Strategic growth for Unilever

Résumé du document

Unilever's debut as a company began in 1930, however its history dates back much earlier, to the late 19th century. Its origins began with a partnership between British soap maker Lever Brothers and the Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie. Oils and fats were essential raw materials for both companies, thus a partnership to import such materials was created in order to purchase in larger volumes. With increased competition for raw materials and deteriorating economic conditions in the 1920s, the partner companies aligned their strategies to create Unilever as is known today.

Despite the unfavorable economic conditions and World War II, Unilever continued to diversify its portfolio to encompass various food products. Throughout the years following the war, Unilever implemented an acquisition strategy to expand into new emerging international markets. Similarly, Unilever's competitors in the consumer goods industry were growing in size and influence, inciting intense competition amongst the actors.In the 1980s Unilever was identified as one of the largest companies in the world, however a new strategic vision was being developed to reduce its portfolio of products to include several core products. Throughout the 1990s, Unilever shed many of its products and refined its new customer-focused strategy.

Extraits

[...] One of the greatest external influences for Unilever and its competitors is with its customers and consumers. As mentioned before, the products in these companies' portfolios are of a basic need; therefore consumers are likely to expect fairly low prices. Similarly, customers such as large distributors have a large influence on the visibility of the products on their shelves. Because of the intense competition in the industry, visibility and availability of products are essential. Thus, the distribution networks have the most influential impact on the margins of the products. [...]

[...] Helped with dedicated teams and centers it can innovate. Facing challenges, it focuses its innovations on both product and process aspects. Lipton with a new supplier model and India with a unique distribution network are two examples which illustrate that Unilever created partnerships with local actors. Its product innovations are mainly done internally because Unilever masters the know-how of their products and has all needed to do researches within the organization. Finally, for safety reason it could be understandable that the company doesn't want to share a product improvement with a partner. [...]

[...] We can see Dove's commitment: it does not only help women with its ads, but also young girls (and boys), raising their self-esteem with programs made by psychologists. We could say that they with their products and ads, and furthermore make prevention. Once again with its brand, Dove, Unilever rethinks the world making it more sustainable and socially valuable. This innovation in terms of marketing and communication is a radical change in the manner in which the fashion and beauty product sector promotes its products, helping people feel better in their body. [...]

[...] Most of these villagers don't have access to the very basic hygiene products like soap, toothpaste, shampoo, etc. Many of them have even never used a tooth brush or washed their hairs with shampoo. Instead of investing in costly infrastructure, the Indian government decided to promote entrepreneurship in these villages, targeting women particularly. Hindustan Unilever, Unilever's $ 3.9 billion subsidiary in India, launched the so-called Shakti Entrepreneurship Program. The value proposition was to create in each village and surrounding a chain of entrepreneurs (who are selected women by NGO's) for Hindustan Unilever products. [...]

[...] Unilever has stepped up its acquisitions with last year's Sara Lee personal care purchase and its agreement to buy Alberto Culver, and Polk said the group was looking more similar bolt-on acquisitions and not transformational deals. But even without acquisitions, Polk says the group could reach its aim to double the size of the 44.3 -billion-euro 61.8 billion) turnover company in the next 10-12 years Is Unilever's Model Sustainable? The industry in which Unilever operates is a very challenging and competitive industry. The existence of large, consolidated companies, with a large range of products, competing heavily in a maturing industry, places great importance on innovation. [...]