He has succeeded with his marketing strategy and Unilever has got back to its form and made good profit also. But the question is that, is he tried enough to reach the goals of sustainability or it was just a strategy to reestablish the financial and market performance of Unilever?
The actions taken by him and by his team were effective for the company and also create high motivation in the employees mind. As a successful leader, Paul Polman has always been confident enough to face the challenges with the implementation of new strategies.
Job Engagement Polman invested his physical, cognitive and emotional energies into his performance. It was a huge task, and internally the new strategy was greeted with nervous anticipation. We are saying the opposite — how can we contribute to the society and the environment to be successful?
Many businesses are in this camp — fueled by a fascination with short-term profit maximization. But this short-termism means that businesses are missing out on an opportunity to build resilience into the business, and secure its medium and long-term success. Unilever has worked through the longer term implications of global trends for its business. The USLP targets are responded to these implications and are designed to ensure that Unilever is in business next year, and into the next decade.
Cultural and Management Change He brought huge changes in the management as within a year Paul had changed a third of the top executives of the company and he has also created a ULE Unilever Leadership Executive team. After that he redefined his marketing strategy and introduced an environmental issue sustainable development in the business arena.
It was actually projecting a positive life-celebrating message inspiring mothers to encourage their children to play outside. Educational campaigns have been important tools for raising awareness for Unilever brands such as Close-Up and Dove. Management emphasized the need for impactful innovations.
After that, Unilever introduced laundry detergents that required shorter wash cycles, minimum rinse fabric conditioners, and dry shampoos. Intensive Communication Campaigns and New Partnership Programs The new CEO and his management teams held meetings, hosted forums, and visited operations to outline the vision, answer questions, and celebrate early achievements.
Polman understood that it could not achieve its bold objectives by itself, so Polman had emphasized on partnership with governments, NGOs, suppliers and others to address the big challenges.
And it had dozens of collaborating programs with governments at national and local levels worldwide. Unilever partnered with NGOs, social entrepreneurs, academics, and other businesses because the CEO believed it could lead changes in the broader system to improving health and hygiene, particularly for the 2.
Unilever is very advanced in its advertising and marketing program and very active in in-store displays, which is a must for success in cosmetics and toiletries. Unilever stands out as an exception, and has managed to sustain a wide variety of products as part of its inclusive business activities and core business model. Many consumers especially from Least Development Countries LDC connect themselves with this outstanding business strategy.
Now his strategy is not successful in all sectors. May be he reestablished the growth of financial performance again but shortfalls are there because he promised many things. In contrast to a goal of halving its environmental footprint, in part due to its merger and acquisition activity.
This type of great leader actually motivates others to be like him and follow his footprints. Now the USLP sets the target for and this is the right time to analyze the shortfalls of the strategy and make solutions for them. In order to produce more sustainable products, they should go through more innovations and researches. More Focus on Developed Countries Unilever is more focused on the developing countries because the consumers of these countries are not much aware about sustainability.
And Polman has used that thing to make Unilever products famous in those countries but this could be harmful because the economic and political situation in developing countries is not so well which may slow down its growth. As developed countries have the economical and political stability, so Unilever can make a dedicated strategy for developed countries. But all these possible initiatives require a long period of time and these can be identified as time consuming processes.
Polman and his ULE team has mainly focused on influencing people through innovations in business strategies as they started recognizing people as individuals, instead of consumers. Polman and his ULE team have successfully led the company towards its goal to be achieved gradually. Finally, we can say that zero-waste policies, reducing energy and water consumption, improving the health of workers — all these things promote the wellbeing of the environment and society, and they also improve efficiency, reduce costs and ensure viability in business.
References 1. Christopher A. Harvard Business School, 2. Unilever , October 5. He succeeded with this marketing strategy and Unilever has got back to its form and made good sustainable profits. The actions taken by CEO and governance team were to create high motivation for employees and sustainable shared value for key stakeholders. As a successful leader, Paul Polman has always been confident enough to face the challenges with the implementation of new strategies. Polman invested his physical, cognitive and emotional energies into his performance.
It was a huge task, and internally the new strategy was greeted with nervous anticipation. Unilever view sustainable and equitable growth as the only way to create long-term value for all their stakeholders.
Unilever vision of growth is driven by the purpose to have a clear purpose — to make sustainable living commonplace. The company aims to help create a world where everyone can live well within the natural limits of the planet by putting sustainable living at the heart of everything they do.
This includes their brands and products, standards of behaviour within and beyond Unilever, and their partnerships and advocacy — which are driving transformational change across company value chain, and beyond. Unilever management believe that managing for the long term is the best, and the only way for a business to grow and thrive in the future will be those businesses that serve society today. It covers all aspects of our business and value chain PDF KB , incorporates all their brands and divisions, and covers every country they work in.
It aims to create change across our value chain — from their operations, to their sourcing, to the way consumers use and dispose of their products. The Plan, launched in , is built around three big goals and nine pillars. It embraces the strategic priorities Unilever identified through their materiality analysis. While checking these are still the right priorities by carrying out a materiality analysis every two years.
For each goal, Unilever have a number of targets. Improving health and well-being Goal: By Unilever will help more than a billion people take action to improve their health and well-being. Goal: By we will enhance the livelihoods of millions of people as Unilever grow as a business. Pillars: Fairness in the workplace Opportunities for women Inclusive business. Each year, management gathers more evidence of the benefits our USLP is bringing to the business, as well as to society and the environment.
Unilever grow as a business four-point framework shows how the USLP drives value. The biggest challenges facing the world cannot be addressed by one company alone.
Therefore, Unilever as a business want to help transform the system in which business is done by acting as agents for change more broadly, by bringing others together for progressive discussions, and by working in partnerships that deliver positive business, social and environmental impact at scale. They believe that being part of the solution to challenges is the right thing for businesses to do, as well as it is also being a commercial imperative. This is an opportunity to win the trust of consumers while helping create societies and economies in which businesses can grow and succeed.
Unilever aim to use their scale and influence to help bring about transformational change in four areas. Where the business can make the biggest difference, and they represent the biggest market opportunities for Unilever. By adopting a multi-stakeholder approach, Unilever is better able to understand the challenges preventing society and ecosystems from thriving, and to find ways to begin addressing them. Unilever engage with shareholders, governments, NGOs and civil society organisations, with the aim to shape the business landscape through advocacy.
They are fundamental to future economic growth and are an enormous business opportunity. In doing so, they are unlocking new markets, and investing in brands with purpose and innovation. ULE team has mainly focused on influencing people through innovations in business strategies as they started recognising human capital as individuals. ULE team have successfully led the company towards achieving a sustainable strategy, zero-waste policies, reducing energy and water consumption, improving the health of workers — all these things promote the wellbeing of the environment and society, and they also improve efficiency, reduce costs, ensure viability in business and sustainable shared value.
Sustainable Living Plan has impacted in achieving great results for Unilever. Collaboration with stakeholders is viewed as the key to tackling many sustainability challenges and Unilever will be focusing even more on this in the years ahead.
The following resources in conjunction with the case would help the students to consult. Sustainable Development. Greenpeace says the company has got the emphasis wrong. The Guardian.
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