Strategic Analysis of Unilever: PESTLE, SWOT, VRIO and Porter's Five Forces Model

Business Strategy

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................1
An internal and external analysis that provides a platform for strategic decision making: .......1
Competitive environment analysis using Porter’s Five Forces model.........................................6
Identification and justification of the organisation’s existing and/or potential competitive
advantage.....................................................................................................................................7
Valid strategies and tactical objectives to achieve overall strategic objectives...........................7
On the basis of this analysis critically evaluate and justify strategic options for the
organisation:.................................................................................................................................8
Justification and recommendation of growth platform and strategies :.....................................10
Evaluation of different ways and means for purpose of monitoring strategies to get success. .10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Strategic management is the preparing, observing, examining and assessing an
organisation's necessary resources that an organisation requires to carry on it's operations so as to
meet its goals and objectives(Chofreh, et.al, 2021). Continuos changes in business environment
makes a company to timely analyse their strategies so as achieve success in the market. Strategic
Management plan helps an organisation to overlook its current position, frame plan of action and
analyse the current working of enterprise. Strategic plan is one of the major component for an
enterprise as it helps them to the way of success(Buye, R., 2021). Without an effective strategic
plan, functioning of a business may not give that much efficient results. For a better
understanding, a company Unilever is taken under consideration which is a British Multinational
Corporation dealing in consumer goods. The Unilever is the largest soap producing company
with its supply chain among 190 countries. The company mainly has three sections i.e. food
products, home care and beauty & personal Care Products. Its main research and development
are located in China, India, Netherlands, United States and United Kingdom. Unilever was
founded on 2 September 1929 by a union of British soap maker company Lever Brothers and
Dutch Margarine producer Margarine Unie. The following report is going to discuss about the
internal and external analysis Unilever company with appropriate framework. This report also
covers the competitive environment analysis of the chosen company and the various strategies to
attain the strategic objectives. In addition to this, this report also paid focus on the various
strategic directions available to the firm. In the end, recommendations has been given to choose
the appropriate growth strategies to attain success in the competitive market.
MAIN BODY
An internal and external analysis that provides a platform for strategic decision
making:
PESTLE ANALYSIS
Pestle analysis is a strategic framework that studies main external forces of an industry which
helps an organisation in maximising the profit and minimising the risk so as to get the best
results effectively and efficiently (Bush, T., 2019). Pestle analysis for the respective company is
discussed as follows:
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 Political Factors: This factor of the study deals with all the political factors in the
industry that may affect the working of a company. This includes tax policies, change in
presidency, trade restrictions etc. With reference of Unilever, most of its revenue is
generated from fast movable consumer goods so it is necessary for the organisation to
outlook the regulations set by food and drug management. It also needs to keep check on
the government of the nations in which they are dealing so as to avoid any delay in
decision making when new laws regarding the trade are formed.
 Economic Factors: This component of pestle analysis deals with all the economic
factors which affects the business's working in the respective industry. This factor
contains economic growth, inflation, deflation, interest rates employment rates etc. For a
company like Unilever, economic factor plays a vital role in its functioning. The more
rising economy give more return on investment. In developing developing countries,
there are higher chances of growth while developed countries provide smooth functioning
of the operations. Employment also plays an important role in in deciding the companies
potential in nation. The more unemployed economy means more number of employees
leading to less cost on wages and salaries but on the other hand it also leads to less
number of buyers in the market.
 Sociological Factors: This factor deals with the social factors in business environment
that may affect the business operations such as demographic conditions, trends in living
of customers, beliefs of customers etc. With presence among 190 countries, this factor
plays a crucial role for Unilever. When it releases a new product in the market, informing
its customers about product is necessary which is done through advertising its product in
different languages among different countries which costs the company probably a more
price shooting different ads for different cultures. Also, due to increasing awareness
among the generation about skin care and beauty, it provides a huge scope to the
enterprise in the sector of beauty and personal care products.
 Technological Factors: This factor of PESTLE analysis deals with the technical forces
of business environment and its influence on the business. Factors that affect an
enterprise technically are: Automation, continue advancement in digital infrastructure,
cyber security, updated software and hardware etc. In context with Unilever, it needs to
keep pace with technology so as to keep thriving in the market and stay one step ahead of
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