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How Unilever Is Preparing for the Future of Work

How should the consumer goods company upscale its global workforce for the future?

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Launched in 2016, Unilever’s Future of Work initiative aimed to accelerate the speed of change throughout the organization and prepare its workforce for a digitalized and highly automated era. But despite its success over the last three years, the program still faces significant challenges in its implementation. How should Unilever, one of the world’s largest consumer goods companies, best prepare and upscale its workforce for the future? How should Unilever adapt and accelerate the speed of change throughout the organization? Is it even possible to lead a systematic, agile workforce transformation across several geographies while accounting for local context?

Harvard Business School professor and faculty co-chair of the Managing the Future of Work Project William Kerr and Patrick Hull , Unilever’s vice president of global learning and future of work, discuss how rapid advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation are changing the nature of work in the case, “ Unilever’s Response to the Future of Work .”

BRIAN KENNY: On November 30, 2022, OpenAI launched the latest version of ChatGPT, the largest and most powerful AI chatbot to date. Within a few days, more than a million people tested its ability to do the mundane things we really don’t like to do, such as writing emails, coding software, and scheduling meetings. Others upped the intelligence challenge by asking for sonnets and song lyrics, and even instructions on how to remove a peanut butter sandwich from a VCR in the style of King James. But once the novelty wore off, the reality set in. ChatGPT is a game changer, and yet another example of the potential for AI to change the way we live and work. And while we often view AI as improving how we live, we tend to think of it as destroying how we work, fears that are fueled by dire predictions of job eliminations in the tens of millions and the eradication of entire industries. And while it’s true that AI will continue to evolve and improve, eventually taking over many jobs that are currently performed by people, it will also create many work opportunities that don’t yet exist. Today on Cold Call , we welcome Professor William Kerr, joined by Patrick Hull of Unilever, to discuss the case, “Unilever’s Response to the Future of Work.” I’m your host, Brian Kenny, and you’re listening to Cold Call on the HBR Podcast Network. Professor Bill Kerr is the co-director of Harvard Business School’s Managing the Future of Work initiative. His research centers on how companies and economies explore new opportunities and generate growth, and he is a fellow podcaster. He hosts a show called Managing the Future of Work . Bill, thanks for being here.

Bill Kerr: Thanks for having us.

BRIAN KENNY: And Patrick Hull is Unilever’s VP of Global Learning and Future of Work. He goes by Paddy. Paddy, thanks for joining us.

PATRICK HULL: Thank you very much for having me.

BRIAN KENNY: It’s great to have you both here today. I think people will really be interested in hearing this case and how Unilever is thinking about the future of work. So why don’t we just dive right in. And, Bill, I’m going to ask you to start by telling us what the central issue is in the case, and what your cold call is to start the discussion in class.

Bill Kerr: Well, Brian, I think your introduction clearly outlined the central issue, which is technology is really transforming the world of work. And that means, companies must learn how to do things different than what they’ve done over 50 or a hundred year history. And it also means they must transform the skill base in how they’re approaching employees and talent. I think we can simply say: that ain’t easy, and it’s also going to introduce significant challenges and tensions for organizations. A big company like Unilever is going to really want to appeal to employees, put the purpose of the company in front of employees, embrace that, but it’s also going to have to make challenging decisions regarding employees and their transition of skills and what’s the future workforce going to look like. So the most common cold call is a really simple question, which is: has Unilever, through its Future of Work Program, resolved the paradox of profit and purpose? And pretty quickly, the answer to that is, “no.” It hasn’t fully resolved that. I will occasionally get maybe one person that goes all the way there. So then we’ve got to start unpacking, okay, how close is it to resolving that? And are we very near the end point or are we farther away?

BRIAN KENNY: Yeah. Simple question to you maybe, but probably not to others who are listening. That sounds like a pretty complex question. I mentioned your involvement with the Managing the Future of Work initiative here. So I know you think a lot about this. This is on your mind all the time. How did you hear about what Unilever was doing, and why was it important to you to write this case?

Bill Kerr: Well, it’s interesting. The history of the connection came through another case that we wrote. Very early in our project on Managing the Future of Work , we’re always very deliberate about putting the “managing” in front of the future of work, and that we want to think about how leading companies are reacting to the forces that are shaping the future, like digitization and demographic changes and so forth. So, we’ve written a case about Vodafone, which we did a Cold Call a while back. With Vittorio Colao. And Vittorio was on Unilever’s board and said, “You have got to go and meet this organization and see what they’re doing,” because they have one of the most comprehensive, well thought out programs for the future of work that he had come across. And in fact, that was the connection that then followed on. And yes, for a sector that Unilever’s working in that has end-to-end change going on from the manufacturers, all the way down through the consumers or the products, to be able to have an organization that’s thought very deeply about what pillars do we need to put into place to make the change occur is great. The other thing that was delightful about Unilever and writing this case study is that, a lot of times, companies want to talk about their programs, only after they know that it was a success. They would prefer to wait until they’ve… They’re like, wait another two years and then we’ll write the case study about this transformation. But Unilever’s been very upfront in saying, “The future of work’s a big challenge. We have to get in front of that. Here’s what we’re doing. We haven’t necessarily figured it all out yet, and some of this will prove wildly successful. Others may be challenging, but this is where we’re going.” And that’s been a great thing to really spark a lot of executives and students a conversation about, what will the future of work require, and how can we get there?

BRIAN KENNY: Yeah. So, Patty, I have to ask, I have to start by asking you, what’s your job? Because your title’s very lofty. It basically calls you a visionary. You are the VP of Global Learning and Future of Work. So what do you do?

PATRICK HULL: I’ve got a funny answer to that question. Since the pandemic, and obviously, been working a lot from home, and I work in a slightly open area, so my wife gets to hear a little bit of what I’m talking about. She seems to think that what I do is laugh a lot and chat a lot to people. So that’s what-

BRIAN KENNY: Kind of like we’re doing today. So, she’s listening in…

PATRICK HULL: She says, “When do you do some real work?” But yes, I guess what I do is work with a really passionate, dedicated team of people who are looking at how are we preparing our organization, and our people in particular, for a future that is very different to what we’ve been experiencing in our traditional work models up to this point. You mentioned ChatGPT as well. I mean, that really is the talk of the town at the moment. And I guess we’ve been thinking for a bit of time, as Bill mentioned, about the impact of things like that on our business, and trying to get on the forefront of what’s our response to that. So I wouldn’t quite say visionary. I think, at this stage in business and what’s going on, it’s quite hard to be truly visionary, but trying to stay one or two steps slightly ahead of what’s going on in the world of work, that’s, I guess, what my job’s all about.

BRIAN KENNY: Yeah. That’s great. For our listeners who… I think most people have heard of Unilever, but for people who aren’t really aware of the scope and scale of Unilever, can you describe the business for us a little bit?

PATRICK HULL: Yes. So we’re a fast moving consumer goods business. So most of you will probably interact with one of our brands or products every day. In fact, we say that we serve 3.4 billion people every day. That’s how often someone buys one of our products or uses one of our products. We’ve got about 400 brands in 190 countries across the world, ranging from global brands like Dove, Sunsilk, Hellmann’s, Rexona, all the way through to what we call local jewels like Marmite in the UK, which is one of those brands that you either love it or hate it.

BRIAN KENNY: How big is the workforce at Unilever?

PATRICK HULL: The workforce is about 149,000 people who are directly employed by us. But we always often speak about how we have an extended workforce of around 3 to 5 million people, who if you ask them who they work for, they would say Unilever, even though they’re actually employed by someone else.

BRIAN KENNY: Yeah. So we know Unilever well at Harvard Business School. We’ve had lots of cases written on over the years by our faculty, and we’ve actually talked about it on Cold Call before, particularly, the focus on sustainability. Unilever really stands out in this regard. And I wonder if you could talk a little bit about how important this is to the culture at Unilever.

PATRICK HULL: It is. I can’t tell you how important it is. In fact, when Paul Polman, previous CEO, came into the organization in 2009, he launched the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan in 2010. And he did this beautiful job when he launched it of reminding us that sustainability has been part of Unilever since day one. When Lord Leverhulme started selling Sunlight soap, his mission was to make cleanliness commonplace. That was back in the late 1800s. And what Paul did beautifully is he then simply shifted that a little bit and said, “We are now here to make sustainable living commonplace, because now we impact so many more people and so many more homes. If we can help every consumer out there make more sustainable choices with how they eat, how they clean, how they use plastic, how they use water, then we can have a massive impact, positive impact, on the planet and society, and that’s good for business.” That was the business model that we’ve ascribed to. So we hire on it. We are tracked on it. We develop on it. It’s definitely part of the way things get done here.

BRIAN KENNY: Bill, let me turn back to you for a second. The FMCG sector is fast moving, as it indicates. What are some of the forces that are putting pressure on that particular sector these days?

Bill Kerr: Yeah. The case outlines three forces, and let me walk through those and also say a little bit of, before I do that, why we think this sector’s amazing to watch. If you want to have a kind of front row seat as to how the future of work may play out in other sectors, I often direct them towards the fast moving consumer good sector because the technology forces, the demographic forces, the gig workplace force that we’ll talk about are all happening already. They’re deep into this sector, so we can learn a lot from it. So, the first one is clearly technology that links through all the way to our opening conversation. There’s many ways in which the touch points between consumers and the outlets and last mile delivery and drones possibly dropping off future packages reverberates all the way up through the supply chain to Unilever and its suppliers above. A simple kind of easy metric is, think about the speed that we now demand or expect of our package delivery. It’s no longer that we’re going to go to the store and pick this up and the store can replenish itself over a week-long horizon. It’s going to be, I just pressed the button in the app and I’m expecting it in the next five minutes to be handed to me. That puts a lot of demands on how an organization needs to function, and also increase the expectation about the customization and the personalized products that consumers will require. So, the technology requires Unilever to think differently. The second is a broader force, but equally as impactful, and even more predictable for the future, which is the role of aging populations and demographic change in the workplace that is quite different than the workplace of the 20th century, where many of the large companies today kind of got their grounding. One of the early kind of points that it makes is that, in the UK, about a third of the workforce currently is over the age of 50, and that’s true in most every advanced economy, as well as also, increasingly across East Asia and elsewhere, that we have older populations. We have workforces that are going to span many more generations in the workplace. And then the third one, which in our project, Managing the Future of Work , we think of as kind of an outcome of tech and demographics coming together is the gig workplace. Paddy talked about the extended workforce beyond Unilever, and the case tries to unpack some of the ways they’re approaching bringing people to work that aren’t the traditional full-time jobs that most companies got built up around. And the gig workplace is activated by that technology that lets us schedule and involve people in gig works. And also, as we think about low unemployment rates and older populations and tacked out and so forth, the degree that we can, as a company, attract in people that are currently not working or at the edge of working and tempt them to come work for us on projects is a very valuable labor supply to these organizations.

BRIAN KENNY: Paddy, you’re in it, literally. So what are you seeing as some of the things that have shifted over time?

PATRICK HULL: So, when I started, I’m going to give my age away here a little bit, but back in the 1990s, I remember us talking a lot about, how could we get direct to the consumer? Back in those days, we sold everything through big box retail, and it was all about maintaining those relationships, making sure you had great store shelf positioning and great relationships with those buyers. One of the most massive shifts is that direct to consumer is the channel now. Bill spoke about how we all just order stuff off Amazon directly. We don’t have any advantage anymore in terms of getting to consumers. You and I, any little startup, can throw some ads on Instagram, speak to a few influencers and start sending their products out. So the whole game has changed in terms of how are we reaching people.

BRIAN KENNY: And I can already imagine, just based on the examples you’ve both given, I’m already seeing areas where there would be churn in the workforce around some of these developments. So let’s talk a little bit about Unilever’s Future of Work plans. And there’s a framework that goes along with it. I wonder if you could describe that and talk about the three pillars that support that framework.

PATRICK HULL: Yes, our three pillars are: change the way we change, ignite lifelong learning, and redefining the Unilever system of work. And I’ll explain a little bit about each of those. So changing the way we change. The first one is, what we’ve realized is that change is continuous. Disruption is continuous in our organization. It’s not about standalone moments where we see that, oh, we need to shut down a factory or change something because of a dramatic shift. Change is happening all the time. All of our factories are rapidly automating all of our office processes, so we can’t stick to the old traditional model of change, which was a very slow moving consultative approach, and also, where management held its cards close to its chest until sort of the last moment and then announced, “This is happening.” We’ve realized that, really, to be true to our purpose around making sustainable living commonplace, we need to enter into a far more open, early, proactive dialogue with our people around the change that’s affecting our organization, and how to help start preparing them well in advance of any actual impact on them in terms of how they can prepare for that change. So that’s the first one, changing the way we change. The second one around igniting lifelong learning is about engaging with our people to make sure that they’re all equipped to thrive, both now and into the future, and that we are showing them a bit of what that future looks like and where they need to be focusing their attention. And then the third, redefining the whole system of work is a bit of what Bill was mentioning earlier. Here, we really want to embrace this notion of accessing talent rather than owning talent. We’ve felt that if we just keep on trying to hold onto all our FTEs and compete against everyone else with talent, we are never going to have the people and the skills in our organization that we need to take us forward into the future. So we really want to redefine new models of working, so it’s not just you’re either fixed or you’re a gig worker, but how can we find some flex in the middle that helps people transition out of this traditional life cycle of work, the kind of 40-hour, 40-week, 40-year traditional employment pattern, and help get them future fit for a hundred year life, where they may want to slowly move into retirement, where they may want to spend some time looking after their kids, where they may want to set up their side hustle. How do we create that sort of flexibility?

BRIAN KENNY: There’s definitely, and understandably, a lot of emotion involved with some of these things. And I’m wondering if maybe you could give our listeners a sense, based on all the research you’ve done in the initiative, about what kinds of jobs are going to go away, and what kinds of skills you think are going to be most important for people to think about in the future?

Bill Kerr: Well, Brian, I come back with, that we don’t think of jobs really going away. And I think it’s important to instead think of jobs as a collection of tasks. And certain tasks will be taken over by the machine and require less human input, as the technology gets more advanced. And that could be in a very manual kind of sense. It could also be with ChatGPT in a more cognitive relationship. And perhaps, the thing that we’re experiencing right now that’s very front and center in the world of work is, lots of ways that technology is coming in towards more cognitive tasks that are complex, they’re non-routine. They were not able to be done by the computer before, but artificial intelligence machine learning and so forth are able to take those off. So if you think about how supply chain forecasting will happen at Unilever, that’s going to be done in a fundamentally different way than it would’ve been even 10 years ago.

BRIAN KENNY: Sure.

Bill Kerr: But we always think about new tasks emerging, and it’s hard to predict exactly what those tasks will involve. When you think about the skills, we know that having digital fluency and also social skills are the two biggest things that you can put money on, bank on, those being important enough for the future. But there’s also going to be judgment, and there’s going to need to be innovativeness. So even if the computer starts to do a really good job at predicting about how salespeople should arrange the shelves or how they should approach consumers, you still have to think about, as an organization, what data are we feeding into the system? And where could Unilever develop a proprietary data advantage? And how would we collect those data streams and put them into it? So the technology will be there, it’s going to take over evermore parts of work as it has been for 150 years at this point, but there’ll also be places where humans will be complementing and helping to achieve the goals of the company.

BRIAN KENNY: So that’s an optimistic viewpoint, Paddy. And I’m wondering what the response is from people when you start to talk about these ideas with them. And how do you move them beyond just their own insecurity and concern for themselves, to really embrace learning new skills and thinking about a different way of working in the future?

PATRICK HULL: This is a fundamental dilemma facing us, Brian. I’m so glad you asked me that question. And whilst I don’t know if we’ve cracked it, I think we’ve got a really good hypothesis around what helps this. One of the things we know is, the way not to motivate people to learn new skills is to tell them, “You better re-skill or the robots are going to take your job away.” So we’ve taken the view that if we can help people to discover their purpose, what makes them unique, how do they approach work in their own way, and then start from that point and say, “Okay, when you are at your best, you are doing these things. How do we make sure that you are developing the skills in line with that, that are going to keep you future fit in an environment that is changing around you in terms of the nature of your job and how you work?” And we’ve found that when people come from that place of purpose, they do feel far more agency over it. They are far more motivated to learn new skills, to continue to be relevant, but it’s coming from a much more positive place. It’s not coming from that fight or flight or freeze sort of mode. It’s coming from a place of agency. And in fact, we partnered with some academic institutions to measure the impact of starting people thinking about purpose and then creating future fit plans from there. And we’ve found that it does lead to people being 25% more engaged in thinking about the future, in going the extra mile, in having this intrinsic motivation to take it on. And they’re 22% more productive, which is another great benefit to us.

BRIAN KENNY: Yeah. So, Bill, we’ve been through situations like this before. If you look back over the long arc of history, we’ve had movement from an agrarian society to an industrial society. We’ve had manufacturing sector turned on its head when a lot of manufacturing jobs have gone overseas. And I think each time we’ve done that, there’s been a portion of the workforce that’s just not been able to make the leap to the new mode of doing things. Unilever is talking about ensuring that 80% to 100% of their workforce can be transitioned in the right way. Is that too big of a promise to make?

Well, to their credit, I believe they stayed at the pretty top end of that range so far. And I think the workshops and so forth that Paddy just outlined are best in class for trying to stay up there. I do think, Brian, you see organizations, and I’m spanning out from Unilever at this point, that are trying to set a new contract with workers, both explicitly and implicitly, that says, “Our part of the bargain is, we’re going to give you great clarity as to what roles we see the company needing in the future, and help you kind of think about where you are today and what you would need to acquire skill-wise to get to that future point. And we’re going to give you the platform to acquire those skills. But your part of the bargain has to be to put the time and the investment in to be having those skills when that time comes.” And so I think we’re seeing a shift in a bit of the, we want to be a great place for you to have worked and developed your career, but we’re not going to be guaranteeing a lifelong employment. We’re going to focus on the skills that are needed and help you make the investments and choices that should be made.

BRIAN KENNY: Yeah. And what does that start to look like at Unilever, Paddy? What are some of the ways that you’re sort of redefining the systems of work there?

PATRICK HULL: So, one of the big initiatives that we’ve undertaken was this whole idea of, how do we help people create more flexibility in their roles, so that they can discover new ways of working, discover new skills, grow in new and different ways? And I mentioned to you earlier that we thought there’s this sort of gridlock that, on the one hand, you’ve got full-time employees, you’ve got lots of security, but no flexibility in terms of how and where they work. And on the other hand, you’ve got gig workers, freelancers, lots of flexibility, but not much security in terms of guaranteed income. And we’ve set ourselves a challenge of, how do we create this responsible alternative to the gig economy? And our idea was something called U-Work. U-Workers no longer have a job title. They work on gigs and projects in Unilever, but they are still 100% Unilever employees. They are not gig workers, so they’re not contractors or anything. In fact, they’re an internal pool of contractors, if you like, but they remain Unilever employees. They get a guaranteed retainer. They get a package of social care, pension benefits, healthcare benefits. And they get a learning stipend. But in return for that, they then only need to work on projects. They can set up their own business on the side. They can look after their kids or aging parents, or they can gradually move into retirement. And I think it’s this kind of thing that we need to continue to explore, as we see in the impact of automation and digitization, and also this trend or this desire for people to have more flexibility to choose how and when they work.

BRIAN KENNY: Yeah. It actually sounds kind of appealing. So you also get variety that goes along with that. You get to move from one project to another, and you’re not sort of locked in on the same kinds of things, all the time.

PATRICK HULL: And, Brian, the one thing, just to emphasize on that, people get very locked into the thing of, ah, does someone have the skill I need for the job? In fact, what we found is, one of the most important skills is knowing the organization. So U-Work is great because they are Unilever employees. They know the organization. They know how to get things done in Unilever. And we must never underestimate the power of that skill

BRIAN KENNY: Bill, it seems like anytime that we enter into one of these huge labor market transitions, manufacturing jobs, take it on the nose. And so I’m wondering, as you think about the implications for jobs in the future, what are the implications for manufacturing specifically?

Bill Kerr: Well, I think, Brian, we’re already been seeing that in motion for a while. Manufacturing has been at the forefront of technology adoption for decades. I think time will tell how it will continue to evolve. I would anticipate more skilled, more advanced, more technology enabled, but there could also be some interesting twists. It’s not the current case study that we’re talking about, but there’s another case study at Harvard Business School, done by Raj Choudhury, our colleague, with Unilever that’s about remote manufacturing. So how can the remote workforce be connected into the manufacturing sector? So we’ll see a lot of innovation towards the future.

BRIAN KENNY: And how is Unilever thinking about that, Paddy?

PATRICK HULL: So actually, the whole genesis of this future of work framework was done together, well, co-created together with our European Works Council actually, so our manufacturing representatives coming together with management to think about, how is the future of work impacting the manufacturing environment? So actually, our whole framework came from them. So, we very much see this as a critical way of addressing the impact of digitization and automation in the manufacturing environment. We’ve found some fantastic examples where we’ve started people thinking about their roles in future. And what we’ve found is, there’s quite a strong correlation between some of the skills our manufacturing workers have and lab assistants in our R&D labs. And funnily enough, we tend to have quite big R&D centers right next to our factories. So we’ve seen quite a bit of movement of people being able to re-skill from manufacturing environment into R&D labs in a way, a more sustainable future environment, all because they’ve identified, what’s the work that they really enjoy doing, what are they really good at, and then what are the skills required to go into the future?

BRIAN KENNY: Yeah. That’s a huge win-win, right? For the worker and for the firm.

PATRICK HULL: Correct.

BRIAN KENNY: This has been a great conversation. I’ve really enjoyed it. I’m wondering if… I’ve got time for one question for each of you left here. So, I’m going to start with you, Paddy. How is Unilever going to know if they’re succeeding in this? Is there a sort of an end game in mind here?

PATRICK HULL: The big goal is obviously that we are proving that our sustainable business model is more effective than others in terms of driving superior performance. So the big number is still, how are we doing as an organization? I would say the key input metrics are things like, how well are we able to re-skill our people for the future? We really believe that re-skilling is the way forward. We know it’s cheaper than recruiting from outside. It’s better for our people. It’s a way of getting people who know our business to continue to do good things. So we do measure that. How many people are we helping to transition? And then it’s about, how attractive do we continue to be as an employer for new recruits and for the people within our organization? So we’ll track the traditional input metrics like engagement, attrition, our employer brand, how well people are collaborating going forward.

BRIAN KENNY: Yeah. It sounds like you’re off to a fantastic start. Bill, I’ll give you the last words, since you wrote the case. If there’s one thing you’d like people to remember about this case, what is it?

Bill Kerr: Well, let me go back. We started with the cold call, so let me tell you how I end the class. There’s a video of one of Paddy’s colleagues, Nick Dalton, who is quoting President Kennedy, who was in turn quoting an Irish writer named Frank O’Connor. And Kennedy was speaking about the space mission, and Frank O’Connor was describing, as a kid, when they would come to this orchard wall that was too high for them to climb over. They had no idea how they were going to do it. They would take their hats and they would throw them over the orchard wall, so that they just committed themselves to figuring it out. And Nick basically thought of the Unilever program as a bit of, “We’re throwing our hat over the wall. We don’t know exactly how we’re going to climb over this future of work wall, but we know we must do it. And this is our public commitment to making that happen.” And the thing I’d come back to listeners around this is, the future of work is scary. And we talked about job transitions and how quickly the new technologies are coming. This time last year, we had no thought of ChatGPT as being part of this Cold Call podcast, but now, it’s what we lead with. And so, hopefully, people can unfreeze a little bit and can start thinking about, regardless of what the twists and turns may lie ahead, they need to begin a journey with their employees. And Unilever is showing, here’s how we’re approaching that. Now, let’s all work on it together.

BRIAN KENNY: Yeah. Well, I suspect I’m not alone when I say we’re rooting for you. We hope that you get this right. There’s a lot at stake.

PATRICK HULL: Thanks, Brian.

BRIAN KENNY: Thank you both for joining me.

Bill Kerr: Thanks.

BRIAN KENNY: If you enjoy Cold Call , you might like our other podcasts, After Hours , Climate Rising , Deep Purpose, IdeaCast , Managing the Future of Work , Sk ydeck , and Women at Work . Find them on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen, and if you could take a minute to rate and review us, we’d be grateful. If you have any suggestions or just want to say hello, we want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected] . Thanks again for joining us. I’m your host, Brian Kenny, and you’ve been listening to Cold Call , an official podcast of Harvard Business School and part of the HBR Podcast Network.

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This article is about change management.

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BUS604: Innovation and Sustainability

Case Study: A Vision for Unilever

In 2009, the multinational company Unilever adopted a new strategic vision that integrated societal and environmental responsibilities. The company's Sustainable Living Plan was the center of this strategy. This plan aims to help more than a billion people improve their health and wellbeing, decouple Unilever's growth from its environmental impact, increase its social impact, and enhance the livelihoods of all those involved in its supply chain. Read this chapter to discover how Unilever merged sustainability with profitable growth.

What steps did Unilever take to re-engineer the company and implement the Sustainable Living Plan successfully? How did sustainable innovation play a role in helping Unilever achieve its goals? What were the results?

Vision and Concept

Polman's vision for Unilever was rooted in the company's history. William Lever had always seen Lever Brothers as much more than a vehicle for making money for himself: he saw no trade-off between seeking to make a profit and seeking to improve society. Its products helped to improve public health and hygiene, and the company treated its employees with dignity and respect. After it became Unilever and grew into a multinational corporation, it continued to make everyday products and to treat its employees well. But when Polman took over, he decided to refashion Unilever so that social responsibility moved from an important facet of the company to become its driving force. He had always seen business as needing to play an important role in the development of a more just and equal society. 

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, other factors had to be taken into account: climate change, globalization, population growth, scarcer natural resources, greater individual wealth, an expanding middle class in both the developed and developing worlds, more informed and demanding customers, and more active shareholders.

An important response popular at the time to address this combination of factors was the philosophy of "frugal innovation", defined as the ability to do more with less, creating increased business and social value while minimizing the use of ever-diminishing resources. One way of doing so is to strip non-essential and unnecessary items out of everyday products, such as cars and mobile telephones, to make them cheaper and more available to the less affluent and to the ecologically aware. 

Paul Polman showed his commitment to this philosophy by writing the Foreword to the book Frugal Innovation: How To Do Better With Less, written by two pioneers of the concept, Navi Radjou, and Jaideep Prabhu, and published in 2015 by The Economist and Profile Books, London. He wrote: "The insatiable demand for ever higher quality products will continue to rise while at the same time the availability of the resources needed to satisfy that demand will remain constrained. Reconciling this apparent conflict is rapidly emerging as one of the biggest business challenges of our age". 

He concluded: "By combining the frugal ingenuity of developing nations with the advanced R&D [research and development] capabilities of advanced economies, companies can create high-quality products and services that are affordable, sustainable and benefit humanity".

In 2010, Unilever unveiled the new concept through which it would apply Polman's vision: its Sustainable Living Plan, which would be applied to every aspect of the company's operations, from top to bottom. Launching the plan, Polman summarized its ambitions: "We have to develop new ways of doing business which will increase the positive social benefits arising from Unilever's activities while at the same time reducing our environmental impacts. We want to be a sus tainable business in every sense of the word". But, he added, "We do not believe there is a conflict between sustainability and profitable growth".

In 2010, Unilever unveiled the new concept through which it would apply Polman's vision: its Sustainable Living Plan, applied to every aspect of the company's operations.

He outlined vision, strategy, and targets: "Our vision is to create a better future in which people can improve their quality of life without increasing their environmental footprint. Our strategy is to increase our social impact by ensuring that our products meet the needs of people everywhere for balanced nutri tion, good hygiene, and the confidence  which comes from having clean clothes and good skin.

"We recognise that, to live within the natural limits of the planet, we have to decouple growth from environmental impact. This starts with our own operations. We now send zero waste to landfill across our entire global factory network, cut CO2 from energy by 47% per tonne of production in our operations, many of our factories run on renewable energy and we'll be carbon positive by 2030. 

"However, our impact goes beyond our factory gates. The sustainable sourcing of raw materials and the use of our products by the consumer at home have a far larger footprint. That's why our plan is designed to reduce our impacts across the whole lifecycle of our products. Innovation and technology will be the key to achieving these reductions".

Polman announced three hugely ambitious targets as a part of the USLP: to help more than a billion people take action to improve their health and wellbeing by 2020; to decouple Unilever's growth from its environmental impact by 2030, achieving absolute reductions across the product lifecycle and halving its environmental footprint; and enhancing the livelihoods of "hundreds of thousands" of people involved in its supply chain by 2020.

Polman himself has always had a strong personal moral compass, stemming from his upbringing as one of the six children of a Catholic family in Enschede, Netherlands. As a teenager he considered becoming a priest and then a doctor before deciding on a business career. Just as importantly, he recognised that in the first decades of the twenty-first century a growing number of customers, both actual and potential, were becoming more concerned about the quality of life than mere consumerism and the pursuit of material things, and buying into the notion of sustainability. 

Polman told us: "Consumers are asking for it and citizens are asking for it. The circular economy and issues like climate change are becoming more and more relevant. People want to have food that is more natural or organic. People are moving from a concept of 'my world' to 'our world'. Millennials are more purpose-driven". That also applies to Unilever's own staff. "We have no problem attracting millennials: about 50 percent of the people who work for Unilever are millennials. And they want to make a difference in life. There is absolutely no question about it: they are an engine for change".

The other key element making sustainability possible is technology. "Technology has developed very rapidly and is opening up new possibilities. Electric vehicles are one example: very soon electric vehicles will be more popular than internal combustion engines. 

At Unilever we find that moving to zero waste in our factories and shifting to renewable energy makes economic sense. Increasingly data shows that companies operating more responsibly tend to perform better because they reflect the needs of society better. They probably set more realistic targets, they make more data public, which lowers the cost of capital, and so on.

"Implementing our Unilever Sustainable Living Plan is not that difficult, as long as we are all aligned on the direction we need to take and why it needs to be done. But what you need to focus on is the speed and skill of implementation.

"What we find is that our brands with a social purpose are an enormous engine for innovation. Our Sustainable Living Brands, as we call them, grow 70 percent faster than the rest of our portfo lio. An example is in water-scarce regions, such as parts of Africa, where rinsing out the soap suds from laundry accounts for around 70 percent of domestic water use.

"It is really the energy that comes from people in terms of having a meaning, having a purpose, that drives innovation".

With our Sunlight soap brand we developed a new anti-foam molecule called SmartFoam which breaks down suds more quickly. This reduces the amount of water needed, as well as speeding up the process of rinsing. People prefer that product, they see the multiple benefits, and the brand grows by addressing a societal problem.

"Take Domestos, or Domex as it is called in India, our toilet-cleaning product. If you just sell toilet-cleaning products, that is not a very exciting thing. But if you address open defecation, suddenly you start to innovate quite differently. For example, we have just launched the first small powder sachet, Domex Toilet Powder. The brand provides an affordable toilet-cleaning solution to consumers. And not surprisingly the brand is growing. 

"Or take Lifebuoy soap, with its mission to help a child reach the age of five. So far, we have reached 426 million people with handwashing behavior-change programmes in developing countries. We do that because we want to help enhance people's wellbeing, and at the same time the brand is growing very well. 

"But it also works in developed markets. Our compressed deodorant technology is a good example. Scientists at our R&D facility in Leeds, northern England, reengineered the spray system of our aerosols to reduce the flow rate. Using 50 percent less propellant gas and 25 percent less aluminum in the packaging, we have reduced the carbon footprint per can by about 25 percent. This also means that more cans can be transported at a time, resulting in a 35 percent reduction in the number of lorries on the road. We felt so strongly about it that we did not patent the technology to encourage wider industry use". 

How does the need for innovation fit into the broad framework of the Sustainable Living Plan?

"It starts as a broad purpose that aligns everybody in whichever  direction you want to take," Polman replied. "We have translated the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan into what we call a Compass, so everybody has the same true North. And in that Compass we look at winning with innovation, we look at winning in the marketplace, winning with people, and winning with continuous improvement, which we call efficiencies. But we want innovation running through all of these areas. 

"The packaging is up to 30% lighter and allows us to get 40% more product on a pallet, which means we could reduce the number of trucks on the road by 800 per year".

We provide the tools and we explain to  people what sort of objectives there are. Anything we do now in our innovation programme has to go through what we call the sustainability phenomenon. It has to be in line with the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan.

"It is really the energy that comes from people in terms of having a meaning, having a purpose, having a contribution to life, that drives innovation. We spend one billion euros on R&D, we have 7,500 R&D professionals and 20,000 patents. But the global population is 7.6 billion. So, you need to have an open innovation system where you work together with everyone else to expand your consumer base and achieve wider success. For example, our top 15 suppliers are involved in about 50 percent of our innovations. 

"We have Unilever Ventures, our venture capital and private equity arm which invests in young and innovative companies to help accelerate their growth. Then there is our Unilever Foundry, where we help start-ups and social entrepreneurs scale up their ideas for greater positive impact. Unilever Foundry also enables our brands to collaborate and experiment with evolving technologies. And then our Mergers and Acquisitions strategy is geared to finding innovative brands like air purification company Blueair, or Seventh Generation, a cleaning products company in the US that thinks seven generations ahead. 

"Our M&A activity is for us an incubator for innovations as well. We are trying to find smaller companies and then make them bigger by leveraging our size and scale. But the main driver is the passion of our people. It cannot come from anywhere else. It is our people who go out there and want to make this a better world. They stay connected, they see what is needed. They see the challenges that consumers struggle with. It boils down to the people and their purpose.

Case Studies

Real-life and hypothetical case studies to demonstrate how our leading-edge safety and environmental sustainability science capabilities are applied.

Unilever Change Management Case Study

In today’s fast-paced business environment, change is inevitable.

Companies need to evolve and adapt to remain competitive, but managing change is not an easy task. Effective change management is crucial to the success of any organizational transformation, as it ensures that the changes are implemented smoothly and effectively.

In this blog post, we will examine a case study of change management at Unilever, one of the world’s largest consumer goods companies.

We will explore the challenges faced by Unilever, the change management approach it took, and the results of its initiatives.

Brief History and Growth of Unilever 

Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational consumer goods company that was founded in 1929 through a merger between Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie and British soap maker Lever Brothers.

Unilever has a long history of growth through mergers and acquisitions, with notable acquisitions including Bestfoods, Ben & Jerry’s, and Dollar Shave Club.

The company operates in over 190 countries and has a diverse portfolio of products, including food and beverages, cleaning agents, beauty and personal care products.

Unilever has also been committed to sustainability and social responsibility, and in 2010, it launched the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, which aims to reduce the company’s environmental impact and improve the health and well-being of its customers.

Today, Unilever is one of the world’s largest consumer goods companies, with a revenue of over €50 billion in 2020.

External factors that led to organizational changes at Unilever

Unilever is a multinational consumer goods company that has undergone several organizational changes over the years. Here are three external factors that led to organizational changes at Unilever:

• Changing Consumer Preferences: The changing preferences and behaviors of consumers can have a significant impact on a company’s strategy and operations. For example, as more consumers started to prioritize eco-friendliness and sustainability, Unilever had to shift its focus towards more sustainable products and packaging. This led to the introduction of products like the “Dove Refillable Deodorant” and “Omo EcoActive” laundry detergent, as well as a commitment to reduce its plastic packaging by half by 2025.
• Competitive Pressure: Competition is another external factor that can force companies to make organizational changes. For example, when Unilever faced increasing competition from other consumer goods companies in emerging markets like India and China, it had to restructure its operations to be more efficient and cost-effective. This led to the consolidation of its global supply chain, as well as a greater emphasis on localizing its products and marketing strategies to better appeal to these markets.
• Technological Advancements: Advances in technology can also lead to organizational changes, as companies need to adapt to new ways of doing business. For example, as more consumers started to shop online, Unilever had to develop a strong e-commerce presence and optimize its digital marketing efforts. This led to the creation of Unilever Digital, a team dedicated to digital marketing and e-commerce, as well as a partnership with Alibaba to expand its online distribution in China.

Internal factors that led to organizational changes at Unilever

In addition to external factors, internal factors can also lead to organizational changes at Unilever. Here are three examples of internal factors that have led to organizational changes at the company:

• Management Changes: Changes in top management can often lead to organizational changes. For example, when Paul Polman became CEO of Unilever in 2009, he initiated a major restructuring of the company that aimed to streamline operations and focus on sustainable growth. This led to the consolidation of Unilever’s foods and personal care divisions, as well as a greater focus on emerging markets and sustainability.
• Financial Performance: Poor financial performance can also prompt organizational changes. For example, in 2017, Unilever reported slower-than-expected sales growth, leading the company to undertake a strategic review of its operations. This resulted in a decision to sell or spin off Unilever’s spreads business and focus on higher-growth areas like beauty and personal care.
• Organizational Culture: Organizational culture can also drive organizational change. For example, when Unilever identified a need to become more agile and innovative, it undertook a major cultural transformation initiative called “Connected 4 Growth.” This involved restructuring the company into smaller, more autonomous business units and giving employees greater freedom to experiment and take risks. The initiative aimed to foster a more entrepreneurial culture within the company and enable faster decision-making and innovation.

05 biggest steps taken by Unilever to implement changes

Unilever is a multinational consumer goods company that has undergone several organizational changes over the years. Here are the five biggest steps taken by Unilever to implement changes:

1. Sustainable Living Plan

In 2010, Unilever launched its Sustainable Living Plan, a comprehensive sustainability strategy that aimed to reduce the company’s environmental footprint, improve social impact, and drive profitable growth. The plan set ambitious targets for Unilever to achieve by 2020, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50% and improving the livelihoods of millions of people in its supply chain. The Sustainable Living Plan has been a driving force behind many of Unilever’s organizational changes, such as the introduction of sustainable products and packaging and a greater emphasis on transparency and accountability.

2. Organizational Restructuring

Unilever has undertaken several major organizational restructuring initiatives over the years to streamline its operations and focus on high-growth areas. For example, in 2016, Unilever announced a plan to consolidate its foods and personal care businesses into a single division, with the goal of achieving greater efficiency and cost savings. Similarly, in 2017, Unilever announced a strategic review of its operations in response to slower-than-expected sales growth, resulting in a decision to sell or spin off its spreads business and focus on higher-growth areas like beauty and personal care.

3. Digital Transformation

As more consumers started to shop online, Unilever recognized the need to invest in its digital capabilities to stay competitive. In 2017, the company launched Unilever Digital, a team dedicated to digital marketing and e-commerce, and entered into a partnership with Alibaba to expand its online distribution in China. Unilever also invested in technology startups and acquired several digital companies to enhance its digital capabilities and drive innovation.

4. Cultural Transformation

Unilever recognized that its organizational culture needed to change to foster greater agility and innovation. In 2016, the company launched its “Connected 4 Growth” initiative, which involved restructuring the company into smaller, more autonomous business units and empowering employees to take more risks and experiment. The initiative aimed to create a more entrepreneurial culture within the company and enable faster decision-making and innovation.

5. Portfolio Transformation

Unilever has undergone several portfolio transformations over the years to focus on its core brands and divest non-core businesses. For example, in 2018, Unilever acquired the personal care and home care brands of Quala, a Latin American consumer goods company, to strengthen its presence in emerging markets. At the same time, the company divested its spreads business and announced plans to exit its tea business to focus on higher-growth areas. These portfolio transformations have helped Unilever to stay agile and adapt to changing market conditions.

05 Results of change management implemented at Unilever

The change management initiatives implemented at Unilever have had several positive outcomes and impacts. Here are some of the key examples:

• Increased Sustainability: The Sustainable Living Plan has been a key driver of Unilever’s sustainability efforts, and the company has made significant progress in reducing its environmental footprint and improving social impact. For example, by 2020, Unilever had achieved its target of sending zero non-hazardous waste to landfill from its factories, and had also reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 46% per tonne of production.
• Improved Financial Performance: Unilever’s focus on portfolio transformation and strategic acquisitions has helped the company to improve its financial performance. For example, in 2020, the company reported a 1.9% increase in underlying sales growth and a 2.4% increase in operating profit margin.
• Enhanced Digital Capabilities: Unilever’s investments in digital transformation have enabled the company to stay competitive in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. For example, Unilever’s partnership with Alibaba has helped the company to expand its online distribution in China, while its investments in technology startups have helped to drive innovation and enhance its digital capabilities.
• Improved Organizational Agility: Unilever’s organizational restructuring and cultural transformation initiatives have helped to create a more agile and entrepreneurial company culture. This has enabled Unilever to make faster decisions and respond more quickly to changing market conditions.
• Increased Customer Satisfaction: Unilever’s focus on innovation and product development has resulted in the launch of several successful new products and brands, such as the plant-based meat alternative brand, The Vegetarian Butcher. These products have helped to increase customer satisfaction and drive growth for the company.

Final Words

Unilever’s successful implementation of change management is a testament to the company’s commitment to innovation, sustainability, and organizational excellence. By undertaking a variety of initiatives, such as the Sustainable Living Plan, organizational restructuring, digital transformation, cultural transformation, and portfolio transformation, Unilever has been able to adapt to changing market conditions and position itself for long-term success.

One key factor in Unilever’s success has been its ability to align its change management initiatives with its overall business strategy. By focusing on high-growth areas, investing in sustainability, and enhancing its digital capabilities, Unilever has been able to drive growth and improve profitability while also achieving its sustainability goals.

Another key factor has been Unilever’s emphasis on collaboration and stakeholder engagement. By working closely with suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders, Unilever has been able to create a shared sense of purpose and drive greater alignment around its sustainability and innovation goals.

About The Author

Tahir Abbas

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Unilever Case Study: The Past, The Present & The Future

Rp editorial.

Published: December 2, 2021

Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies serve the very core of human needs. CPGs are daily items that average consumers require routinely, such as food, beverages, clothes, makeup, and household products. Can you imagine a day in your life without these companies? While the very core of human needs might remain relatively the same, the delivery of meeting those needs has evolved with time. In fact, in recent years, the pace of change has quickened in the CPG sector. Consumer preferences and purchase behaviours are growing at an ever-faster rate. New channels are emerging each year, and disruptions primarily related to tech are increasing every coming year. This article looks at how Unilever has adapted to changes in its past and how a tech-focused future is inevitable.

Unilever’s Past

“On any day, 2.5 billion people use Unilever products and seven out of every ten households around the world contain at least one Unilever product”

In September 1929, Unilever was formed by a merger of the operations of Dutch Margarine Unie and British soapmaker Lever Brothers, with the company’s name a portmanteau of the name of both companies. Unilever is a company of many firsts. Lever Brothers, in 1886, produced a soap called Sunlight that became one of the first brands to advertise in-home, using innovative means such as small cards inserted into soap packaging, featuring the Sunlight brand in cartoon drawings or calendars. One of the most prominent examples of Unilever’s adaptability is its 1922 acquisition of Wall’s, a famous sausage company. Since the meat business is seasonal, the idea was proposed to make ice cream during the summer season. For the first time in Britain, ice cream was factory-made, pre-hardened, wrapped for mass distribution, branded, and retailed directly to the customer by salesmen sent out on tricycles.

This shows the innovative culture of Unilever and how they adapted themselves to the needs and requirements of their surroundings. The distribution channel that it created by utilizing tricycle bound salesmen was revolutionary then. Back then, Unilever was limited by the technology of its time, and as technology improved, so did Unilever’s processes. A successful CPG company’s hallmark is to understand what its consumers desire the most and innovate on ways to fulfil the said desires. Unilever delivered on this front.

Unilever’s Present

“On any given day, nine out of ten Indian households use HUL products”

In the present day local Unilever businesses act with a high level of independence and focus on local markets’ needs. One such subsidiary is Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) which is the largest in terms of volume for Unilever. In a country like India, business model innovation was yet again predestined.

Unilever’s mission to have its products become integral to the everyday lives of consumers stayed constant but the way to do so was compelled to adapt. Distribution has consistently been a dynamic and complex undertaking because of various structure levels with Carrying & Forwarding Agents and Dealer/Distributors. Wholesalers and the end Retailers are spread over the whole nation, with multiple states having novel qualities. 90% of the retailing occurs through Mom and Pop shops in India, they are popularly known as ‘Kirana’ stores. In such a scenario, it turns into a need for various levels in Unilever to divide India’s workload; or else, it will be hard for it to contact a colossal purchaser base. There is Metro, Urban, and Rural topography, which have diverse purchasing powers and brand pull.

Consumer goods companies also face an uphill battle in rural areas and having a conventional merchant in rural areas probably won’t be a reasonable choice. In Rural, the vast majority of the organizations have Sub Distributors or Rural Preferred merchants. There is a super stockist who supplies stocks to provincial wholesalers. Distribution and sales networks capable of profitably supporting necessary scale operations are challenging to build. An example of innovating on business models for HUL was with “Project Shakti”. HUL answered the challenge of complex distribution by combining strong local connections with changes to its organizational structure. Through Project Shakti, HUL markets and sells its health and beauty care products to low-income consumers in rural Indian villages. Such villages often lie entirely outside the reach of mainstream media. They cannot be reached cost-effectively through the usual marketing channels, such as retail stores or online shopping sites.

In India, HUL caters to millions of mom and pop stores, and finally to an end consumer base of over a billion. Complex distribution channels with its tentacles permeating every corner of India is the modern manifestation of HUL and of the CPG world.

Unilever’s business transformation went from a few tricycles delivering goods in their hyper-local consumer base to robust distribution networks across the world.

A Tech Focused Future

The next frontier of transformation for a titan like Unilever lies in leveraging cutting edge technology.

Data and analytics have become more critical than ever to forecast demand across product segments accurately. In 2012 HUL launched a strategic analytics initiative called “Project iQ,” which aimed to create “perfect stores” by improving on-shelf availability, reducing stocks-outs, and enhancing assortment. As part of Project iQ, HUL used measurable science to generate specific outlet based product-level decisions applicable across channels, geographies, and outlets of varied sizes. Neighbourhood behaviour was used as a critical influencer in developing recommendations.

The next wave is tied to the rise of technologies in the fields of AI and ML, the future is in tech-enabled agile CPG operations. Visibility of operations and performance can now be data-driven like never before.

In a country like India, over 90% of CPG purchases occur at small mom & pop shops, and over 90% of the revenue is generated via this medium. It is clear by HUL’s example that only those CPGs companies will survive, which will perfect their in-store visibility strategy. But how?

Enter Retail Pulse, built for CPG companies and Retailers in developing markets; Retail Pulse offers an AI-based solution to tap into the immense data in every mom & pop shop and give deep store analytics and insights based on the data generated via photos taken by the smartphones of CPG company’s sales reps.

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Unilever Case Study: Marketing Strategy of the Products

Introduction, strengths and opportunities, keys to success in the consumer product manufacturing industry, unilever’s strategies for competition in global markets, lessons learnt from unilever case study.

Unilever is a global company that deals with manufacture of consumer products. The company manufactures a wide range of products ranging from food to personal and home categories. The company’s engagement in production of different commodities has largely contributed to its growth in most parts of the world. The success of Unilever company relies on the ability to market its products and strategies to penetrate the market. This mainly involves proper marketing research and the need to meet customers’ requirements. Various aspects that contribute to the growth of Unilever as a consumer product company are discussed in the paper.

The growth of Unilever entirely depends on both the company’s internal and external analysis. The company’s prevalence in the consumer products market owes credit to the internal strengths and ability to utilize the opportunities in the outside environment. One of the major strengths for Unilever’s penetration in the global market is diversification of consumer products in markets all over the world. Diversification is the production of several varieties of goods with the aim of expansion to enjoy the market share of most product consumers in different regions (Graham, 2007).

The idea of diversification entitled the products managers in different regions with powers to make decisions on the marketing strategy of the products. This enabled proper distribution of products since the managers on the ground knew the most consumed products hence increasing its supplies in the regions. An additional strength of the company dwells in Unilever’s capability to foresee customers’ ways of product purchase and consumption of goods. This enables them to supply products according to market demand and needs of customers.

The ready market for consumer product purchase all over the world offers a great opportunity for Unilever company products. According to Fletcher (2010), new markets provide greater potential for an immense growth in product sales. Therefore, the introduction of Unilever products in new markets provides the opportunity for potential growth in sales. Such opportunities offer the advantages of enjoying the global market share of the product before other companies in the same category.

The success in consumer products industry owes credit to well planned marketing strategies, proper coordination between the internal and external factors of the company in the market share. Since the industry is very competitive, customer relationship also accounts for the growth and expansion in this industry. Consumer research is a vital subject for success in this industry. For the case of Unilever, extensive research is done to enable innovation of fresh products and improvement of existing products to fit the consumers’ needs. This involves rebranding and getting to customers in both local and international markets by smooth relations between the company and its customers. To achieve this, the company has to implement appropriate customer relationship management strategies (Waarts, 2005).

Implementation of culture difference strategy is another important factor towards success in consumer product industry. Unilever applies this strategy to penetrate into local markets. This contributes to expansion in different markets at a faster rate than companies that do not apply the strategy. The company combines this strategy with building correct leadership behavior to produce competent employees and managers. These produce responsible staff which engages in socio-cultural promotional programs in order to win the customers hence consumption of their products. Moreover, success in this industry requires efficient transformation in information technology (Hoskinsson, 2009). With the fast changing technology, companies need to keep track in order to apply e-commerce which enhances efficient and quick transactions between the consumers and the organization.

The main important strategy used by Unilever to compete for the market share in the industry is the global strategy. The strategy involves marketing of brands in local environments and maintaining the supply of similar products in these regions. The company also applies this strategy to produce new brands for marketing in different regions all over the world. This strategy is of benefit to the company since it improves the uniformity in the marketing operations at the same time building the product’s brand equity.

Unilever employs the cross- market strategy to succeed in getting customers from their competitors. This is done by providing their products in the market at a subsidized price which is normally lower than that of other competing companies. These strategies work for Unilever because most companies find it difficult to offer these services while maintaining high quality of products (Jones, 2002).

From the case study, it is observed that Unilever is a multinational company in production of consumer commodities. The ability of Unilever to use its strengths such as involvement in variety of products enables the company to utilize the available opportunities in expansion to international markets. Further more, the company’s strategies in market entry show that for success in such a business, one needs to use appropriate and effective marketing strategies in order to succeed in a competitive market (Fletcher, 2010). Therefore, it is important to plan well and carefully follow the appropriate strategies for success in the industry.

The success of Unilever in this category is based on the company’s marketing strategies. The ability of the company to introduce its commodities in new and emerging markets give it an advantage to grow in most parts of the world. The growth of the company is also observed as a result of its engagement in manufacture of different products. These strategies teach us the importance of well planned market strategies and the importance of diversification in brand marketing.

Fletcher, C. (2010). Unilever’s volume beats estimates, aided by Europe. Business Week, 6. Web.

Graham, J. L., & Cateora, R. P. (2007). International marketing . London: McGraw-Hill.

Hoskinsson, R. E., Ireland, D. R., & Hitt, A. M. (2009). Strategic management: competitiveness and globalization: Concepts & cases . Cambridge: Cengage Learning.

Jones, G. (2002). Control, performance, and knowledge transfers in large multinationals: Unilever in the United States. Business History Review, 76 (43-45).

Waarts, E. (2005). Competition as an inspirational marketing tool. European Business Forum , 12 ,(3-6).

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Case Analysis of Unilever Case Study

Problem and issues in the case, analysis of situation, alternative strategies, course of action, reference list.

The case study is based on two dominant Unilever brands. It addresses marketing excellence by showing the current underlying changes marketing techniques, especially personal selling. The major problem discussed by the case is the increased competition in the marketing and how it has hindered efforts to keep Unilever’ brand relevant in the market.

It explores the shift from traditional advertising methods to the use of unconventional media channels (Kotler& Keller, 2012). Another issue illuminated in the case study is how Unilever has been able to use specific channels of advertising to reach its consumer.

Based on the information given in the case study, Unilever has been able to create outstanding brands that have gained a large market share. The Axe and the Dove brands (Kotler, 2012), have been labeled as two of the most successful brands by Unilever. The two famous brands have enabled the company to reach the targeted population in the required time.

The company has positioned the two brands in the market in such a way that they meet the required demand. The Axe brand mainly targets heterosexual males. Through media channels like Comedy central, Spike, ESPN and MTV (Kotler& Keller, 2012), it has been able to reach the targeted audience. Other channels such as print media and social sites like Facebook and Twitter have also been used to reach the segmented market.

On the other hand, the Dove brand targets all women by selling the message that every woman could be beautiful if they used the brand. The company has shifted from the traditional methods of advertising whereby it used celebrities and models to one that uses women of different sizes, colors, shapes, and age to display the real woman (Kotler& Keller, 2012).

In its efforts to reach the target audience, Unilever has made use of online services and Dove films. This has improved the performance of the brand because through the processes and programs, it has become possible to reach the target population.

A SWOT analysis of the Unilever Company based on the Dove and the Axe brands reveals that the company has used differentiation to reach the targeted population. For instance, the Axe brand includes products like body gel, shampoo, deodorants, and body sprays (Kotler& Keller, 2012).

These products have an already existing market that targets a group loyal to the brands. On the other hand, the weakness of the company has been its overdependence on the Axe and the Dove brands.

Unilever could decide to use branding and pricing strategies to make their products more competitive. For instance, it could apply the price added value as part of its pricing strategy (Kotler & Armstrong, 2010). It can also rebrand its brands by either placing its logo in a more distinctive place visible to its loyal customers.

This way, Unilever can still maintain its market share and reduce the increased competition in the market. The drawback of pricing and branding is that it may be costly and expensive to initiate.

The company’s marketing department could allocate more finances to its rebranding and advertising projects. It is also recommendable that the company adopts alternative strategies as a way of remaining relevant in the market. It could also undertake market research to evaluate the actual and standard product progress (Kotler & Armstrong, 2010), on monthly basis.

Kotler. P., & Armstrong.G. (2010). Principles of Marketing . New York: Pearson.

Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2012). Marketing Management (14 ed.). New Jersey. Pearson/Prentice Hall

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2019, December 16). Case Analysis of Unilever. https://ivypanda.com/essays/case-analysis-of-unilever-case-study/

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Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Case Analysis of Unilever." December 16, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/case-analysis-of-unilever-case-study/.

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FMCG Giant Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) Case Study

Devashish Shrivastava , Anik Banerjee

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is a British-Dutch assembling organization headquartered in Mumbai, India. The items of Hindustan Unilever Ltd incorporate nourishments, drinks, cleaning specialists, individual consideration items, water purifiers, and purchaser merchandise. HUL was set up in 1933 as Lever Brothers and following the merger of its constituent gatherings in 1956, HUL was renamed Hindustan Lever Limited. The organization was then renamed in June 2007 as "Hindustan Unilever Limited".

At the start of 2019, the Hindustan Unilever Limited portfolio had 35 items marked in 20 classifications and utilized 18,000 representatives with offers of Rs. 34,619 crores in 2017-18. In December 2018, HUL reported its procurement of Glaxo Smithkline's India business for $3.8 billion out of an all value merger manage ratio of 1:4.39.

However, the joining of 3800 representatives of GSK stayed questionable as HUL expressed there was no provision for maintenance of workers in the deal. In January 2019, HUL said that it hopes to finish the merger with Glaxo Smith Kline Consumer Healthcare (GSKCH India) this year.

History And Journey Of Hindustan Unilever Brands And Products Of Hindustan Unilever Business Model of HUL Business Growth In India Expected Future Growth

History And Journey Of Hindustan Unilever

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is India's biggest quick-moving customer merchandise organization. HUL works in seven business sections.

The cleanser segment incorporates cleansers, cleanser bars, cleanser powders, and scourers. Individual items incorporate items in the classifications of oral consideration, healthy skin (barring cleansers), hair care bath powder, and shading beautifiers. Refreshments incorporate tea and espresso.

Nourishments incorporate staples (atta salt and bread) and culinary items (tomato-based items natural product-based items and soups). Frozen yogurts incorporate frozen yogurts and solidified treats. Others incorporate synthetic substances and water business.

HUL's item portfolio incorporates family unit brands—for example, Lux, Lifebuoy, Surf Excel, Rin, Wheel, Fair and Lovely, Pond's, Vaseline, Lakme, Dove, Clinic Plus, Sunsilk, Pepsodent, Closeup, Axe, Brooke Bond, and Bru, Knorr, Kissan, and Kwality Wall's. HUL is a backup of Unilever, one of the world's driving providers of food products , home care, personal care, and refreshment items with deals in more than 190 nations and a yearly turnover of $6.08 billion in 2020.

Hindustan Unilever Limited traces its origins to Unilever, a British-Dutch multinational company, which is the parent of HUL. William Hesketh Lever was a popular social reformer and is regarded as one of the main propagators of several significant employee benefits options like benefits of health, savings, and more. Thus, his ideologies largely seeped into Unilver and resulted in developing its strong sense of corporate responsibility and leadership. This culture was invariably passed on to the Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL).

The British-Dutch company Unilever, which emerged as a result of the merger of the operations of Dutch Margarine Unie and British soapmaker Lever Brothers, when it first came to India, discovered the rich and largely unexplored potential of the Indian market. Soon after, the establishment of Hindustan Vanaspati Mfg. Co. Ltd. followed in 1931, which was succeeded by the foundation of Lever Brothers India Limited (1933) and United Traders Limited (1935). The Indian subcontinent had only been importing FMCG products, branded under Lever Brothers since then, the first of which were spotted as early as 1888. Following this, brands like Lifebuoy stepped in 1895, along with other famous companies like Pears, Lux, and Vim. Vanaspati was launched in 1918 and the famous Dalda brand came to the market in 1937.

The 3 Unilever companies - Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Company, Lever Brothers India Limited, and United Traders Limited eventually merged together to form HUL in November 1956. HUL offered 10% of its equity to the Indians and soon swooped into the news, being the first foreign subsidiary to do so.

The organization obtained Lipton in 1972, and Lipton Tea (India) Ltd was consolidated in 1977. Brooke Bond joined the Unilever overlap in 1984 through a global obtaining. Lake's (India) Ltd joined the Unilever overlap through a worldwide securing of Chesebrough Pond's USA in 1986.

The progression of the Indian economy, which began in 1991, denoted an enunciation in the organization's development bend. The expulsion of the administrative structure enabled the organization to investigate every item and open-door section with no imperatives on the creation limit. At the same time, deregulation allowed acquisitions and mergers .

The Tata Oil Mills Company (TOMCO) converged with the organization with effect from April 1, 1993. In 1996, Unilever and Lakme Ltd framed a 50:50 joint endeavor, Lakme Unilever Ltd, to advertise Lakme's market-driven beautifiers and other suitable results. In 1998, Lakme Ltd offered its brands to Unilever and stripped its half stake in the joint venture.

In 1994, the organization and US-based Kimberly Clark Corporation framed a 50:50 joint endeavor—Kimberly-Clark Lever Ltd—which markets Huggies Diapers and Kotex Sanitary Pads. The organization likewise set up a backup in Nepal called Unilever Nepal Limited (UNL). UNL's production line speaks to the biggest assembling interest in the Himalayan kingdom. In the1992, Brooke Bond gained Kothari General Foods with critical interests in instant coffee.

In 1993, HUL acquired Kissan from the UB Group and the Dollops ice-cream business from Cadbury India. Tea Estates and Doom Dooma, two major organizations of Unilever, were converged with Brooke Bond. At that point, in 1994, Brooke Bond India and Lipton India converged to shape Brooke Bond Lipton India Ltd (BBLIL) to empower more noteworthy concentration and guarantee collaboration in the customary beverages business. BBL converged with Unilever with effect from January 1, 1996.

The internal rebuilding finished with the merger of Pond's (India) Limited (PIL) with HUL in 1998. The two organizations had huge covers in personal products, specialty chemicals, and export organizations; other than a typical appropriation framework since 1993 for personal products. The two additionally had a typical administration pool and an innovation base.

In January 2000, the administration chose to grant 74% value in Modern Foods to Unilever. This started the divestment of government value in open division endeavors (PSU) to private area accomplices. The organization's entrance into bread production is a key augmentation of the organization's wheat business. In 2002, the organization procured the administration's residual stake in Modern Foods.

In 2002, the organization made its entry into Ayurvedic well-being with its Ayush item range and Ayush therapy centers. In 2003, the organization procured the Cooked Shrimp and Pasteurized Crabmeat business of the Amalgam Group of Companies, an innovator in marine products trades. Additionally, the organization propelled Hindustan Unilever Network Direct to home business. In 2004, the organization launched the 'Pureit' water purifier.

In 2005, Lever India Exports, Lipton India Exports Ltd, Merry climate Food Products, Toc Disinfectants Ltd, and International Fisheries Ltd were amalgamated within Unilever. In February 2006, Vasishti Detergents Ltd (VDL) converged with Unilever. In September 2006, Modern Foods Industries (India) Ltd & Modern Foods and Nutrition Industries Ltd were included. In October 2006, Unilever stripped its 51% controlling stake in Unilever India Shared Services Ltd, currently known as Capgemini Business Services Pvt. Ltd., to Cap Gemini SA.

In March 2007, Sangam Direct, a non-store home conveyance retail business managed by Unilever India Exports Ltd (UIEL) and a completely possessed auxiliary, was moved to Wadhavan Foods Retail Pvt Ltd (WFRPL) in a droop deal business. Likewise, Unilever completed the demerger of its operational offices in Shamnagar, Jamnagar, and Janmam and shaped three autonomous organizations —Shamnagar Estates Ltd., Jamnagar Properties Ltd, and Hindustan Kwality Walls Foods Ltd. In June 2007, the organization changed its name from Hindustan Lever Ltd to Hindustan Unilever Limited.

In 2008, the organization reported its coordinated efforts with the Indian Dental Association (IDA) related to World Dental Federation (FDI) through the Pepsodent brand to help improve the oral well-being and cleanliness benchmarks in India. In April 2008, the organization demerged and moved certain immovable properties to Brooke Bond Real Estates Pvt Ltd. In January 2010, the organization introduced its new corporate office.

In April 2010, Unilever affirmed the plan of amalgamation of Bon Ltd, an entirely possessed backup of Hindustan Unilever Limited, with it. The selected date for the previously mentioned plan was 1 April 2009 and the plan was made viable from April 28, 2010. Ensuing to the amalgamation, Bon Ltd stopped being an auxiliary of the company.

During 2010-11, Kissan forayed into a new market fragment in three major classifications. It propelled Kissan Fruit and Soya, a delightful mix of organic product juice and soya milk, which appreciated a separated suggestion in this market. The brand likewise went into the Indian (non-sweet) spreads showcase with the dispatch of Kissan Creamy Spread over key towns. In the bakery division, the organization propelled two new items—Chapi and Cream Rolls. The organization stripped 43.31% stake in Hindustan Field Services Pvt Ltd for Smollan Group (the JV accomplice).

Along these lines, Hindustan Field Services Pvt. Ltd. stopped being a backup organization. Lakme Lever Pvt Ltd, a completely claimed auxiliary of HUL, extended the system of Lakme Beauty Salons in that year with the opening of 11 franchises and oversaw salons alongside 18 franchisees' salons.

In December 2011, the organization demerged the FMCG sends-out business, including explicit fares related to assembling units of the organization, into its entirely claimed backup Unilever India Exports Ltd (UIEL). The plan wound up successful on January 1, 2012.

In 2012, the organization went into a concurrence with Unilever to showcase Brylcreem in India. During the year under audit, Unilever and elements of Piramal Realty (Ajay Piramal Group) consented to an arrangement for the task of HUL's leasehold privileges of the land and building named Gulita arranged at Worli Sea Face Mumbai for an exchange estimation of Rs. 452.5 Crore.

On 22 January 2013, the Board of Directors of HUL affirmed a proposition to consent to another arrangement with its parent organization Unilever for the arrangement of innovation exchange imprint permit, trademark registration, and other services on 1 February 2013. This new understanding underlined that the loyalty cost of 1.4% of turnover payable by HUL to Unilever will increment in a staged way to an eminence cost of 3.15% of turnover, no later than the money-related year finishing 31 March 2018.

The expansion in eminence cost in the period from 1 February 2013 to 31 March 2014 is assessed to be 0.5% of turnover and from there on in the scope of 0.3% to 0.7% of turnover in each money related year, paving the way to a complete evaluated sovereignty cost increment of 1.75% of turnover contrasted with existing courses of action no later than the monetary year finishing 31 March 2018.

In 2014, Unilever reported an organization with Internet.org, a Facebook-directed coalition of accomplices to see how web access can be expanded to contact millions of individuals crosswise over India. The organization additionally dispatched Prabhat activity for network improvement in towns around its industrial facilities during the year under survey. Furthermore, the organization also went into association with MTV to embrace its brands during the year under review. In 2015, the organization propelled The Unilever Foundry.

During the year under audit, the organization was perceived as the most inventive advertiser at the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA). The organization additionally resuscitated Ayush with e-dispatch during the year. Besides, it also propelled the 'Swachh Aadat Swachh Bharat' program in India during the year under review. On 8 September 2015, HUL reported that it has further consented to bring forth an arrangement for the deal and the transfer of its bread and pastry shop business under the brand Modern to Nimman Foods Private Limited, an investee organization of the Everstone Group, for an undisclosed amount.

Brands And Products Of Hindustan Unilever

HUL is the market chief in Indian buyer items with products in more than 20 purchaser classes (for example, cleansers, tea, cleansers, and shampoos among others). Sixteen of HUL's brands were included in the ACNielsen Brand Equity rundown of 100 Most Trusted Brands Annual Survey (2014) which was completed by Brand Equity, an enhancement of The Economic Times. There are many brands and products owned by Hindustan Uniliver:

Food Products

• Annapurna salt and Atta (once known as Kissan Annapurna)
• Brooke Bond 3 Roses, Taj Mahal, Taaza and Red Label tea
• Kissan squashes, kinds of ketchup, squeezes and sticks
• Lipton ice tea
• Knorr soups and supper creators and soupy noodles
• Kwality Wall's solidified treat
• Modern Bread, prepared to eat chapattis and other pastry shop things (presently offered to Everstone Capital)
• Magnum (ice cream)

Homecare Brands

• Wheel cleaner
• Cif Cream Cleaner
• comfort cleansing agents
• Domex disinfectant/toilet and bathroom cleaner
• Rin detergent products
• sunlight cleanser and shading care
• Surf Excel cleanser and delicate wash
• Vim dishwash
• magic – Water Saver

Personal Care Brands

• Aviance Beauty Solutions and products
• Axe deodorant and aftershave lotion and soap and accessories
• Lever Ayush Therapy ayurvedic health care and personal care products and items
• International breeze
• Brylcreem hair cream, hair gel and hair products
• Clear anti-dandruff hair products
• Clinic Plus shampoo and oil
• Close Up toothpaste
• Dove skin cleansing & hair care range: bar, lotions, creams, and antiperspirant deodorants
• Denim shaving products
• Fair and Lovely, skin lightening cream
• Indulekha ayurvedic hair oil
• Lakmé beauty products and salons
• Lifebuoy soaps and handwash range
• Liril 2000 soap
• Lux soap, body wash, and deodorant
• Pears soap, body wash
• Pepsodent toothpaste
• Pond's talcs and creams
• Sunsilk shampoo
• Sure antiperspirant
• Vaseline petroleum jelly, skincare lotions
• Vaseline and relevant products

Water Purifier Products

• Pureit water purifier

Business Model of HUL

Hindustan Unilever is an FMCG company that leverages its Direct to Consumer (D2C) business model and has made over 50 billion in revenue, as discovered in 2017. The company has crossed INR 50,000 cr ($6.55 bn) in turnover during FY21, as per the reports on April 2022. HUL is the first pure FMCG brand to hit such a milestone.

The business model of Hindustan Unilever is propelled with the idea of making living sustainable feasible for the masses. With sustainable living, HUL wants to bring about:

• Bettering the future of the children
• A future full of confidence
• A future full of health
• A future that is better for the planet
• A future that is better for the farming and farmers of India

The beauty and personal care segment of Hindustan Unilever helps the company see the most profit, while the food and refreshments segment is declared as the fastest-growing segment of the company. Home care is another segment of the company among its 3 primary segments.

The Hindustan Unilever company gets its competitive advantage from the global footprint it has and the track record of the company for enhancing value for its consumers around the globe.

Some of the prominent patterns that are noticeable in the business model of HUL are:

Reverse Innovation

Reverse innovation refers to the process of building products for industrial countries and then adapting them to the emerging markets. The technique of reverse innovation is what is truly wielded by HUL, which has been a prominent inspiration for many other big brands. The 'Knorr Stock Pot’ that the brand came up with is an excellent example of leveraging reverse innovation. This technique was mastered by HUL by taking references from the famous ‘Dense Soup treasure,’ which was the first major example of reverse innovation, launched in China in 2007.  

Focussing on the financially weak

In contrast to the other foreign subsidiaries, HUL ideated to focus on the financially weaker sections of the country, which led them to focus on the majority of the Indian people. Citing the discovery of Wheel detergent powder is one of the examples where Hindustan Unilever created products for the majority of the Indian consumers. Wheel had lower oil-to-water ratio, which enabled Indian to wash textiles even in rivers with hands. Wheel was then made available cleverly by the brand in the local corner shops as well as via door-to-door representatives.

Staying keen on the Triple Bottom Line

While most of the companies solely focus on the profit part of the follow the Triple Bottom Line with only a little focus on the other segments, HUL has a new approach where the brand decided aimed for the other segments, thereby caring for people and the planet.  

HUL largely focuses on the people, including its consumers and others. For instance, the company changed the name of one of its popular products "Fair and Lovely" to "Glow and Lovely", following the All Black Lives Matter movement that raged globally. This instantly made HUL a favourite!  

Significant Distribution Strategy

The distribution strategy that Hindustan Unilever follows is exemplary! It focuses on hyperlocal markets, retail stores, wholesalers, hypermarkets convenience stores, ecommerce, and more. This hugely helps in the promotion of the HUL products and moving them fast to the consumers!

Business Growth In India

FMCG giant Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) announced a 15.98% development in solidified net benefit at Rs 6,060 crore for the monetary year finished March 31, 2019, when contrasted with Rs 5,225 crore in 2018. The net profit that HUL witnessed in FY21 rose by 18% YoY at Rs 7,954 crore.

Remarking on the profit, HUL Chairman and Managing Director Sanjiv Mehta stated, "We have conveyed a solid execution for the quarter regardless of some balance in rustic market development. Our attention to fortifying the center and driving business sector advancement has been reliably conveying great outcomes. We have now developed top line and primary concern for the eighth continuous year and our 2019 outcomes were a demonstration of both our technique and execution."

"Given the large-scale monetary pointers, close term advertise development has directed. Notwithstanding, the medium-term viewpoint remains positive. As an association, we are well-situated to react with speed and nimbleness to address the issues of our shoppers. We stay concentrated on our vital plan of conveying predictable, focused, beneficial, and dependable development," he included.

"Together with the between time profit of Rs 9 for each offer, the all-out profit for the money-related year closure March 31, 2019, adds up to Rs. 22 for every offer," the organization said. "Combined income for 2018-19 remained at Rs 39,860 crore, up from Rs 36,622 crore a year sooner," HUL said in a document to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

HUL's business in India developed by 12%, driven by 10% volume development in the household advertise. In the January-March quarter, the organization posted 13.84% development in its independent net benefit at Rs 1,538 crore when contrasted with Rs 1,351 crore in a similar quarter a year ago. The offers of the organization remained at Rs 9,809 crore in Q4FY19 from Rs 9,003 crore in Q4FY18, enrolling a development of 8.95%. The working benefit (EBITDA) for the March quarter was up 13% year-on-year at Rs 2,321 crore and the EBITDA edge was up 90 bps.

The organization said that the edge improved because of judicious administration of instability in costs (unrefined and money driven) alongside improved blend and working influence.

HUL reported that its Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) stood at Rs 11,324 crore, while the EBITDA margin was reported to be 25% during FY21.

Also read : Unknown Facts About Famous Brands | A Case Study

Expected Future Growth

Hindustan Unilever NSE 0.01 % (HUL) may clock 9-10% development in June quarter benefit despite a slight balance in volumes because of value climbs crosswise over classes. IIFL Institutional Equities expects the FMCG major to report a 6% volume development, a slight control from the 7% volume development recorded in the past quarter.

"Our channel checks give us a feeling that the organization has started value climbs crosswise over classes, (for example, cleansers, espresso), among others. We along these lines gauge a business development of 9%, like the past quarter level. We expect the slight withdrawal in gross edge to be counterbalanced by influence in promotion spending and different costs. In general, EBITDA and PAT are relied upon to develop at 13% and 12%, individually," IIFL said. IDFC Securities expects HUL to report 10.3% to ascend in benefit at Rs 1,728 crore. It sees deals developing at 8% to Rs 10,250 crore.

"We expect 6% volume development and factor in deals development of 11% in home consideration and 7% in close to home consideration portions. Lower advertisement spends (down 80 bps YoY) and commands over different overheads will help EBITDA edges," it stated while proposing edge at 24.3% against 23.7% the previous year. Edelweiss sees income, Ebitda, and benefit development at 7.3%, 8.6%, and 7.7% YoY.

"We anticipate that HUL's volume should grow 5% YoY on a high base of 12% YoY development. Q1FY18 was affected by GST dispatch thus the best approach to take a gander at volume development is three years' normal, which will be 5.6%. Delicate quality in the second 50% of Q4FY19 proceeded for the full quarter in Q1FY20. Provincial development is presently at a similar level as urban development. A mixed value climb of 2.5% has been taken. On EBITDA edge front, we expect 20-30 bps YoY development," the business said.

What is Hindustan Unilever origin?

Hindustan Unilever or Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is an Indian subsidiary of Unilever, which sprung from its Dutch-British roots. HUL is headquartered in Mumbai.  

Who is the owner of Hindustan Unilever Limited?

HUL is owned by Unilever, its British multinational parent, headquartered in London.

What is HUL?

HUL is the acronym for Hindustan Unilever Limited.

Who are Hindustan Unilever founders?

Hindustan Unilever founders can be cited as 3 parent companies - Hindustan Vanaspati Mfg. Co. Ltd., Lever Brothers India Limited, and United Traders Limited, which were merged to form HUL.

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How Unilever Is Preparing for the Future of Work

Brian Kenny:

On November 30, 2022, OpenAI launched the latest version of ChatGPT, the largest and most powerful AI chatbot to date. Within a few days, more than a million people tested its ability to do the mundane things we really don't like to do, such as writing emails, coding software, and scheduling meetings. Others upped the intelligence challenge by asking for sonnets and song lyrics, and even instructions on how to remove a peanut butter sandwich from a VCR in the style of King James. But once the novelty wore off, the reality set in. ChatGPT is a game changer, and yet another example of the potential for AI to change the way we live and work.

And while we often view AI as improving how we live, we tend to think of it as destroying how we work, fears that are fueled by dire predictions of job eliminations in the tens of millions and the eradication of entire industries. And while it's true that AI will continue to evolve and improve, eventually taking over many jobs that are currently performed by people, it will also create many work opportunities that don't yet exist.

Today on Cold Call , we welcome Professor William Kerr, joined by Patrick Hull of Unilever, to discuss the case, “Unilever's Response to the Future of Work.” I'm your host, Brian Kenny, and you're listening to Cold Call on the HBR Podcast Network.

Professor Bill Kerr is the co-director of Harvard Business School's Managing the Future of Work initiative. His research centers on how companies and economies explore new opportunities and generate growth, and he is a fellow podcaster. He hosts a show called, Managing the Future of Work . Bill, thanks for being here.

Thanks for having us.

And Patrick Hull is Unilever's VP of Global Learning and Future of Work. He goes by Paddy. Paddy, thanks for joining us.

Patrick Hull:

Thank you very much for having me.

It's great to have you both here today. I think people will really be interested in hearing this case and how Unilever is thinking about the future of work. So why don't we just dive right in. And, Bill, I'm going to ask you to start by telling us what the central issue is in the case, and what your cold call is to start the discussion in class.

Well, Brian, I think your introduction clearly outlined the central issue, which is technology is really transforming the world of work. And that means, companies must learn how to do things different than what they've done over 50 or a hundred year history. And it also means they must transform the skill base in how they're approaching employees and talent. I think we can simply say: that ain't easy, and it's also going to introduce significant challenges and tensions for organizations. A big company like Unilever is going to really want to appeal to employees, put the purpose of the company in front of employees, embrace that, but it's also going to have to make challenging decisions regarding employees and their transition of skills and what's the future workforce going to look like. So the most common cold call is a really simple question, which is: has Unilever, through its Future of Work Program, resolved the paradox of profit and purpose? And pretty quickly, the answer to that is, “no.” It hasn't fully resolved that. I will occasionally get maybe one person that goes all the way there. So then we've got to start unpacking, okay, how close is it to resolving that? And are we very near the end point or are we farther away?

Yeah. Simple question to you maybe, but probably not to others who are listening. That sounds like a pretty complex question. I mentioned your involvement with the Managing the Future of Work initiative here. So I know you think a lot about this. This is on your mind all the time. How did you hear about what Unilever was doing, and why was it important to you to write this case?

Well, it's interesting. The history of the connection came through another case that we wrote. Very early in our project on Managing the Future of Work, we're always very deliberate about putting the “managing” in front of the future of work, and that we want to think about how leading companies are reacting to the forces that are shaping the future, like digitization and demographic changes and so forth. So we've written a case about Vodafone, which we did a Cold Call a while back. With Vittorio Colao. And Vittorio was on Unilever's board and said, "You have got to go and meet this organization and see what they're doing," because they have one of the most comprehensive, well thought out programs for the future of work that he had come across. And in fact, that was the connection that then followed on. And yes, for a sector that Unilever's working in that has end-to-end change going on from the manufacturers, all the way down through the consumers or the products, to be able to have an organization that's thought very deeply about what pillars do we need to put into place to make the change occur is great. The other thing that was delightful about Unilever and writing this case study is that, a lot of times, companies want to talk about their programs, only after they know that it was a success. They would prefer to wait until they've... They're like, wait another two years and then we'll write the case study about this transformation. But Unilever's been very upfront in saying, "The future of work's a big challenge. We have to get in front of that. Here's what we're doing. We haven't necessarily figured it all out yet, and some of this will prove wildly successful. Others may be challenging, but this is where we're going." And that's been a great thing to really spark a lot of executives and students a conversation about, what will the future of work require, and how can we get there?

Yeah. So, Paddy, I have to ask, I have to start by asking you, what's your job? Because your title's very lofty. It basically calls you a visionary. You are the VP of Global Learning and Future of Work. So what do you do?

I've got a funny answer to that question. Since the pandemic, and obviously, been working a lot from home, and I work in a slightly open area, so my wife gets to hear a little bit of what I'm talking about. She seems to think that what I do is laugh a lot and chat a lot to people. So that's what-

Kind of like we're doing today. So she's listening in…

She says, "When do you do some real work?" But yes, I guess what I do is work with a really passionate, dedicated team of people who are looking at how are we preparing our organization, and our people in particular, for a future that is very different to what we've been experiencing in our traditional work models up to this point. You mentioned ChatGPT as well. I mean, that really is the talk of the town at the moment. And I guess we've been thinking for a bit of time, as Bill mentioned, about the impact of things like that on our business, and trying to get on the forefront of what's our response to that. So I wouldn't quite say visionary. I think, at this stage in business and what's going on, it's quite hard to be truly visionary, but trying to stay one or two steps slightly ahead of what's going on in the world of work, that's, I guess, what my job's all about.

Yeah. That's great. For our listeners who... I think most people have heard of Unilever, but for people who aren't really aware of the scope and scale of Unilever, can you describe the business for us a little bit?

Yes. So we're a fast moving consumer goods business. So most of you will probably interact with one of our brands or products every day. In fact, we say that we serve 3.4 billion people every day. That's how often someone buys one of our products or uses one of our products. We've got about 400 brands in 190 countries across the world, ranging from global brands like Dove, Sunsilk, Hellmann's, Rexona, all the way through to what we call local jewels like Marmite in the UK, which is one of those brands that you either love it or hate it.

How big is the workforce at Unilever?

The workforce is about 149,000 people who are directly employed by us. But we always often speak about how we have an extended workforce of around 3 to 5 million people, who if you ask them who they work for, they would say Unilever, even though they're actually employed by someone else.

Yeah. So we know Unilever well at Harvard Business School. We've had lots of cases written on over the years by our faculty, and we've actually talked about it on Cold Call before, particularly, the focus on sustainability. Unilever really stands out in this regard. And I wonder if you could talk a little bit about how important this is to the culture at Unilever.

It is. I can't tell you how important it is. In fact, when Paul Polman, previous CEO, came into the organization in 2009, he launched the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan in 2010. And he did this beautiful job when he launched it of reminding us that sustainability has been part of Unilever since day one. When Lord Leverhulme started selling Sunlight soap, his mission was to make cleanliness commonplace. That was back in the late 1800s. And what Paul did beautifully is he then simply shifted that a little bit and said, "We are now here to make sustainable living commonplace, because now we impact so many more people and so many more homes. If we can help every consumer out there make more sustainable choices with how they eat, how they clean, how they use plastic, how they use water, then we can have a massive impact, positive impact, on the planet and society, and that's good for business." That was the business model that we've ascribed to. So we hire on it. We are tracked on it. We develop on it. It's definitely part of the way things get done here.

Bill, let me turn back to you for a second. The FMCG sector is fast moving, as it indicates. What are some of the forces that are putting pressure on that particular sector these days?

Yeah. The case outlines three forces, and let me walk through those and also say a little bit of, before I do that, why we think this sector's amazing to watch. If you want to have a kind of front row seat as to how the future of work may play out in other sectors, I often direct them towards the fast moving consumer good sector because the technology forces, the demographic forces, the gig workplace force that we'll talk about are all happening already. They're deep into this sector, so we can learn a lot from it. So the first one is clearly technology that links through all the way to our opening conversation. There's many ways in which the touch points between consumers and the outlets and last mile delivery and drones possibly dropping off future packages reverberates all the way up through the supply chain to Unilever and its suppliers above. A simple kind of easy metric is, think about the speed that we now demand or expect of our package delivery. It's no longer that we're going to go to the store and pick this up and the store can replenish itself over a week-long horizon. It's going to be, I just pressed the button in the app and I'm expecting it in the next five minutes to be handed to me. That puts a lot of demands on how an organization needs to function, and also increase the expectation about the customization and the personalized products that consumers will require. So the technology requires Unilever to think differently. The second is a broader force, but equally as impactful, and even more predictable for the future, which is the role of aging populations and demographic change in the workplace that is quite different than the workplace of the 20th century, where many of the large companies today kind of got their grounding. One of the early kind of points that it makes is that, in the UK, about a third of the workforce currently is over the age of 50, and that's true in most every advanced economy, as well as also, increasingly across East Asia and elsewhere, that we have older populations. We have workforces that are going to span many more generations in the workplace. And then the third one, which in our project, Managing the Future of Work, we think of as kind of an outcome of tech and demographics coming together is the gig workplace. Paddy talked about the extended workforce beyond Unilever, and the case tries to unpack some of the ways they're approaching bringing people to work that aren't the traditional full-time jobs that most companies got built up around. And the gig workplace is activated by that technology that lets us schedule and involve people in gig works. And also, as we think about low unemployment rates and older populations and tacked out and so forth, the degree that we can, as a company, attract in people that are currently not working or at the edge of working and tempt them to come work for us on projects is a very valuable labor supply to these organizations.

Paddy, you're in it, literally. So what are you seeing as some of the things that have shifted over time?

So when I started, I'm going to give my age away here a little bit, but back in the 1990s, I remember us talking a lot about, how could we get direct to the consumer? Back in those days, we sold everything through big box retail, and it was all about maintaining those relationships, making sure you had great store shelf positioning and great relationships with those buyers. One of the most massive shifts is that direct to consumer is the channel now. Bill spoke about how we all just order stuff off Amazon directly. We don't have any advantage anymore in terms of getting to consumers. You and I, any little startup, can throw some ads on Instagram, speak to a few influencers and start sending their products out. So the whole game has changed in terms of how are we reaching people.

And I can already imagine, just based on the examples you've both given, I'm already seeing areas where there would be churn in the workforce around some of these developments. So let's talk a little bit about Unilever's Future of Work plans. And there's a framework that goes along with it. I wonder if you could describe that and talk about the three pillars that support that framework.

Yes, our three pillars are: change the way we change, ignite lifelong learning, and redefining the Unilever system of work. And I'll explain a little bit about each of those. So changing the way we change. The first one is, what we've realized is that change is continuous. Disruption is continuous in our organization. It's not about standalone moments where we see that, oh, we need to shut down a factory or change something because of a dramatic shift. Change is happening all the time. All of our factories are rapidly automating all of our office processes, so we can't stick to the old traditional model of change, which was a very slow moving consultative approach, and also, where management held its cards close to its chest until sort of the last moment and then announced, "This is happening." We've realized that, really, to be true to our purpose around making sustainable living commonplace, we need to enter into a far more open, early, proactive dialogue with our people around the change that's affecting our organization, and how to help start preparing them well in advance of any actual impact on them in terms of how they can prepare for that change. So that's the first one, changing the way we change. The second one around igniting lifelong learning is about engaging with our people to make sure that they're all equipped to thrive, both now and into the future, and that we are showing them a bit of what that future looks like and where they need to be focusing their attention. And then the third, redefining the whole system of work is a bit of what Bill was mentioning earlier. Here, we really want to embrace this notion of accessing talent rather than owning talent. We've felt that if we just keep on trying to hold onto all our FTEs and compete against everyone else with talent, we are never going to have the people and the skills in our organization that we need to take us forward into the future. So we really want to redefine new models of working, so it's not just you're either fixed or you're a gig worker, but how can we find some flex in the middle that helps people transition out of this traditional life cycle of work, the kind of 40-hour, 40-week, 40-year traditional employment pattern, and help get them future fit for a hundred year life, where they may want to slowly move into retirement, where they may want to spend some time looking after their kids, where they may want to set up their side hustle. How do we create that sort of flexibility?

There's definitely, and understandably, a lot of emotion involved with some of these things. And I'm wondering if maybe you could give our listeners a sense, based on all the research you've done in the initiative, about what kinds of jobs are going to go away, and what kinds of skills you think are going to be most important for people to think about in the future?

Well, Brian, I come back with, that we don't think of jobs really going away. And I think it's important to instead think of jobs as a collection of tasks. And certain tasks will be taken over by the machine and require less human input, as the technology gets more advanced. And that could be in a very manual kind of sense. It could also be with ChatGPT in a more cognitive relationship. And perhaps, the thing that we're experiencing right now that's very front and center in the world of work is, lots of ways that technology is coming in towards more cognitive tasks that are complex, they're non-routine. They were not able to be done by the computer before, but artificial intelligence machine learning and so forth are able to take those off. So if you think about how supply chain forecasting will happen at Unilever, that's going to be done in a fundamentally different way than it would've been even 10 years ago.

But we always think about new tasks emerging, and it's hard to predict exactly what those tasks will involve. When you think about the skills, we know that having digital fluency and also social skills are the two biggest things that you can put money on, bank on, those being important enough for the future. But there's also going to be judgment, and there's going to need to be innovativeness. So even if the computer starts to do a really good job at predicting about how salespeople should arrange the shelves or how they should approach consumers, you still have to think about, as an organization, what data are we feeding into the system? And where could Unilever develop a proprietary data advantage? And how would we collect those data streams and put them into it? So the technology will be there, it's going to take over evermore parts of work as it has been for 150 years at this point, but there'll also be places where humans will be complementing and helping to achieve the goals of the company.

So that's an optimistic viewpoint, Paddy. And I'm wondering what the response is from people when you start to talk about these ideas with them. And how do you move them beyond just their own insecurity and concern for themselves, to really embrace learning new skills and thinking about a different way of working in the future?

This is a fundamental dilemma facing us, Brian. I'm so glad you asked me that question. And whilst I don't know if we've cracked it, I think we've got a really good hypothesis around what helps this. One of the things we know is, the way not to motivate people to learn new skills is to tell them, "You better re-skill or the robots are going to take your job away." So we've taken the view that if we can help people to discover their purpose, what makes them unique, how do they approach work in their own way, and then start from that point and say, "Okay, when you are at your best, you are doing these things. How do we make sure that you are developing the skills in line with that, that are going to keep you future fit in an environment that is changing around you in terms of the nature of your job and how you work?" And we've found that when people come from that place of purpose, they do feel far more agency over it. They are far more motivated to learn new skills, to continue to be relevant, but it's coming from a much more positive place. It's not coming from that fight or flight or freeze sort of mode. It's coming from a place of agency. And in fact, we partnered with some academic institutions to measure the impact of starting people thinking about purpose and then creating future fit plans from there. And we've found that it does lead to people being 25 percent more engaged in thinking about the future, in going the extra mile, in having this intrinsic motivation to take it on. And they're 22 percent more productive, which is another great benefit to us.

Yeah. So, Bill, we've been through situations like this before. If you look back over the long arc of history, we've had movement from an agrarian society to an industrial society. We've had manufacturing sector turned on its head when a lot of manufacturing jobs have gone overseas. And I think each time we've done that, there's been a portion of the workforce that's just not been able to make the leap to the new mode of doing things. Unilever is talking about ensuring that 80 percent to 100 percent of their workforce can be transitioned in the right way. Is that too big of a promise to make?

Well, to their credit, I believe they stayed at the pretty top end of that range so far. And I think the workshops and so forth that Paddy just outlined are best in class for trying to stay up there. I do think, Brian, you see organizations, and I'm spanning out from Unilever at this point, that are trying to set a new contract with workers, both explicitly and implicitly, that says, "Our part of the bargain is, we're going to give you great clarity as to what roles we see the company needing in the future, and help you kind of think about where you are today and what you would need to acquire skill-wise to get to that future point. And we're going to give you the platform to acquire those skills. But your part of the bargain has to be to put the time and the investment in to be having those skills when that time comes." And so I think we're seeing a shift in a bit of the, we want to be a great place for you to have worked and developed your career, but we're not going to be guaranteeing a lifelong employment. We're going to focus on the skills that are needed and help you make the investments and choices that should be made.

Yeah. And what does that start to look like at Unilever, Paddy? What are some of the ways that you're sort of redefining the systems of work there?

So one of the big initiatives that we've undertaken was this whole idea of, how do we help people create more flexibility in their roles, so that they can discover new ways of working, discover new skills, grow in new and different ways? And I mentioned to you earlier that we thought there's this sort of gridlock that, on the one hand, you've got full-time employees, you've got lots of security, but no flexibility in terms of how and where they work. And on the other hand, you've got gig workers, freelancers, lots of flexibility, but not much security in terms of guaranteed income. And we've set ourselves a challenge of, how do we create this responsible alternative to the gig economy? And our idea was something called U-Work. U-Workers no longer have a job title. They work on gigs and projects in Unilever, but they are still 100 percent Unilever employees. They are not gig workers, so they're not contractors or anything. In fact, they're an internal pool of contractors, if you like, but they remain Unilever employees. They get a guaranteed retainer. They get a package of social care, pension benefits, healthcare benefits. And they get a learning stipend. But in return for that, they then only need to work on projects. They can set up their own business on the side. They can look after their kids or aging parents, or they can gradually move into retirement. And I think it's this kind of thing that we need to continue to explore, as we see in the impact of automation and digitization, and also this trend or this desire for people to have more flexibility to choose how and when they work.

Yeah. It actually sounds kind of appealing. So you also get variety that goes along with that. You get to move from one project to another, and you're not sort of locked in on the same kinds of things, all the time.

And, Brian, the one thing, just to emphasize on that, people get very locked into the thing of, ah, does someone have the skill I need for the job? In fact, what we found is, one of the most important skills is knowing the organization. So U-Work is great because they are Unilever employees. They know the organization. They know how to get things done in Unilever. And we must never underestimate the power of that skill

Bill, it seems like anytime that we enter into one of these huge labor market transitions, manufacturing jobs, take it on the nose. And so I'm wondering, as you think about the implications for jobs in the future, what are the implications for manufacturing specifically?

Well, I think, Brian, we're already been seeing that in motion for a while. Manufacturing has been at the forefront of technology adoption for decades. I think time will tell how it will continue to evolve. I would anticipate more skilled, more advanced, more technology enabled, but there could also be some interesting twists. It's not the current case study that we're talking about, but there's another case study at Harvard Business School, done by Raj Choudhury, our colleague, with Unilever that's about remote manufacturing. So how can the remote workforce be connected into the manufacturing sector? So we'll see a lot of innovation towards the future.

And how is Unilever thinking about that, Paddy?

So actually, the whole genesis of this future of work framework was done together, well, co-created together with our European Works Council actually, so our manufacturing representatives coming together with management to think about, how is the future of work impacting the manufacturing environment? So actually, our whole framework came from them. So we very much see this as a critical way of addressing the impact of digitization and automation in the manufacturing environment. We've found some fantastic examples where we've started people thinking about their roles in future. And what we've found is, there's quite a strong correlation between some of the skills our manufacturing workers have and lab assistants in our R&D labs. And funnily enough, we tend to have quite big R&D centers right next to our factories. So we've seen quite a bit of movement of people being able to re-skill from manufacturing environment into R&D labs in a way, a more sustainable future environment, all because they've identified, what's the work that they really enjoy doing, what are they really good at, and then what are the skills required to go into the future?

Yeah. That's a huge win-win, right? For the worker and for the firm.

This has been a great conversation. I've really enjoyed it. I'm wondering if... I've got time for one question for each of you left here. So I'm going to start with you, Paddy. How is Unilever going to know if they're succeeding in this? Is there a sort of an end game in mind here?

The big goal is obviously that we are proving that our sustainable business model is more effective than others in terms of driving superior performance. So the big number is still, how are we doing as an organization? I would say the key input metrics are things like, how well are we able to re-skill our people for the future? We really believe that re-skilling is the way forward. We know it's cheaper than recruiting from outside. It's better for our people. It's a way of getting people who know our business to continue to do good things. So we do measure that. How many people are we helping to transition? And then it's about, how attractive do we continue to be as an employer for new recruits and for the people within our organization? So we'll track the traditional input metrics like engagement, attrition, our employer brand, how well people are collaborating going forward.

Yeah. It sounds like you're off to a fantastic start. Bill, I'll give you the last words, since you wrote the case. If there's one thing you'd like people to remember about this case, what is it?

Well, let me go back. We started with the cold call, so let me tell you how I end the class. There's a video of one of Paddy's colleagues, Nick Dalton, who is quoting President Kennedy, who was in turn quoting an Irish writer named Frank O'Connor. And Kennedy was speaking about the space mission, and Frank O'Connor was describing, as a kid, when they would come to this orchard wall that was too high for them to climb over. They had no idea how they were going to do it. They would take their hats and they would throw them over the orchard wall, so that they just committed themselves to figuring it out. And Nick basically thought of the Unilever program as a bit of, "We're throwing our hat over the wall. We don't know exactly how we're going to climb over this future of work wall, but we know we must do it. And this is our public commitment to making that happen." And the thing I'd come back to listeners around this is, the future of work is scary. And we talked about job transitions and how quickly the new technologies are coming. This time last year, we had no thought of ChatGPT as being part of this Cold Call podcast, but now, it's what we lead with. And so, hopefully, people can unfreeze a little bit and can start thinking about, regardless of what the twists and turns may lie ahead, they need to begin a journey with their employees. And Unilever is showing, here's how we're approaching that. Now, let's all work on it together.

Yeah. Well, I suspect I'm not alone when I say we're rooting for you. We hope that you get this right. There's a lot at stake.

Thanks, Brian.

Thank you both for joining me.

If you enjoy Cold Call , you might like our other podcasts, After Hours , Climate Rising , Deep Purpose , Idea Cast , Managing the Future of Work , Skydeck , and Women at Work . Find them on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen, and if you could take a minute to rate and review us, we'd be grateful. If you have any suggestions or just want to say hello, we want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected] . Thanks again for joining us. I'm your host, Brian Kenny, and you've been listening to Cold Call , an official podcast of Harvard Business School and part of the HBR Podcast Network.

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Unilever A Harvard Case Solution & Analysis

Home >> Harvard Case Study Analysis Solutions >> Unilever A

Company Background:

Unilever is formed by the merger between the Dutch and British companies . The company came into existence in 1930 by the merger of two companies named as Margarine Unie with Lever brothers. These companies were at the same level and competing for the similar raw materials used in the production. In addition to that, both the companies were engaged in marketing of household products on a large-scale. Furthermore, both the companies use similar distribution channels for the placement of products. On one hand, Margarine Unie was taking steps forward to grow through mergers and acquisitions of other companies with the same product throughout the 1920s. On the other hand, Lever Brothers were engaged in establishing various soap factories around the globe. By the end of 1917, the company started to diversify into other products like ice-cream, foods, fish acquiring and packaged canned food businesses.

By the end of the 1930s, Unilever shifted its focus towards advancement and initiated various technologies in the business. With these efforts, the business of the company flourishes and the company successfully launched its businesses in various countries and regions specifically in Latin America. The entrepreneurial spirit that has been delving into the company culture by the founders are now being practiced by the organization today. At the end of 1930s, both the companies started operating as one single unit and merged its entire business activities. As now, the corporate centers of the company are located in Rotterdam and London (Beck & Earnest, 1999).

Introduction:

As mentioned above, Unilever is a Dutch-Anglo multinational company for consumer products that is based in London and The Netherlands. The main products of the company include beverages, food, personal care and cleaning agents and detergent products. The company is known to be the third largest company in terms of consumer goods followed by P&G and Nestle. In addition to that, the company is said to be one of the oldest multinational companies along with its presence in more than 190 countries. The company has segmented into four primary segments, i.e. Home care products, Food products, Refreshments and Personal Care products. Furthermore, the company has its R&D facilities in various countries like the Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States and China.

In addition to that, the company is committed to meet the requirements of individual customers on a daily basis. The company has hundreds of products that have been chosen by thousands of customers worldwide on a daily basis. The prime task of the company includes earning consumer’s trust, foreseeing their expectations from the products and handling their daily needs. The company is committed to bring the mixture of local and global expertise to provide best service to the customers.

The company is engaged in providing top quality products to their customers for more than 70 years. The overall product portfolio of the company is highly diverse and is based on a mixture of local, global and regional brands. Examples include Dove, Lux, Bertolli, Magnum, Lipton and Vaseline is some of the most popular brands of Unilever worldwide. With the changing requirement and needs of the customers, the company is prompt to respond to the needs and wants of the customers. The company is also willing to anticipate the future needs and demands of the consumers as well. In addition to that, the company is making efforts to strengthen the understanding of cultural differences in an international arena. Furthermore, the company is highly committed to providing top quality brands by investing heavily in Research and Development (Collins & Glenn 1996).

Vision statement:

“The vision of the company is to make people look good, feel good and bring maximum from their lives”

This can be done by providing goods and services that are good for them and for their surroundings as well. The company is committed to engage people in doing little things that can add big difference globally. The company is also engaged in doing business in such a way that will add value to the business and increase the size of the company. The company is developing new ways through which it would be able to reduce the negative impact of the company towards the environment.

The company believes it is the brand that has a power to change consumer’s lifestyles and living standards. The responsibilities of the company are growing with the growth in business. Further, the company has realized the importance of change in climate and its impact on the lifestyle of individuals.

Mission statement:

“The mission of the company includes adding vitality to life. The company is aiming to meet the daily needs of customers about their hygiene; nutrition and personal care with the help of the products offered by Unilever that in turn help individuals to look and feel better.”

The company has penetrated its roots in regional and local ethnicity and cultures......................

This is just a sample partial case solution. Please place the order on the website to order your own originally done case solution.

The case illustrates the development of new environmental initiatives and its implementation in the corporate policies of major international corporations. Jan-Kees Vis, staff worker in middle echelons of the company, is trying to integrate sustainable development into the existing environmental policy in the hope of providing a plan of action for achieving sustainable development. Once the new policy is adopted, the case leaves the student to decide how the company should proceed with the implementation of their obligations. See also B, C, D and cases (E-0154, E-0155, E-0156) and "Unilever: Corporate Venturing and Environmental Sustainability (A)" (E-0152). Education information is available only to registered faculty. "Hide by Patricia H Werhane,, Michael E. Gorman, Myles Standish Source: Darden School of Business 8 pages. Publication Date: December 16, 1998. Prod. #: UV1863-PDF-ENG

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Unilever is an excellent example of one of the fastest-growing global businesses. Its history goes back to 1929, and the company is often described as one of the most transnational. To write a good Unilever case study analysis, we first need to understand what makes it unique. In this article, we explain the company’s main principles, talk about the company’s structure, and introduce 34 great topics for your paper.

• 🛎️ ️5 Shocking Facts About Unilever
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• 💪 Crisis Management
• ✅ Unilever Case Study Examples
• ⬆️ 34 Titles for a Unilever Case Study
• 🔗References

🛎️5 Shocking Facts About Unilever

Unilever has a vast global market. The company serves about 3.4 billion people in around 190 countries daily. With the growing popularity of various trends, such as globalization and commerce, Unilever International (UI) was established in 2012. Here are some facts about the company you may find interesting:

• The company owns about 13 international brands with more than € 1 billion in annual sales. Among which are famous brands such as Dove, Rexona/Degree, Axe/Lynx, Sunlight, Lipton, and others.
• UI serves more than 100 million consumers in small places or challenging geographies: Mongolia, East Timor, and the Maldives.
• The company aired the first-ever television commercial in the UK.
• Unilever has 149,000 employees worldwide and maintains a 50 to 50% gender balance.
• Unilever was the first to develop the idea of selling packaged ice cream in the UK.

🗓️ Unilever Case Study – Company Organization

One of Unilever’s main strengths is its structure and organization. Since the company has excellent production and sales power, these two elements are essential. After all, Unilever launches new products on the market and expands its product range yearly.

The FCMG-Giant , in its structure, mainly relies on 3 features:

• Personal care,
• Household chemicals,
• Refreshments.
• General Management,
• Human Resources,
• Research and Development,
• Supply Chain,
• Refreshments,
• Personal Care,
• Consumer Care,
• Marketing and Communications.
• Asia/AMET/RUB (Africa, Middle East, Turkey; Russia, Ukraine, Belarus),
• North and South America,

📈 Unilever Case Study – Production and Marketing

Like any other global business, Unilever has to ensure its products’ quality and safety. To create a significant sales volume and showcase company’s sustainable development, it’s essential to market the brand properly. Here are four things to keep in mind:

• In-house laboratories Since Unilever sells thousands of products worldwide, it has to ensure its products are safe to use. The company conducts product research and develops new products in its laboratories.
• The basis of advertising practices The International Chamber of Commerce ( ICC ) Code of Practice for Advertising and Marketing Communications is the basis for the company’s activities and advertising communications. The ICC Code states that all marketing communications and advertising should, above all, be “legal, dignified, honest and truthful.”
• Innovations in marketing Recently Unilever introduced a global marketing information system. It consolidates data, presents it in a single format, and makes it available to all marketers in the company. Regardless of which structure they work in, users see the same information organized in the same way—the company calls it “one version of the truth.”
• Ban on advertising for children Unilever follows a policy that bans advertising of products that don’t meet nutritional requirements aimed at children between 6 and 12. This ban applies to advertisements on television, in print, on the company’s websites, and those distributed through third parties where more than 35% of the audience is under 12.

🌱 Unilever Sustainability

Unilever’s new global strategy entails a transition to fully green manufacturing. The primary purpose of the Unilever Sustainability Living Plan (USLP) is to prove that sustainability and business success are interrelated. Every year the successful results of the strategy become more evident.

• Brands “with meaning” Over the last years, the company has more often applied a “brands with meaning” strategy. That policy benefits both the environment and the image of the company. Unilever tries to spread environmental awareness through its products. As a result, sustainable brands are growing 69% faster than the rest of the business.
• Billion-dollar investment in the environment Undeniably the USLP has gained success, and the company doesn’t plan to put a stop to it. By 2039, Unilever plans to invest billions of dollars in a climate and nature fund (the investment has already totaled more than $1 billion).
• Reducing plastic emissions Currently, more than half of the plastic the company uses is recyclable. Unilever promises that by 2025, 100% of its plastic packaging will be recyclable, and at least 25% of the packaging will be made from recycled plastic.

💪 Unilever Case Study – Crisis Management

• Covid-19 pandemic During the pandemic, the company perfected its crisis management policy. Firstly, Unilever invested heavily in personal care products, promoting disinfectants, soaps, and bleaches. This shift of focus on promoting the most relevant product categories helped the company avoid significant losses despite declining sales. Secondly, Unilever shifted some of its sales to online platforms. After that, the company reported a 49% increase in e-commerce. The total turnover fell only by 1.6% as shopping habits changed during the Covid-19 lockout.
• FAWU members break up the legal strike On February 18, 2019, more than 600 FAWU members began a legal strike. They demanded changes in housing allowance and profit-sharing schemes. Private security guards invaded the picket area that day and started firing rubber bullets at the protesters. Many people were injured. This event caused a media backlash. While the company had to take measures against those responsible for the action, it avoided bringing attention to the incident. That has severely damaged its reputation.
• The Ben & Jerry’s dispute Unilever subsidiary B&J expressed its refusal to sell products in Judea and Samaria because Israel occupies these territories. Due to this, Unilever’s share price has fallen about 12% in the past few months, and investment funds in many states have been withdrawn. The attorney general of 12 states sent a letter to Unilever CEO Alan Jope expressing deep concern over Unilever’s decision to impose a boycott of the state of Israel. Republican Party decided to take legal and economic measures against Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s. The restrictions are similar to the sanctions imposed on Iran and its banks regarding the financing of terrorism.

✅ Unilever Case Study Analysis Examples

You can start working on your case study analysis after you’ve learned more about Unilever, its main principles, and structure. Here is a list of samples that can help you with your paper:

• Human Resource Planning by Unilever
• Unilever PLC.: Strategic Supply Chain Management
• Unilever: Developing HRM Strategy to Support Organizational Strategy
• The HRM Issues in Contemporary Organizations: Unilever Australasia
• Unilever Company. International Strategic Management.
• Unilever Company’s Creative and Innovative Management
• Unilever Company: Consulting Business-to-Business
• Unilever Company: “Dove” Brand Evolution

⬆️ 34 Excellent Titles for a Unilever Case Study

This article section will introduce 34 hot topics for a Unilever case study analysis. All you have to do is choose the right one for you.

• Unilever and its USLP plan.
• Simplifying Unilever’s management structure.
• The Acquisition of a 75% Stake in Italian Equilibra.
• Unilever code of business principles: employee policy.
• Human resource management planning by Unilever.
• Unilever’s channels and principles of communication with consumers.
• Ethical issues and questions.
• Unilever: sustainable palm oil and the transparency policy.
• Unilever’s animal testing policy.
• Unilever’s lobbying policy.
• What is Unilever’s approach to plastic packaging?
• The Dollar Shave Club company purchase.
• Kraft Heinz’s attempt to purchase Unilever.
• Unilever’s sustainable living plan and solution to environmental concerns.
• Zero hazardous waste to landfill principle.
• Unilever: simplifying the management structure of the company.
• Unilever’s “Climate Action” Plan.
• “Waste-Free World” Strategy and Goals of the company.
• Unilever’s “Positive Nutrition” strategy.
• The launch of Dove in 1956.
• Unilever’s crisis management strategy in 2021-2022.
• The gender balance policy in Unilever.
• Unilever’s ban on Facebook and Twitter Advertisement.
• Unilever: halted cornflake production in Israel.
• Unilever’s diversity and inclusion policy.
• Kodaikanal Mercury factory 2001 incident.
• Unilever: supporting girls’ self-esteem and wellbeing policy.
• Unilever: eCommerce development in 2020.
• A research center dedicated to healthy eating problems.
• Unilever’s purpose-led brands.
• Unilever and its new healthy food targets.
• Unilever: Eastern Europe policy.
• Unilever: the violent dispersal of protesting workers.
• Split of the company in 2001: food and personal care divisions.

Unilever is a big company that affects the global market. We hope that this article answered your questions and you found it insightful! If you liked it, feel free to share it with your friends. We wish you productive research for your case study analysis.

🔗 References

• Unilever Brands – Unilever
• Unilever: Planet and Society – Unilever
• Unilever – Wageningen University&Research
• Unilever | international holding company – Encyclopedia Brittanica
• Unilever Marketing Strategy – Marketing Week

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