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Unilever company business plan
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Contents
3.0Industry, Target Customer, and Competitor Analysis 5
6.0. Operations and Development Plan 9
1.0 Executive summary
At any particular given day, about two billion people globally use Unilever products so as to look good, feel good, and obtain more from life hence an opportunity for building a brighter future through internationalization and expansion. A range of commodities makes the global consumption of Unilever products be part of a majority of people`s lives. Per se, the opportunity needs to be utilized through internationalization of the products and commodities to emerging markets and various countries in the world (Corporate watch, 2005). Unilever is a company that deals majorly in four segment products. The first is personal products which encompasses personal daily usage items, secondly it deals with food products like margarines and spreads, and thirdly it also produces refreshments and lastly the production and sales of home care items such as soap bars, powders and other cleaning materials. The objective of Unilever is to ensure that whoever uses the products is able to get maximum value for their money, and ensure sustainable living is made a commonplace. There are lots of opportunities in the markets more so emerging markets that needs to be exploited for growth and profit maximization. Competition is alive to this fact but from the previous sales making a profit of five billion dollars and a projection of a further possible profit of 11.37 billion in the next two years after internationalization makes the case for the dire need to expand branches and dominate other markets in Africa and Asia. The brand identity of the firm and a variety of product if offers and their quality to enhance quality of life gives it a competitive advantage over rivals. Inherently, the firm needs substantial amount of money to be able to expand to green markets and dominate global sales of the services it offers to esteem clients (Corporate watch, 2005). The sustainable living plan of Unilever recognizes that growth at the expense of humanity is unethical thus it advocates for people to improve their health by using agricultural products, reduce environmental footprints of the firm advance the usage of organic materials for production of Unilever commodities.
2.0 Company Description
Unilever is a located in both London and the Netherlands and is a British –Dutch owned firm that deals with transnational consumer goods. The broad category of goods we offer to our consumers are categorized under food, personal care products, beverages and cleaning products. According to the 2016 revenues measures, Unilever was the leading global consumer goods company. It has over 50 brands and is leading in production of food spreads like margarine. Most of the commodities that the company offers to the clients are consumed in a daily basis from body usage during bath or after, food and fresheners. The company is unique as it has developed in the recent past a prototype of commodities made from agricultural or environmental friendly raw materials (Maljers, 1992).
The firm seeks to reduce environmental degradation or pollution in her production of items under the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan. The company is majorly based in Europe and North America where the branches are located. However, there is an emerging trend in the developing countries like in Africa, Asia and South American countries. The introduction of herbal medicinal components in some products have proven critical in reducing, preventing and treating some minor diseases more so from such developing countries prone to diseases. Unilever has also partnered with several governments, NGOs, and other private entities to ensure environmental conservation is achieved.
3.0Industry, Target Customer, and Competitor Analysis
3.1 Industry
The industry of consumer goods is not as much populated but is very competitive from the few firms which are available. Unilever is a single company managing a lot of products under one umbrella. However, there are various companies that have picked specific items they produce and try to specialize on them. Through partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, Unilever has been able to dominate the industry and produce one of the leading brand identities that resonates with the people. The innovative aspect of Unilever to venture is sustainable living plan has been able to attract more countries that supports environmental and healthy living to open doors for Unilever. Consequently, the company has been able to engage in more partnerships and community work which makes more consumers to subscribe loyalty to the firm unlike most firms.
3.2 Target Customer
The demographics for the consumers for our company were classified under the income, education, lifestyle, occupation and social class parameters. Most consumers of our products are graduates, educated and literate people in the society. They have developed a sense of style and taste for good and modern innovations. However, people with little education are attracted to the products due to their tastes and due to the medicinal components found in most items sold by the firm. High income earners are able to afford most items more so the food and refreshments like the ice creams items which are mostly associated with the rich. Conversely, the middle class and upper class are able to identify with most of the items from the firm due to its brand identity and the feeling of the social class. The young, single and newly married couples with small families are potential clients of Unilever.
3.3 Competitor Analysis
Competitor analysis is vital to assist Unilever know certain market trends, consumer behavior, market gaps and contributed in product development. The competitors are currently in the same geographical area in which Unilever is operating have not been able to put up a much stronger competition against the commodities that are being offered by Unilever. Their brand identities are not strong enough and the consumers do not resonate much with them. The main reason for such a case is the multiple firms that deals with such products. The target market is more similar except in new markets to be ventured in, prices are relatively lowered and the competitors are not having strong image identity for their products.
Cost wise, the competitors have relatively lower prices which have been able to attract more consumers more so in the target markets of Africa, Asia and South America. However, the medicinal and herbal aspect of Unilever has been able to sell the brand identity of the items more so personal items like soaps, cleaning products and body lotions. The customers of competitors are not engaged with their service providers hence creating a better window of opportunity from the Unilever from their better customer care services and consumer management practices.
4.0 Marketing Plan
Development of a good marketing plays a vital role towards the growth of any company. It helps in the production of goods and services that meets the need of the company in the company target (Valenzuela, 2004). The marketing pan used by Unilever to venture in new markets entails the usage of product, pricing, place and promotion matrices. The tactical mix of marketing used by the company is target market would include product, pricing, people and physical evidence. Thus, the pricing of the products will be made to target customers in the upper class and the middle class. The brand identity to be created in such markets is a sense of class within the social class. The college students, people in urban areas should be able to afford the commodities. The product will be made in such a way they the low-income earners will be able to need them due to the herbal and medicinal components of the products. The taste and preference of consumers will be attracted from quality product. The products will be made in such a way that they do not have side effects to consumers and improve their quality of life in a sustainable manner.
The people will make a difference in the target markets. By people, Unilever means her staff that will be sales and marketing personnel. The staff in such departments will be key as they will also double up as custom care officials. The interaction between the staff and the consumers will prompt better consumer loyalty and increase their taste and preference for the products. As such, high professionalism and consumer management constitute a major aspect of the people. Conversely, physical evidence of how the items are packed and packaged will have a visual attraction. It also extents to how the staff will be carrying out themselves and the physical location where such services will be offered.
5.0 Product/Service Plan
At Unilever, various products are available for consumers and the firm’s managers most of its production internally. Some of the variety of good produced by the firm includes food and drinks. Under foods and drinks, the firm has Bacel/Flora, Blue Band, Heartbrand and Magnum. The company makes production of these food products in good quality than the competitors to reduce cholesterol, and other related body complication. The marketing brand that has seen in the recent years from Unilever is to deliver products which are environmental friendly and supports sustainable living. Most food products consumed by people are leading causes of certain infectious diseases to their body. As such, Unilever delivers food products that infect complements sustainable living and promotes healthy eating. The foods do not contain cholesterols or fatty acids that can complicate human life. Becel for instance pro-active is made of concentrated nutrients of plant sterols which has the ability to remove cholesterol from the human body and stops its absorption in the guts. The plan sterols occur in small quantities in other plants hence one would need to eat extreme amounts of such fruits as apples to get them. However, from services of Becel, these nutrients are consolidated to help enhance sustainable living.
There are other personal products which are also made by the company like soaps for showering and detergents for cleaning under personal products and care items. These products are important as they assist people I their daily life when they use them. The personal care products like OMO used to clean cloths and other surfaces leaves a good scent and removes stains faster than products from competitors. The body soaps have herbal components that are able to remove skin rashes and keeps it smooth, relaxed and moisturized. Foods like ice cream are easily digestible with no harm to the body. The customers are able to enjoy the services from Unilever products from any of the branches opened up from the stores across the countries in operation.
During production, the company has a policy to partner with other agencies and governments and even NGOs to ensure manufacturing of Unilever products are environmental friendly. As such, the company reduces environmental pollution. The cost of production has been reduced through mergers, acquisition and partnerships. For example, the company has partnered with various distributors of animal products to supply raw materials for manufacturing of margarine. To that extent, the firm do not need to own another margarine production cite for just one item. The firm has also partnered with a transportation firm to ensure that products reach destination within 24 hours or the order made hence not needing to buy more cars and employ many employees for such deliveries. It is also vital to mention that the cost of production has been reduced from the partnerships and mergers since some production of certain raw materials are done by other firms but make exclusive supply to a branch of Unilever to complement the final production of a commodity to a finished good. From such creative supply chain management, the pricing of the items is relatively cheap depending on the product and its target population. For instance, deodorants manufactured are targeted for the middle class and the upper classes. But some detergents and soaps with herbal components are affordable to families with little income with variations in regions.
6.0. Operations and Development Plan
The operations of the firm are based on supply chain management and the production that will define development and operational activities of the organization.
6.1 Supply Chain Management
Once production has been done, the next focus is given to the supply chain management where the products will be taken to the ultimate destination which is to the consumer. From production, supply is critical to the organization. This entail how such products will be able to reach people effectively and sufficiently. Such transportation cost must see to it that clients are able to get their products on time and at an affordable cost. As earlier mentioned, the firm has partnered with transporters to assist take the products from the production site to various branches of the company mostly supply stores. In addition, the deliveries are taken to clients at their destinations when orders are booked in advance. The facilities will be different and in various locations.
Some facilities will be owned by other branches when they make raw materials that will be converted to final goods at other locations. However, in every country that Unilever ventures in, a big plan is established that deals with individual commodities being supplied in the region. The staff required for operations will be few since only store managers will be needed. The majority of employees will be out sourced and payed as contractors for the specific jobs they do in the short run. For example, those who deliver goods to other stores or clients are paid by their transporter firm which has partnered with Unilever. On equipment, the firm will be investing in manufacturing plants for few products but focuses majorly on partnerships for profit maximization and product quality.
6.2 Production
The production of items for the firm is single sourced from external firms who have partnered with Unilever. Production is made cheaper and better. For instance, the production process of making a Blue band includes an external firm supplying various commodities and ingredients. Such that a firm which was originally designed to produce animal products will just focus on that. Unilever will just provide a ready market for their finished goods and sign a contract with them as the single supplier and respective consumer of such products. Another company dealing with the production of packaging containers will be offered the contract to make containers strictly for Unilever with their brands and logo on it. As such, the containers will just be availed to pack the readymade blue band or margarine. To that extent therefore, the quality of products is assured a very low cost of production thus profit maximization.
7.0 Management Team
The management team will be divided in to sales and marketing, administrative, customer, and production teams. The sales and marketing will ensure the brand identity of the products are able to reach every body of the targeted population. They have the mandate to ensure the brand image of the firm is better than competitors and establish good rapport with the clients. Customer management department is mandated to know the needs to the consumer, their grievances and the recommendations they make on various products and commodities. They use social media, communication channels like mails and direct call lines to gather more information about the company`s customers and hence how to integrate such information in production services. Administrative aspect of management deals with the daily operations of the firms and facilitation of logistics while the operational department focuses on the production of the products for the consumers.
8.0 Critical Risks
The Critical risks that the firm is facing which is a major challenge comes from the fact that most of the production and products are done from external firms. Once the firms run out of their contract they often increase their prices (Corporate watch, 2005). In addition, internal wars and mismanagements of such firms do affect the overall production of Unilever. However, the firm is making a policy of doing adequate due diligence to get the correct status of any other firm before doing business with them. In addition, Unilever has initiate a program of signing long time contracts with such firms that gives them a long-time relationship. Market risks have been there from the various competitors who try to offer cheap prices for their commodities. In addition, they have their own production plants hence producing them at very cheaper princes to control the market prices. However, the unique blend of products and their quality combined with the brand identity of Unilever has been able to repel such forces.
9.0 Exit Strategy
The exit strategy as a contingency plan in any global branch is to merger with a local company that can boost profits when the two companies work together (Alajoutsijärvi, Möller, & Tähtinen, 2000). Merger will see the profit share for the two companies extend. Acquisition by a larger company in a particular area is a viable option as a contingency plan. A bigger company dealing with same products can acquire a branch of Unilever to prevent loses of severe magnitude to the firm.
10.0 Financial Plan
10.1Income Statement
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
| Revenue | $1,976,000 | $2,074,800 | $2,178,540 |
| Cost of sales | 1,213,659 | 1,274,342 | 1,338,059 |
| Gross profit | $762,341 | $800,458 | $840,481 |
| Compensation & benefits | 500,000 | 500,000 | 400,000 |
| Administrative | 180,000 | 150,000 | 50,000 |
| Net Profit | $82,341 | $150,458 | $390,418 |
10.2 Balance Sheet
| Starter | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
| Cash | $33,100 | $110,697 | $210,697 | $243,259 |
| Inventory | 425,000 | 425,000 | 424,781 | 446,020 |
| Prepaid leases | 28,000 | 28,000 | 28,000 | 28,000 |
| Total current assets | $486,100 | $563,697 | $663,478 | $717,279 |
| Fixed assets | 33,850 | 33,850 | 33,850 | 33,850 |
| Less: depreciation | 0 | 4,916 | 9,832 | 14,747 |
| Net fixed assets | 33,850 | 28,934 | 24,018 | 19,103 |
| Total assets | $520,000 | $592,631 | $687,496 | $736,382 |
| Accounts payable | 0 | 68,908 | 139,654 | 146,637 |
| Long-term debt | 468,000 | 438,529 | 406,133 | 370,522 |
| Total liabilities | 468,000 | 507,437 | 545,787 | 517,159 |
| Owner’s equity | ||||
| Paid-in capital | 52,000 | 52,000 | 52,000 | 52,000 |
| Retained earnings | 0 | 33,194 | 89,709 | 167,223 |
| Total liabilities & equity | $520,000 | $592,631 | $687,496 | $736,382 |
(Mason and Stark, 2004).
References
Alajoutsijärvi, K., Möller, K., & Tähtinen, J. (2000). Beautiful exit: how to leave your business partner. European Journal of Marketing, 34(11/12), 1270-1290.
Corporate watch. (2005, June 13). Retrieved from Unilever company profile: https://corporatewatch.org/unilever-company-profile/
Maljers, F. A. (1992). Inside Unilever: The evolving transnational company. Harvard Business Review, 70(5), 46-52.
Valenzuela, N. L.-R. (2004). Identifying successful marketing strategies by export regional destination. International Marketing Review, 21(6), 573-597.
Appendices
Appendix a
Balance sheet
| Starter | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
| Cash | $33,100 | $110,697 | $210,697 | $243,259 |
| Inventory | 425,000 | 425,000 | 424,781 | 446,020 |
| Prepaid leases | 28,000 | 28,000 | 28,000 | 28,000 |
| Total current assets | $486,100 | $563,697 | $663,478 | $717,279 |
| Fixed assets | 33,850 | 33,850 | 33,850 | 33,850 |
| Less: depreciation | 0 | 4,916 | 9,832 | 14,747 |
| Net fixed assets | 33,850 | 28,934 | 24,018 | 19,103 |
| Total assets | $520,000 | $592,631 | $687,496 | $736,382 |
| Accounts payable | 0 | 68,908 | 139,654 | 146,637 |
| Long-term debt | 468,000 | 438,529 | 406,133 | 370,522 |
| Total liabilities | 468,000 | 507,437 | 545,787 | 517,159 |
| Owner’s equity | ||||
| Paid-in capital | 52,000 | 52,000 | 52,000 | 52,000 |
| Retained earnings | 0 | 33,194 | 89,709 | 167,223 |
| Total liabilities & equity | $520,000 | $592,631 | $687,496 | $736,382 |
(Mason and Stark, 2004).
Appendix b
Income Statement
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
| Revenue | $1,976,000 | $2,074,800 | $2,178,540 |
| Cost of sales | 1,213,659 | 1,274,342 | 1,338,059 |
| Gross profit | $762,341 | $800,458 | $840,481 |
| Compensation & benefits | 500,000 | 500,000 | 400,000 |
| Administrative | 180,000 | 150,000 | 50,000 |
| Net Profit | $82,341 | $150,458 | $390,418 |
