Global scale won’t always help the world’s biggest food companies resist the pressures squeezing the industry. Giants like Nestlé, Unilever and Danone may struggle to maintain premium valuations.
These companies owe much of their recent success to rapid growth in developing markets. Nestlé, Europe’s most valuable company, which owns everything from Nespresso coffee capsules to Purina dog food, made 43% of revenues in poorer countries last year. Anglo-Dutch group Unilever, maker of Hellmann’s mayonnaise and Dove soap, made...