A Decade of Organizational Change at Unilever - Paper

There are a few problems with modern day living, time and convenience. Today’s eating habits are very much dependant on heavily processed foods. When foods are processed, it’s mainly done for commercial purposes to extend shelf life during these processing methods. Vital nutrients are lost and synthetic food additives, refined sugars and salts are added for taste, texture and to make the food visually appealing to the consumer. A recent study found that over 70 percent of food consumed today

For a product to blossom you must target the younger generation first. With constant technology improvements it’s hard for the older generation to keep up. The younger generation is constantly working with the new technologies so you inform the younger generation and it will spread to older

With 81% of market shares in Brazil, Unilever is the leader of the Detergent Powder market. It owns three brands in Brazil: Omo, Minerva and Campeiro. Omo is the top brand of the portfolio and perceived as a high quality at a premium position. Minerva is a medium quality product with low brand awareness. Campeiro is a well-known cheapest product but with a low top of mind penetration. In order to

Food is one of the most important aspects of the human body. Over time it has been proven that food is the key to survival. Food for human beings has definitely made a drastic change throughout the centuries. With that the food industry has been talked about quite a bit. We consume so much processed food to the point where we adapt unhealthy diets which causes us to develop unhealthy habits. In order to combat this we humans have taken different approaches to including buying organic produce as an alternative to conventional, going vegan, as well as just plain watching what they eat

Operation of Unilever around the world starts fragmenting, but Unilever continues to expand globally and investment made in R&D is increased.

Socio-Cultural environment shows that society is gearing towards more natural and organic food and becoming health conscious. More people are having homemade food from savings perspective.

According to Robert Kenner, creator of documentary Food inc., the agriculture business produces food that is unhealthy to the environment, along with non domesticated animals. Environmentalist and author Wendell Berry states in his paper From The Pleasures of Eating, “When food, in the minds of eater, is no longer associated with farming and with the land, then the eaters are suffering a kind of cultural amnesia that is misleading and dangerous.” Today, humans find the most effortless food options to go about their daily lives, hence all the processed, microwaveable foods. Unless consumers take a larger part and responsibility in the economy of food, the “cultural amnesia” will continue to mislead and be dangerous.

This report aims to analyse the financial position of Unilever PLC within its daily operating activities and it also compares the company’s performance with its key competitor, the Proctor and Gamble Company (P&G). The report also includes background of both the companies and an industry overview. To better understand the performance of both the companies, the segmental analyses have been done for both region and products. Due to the global crisis, Unilever and P&G both are facing price rise and inflation pressures, also instability in the Eurozone. All these factors are strongly impacting their operation activity and long-term growth decision plan. Finally After a careful examination of the financial ratios of both the companies, we recommend Unilever as a good company to invest as compared to P&G .The reasons for the following can be seen in the report below.

Unilever had 1600 brands and sales & marketing efforts in 88 countries all over the world. The main target were to get top-line sales growth of 5-6 percent annually and to increase operating profit margin from 11 percent to over 16 percent both to be accomplished by the end of the year 2004.They cutting down their portfolio from 1600 to 400 core brand. Increasing profit margin to 11 to 16 percent by year end 2004.

Unilever, one of the world’s leading suppliers of fast moving consumer goods across Foods and Home and Personal Care categories is an Anglo-Dutch Multinational consumer goods company which is co-headquartered in London, England and Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It is the world's third-largest consumer goods company measured by 2012 revenue and its major Competitors which stand ahead of it are Procter & Gamble and Nestle. Products of Unilever include beverages, Food, personal care products and cleaning agents. Some of the top and major Brands endorsed by Unilever are Axe / Lynx, Blue Band, Dove, Flora / Becel, Hellmann's and Best Foods, Knorr, Heartbrand, Lipton, Lux, Omo, Rexona, Surf and Sunsilk.Unilever is one of the oldest multinational companies and its products are available in around 190 countries. The Company operates worldwide employing around 174,000 people in 316 companies by

In the world we live in today the population has increased to more than seven billion people with a life expectancy of seventy years old. As the years continue to progress this number is expected to double within twenty five to thirty years as it raises daily. Over the years, the agricultural field has changed dramatically. Most farmers and businesses who are specialize in food production utilize pesticides and hormones to mass produce the food we eat. While these processed are great for business, it is harmful for the human body. It is for this reason that people must be conscious about what they consume. As the inhabitants in America increase, the population of organic food decreases. Both, people and animals, had

Unilever currently has three manufacturing plants in South Africa, located in Durban, Pietermaritzburg and Johannesburg. The factories manufacture a range of personal care and food products, such as ice cream, tea, and margarine spread. The country’s logistic infrastructure and ports are very well developed; in fact, 98% of its imports come in through port terminals. The roads in

Many consumers change to buy more organics foods instead of the traditional non organic and less healthy food.

In addition, a large number of brands also results in a lack of a unified global identity. Many of Unilever’s product categories had checkered identities. As Deighton exemplified, the company used to produce ice cream under different brands among the globe, such as Wall in the U.K. and Asia, Kibon in Brazil, Ben & Jerry’s and Breyers in the United States, Langnese in Germany, and so forth. Each one had a

Therefore, if there are drastic changes in the global technology, the changes would directly affect the business, especially manufacturing. Depending on the nature of the change, these effects may be either positive or negative. For instance, the development of the touch-screen technology on a global scale has led to the manufacture of Samsung Galaxy (Michell, 2010). The other effect is that development of such technologies would mean that even the competitors are able to develop similar products thus saturating the market. Secondly, social factors are likely to lead to changes in consumer tastes, preferences and attitudes. According to Lorat (2009), change in consumer attitudes towards a product in the negative always reduces sales thus revenues and profits.