Report: Strategic Management and Competitive Advantage at Unilever

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Unilever's strategic management approach to achieve competitive advantage in the global market. It examines the company's critical evaluation, focusing on its strategic decisions, supply chain management, marketing and sales strategies, and digital interaction with customers. The report also explores Unilever's sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, highlighting their positive social impact and commitment to environmental and economic performance. Furthermore, it evaluates Unilever's financial performance, emphasizing its role in supporting sustainability and CSR initiatives. The report concludes by summarizing the key strategies and their impact on Unilever's ability to maintain a strong market position and address competitive pressures.

Strategic Management
For Competitive
Advantage

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Critical evaluation of the organisation , Sustainability and CSR activities ,Financial
performance.................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
The report based on Strategic management for competitive advantage, As a new
managerial strategy is essential for the global business environment demands are increasingly
raising which is being difficult to sustain competitiveness in the market. Competitive advantage
is an essential attribute that ensures a company to deal with the competitors in the market. It
ensures and let the business companies to achieve goals and objective set by the company and to
achieve the superior margins compared to their competition which creates value for the
company. (Reshetnikova and Magomedov, 2018). The report below is based on strategic
competitive advantage of Unilever which is a multinational British consumer goods retail
company. The company includes the products like food,energy drinks, soft drinks, tea, bottled
water etc. Unilever is the multinational company and it is available around 190 countries. The
report below includes the critical evaluation of Unilever, sustainability and corporate social
responsibility of Unilever, Financial performance of the company along with its conclusion.
MAIN BODY
Critical evaluation of the organisation , Sustainability and CSR activities ,Financial
performance of the company
Critical evaluation of the strategic competitive advantage of Unilever is to maintain its
competition and effectiveness in the market. It is essential for the company to maintain and
undertake the competitive advantage, ethical decision making and follow principles in the the
company. (Singjai, Winata, and Kummer, 2018).There are unique capabilities of the company
which is represented in their workforce. There are different ways to build competitive advantage
in Unilever. Competitive advantage can be build by analysing the strategies of cost leadership,
differentiation and niche strategy. The strategic competitive advantage in Unilever to deal with
the competitors in the market are as follows:
 Unilever is having the a good supply chain management to deal with its competitors.
 The company has the potential to connect with the customers at the point of sale. As
Unilever is good in understanding the needs of the customers.(Anwar, 2018).
 The company is making good marketing and sales decisions which provides a good
advantage to the company 's competitors to deal with them.
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 Unilever is now using the digital interaction strategy for customers to attract the more
customers to increases their sales.(Khan, Yang, and Waheed,2019).
 Unilever is providing after sales services to its customers to increase the customer
satisfaction and gain the customer 's loyalty towards the company.
 To control and manage product life cycle in the company, Unilever is trying to have
direct selling of their products to increase customer retention.
In the modern era the business companies are facing sustainable competitive advantage in the
market. So it is essential for the business companies to have sustainable competitive advantage to
deal with the rising competition to survive in the business market and to maintain their market
share.(Advantage, 2020). There are some key areas in which Unilever can develop their areas to
have sustainable competitive advantage. The key areas are as follows:
 Customer loyalty: Unilever can focus on having the loyal customers for their company.
As the loyal customers are proved to the long term good assets for company. When the
customers become loyal towards the company then they will create and maintain a
emotional bond with company. The customers become committed towards the company
and they will avail the products and services even in being in competition.
 Human resource management: Human resource management plays a essential part in
developing the competitive advantage for Unilever. As instead of having and using
different technologies some customers are still depend on the human resource to perform
fundamental retail activities like displaying merchandising, providing pre sales and post
sales services to the customers. Unilever can work on increasing the level of workforce to
develop competitive advantage.
 Store location: Unilever can select the location of their stores intelligently. Store
location plays an important role in developing competitive advantages for the company.
As a good store location for the company reduces distribution cost and helps in gaining
the attraction of the customers. When the store is selected according to the research and
targetted customers, it the company to increase its sales.
 Distribution and information system: Unilever is constantly focusing and trying to
supply the products and services with the desired quality with the affordable prices
according to the need of the customer. The company can take all the possible ways to
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have a supply of their products and services to develop the competitive advantage for the
company so that the company will be able to deal with the competition.
Unilever is focusing on having sustainability and corporate social activities to develop
their competitive advantage in the business market. The company has set a sustainable living
plan the creates a positive social impact. (Khan, Yang, and Waheed,2019).The company is
aiming to achieve environmental and economic performance towards the value chain in the
market. The company focuses to work on those areas also where they can have change and
support sustainable growth goals. The company ensures that there is a successful delivery
sustainable development goals so that company can achieve it by serving to the society. As
according to markets needs the businesses who thrive in the future are the ones who are serving
to the society now. By having sustainable living it will lead to gain competitive advantage for the
company.
While the company is also aims to focus on the corporate social responsibility policy to
gain advantage which helps in building a good brand image and have a better competitive
advantage in the market. (Minbaeva, 2018).To survive in the business market it is necessary for
all the business companies to carry their corporate social responsibility to serve the society. As
being a part of the society it is essential to serve the society by performing different corporate
social responsibilities to survive in the competitive market. The corporate social responsibilities
activities of Unilever are as follows:
 Unilever is making their focus to provide special products for charity to serve the society
well.
 The company is regularly participating in the works that are promoting the living
standards in the society.
 The company is trying to be conscious on how the products and services are
manufactured. It is necessary to ensure that the manufacturing of products and services
are carried without harming and hampering the society and its rules. By having low
production costs the is achieving their CSR goals.
 Unilever is constantly making community initiative by checking that is there any
charitable initiatives that which the company can support.
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 It is the corporate social responsibility of the Unilever to get engage in corporate social
responsibility to support charitable trusts and organisation by providing and donating
products and revenues of the companies to gain competitive advantage.
 To gain and develop the strategic competitive advantage towards the company. Unilever
is regularly working to make their workforce skilled and trained. By investing in their
workforce. Unilever is focusing on providing training and making the workers and
employees skilled so that they are able to deal with dynamic situations.
 The company is maintaining the CSR activities by promoting the diversity among the
staff members. Through hiring practices of different diversities, the company is engaging
with society benefits and creating welfare.(Chatzoglou and Chatzoudes, 2018).
The financial performance of the business company is essential to be evaluated. The
financial performance of the company helps in building the brand image for the company and
lets the company to survive in the competitive market. As when the company 's financial
performance is good it will become a competitive advantage to with the competitors in the
business market. In context to the sustainability of the company like Unilever it is necessary to
have a good financial performance of the company. As only when Unilever 's financial
performance is good, the company is able to carry sustainability living projects by the company.
Financial performance can be analysed in both accounting and market based measures. There are
various statistical method that can be used measure the financial performance of the company.
Financial performance also plays a vital role in carrying the corporate social
responsibility by the company. As when the financial performance of the company is good and
there is a good brand image of the company is good in the market, then only the company like
Unilever can carry the corporate social responsibility activities in the market. CSR activities are
done after analysing the financial performance of the company. Business is considered to be the
remarkable social invention in contemporary global world, so it necessary to donate a part of the
company 's revenue to the CSR activities by the company.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that strategic competitive advantage is a
essential part of the business to deal with. To survive and maintain a good position in the market
the company should have the competitive advantage to deal with the competitors in the business
market with different present strategies. The report is based on the strategic competitive
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advantage of Unilever. (Nagle, 2018). The company is adapting and using different strategies to
develop the competitive advantage for them. There are certain ways like investing in human
resource, selection of store etc that can be used by the company to increase their competitive
advantage. The company is using different sustainability strategies to creates a sustainable
environment in the society. Also the company using is using its brand image to perform the
corporate social responsibility for the company. It is necessary to maintain a good financial
performance in order to carry sustainability policies and corporate social responsibilities for the
company. Unilever is aiming at maintaining a good financial performance of the company to
generate the company sales as well carry sustainability and CSR activities of the company.
REFERENCES
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Nicholas, J., 2018. Lean production for competitive advantage: a comprehensive guide to lean
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Reshetnikova, N.N. and Magomedov, M.G., 2018. October. Influence strategic competitive
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