Business Strategy for Unilever: Impact of Macro and Internal Environment, Competitive Advantage and Strategies

BUSINESS STRATEGY
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Table of Contents.
INTRODUCTION:..........................................................................................................................3
1. Impact of macro environment:.................................................................................................3
PESTLE:............................................................................................................................3
SWOT analysis:.................................................................................................................4
Evaluation of Resources and Capabilities:........................................................................5
2. Internal environment and Capabilities:....................................................................................6
VRIO/VRIN:.....................................................................................................................6
Porter's value chain analysis:.............................................................................................7
3. Justification of existing competitive advantage:......................................................................8
4. Formulating strategies to achieve overall success:..................................................................9
Part-2..............................................................................................................................................10
1. Evaluation of strategies:.........................................................................................................10
Ansoff matrix:..................................................................................................................10
2. Recommendations:.................................................................................................................11
3. Ways to monitor strategies:...................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION:.............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13
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INTRODUCTION:
A business strategy is a form of actions and decisions of an organization's plans to reach
its objectives and goals. Business strategy is responsible for defining the organization's
requirements to reach its organizational objectives and guide the decision-making for resource
allocation (Weissenberger-Eibl, Almeida and Seus, 2019). Unilever is a British international
company which offers more than 400 brands organized mainly into food beverages, home care
and beauty and personal care.
This report will discuss the impact of macro environment, internal environment and the
strategies of the company. The various strategies to achieve overall success, their evaluation,
monitoring and justification of the same will also be disused.
Introduction to company:
Unilever is a British MNC, Public limited company in UK. The company offers various
products like food beverages, ice cream, coffee, tea, cereal, cleaning agents, pet food, beauty
care, toothpastes and personal care products. Vision: The vision of Unilever is to make a sustainable living a mainstream. Mission: The mission of the company is to add vitality to life (Unilever at a glance,
2021). Objectives: The goals of the company are to help people improve their health and well-
being, to improve their livelihood and to have an environmental footprint of its products.
 Core values: Unilever have 4 fundamental values; Integrity, respect, responsibility and
Pioneering.
Part-1
1. Impact of macro environment:
The macro environment includes various external forces such as economic, demographic
ans social which are uncontrollable by the company. The macro environment of the company can
be assessed by:
PESTLE:
PESTLE refers to various forces which can impact the working of the company. All the
MNCs are measured by certain standards in the environments they operate (Perera, 2017). These
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standards of environment which Unilever needs to follow can be analysed using PESTLE as
follows: Political factors: Political factors are related to the government rules and standard laid
out in a country. As Unilever deals in food and personal care, it needs to follow
guidelines by The Food and Drug Administration strictly. The increased protectionism
policies and Brexit policy have affected the global trade have affected Unilever in various
countries. Economic factors: The condition of economy which impact the working of an
organization in a country are economic factors (Shtal and et.al., 2018). Consumers do not
want to buy expensive products or brands due to the current situation of global pandemic.
Also, the increased competition in FMCG sectors have affected the revenue of the
company. Social factors: Social factors are the ways and culture of doing things which can affect
the work culture of the company. Unilever is working continuously to improve new
hygiene and better nutrition to people in various countries. However, the low literacy
rates of consumers have affected the marketing channels such as print media. Technological factors: Technological factors are the factors related to technology up
gradation and improvements (Fozer and et.al., 2017). As the technology is disrupting the
company is also spending a lot on IT to improve the business, brands, communication
and market through the internet. Unilever's technology ventures works with Unilever
R&D in collaboration to access the customer needs through the use of technology. Legal factors: The laws and legislations that the companies need to follow in order to
continue their businesses. Unilever is subjected to need various regulatory approvals for
its various product projects which delays the decision-making process and its growth.
The continuous changes in tax laws and regulations in various countries have impacted
the work environment of the chosen company.
 Environmental factors: The governments and grown concerns of consumers towards the
environment sustainability are considered in environmental factors (Aithal, 2017).
Unilever have designed management systems which respects the consumer health and
safety as well as ensures a formal environmental management system.
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