2015. Before joining Mondelēz International, Mr. Hargrove worked at PepsiCo, Inc., a global snack and beverage company, for 19 years in a variety of leadership positions, most recently as Senior Vice President, Research and Development, Europe from December 2006 to December 2012.
Ms. MacQuillan became Executive Vice President, Integrated Supply Chain (now Executive Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer) in June 2019. Before joining Mondelēz International, Ms. MacQuillan served as Chief Supply Chain Officer and Senior Vice President, Supply Chain, at Kimberly-Clark Corporation, a global manufacturer of personal care consumer products, from April 2015 to June 2019. Prior to that, Ms. MacQuillan spent more than 20 years at Mars, Incorporated, a global manufacturer of confectionery, pet food and other food products, in various leadership roles, including Global Vice President, Supply for Mars Global Petcare.
Ms. Stein became Executive Vice President, Corporate & Legal Affairs and General Counsel in January 2021. Before joining Mondelēz International, Ms. Stein spent 15 years at The Clorox Company, a multinational manufacturer and marketer of consumer and professional products, most recently as Executive Vice President – General Counsel and Corporate Affairs from February 2016 to December 2020. She also served as Executive Vice President – General Counsel from February 2015 to February 2016 and as Senior Vice President – General Counsel from January 2005 to February 2015.
Mr. Valle became Executive Vice President and President, Latin America in February 2020. Before joining Mondelēz International, Mr. Valle served as Chief Executive Officer of Axia Plus, LLC, a management consulting firm, from February 2018 to January 2020. Prior to that he spent more than 20 years at Groupe Danone SA, a multinational provider of packaged water, dairy and baby food products, in a variety of leadership positions, most recently as Executive Vice President, Dairy Division Worldwide, from January 2015 to January 2018, and Vice President Dairy Division Europe, from January 2014 until December 2014. Mr. Valle will become Executive Vice President and President, North America in March 2022.
Mr. Walter became Executive Vice President and President, North America in November 2017. Before joining Mondelēz International, Mr. Walter worked at The Coca-Cola Company, a global beverage company, in a variety of leadership positions, most recently as Chief Executive Officer of Coca-Cola Industries China from February 2014 to October 2017 and President and Chief Operating Officer of Cola-Cola Refreshments in North America from January 2013 to February 2014. Mr. Walter will leave Mondelēz International in March 2022.
Ethics and Governance
We have adopted the Mondelēz International Code of Conduct, which qualifies as a code of ethics under Item 406 of Regulation S-K. The code applies to all of our employees, including our principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer or controller, and persons performing similar functions. Our code of ethics is available free of charge on our web site at www.mondelezinternational.com/investors/corporate-governance and will be provided free of charge to any shareholder submitting a written request to: Corporate Secretary, Mondelēz International, Inc., 905 West Fulton Market, Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60607. We will disclose any waiver we grant to an executive officer or director under our code of ethics, or certain amendments to the code of ethics, on our web site at www.mondelezinternational.com/investors/corporate-governance .
In addition, we have adopted Corporate Governance Guidelines, charters for each of the Board’s four standing committees and the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics for Non-Employee Directors. All of these materials are available on our web site at www.mondelezinternational.com/investors/corporate-governance and will be provided
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free of charge to any shareholder requesting a copy by writing to: Corporate Secretary, Mondelēz International, Inc., 905 West Fulton Market, Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60607.
Available Information
Our Internet address is www.mondelezinternational.com . Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), are available free of charge as soon as possible after we electronically file them with, or furnish them to, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). You can access our filings with the SEC by visiting www.sec.gov or our website: ir.mondelezinternational.com/sec-filings . The information on our web site is not, and shall not be deemed to be, a part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K or incorporated into any other filings we make with the SEC.