Stakeholder Management of Unilever

Running head: STAKEHOLDERS OF UNILEVER
Stakeholder management
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note:

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STAKEHOLDERS OF UNILEVER
Executive Summary:
The management of stakeholders have gained immense importance in the survival and growth of
the business organisations. The multinational companies owing to their global presence come
under influences of innumerable stakeholder groups both in their home countries and host
countries. The stakeholder base includes investors, employees, consumers and governments both
from their home countries and host countries. The paper would deal with these stakeholders and
ways to manage them by taking Unilever as the example.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
About Unilever:...............................................................................................................................2
Figure 1. Graph showing 5 year historic price of Unilever.............................................................3
Stakeholders of Unilever and their impact on the company:...........................................................4
Literature review:.............................................................................................................................8
Stakeholder theory:..........................................................................................................................8
Stakeholder management theory:....................................................................................................9
Development of an effective stakeholder communication plan or strategy:.................................10
Engagement with the Government................................................................................................12
Engagement with the NGO’s.........................................................................................................12
Engagement with the Suppliers.....................................................................................................12
Engagement with the customers....................................................................................................13
Use of social networking platforms in project implementation:...............................................13
Critical analysis, evaluation and examination:..............................................................................15
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................17
References......................................................................................................................................18

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STAKEHOLDERS OF UNILEVER
Introduction:
As per Hörisch, Freeman and Schaltegger(2014), stakeholder’s management has gained
immense significance in management of business management and the importance of
stakeholders in the operation is indisputable. The term refers to the management of stakeholders
so as to ensure benefit of all them. This helps business organisations to gain prolonged support of
stakeholders. Stakeholders can be individuals or groups, but all of them play tremendous role in
ensuring growth and sustenance of business operations in the market. In fact, the stakeholder
management has emerged as a core business strategies which advances and gains shape. The
stakeholders’ engagements play far more significant roles multinational companies compared to
small firms. This makes it important to maintain a continuous strong communication with the
stakeholder groups. The paper would explore this engagement of stakeholders through the lenses
of one of the largest fast moving consumer goods marketer in the world, Unilever.
About Unilever:
Unilver is one of the world’s oldest and largest multinational fast moving consumer
goods marketing companies. In fact, according to an article published by the China Daily,
Unilever occupies the fourth position internationally behind PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble and
Nestle AG (chinadaily.com.cn 2018).The company has its headquarters in London, the United
Kingdom and Rotterdam, Netherlands. Unilever is a public limited multinational company
primarily listed on London Stock Exchange. Unilever adopts various business models to function
in the global market like export, joint venture, acquisition and merger and wholly owned
subsidiaries. The British-Dutch consumer giant functions in its potentially important host
countries like the United States of America and India through its wholly owned subsidiaries
which are also public limited companies listed on the top stock exchanges like NYSE and

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NSEIL. The graph below shows that Unilever holds a high position in the share market and
enjoys a formidable capital base.
Figure 1. Graph showing 5 year historic price of Unilever
(Source: londonstockexchange.com 2018)
Unilever along with its wholly owned subsidiaries own some of the top brands in the
global market like Lux and Axe. The product line of the company consist of food and drink,
home care, personal care and water purifier.It exports products in countries where it has no direct
presence. Thus, Unilever through its diverse products serve millions of customers around the
world both through its subsidiaries and channel partners. The management of the company is
helmed by Paul Polman, the present CEO. The wholly owned subsidiaries function under the
leadership of their individual management which function under director of the apex
management. The company is one of the top employers in the world and works with several
governments. The company employs around 165000 employees and bears an expenditure of €
6712 million globally. The company earned a profit of €8857 million while its net profit is €6486

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million in the year 2017 (unilever.com 2018). Unilever besides earning an immense profit also
promotes to the growth and development of societies around the world through its corporate
social responsibilities. The main markets of Unilever are Europe, Asia-Pacific, Americas, Middle
East and Africa where some of the subsidiaries like Hindustan Unilever rule their respect
markets making huge profits on its behalf (bloombergquint.com2018).
Stakeholders of Unilever and their impact on the company:
The above discussion about Unilever brings into light the several stakeholders both
groups and individuals. The following table would enlist the stakeholders including the ones
mentioned and the ones not mentioned.
Stakeholders Internal/
external
Impacts on Unilever
Management bodies (apex and
subsidiaries)
Internal 1. Forms strategies and policies of Unilever
and its subsidiaries.
2. Forms a bridge between the company and
the key stakeholders like governments,
financial institutions and legal systems.
3. Provides guidance and directions to the
middle and lower strata.
4. Steers the operations of Unilever.
Employees (Unilever and its
subsidiaries)
Internal 1. Executes the strategies formed by
the apex management and achieve
business targets.
2. Directly deals with the customers
(stakeholders) and gain