Managing Information and Technology in Unilever Company

Managing Information and
Technology

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Overview of Unilever company...................................................................................................3
Background information about company and brief discussion on product and services of
company.......................................................................................................................................4
Analyse competitive environment by implementing Porter's Five force analysis.......................4
Analyse inbound logistics, operations and outbound logistics....................................................6
Analyse two supportive activities in Porter's Value Chain of Unilever company.......................7
Understanding of “Porter’s 5 Force analysis” and “Porter’s Value Chain” analysis..................9
Summarise and reflect that how organizations can used information technology (IT) to
improve business process.............................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERNCES.................................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Managing information and technology involves the use of various processes, hardware,
system as well as software that helps company to carry out routine operations systematically
(Abdillah, 2014). It is the critical part of business that is used to gain deep insights in terms to
build up strategy and carry out diverse activities significantly.
To better define the topic Unilever company has been selected which is a part of
customer goods industry and serve diverse products like food, beverages, energy drink and so on
for the convenience of customer. The company has effectively carry out its operations all over
the globe to carry out portfolio investment which maximise overall profitability. This report
cover topics like determine the background as well as offerings of Unilever company. Analyse
competitive environment by effectively applying Porter's five force model. Identify Porter's
Value chain by briefly explaining operations, inbound and outbound logistics. Further,
summarise the information technology by using innovative ides to gain competitive positioning.
MAIN BODY
Overview of Unilever company
Unilever is UK based company deals in transnational consumer goods and it headquarter
based in London. Company offer variety of goods to their consumers which include the range of
energy drinks, ice creams, food items, beverages, beauty products, personal care etc. Unilever is
oldest multinational company and its operations expended around 190 countries. In this big
brand organization, around 400 brand owned and it provide around £ 53.7 billion of turnover
according to 2017 report.
In addition, there are thirteen brands which provide more than one billion revenue and
these are Dove, Hellmann's, Heartbrand ice cream, Lipton, Sun-silk etc. It is also Dubai listed
company which include Unilever N.V and it is based on Rotterdam and Unilever Plc in London.
These two companies operated single business with same board of directors. Unilever company
basically operate in four divisions such as Foods (beverages and ice cream), Refreshments,
Home Care, and Beauty & Personal Care. All the reaserch and development facilities of these
products also available in China, the Netherlands, India, United Kingdom and United States.
Unilever is British Dutch company which founded in 2nd of September 1929 after the
merger of Dutch Margarine Unie and British soap maker lever brothers. Company serve

worldwide area and according to 2019 annual report, company generate around £ 6.026 billion
of net income which decreases in comparison to previous year. In addition, around 155000
people employed in the Unilever company in 2019 but this figure reduces in comparison to 2018.
Background information about company and brief discussion on product and services of
company
Unilever company started its operations in the years 1929, by the collective efforts of
Margarine Unie and Lever Brothers. Initially, the operations of company being a maker of oils as
well as fats took place in United Kingdom but later on that mean on 20th century it successfully
diversified the operations globally (Ahmed, 2015) (Alyousef and et.al., 2017). This whole
evolution took place when the lever brother who is the founder of company gained the idea to
prepare Sunlight soap in terms to popularise the concept to maintain personal hygiene as well as
cleanliness. Even today the company constantly function to offer wide range of options in terms
to maintain sustainable place of living. Currently, the company offer diverse range of product as
well as services that are the part of personal care, beauty care, cleanliness, oral care as well as
food and refreshments. Being one of the well known multinational companies Unilever company
function over one fifty countries and generate enormous revenue from its product as well as
services. Thus, on the basis of changing trend company constantly focuses to improve its
functioning by offering organic food, natural deodorant or soap to carry out sustainable
performance effectively.
Analyse competitive environment by implementing Porter's Five force analysis
Porter's five force analysis: Unilever company is a leading firm that has effectively
redefined the functioning of carrying out business effectively. It has effectively diversified its
business in both developed as well as developing parts of countries with the objective to
successfully cater the requirement of changing customer good. Application of Porter's five force
analysis can help the manager of Unilever company in terms to strategically prioritize their
operations by overviewing the role of stakeholders like competitors or negotiation of customer
within external market (Castillo, 2016). This helps to strengthen the operations of company and
maintain positioning by effectively addressing the issues of external forces which can directly
cause impact on the financial performance of Unilever company. The explanation of different
forces is explained underneath: