Unilever: A Global Company for Food and Consumer Goods

It is very important to know the industry as well as the potential markets in which the company performs to analyze a company. With the help of this case study we are going to analyze the worldwide consumer products factory, especially the food, household, or personal care goods industry. The primary performers of this industry are Unilever, P & G which is the market leader in personal care products as well as Nestlé which is the market leader of the food industry. 

History of Unilever Company 

Unilever is a global consumer products firm in the Middle East situated in the UK. There are more than 400 brands owned by the company. The brands mainly concentrate on food, laundry products, personal care, and beverage. The brands of the company are sold in over 190 nations. Nearly it gets 2 billion customers on any day. The company uses technology properly in its production, marketing, investigation, and expansion processes though they have to spend a lot on the technology. 

The company is extending its markets from improved markets to rising markets. With the help of outsourcing procedures, the company is trying to cut down the production cost for products. 

The company creates brands that fulfill the requirements of their consumers by making them look decent, providing them with good taste in food, and offering them hygiene despite the requirements of consumers. Unilever is a company set up purposefully. 

A Short Overview of Unilever 

Due to the consolidation of Margarine Union and Lever Brothers Company, Unilever was set up in the 1920s. Margarine Union was initially a union between the company comp kez that was striving to develop margarine. They united because of the rapidly growing contest when Lever Brothers Company created soap, and finally, when the industry thrived rapidly, they incorporated to create Unilever.

The Macro Setting

For assessing the macro setting of Unilever, it is very important to do a PESTEL or STEP analysis. This analysis researches the most significant environmental effects which influence the companies in a specific industry like political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal effects. 

Political 

As per Pettinger, some particular activities of companies may be influenced by improvements in the political setting. Hence, the companies have to be cautious about rules and regulations set upon companies by administrative bodies like the Antitrust Committee (USA) or Competition Commission (UK).

Because a lot of companies are also working in rising markets, the governmental strengths of the very nations have to be considered. 

Economical 

Because of the high market improvement in specific growing nations, like China or India, there is a hike in disposable revenue and that is why a growing standard of living which may cause a growing demand for for example personal care products. 

On the contrary, a lot of Western markets might be considered mature and a few nations are supposed to encounter financial slump, like the US which was also influenced by a feeble economy. Hence, because of the restricted development possibility in Western markets, there is no requirement to broaden to rising markets to get an advantage from their development possibility.  

Furthermore, reduced labor expenses, for instance in China or Indonesia made the firms migrate their production structures to rising nations to get an advantage from significant expense savings. 

Socio-cultural 

In the previous years, customers, especially in improved nations, have considerably become very cautious about health and the environment. They now look for healthy food and organic derivatives. However, it must be considered that there are various strategies for nutrition and personal care habits which vary greatly as per cultures all across the globe like deodorant usage. That is why it is very important to handle all these various cultural addictions and requirements very carefully. 

Technological and Environmental

People are now becoming very aware of environmental problems like biodegradable packaging and garbage deduction. Firms have to think about such problems and also offer the proper technology to handle all these concerning matters properly. 

Legal 

At the time of functioning globally, the firms get influenced by a lot of rules and regulations like disparities in the contest and employment norms, which could inspire or even leverage the firms to migrate. 

Furthermore, the firms have to think about various domestic-driven health and safety rules like the prohibition of particular components in consumers’ products. 

The Extent to Which the Enterprise and Markets Are Multinational

For assessing the breadth to which enterprises and markets are multinational, the globalization driver structure of Yup has to be utilized. 

Market Drivers

According to market globalization drivers, consumer requirements are the same in various markets. Generally, it might be said that there is a basic need for nutrition and personal care. But particular requirements differ greatly depending on different cultures and nations. Hence, it is very important to understand consumer requirements locally. 

Though there are a lot of multinational companies like Unilever, it is very important to apply marketing techniques locally because of discrepancies in consumer requirements. Truly speaking, because a lot of firms are also working in rising markets it is very important to address whether media is available or accessible in various nations at the time of creating marketing techniques. 

However, the enterprise is depicted by multinational diffusion chains like multinational sources that are utilized for providing derivatives all across the globe. After addressing every market driver, it comes to be obvious that the market is supposed to be local. 

Cost Drivers 

It might be said that firms have to function all over the world now for gaining economic ranking. It is true that because of the restricted development possibility in various Western nations, it is very important to extend all over the world for getting the benefits of cost advantages like labor expenses related to a nation. 

Furthermore, because of the requirement of improving and innovating derivatives continuously, the price of the derivative as well as the expense of development are relatively very high. As a result, we can say that the expense drivers in this very enterprise are multinational.  

Governmental Drivers

Because of the reduction of business policies and rules and hence the motivation of announcer governmental strategies which support multinational trade, it is obvious that the enterprise can be assumed to be multinational. Furthermore, multinational business companies like the World Trade Organisation (WTO) also practice a specific capability that should not be violated.

Nevertheless, it is very important to keep in mind that marketing norms still differ locally like relative publicity (Copley, 2006), which instructs a specific regional transformation.

 Competitive Drivers

The enterprise can be considered to be very competitive because of the number of multinational adversaries like Unilever, Nestle, and many more. That is why it is very important to apply multinational policy to beat globally and to survive in the competition. 

Furthermore, huge amounts of exports and imports with the industry of customer products endorsed the globalization of the enterprise. 

However, country-oriented fads may affect worldwide business greatly like health and environmental problems though the nations within the enterprise might be assessed as self-reliant. 

Conclusion

According to the globalization structure of Yip the industry of customer products should be considered to be multinational. Nevertheless, the market drivers showed that there is a need to adjust specific regional requirements. Indeed, perspectives on nutrition and personal care products differ greatly according to various cultures and nations and that is why it can not be handled with a single multinational policy. If you want to know more you may choose My Assignment Writing Help

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

  1. What Are the Difficulties Confronted by Unilever?

According to the investigation, there are a few problems with Unilever like habitats and resources, environmental issues, palm oil, pollution and toxics, rights of employees, human rights, supply chain management, erratic marketing, animal testing, animal rights, anti-social finance, factory farming etc. 

  1. What is the Primary Policy of Unilever?

The company aims to produce endurance living commonplace. That is where the company becomes successful and is surviving in the industry. 

  1. What is the Shortcoming of Unilever?

The derivative of the company can be easily imitated. The products can be replaced easily with other products. This is the main drawback of Unilever. 

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