Introduction to Business Management
Discuss about the Sustainable supply chain in the management practices.
The activities which are associated with that of the running of a company can be termed as business management. It includes the activities like that of controlling, monitoring and organizing. Co-ordination of the different activities in a business that can help in achieving defined objectives is the primary aim of business management of an organization. Unilever is a transnational company dealing with consumer goods that is headquartered in United Kingdom. The products of the corporation include that of food, beverages along with personal care products. Unilever is the largest company that deals with consumer goods in the world on the basis of the revenue of the year 2012. This report throws light on the product and service portfolios of Unilever and the largest amount of revenue that is received by the corporation in relation to the sector of “Food and Drink”. It also elaborates on the external environment and the sources that provide sustainable competitive advantage for the corporation.
Unilever is a very old multinational company and the products of Unilever can be got in nearly 190 countries. It is the owner of 400 brands and the turnover of the comoany in the year 2016 was around 50 billion euros. The thirteen brands of Unilever that has sales more than one billion euros include that of Axe, Surf, Dove, Sun Silk, Flora, Rexona, Heartbrand Ice cream, Rama, Hellmann, Knorr, Lux and Lipton (Unilever.com 2018). The four main divisions of Unilever are that of Foods, Refreshment, Home care and that of Personal Care. Unilever was created in the year 1930 after the merging of Margarine Unie and that of British soapmaker Lever Brothers. The corporate acquisitions of Unilever include that of Lipton, Dollar Shave Club, Brooke Bond, Alberto-Culver, Ben & Jerry’s, Best Foods and Chesebrough- Ponds.
A corporation refers to a legal entity that acts in a separate manner from that of the owners. A corporation has the privilege of entering into contracts, hiring employees, owning assets and that of paying of assets. Product Portfolio refers to the collection of products that is offered by a company. The companies that are matured have diverse range of product portfolios. The different kinds of product of Unilever are that of food, cleaning agent, beverage and that of personal care product. The brands that are made by Unilever are used by around 2.5 billion people on daily basis. Under the business unit of Food and Drink, it owns Cornetto, Knorr, Liptum, Magnum, Brooke Bond, Bru Instant, Cup A Soup and Fruttare (Alssema et al. 2015). Under Home Care, it has Domestos, Surf, Comfort, Neutral, Persil and Puro. The brands that fall under Personal Care are that of Axe, Dove, Lux, Vaseline, Signal, Breeze and citra.
Strategic Business Unit is also known as the SBU and it acts as a fully unit that has direction. It operates like that of a separate unit and it comprises to be an important part of the company. It reports directly to that of the headquarters within the organization regarding the status of operation of the business. There are three strategic business units within the corporation like Food and Drink, Home Care and that of Personal Care. The brands of Unilever that caters to the need of Food and Drink are hugely popular among a large segment of consumers across different countries. The most popular brands are that of Becel, Cornetto and Brooke Bond (Cross et al. 2017). Becel spread is made out of natural seed oils and it contains Omega 3 along with Omega 6 essential fat. It can help in the process of reducing the saturated fat intake with that of every meal. Cornetto consists of delicious wafer that is coated with a chocolate layer and this is combined with ice cream.
Overview of Unilever
Product Line refers to related products under that of a single brand that is sold by the same company. The companies sell different product lines under the name of different brands (Kafetzopoulos and Gotzamani 2014). The companies expand the offerings by the help of addition to that of the existing product line. The heart-shaped logo of Heart brand can be found on some of the favourite ice creams of the world like that of Magnum, Cornetto and Vienetta. Amora offers a variety of food products that is inclusive of mustard, ketchup and that of pickles (Laursen and Andersen 2016). The customers like to buy products from the brands that they have tried before and are familiar with. Buying from the same brand can provide them with the feeling of reliability and the customers feel safe to try out a new product.
Revenue refers to the income that a company makes from its business activities. It generally comes from the sale of that of goods along with services to that of the customer. The other terms that are synonymous with revenue is that of “sales” and that of “ turnover” (Davis et al. 2018). The revenue turnover of Unilever was 10, 008 in the year 2016 and it was 10, 120 in the year 2015 (Jurietti, Mandelli and Fuduri? 2017).
Unilever has made great progress in the sector of manufacturing that has helped it to avoid costs of around 700m euro. It has helped Unilever in making huge amount of profit in the business unit of “Food and Drink”. The Vegan Hellmann’s mayonnaise of Unilever is the main draw among the consumers and it has helped Unilever in earning profit to the maximum extent. The Ben and Jerry ice cream that is non-diary can help in meeting the demands of the consumer who look for plant-based alternative (Goddard 2018). Flora Freedom that is a daily free spread proves to be good in reducing the emission of that of the green house gases.
The operating environment of an organization is indicative of the entities, conditions along with events that influence the activities of an organization. It helps in determining the choices made by an organization and suggests the opportunities along with threats of the company. Understanding the external environment can help the company in the process of evaluation of the internal resources and assess the capabilities of the organization.
Political Factors is indicative of the degree to which the government interferes in the economy. This is inclusive of the government policy, tax policy, environmental law and that of trade restrictions. The economic factors include that of economic growth, exchange rate and that of inflation of the operating environment (Ritzer 2017). The socio-cultural factors refer to the shared belief along with attitudes of that of the population. Population growth and health consciousness are the factors that have an influence on the performance of an organization (Rothaermel 2015). The technological landscape is changing at a rapid pace and this affects the way products are marketed to that of the consumers. Scarcity in relation to the raw materials along with that of the carbon footprint target are the major determinants that help in determining whether the company will be sustainable in the prevailing market. Legal factors include that of the advertising standards and the rights of the consumer (Chkanikova and Mont 2015). It is imperative for a global organization to abide by the legal framework.
Unilever’s Product Portfolio
Unilever has to abide by the regulatory restrictions that are pronounced by that of European Commission. Unilever has also to abide by the Food and Drug Administration and on the occasion of Unilever failing to comply they would have to face fines and legal issues (Bocken et al. 2014). Unilever has also to be liable to the regional laws within Europe. The cheaper goods are in great demand in the present age. There are many companies in France that are competing against Unilever. The international competitors of Unilever are that of Nestle along with that of Procter & Gamble. Local competition is faced by the company due to companies like that of Beiersdorf, Danone and that of Henkel (Peteraf, Gamble and Thompson 2014). The products of Unilever focus on the aspect of well-being that is the primary aim of the modern day consumer. Unilever emphasizes on developing the digital marketing strategy and the high automation level makes it popular among the consumers. It makes use of technology more than that of the competitors. Legal factors help in binding Unilever with that of the competitors. Unilever has to abide by health safety regulations in order to survive in the market (Alssema et al. 2015). Environmental footprint is a great issue of the modern age and it wants to half that of the environmental footprint in the course of the next ten years and agricultural raw materials are being valued by the present age consumer.
The four factors that are necessary for sustainable competitive advantage are that it should be asset-driven, difficult to be imitated, branding and it should be sustainable in the present market. Efficient working of the internal operations and being cost effective can help a company in being asset-driven (Atkins and Bowler 2016). Advanced equipment along with investment in the sector of advertising can help a company in staying ahead of that of their competitors. Creation of favourable associations can help in building the brand reputation of the company. The value that customers get from the brand should be lasting that can help it to gain long-term success. The Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) can bring changes across that of the value chain (Ortiz?de?Mandojana and Bansal 2016). Research has highlighted that customers want to purchase brands that can lead to environmental good. Unilever has been successful in developing 18 sustainable living brands that includes that of Dove, Lipton and that of Hellmann. Nutrition Enhancement Program was launched that aims at reducing the level of salt along with sugar across their portfolio (Hillary 2017). They have been successful in eliminating trans fats from that of partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (Dyllick and Muff 2016). Unilever was instrumental in launching vegan Hellmann Mayonnaise within the United States. Spaghetti Bolognese contains natural ingredients and it has won the Germany Eat Healthy Award in the year 2015. Unilever has also partnered with European Vegetarian Union in the year 2017 (Verdouw et al. 2016).
Nutrition labelling on the products of Unilever helps in explaining to the consumers how the products can fit into that of a healthy diet. The pop-up Becel bar was launched in Netherlands in the year 2015 and the Becel made use of sunflower and that of rapeseed oil in order to make natural products (Beske, Land and Seuring 2014). Unilever has also worked with Health Authority in Dubai that has promoted the drinking of tea that is good for the health.
Unilever’s Strategic Business Units
Strategic Direction refers to the action course that can help a company in achieving the golas pertaining to the strategy. It is inclusive of the central forces that can help a business in moving in the forward direction so that it can attain the objectives (Prajogo 2016). It is an important facet of a business. It can establish the structure in relation to internal responsibilities on which a department depends.
Unilever can make use of diversification as a growth strategy for the future. It can establish new business in order to grow the company. Acquisition of the food and drink business of a competitor or a brand that is already popular can help the company in its strategic direction and bring profit for the company (Peteraf, Gamble and Thompson 2014). It can help Unilever in strengthening its reach within the industry of consumer goods.
Conclusion:
The main divisions of that of Unilever are that of food and drink, home care along with that of the personal care. The products of Unilever are made of natural seed oil and such ingredients that can benefit the health of the consumer. The food and drink products of Unilever can help in the process of reduction of that of the saturated fat intake. The customised healthy products of Unilever have helped it in gaining popularity among the consumers. The ice creams are made up of non-dairy ingredients that can serve the health of the customer. Unilever has produced 18 brands that are sustainable and greatly coveted among the customers. The Nutrition Enhancement Program can reduce the intake of salt and sugar among the consumers.
References:
Alssema, M., Boers, H.M., Ceriello, A., Kilpatrick, E.S., Mela, D.J., Priebe, M.G., Schrauwen, P., Wolffenbuttel, B.H. and Pfeiffer, A.F., 2015. Diet and glycaemia: the markers and their meaning. A report of the Unilever Nutrition Workshop. British Journal of Nutrition, 113(2), pp.239-248.
Atkins, P. and Bowler, I., 2016. Food in society: economy, culture, geography. Routledge.
Beske, P., Land, A. and Seuring, S., 2014. Sustainable supply chain management practices and dynamic capabilities in the food industry: A critical analysis of the literature. International Journal of Production Economics, 152, pp.131-143.
Bocken, N.M., Short, S.W., Rana, P. and Evans, S., 2014. A literature and practice review to develop sustainable business model archetypes. Journal of cleaner production, 65, pp.42-56.
Chkanikova, O. and Mont, O., 2015. Corporate supply chain responsibility: drivers and barriers for sustainable food retailing. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 22(2), pp.65-82.
Cross, G., Vanhaverbeke, W., Roijakkers, N. and Pop, O., 2017. How Unilever Realises Its Mission Of Making Sustainable Living Commonplace Through Partnering.
Davis, B., Lockwood, A., Alcott, P. and Pantelidis, I.S., 2018. Food and beverage management. Routledge.
Dyllick, T. and Muff, K., 2016. Clarifying the meaning of sustainable business: Introducing a typology from business-as-usual to true business sustainability. Organization & Environment, 29(2), pp.156-174.
Goddard, E.D., 2018. Interactions of surfactants with polymers and proteins. CRC press.
Hillary, R. ed., 2017. Small and medium-sized enterprises and the environment: business imperatives. Routledge.
Jurietti, E., Mandelli, A. and Fuduri?, M., 2017. How do virtual corporate social responsibility dialogs generate value? A case study of The Unilever Sustainable Living Lab. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 24(5), pp.357-367.
Kafetzopoulos, D.P. and Gotzamani, K.D., 2014. Critical factors, food quality management and organizational performance. Food Control, 40, pp.1-11.
Laursen, L.N. and Andersen, P.H., 2016. Supplier involvement in NPD: A quasi-experiment at Unilever. Industrial Marketing Management, 58, pp.162-171.
Ortiz?de?Mandojana, N. and Bansal, P., 2016. The long?term benefits of organizational resilience through sustainable business practices. Strategic Management Journal, 37(8), pp.1615-1631.
Peteraf, M., Gamble, J. and Thompson Jr, A., 2014. Essentials of strategic management: The quest for competitive advantage. McGraw-Hill Education.
Prajogo, D.I., 2016. The strategic fit between innovation strategies and business environment in delivering business performance. International Journal of Production Economics, 171, pp.241-249.
Ritzer, G., 2017. Can there really be ‘True’alternatives within the food and drink markets? If so, can they survive as alternative forms?. Journal of Marketing Management, 33(7-8), pp.652-661.
Rothaermel, F.T., 2015. Strategic management. McGraw-Hill Education.
Unilever.com (2018). Unilever global company website | Unilever Global. [online] Available at: https://www.unilever.com/ [Accessed 14 Mar. 2018].
Verdouw, C.N., Wolfert, J., Beulens, A.J.M. and Rialland, A., 2016. Virtualization of food supply chains with the internet of things. Journal of Food Engineering, 176, pp.128-136.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
