SUSTAINABLE STRATEGY

Sustainable strategy

Sustainability Strategy of Unilever (UK)

Executive summary

The issue of sustainability continues to garner public attention. Rapid industrial growth and expanding media coverage of its impact have pushed sustainability concerns to the forefront of consumer social consciousness and created an expectation for businesses to engage in solving this long-term global issue.

Many definitions of sustainability can be found. In Unilever we believe that sustainability equates to the triple bottom line principle: any activity that adds to economic, social, and natural capital is more sustainable.

Unilever (or 'the group') is one of the world's leading fast moving consumer goods companies. The group has an extensive portfolio of 400 strong brands spanning across 11 categories of home, personal care and food products. Strong portfolio of well-established brands positioned at variety of price points allows Unilever to compete effectively in its key categories and countries. However, increasing competition in core markets could adversely affect Unilever's market share and margins.



Table of Contents

1.Introduction4

2.Strategic Position4

1)External environment5

2)Internal Environment6

BCG matrix: The Dynamics Of Brand8

Ansoff Matrix11

3.Strategic Choices15

1 organizations competition strategy15

2 strategic direction15

4 Strategy In Action19

5 Conclusion21

6 Recommendation22

References24

Appendix25

1.Introduction

Unilever (UK) is one of the world's leading fast moving consumer goods companies. Its principal operations being highly exposed to the Eurozone crisis could place Unilever at a liquidity risk in future.

The issue of sustainability continues to garner public attention. Rapid industrial growth and expanding media coverage of its impact have pushed sustainability concerns to the forefront of consumer social consciousness and created an expectation for businesses to engage in solving this long-term global issue. However, while sustainability may have won the battle of ideas its underlying drivers are complex. There is still no universal definition of sustainability. Companies continue to define it in a myriad of different ways, many still choosing only to focus on environmental impacts. Consumer definitions of sustainability also differ based on region and the type of product under consideration. Unsurprisingly, companies still struggle to translate philosophy into actionable strategies on the ground. Despite these difficulties, most companies agree that they can no longer afford to pay lip service to the idea of sustainability. Sustainability is here to stay and the business implications of sustainability merit greater scrutiny. 2.Strategic Position

Like sustainable development, the concept of sustainable business is not new. Previously limited to corporate philanthropy or responses to regulatory pressure, sustainability is now mainstream and is transforming the way businesses operate today. Not only do businesses share the view that current patterns of global consumption are unsustainable, there is a growing conviction that sustainable business practices make good business sense. The socio-ecological impacts of current consumption and production patterns such as resource shortages and environmental degradation affect the fundamentals of business activity itself, and ignoring sustainability impacts long-term survival. Businesses like Unilever (UK) are moving away from the mindset that there is a trade-off between cost and sustainability strategies and recognize that sustainability can deliver cost-reductions and competitive advantage. Savvy businesses also understand that sustainability has many intangible benefits. Sustainability strategies can allow companies to move ahead ...