Leading Strategic Decision Making: Unilever Assignment Sample

Leading Strategic Decision Making: Unilever Assignment 

Part A:

Introduction

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The report aims to analyse the leading strategic decision-making factors of Unilever plc. The company operates in the FM CG industry. FM CG refers to fast-moving consumer goods often purchased for non-essential and essential goods, including drinks, soft drinks, food, etc. These products have a quick turnover incurring low-cost relatively. FMCG is also known as CPG or consumer packaged goods. Too many studies have been seen that over two .5 billion people consume products of Unilever. The brand has white portfolios of 400 brands stressed operation in 190 countries with successful growth. The discussion further would include the several factors that contribute to decision-making, such as identifying target market segmentation marketing mix and other critical leadership factors that have contributed to companies' growth. The analysis will be conducted through competitive strategies to articulate the scope and identification of decision-making strategies factors.

Background

Unilever plc is an FM CG brand based in London. It sells ice cream, minerals and supplements, well-being vitamins, food and condiments and other consumable products. The CEO of Unilever is Alan Jope.

Source: (Unilever Annual Report and Accounts 2020, 2022)

During 2021 the company and 5000 to 44.4,00,00,000s euro. The company's vision is to be the global leader in sustainable business to demonstrate its future fit and purpose. Let business model many weddings' superior performance, constantly producing financial results in the top third of the FMCG industry (Arora & Agarwal, 2018). The strategic actions and choices are to develop five aspects, including developing portfolio into high-growth areas, accelerating in India, China and USA, and other key growth markets, leading in the future channels. The excellence in operation is based on size pillars, including purposeful brands, impactful innovation, improved penetration, growth, and design for the chain. The company aims to create value through the multi-stakeholder model.

Analyse Unilever’s business strategy using Porter’s Generic Competitive Strategies framework

Cost leadership

This strategy aims to have a complex treatment with a lower cost. Cost leadership is the primary strategy that the company utilises in their various markets. The primary focus on the system has been successful as it has been able to preserve the market leader position through efficient value chain management. Cost leadership strategy enables Unilever plc to successfully off for expansion in the market (Fithry, Hariyanto, & Utami, 2021). They have targeted the middle class that consists of the massive population of world consumers mix of the market in the majority of countries—pricing factors drive these consumers. Cost leadership penetrates the need to cater to this consumer segment with much lower-priced products. The companies carefully build competitive strategies and competitive forces to meet competitive advantage. However, the design does not conclude any result quantitively (Di Fiore, 2018). The company emphasises on easy accessibility and affordability of its commodities worldwide. At least words high sales, awareness and further growth provide a strong base for competitive advantage. The company goes beyond with low pricing as they have achieved low production costs yet have maximised the supply chain network efficiently. Unilever plc of office coupons and discounts to meet the sales targets. In such a way, they win able to tackle the pressure from the market competitors. It is intended that promotional campaigns and discounts of such offers enhance the popularity of the brand encouraging consumption. To strive for this advantage over competitors, managers must incorporate services and features that buyers desire. Local strategy increase means the performance of an organisation. This strategy includes several other sub-strategies to achieve lower costs in distribution, production and marketing

Differentiation

Based on the competitive strategy framework, Unilever's good strategy is selecting a generic system. Differentiation that allowed the company to become profitable in the industry. This strategy enables the company to aim to compute a competitive advantage that would satisfy the specific needs and pReferences of the consumers (Anitah, et al., 2019). Presently the company utilise differentiation in a broader range that emphasises constructing and characteristics and features that would make the commodities exclusive and stand out from its competitors (Birahim, 2020). For example, Unilever changes the personal wealth Bing product do cream bars to meet the consumers' requirements not to make the skin harsh or dry. Irrespective of high prices, Dove has become the leading product among the competitors who focus more on cleaning instead of moisturising; thus, the strategy adopted by Unilever tactfully attracts consumers to the unique design of consumer products. The differentiation strategy is also aligned with the vision and mission statement of the company that aims to enhance sustainability worldwide with the improved city in the lives of consumers (Fernando, Popadiuk, & Santos, (2019).

Focus strategy

Focus is the third competitive strategy that encourages corporations and companies to concentrate on resources to expand the narrowed target segments. Companies aim to adopt a focus strategy to serve a specific market segment (Arora & Agarwal, 2018). Unilever plc opts for a focus strategy that covers low-cost yet high-value products. The locus focus strategy even helps the niche market segment with the possible lowest prices. The design, taste, and size of the company's development, which satisfies the customers' requirements and needs, emphasises this value Focus strategy. This brings fluid changes in the packaging and design of the product to meet customer psychological expectations and to do so. The company has revised its branding strategies.

Differentiation focus

This segment of the market is still growing for the company. Differentiation focus is much easier to articulate. The Mars Nessly position themselves in this market importantly. Nestlé developed a global scale with slightly fewer locus leaders, whereas is Unilever project itself as a course leader. Nestlé offers a broad range of ice cream that provides premium prices. Mars differentiated their products with solid brands but remained a minor player. This can be positioned as focus differentiation. Unilever is a subsidiary like Ben and Jerry comes under the strategy.

Identify the benefits and limitations of the framework

The global market is facing internationalisation that increases the uncertainty quotient much more. Consequently, firms were in an ambiguous problem. Therefore, a lot of importance has been given to formulating appropriate strategies in the modern business landscape more than ever before (Anitah, 2019). The reform's primary challenge is to enter into the market to survive. Presently many companies are losing their energy to maintain their existing position in the market and unable to find the right strategy is to increase profit in market share. Newborn companies suffer from the liability of numerous organisations that groans little further suffers from liability s the failure rate is inverted or shaped as they grow. What are generic strategies? Analyse the industry environment competitive strategies and competitive force carefully built by the companies to meet competitive advantage (Onifade, Opele, & Okafor, (2018). However, the system does not conclude any result quantitively. Identifying separate Ness each generic approach is hard to articulate in the process. The discussion in walls a lot of qualitative analysis. Often company strategies might go in the wrong direction as they lack the knowledge of long term period results which could destroy their business. With many pieces of research, it is observed that the framework of genetic strategies is linked with a firm's performance inherently. The framework overlaps which typologies (Mañosca, Poyaoan, & Vitug, 2022).

What is model is one of the essential management theories which explains the firm’s behaviour towards industry competitors? The genic strategy means a wide range of opportunities and utilisation to create competitive advantage respective of size come on the sort and industry organisation. Strategy play is a sensual part of an effective business plan. Utilising this effective strategy, a firm finds the right target niche and gathers knowledge about its customers. Strategy and will Saavney Seshan took in competitive advantage through differentiation, focus and cost leadership. Lucas providers' foremost objective is to achieve lower costs of commodities than the competitors. It does not mean necessarily the lowest price. To strive for this advantage over competitors, managers must incorporate services and features that buyers desire. Local strategy increase implies the performance of an organisation. This strategy includes several other sub-strategies to achieve lower distribution, production, and marketing costs. A lower-cost approach does not make a product inferior. Bhatt offers high-value products with competitive qualities with rivals at a reasonable price. What is has shown a relationship between firms performance and local strategy as it is highly efficient to stabilise the competing advantage through controlling and reducing the cost as a result consequently the organisation gains a lot of growth (OBAKPOLOR, 2021)

The strategist must follow a careful regime and person low-cost strategy as it is complicated to continue the lower price than competitors in the long run. The local plan also relates to low pricing, but the best value can be challenging to control as factors are very subject to market risk (Siddique & Sultana, 2018). The firm's value chain must eliminate all the trouble to avoid a cut in price if it goes up. The profitability must not get hampered. It is a technological breakthrough that raises this cost-saving, but it’s been delivered by the competitors also that could destroy the companies compete with a strategy.

Another prime strategy of what is model is differentiation, which means constructing a unique service or product that distinguishes itself from a rival's offered portfolio. The strategy offers high customer loyalty. If the product can project the brand's uniqueness to their customers, they will pay an amount for that service Ekkada. This strategy does not also defend itself from imitation as it does not guarantee that other competitors cannot achieve this uniqueness as market technology grows with each day. Successful differentiation aims to achieve product flexibility, less maintenance, and greater convenience. Through this strategy, a firm can charge a higher price as a part of their projected attributes which can be tough to imitate. However, it is challenging as many factors influence achieving this uniqueness, including cost-prohibitive and time-consuming. It increases the burden on the company. The company must invest highly in innovation and technology to build such a product. To create product features and services and performance contributes that offers a wide range to enhance customer services, invest highly. R&D, technological advances, consistent quality enhancement, increased brand activities with the promotion in marketing, emphasised human resources, and sought high-quality inputs that would build unique products that will help the company get up differentiation strategy (Reza, 2020).

Focus strategy aims at just one particular market, her product line or a specific group of consumers. The company offers this strategy to serve a close call. One of the advantages of this strategy is to increase capacity to function at high speed to modify the changes in environment preference and taste of the consumers. It creates an advantage to compete against the rivals based on the experience and knowledge concerning the competencies such as differentiation and low cost. The success of this strategy depends on a particular industry segment that has been emphasised and how the growth potential shows an exponential rate. Penetration strategy and market development offer advantages to this focus strategy. Large companies can pursue focus by approach linking cost leadership and differentiation.

Conclusion

The People has discussed giving me detailed strategies in different markets through Porter's generic framework. It has been analysed that the company functions in 3BC simultaneously and have been experiencing major success with financial growth and operation worldwide. The three bases of the porters model enhance understanding the universe's different products offerings and pricing. The paper also discusses the limitations and benefits of the hotel's framework that include competitive advantage primary Le. Still, the major hurdle is that there are not enough quantitative data in the model, which should project an articulated long-term landscape for the strategist. Therefore, the analysis has based on factors that contribute to decision-making, such as identifying target market segmentation marketing mix and other critical leadership factors that have contributed to companies' growth. The analysis will be conducted through competitive strategies to articulate the scope and identification of decision-making strategies factors.

Reference:

Anitah, J. N. (2019). Industry 4.0 Technologies and Operational Performance of Fast Moving Consumer Goods Manufacturers in Kenya: a Case Study of Unilever Kenya and L’oreal East Africa (Doctoral dissertation, University of Nairobi).

Anitah, J. N., Nyamwange, S. O., Magutu, P. O., Chirchir, M., & Mose, J. M. (2019). Industry 4.0 technologies and operational performance of Unilever Kenya and L’ Oreal East Africa. Noble International Journal of Business and Management Research, 3(10), 125-134.

Arora, M., & Agarwal, A. (2018). Strategic Green Marketing and its Implication By Hindustan Unilever Limited. International Journal of Management and International Business Studies, 8(1), 23-38.

Arora, M., & Agarwal, A. (2018). Strategic Green Marketing and its Implication By Hindustan Unilever Limited. International Journal of Management and International Business Studies, 8(1), 23-38.

Birahim, S. A. (2020). Internal and external factors of Nestle and comparison with Unilever.

Di Fiore, A. (2018). Why AI will shift decision-making from the C-suite to the frontline. Harvard Bus Rev. https://hbr. org/2018/08/why-ai-will-shift-decision-making-from-the-c-suite-to-the-frontline.

Fernando, J. T., Popadiuk, S., & Santos, N. M. B. F. (2019). Knowledge management at Unilever South America–enabling conditions and their interaction with the SECI model. Revista de Negócios, 24(2), 7-26.

Fithry, A. N. I., Hariyanto, M. I. Z. P., & Utami, E. S. (2021). The Impact of Consumer Behaviour Megashift on Unilever's Product Strategy During COVID-19 Crisis. UNEJ e-Proceeding, 61-65.

Mañosca, M. K., Poyaoan, A. K., & Vitug, J. (2022). Impact of Content Marketing on the Brand Image of Selected Unilever's Personal Care Brands through the Social Media. Journal of Business and Management Studies, 4(1), 107-114.

OBAKPOLOR, S. E. (2021). CONSUMER PURCHASING DECISION AND ORGANISATIONAL RESILIENCE DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A STUDY OF UNILEVER COMPANY PLC (Doctoral dissertation, Covenant University Ota.).

Onifade, T. A., Opele, A. M., & Okafor, L. I. (2018). Communication: An effective tool for employee performance in Unilever Nigeria Plc. International Journal of Management Technology, 5(2), 16-27.

Reza, M. H. (2020). Marketing Strategy and Sustainable Plan of Unilever.

Siddique, F. B., & Sultana, I. (2018). Unilever Sustainable Living Plan: A Critical Analysis.

Assets.unilever.com. 2022. Unilever Annual Report and Accounts 2020. [online] Available at: <https://assets.unilever.com/files/92ui5egz/production/372ab0178e9555aa5010f15aed8295af77149fe3.pdf> [Accessed 28 February 2022].

(Unilever Annual Report and Accounts 2020, 2022)