Social Innovation: Unilever's Online Volunteering Program & Engagement

This report explores the concept of social innovation, particularly focusing on Unilever's implementation of an online volunteering program to enhance community engagement and gather customer feedback from marginalized communities. The report highlights the importance of social innovati...Read More

Social innovation concept 1
SOCIAL INNOVATION CONCEPT
Name
Student ID
Institutional Affiliation

Social innovation concept 2
Executive Summary
Social innovation helps in the transformation of the relationship between a company and
its customers especially customers from marginalized communities and stakeholders through the
forming of new boundary-crossing strategies. Social innovation occurs when people, especially
those from atypical backgrounds, build institutions, which are structured, in order to secure
naturally occurring and informal value relationships. Social innovation may require timely and
limited solutions that address critical issues as opposed to the need for complete solutions and is
underpinned by community networks, elite support, and enterprise. Online volunteering program,
as a form of social innovation, assists Unilever in collecting customer feedback voluntarily,
which is crucial in the management of customer loyalty and satisfaction, retention, improvement
of services and products, and in various critical areas of the business. Marginalized communities
may face challenges in bringing their opinions about their experience with the company’s
services and products, hence a voluntary online program to collect their feedback is critical.
Unilever should use online volunteering program to run surveys in various forms and search for
customers’ reviews posted online, and try to be responsive on the comments about customers’
experience with the company’s services and products. As a form of social innovation, online
volunteering program will be critical for Unilever in the development of strong relationships
with its customers, especially those from marginalized communities.

Social innovation concept 3
Table of Contents
Social Innovation and Community Engagement Theory...........................................................4
Proposed Social Innovation and How Social Innovation Contributes to the Common Good 5
SWOT Analysis..............................................................................................................................7
PESTLE Analysis...........................................................................................................................8
Funding, the Ethical Implication and Social Responsibility of the Social Innovation............9
Overview and the Challenges for Implementation.....................................................................9
References.....................................................................................................................................11

Social innovation concept 4

Social innovation concept 5
Social Innovation and Community Engagement Theory
Developing societies face various challenges which are complex and profound. Centered
at the challenges are the basic needs of the society including information and health access,
mobility, housing, water and food, and energy. The challenges intensify as the population of the
world grows rapidly to exceed nine billion people (Godfray et al. 2010 p.1185383). If people are
to address some of the issues, interlinked problems including sustainable development, poverty
eradication, energy security, and access to energy require new ways of thinking so as to be
addressed. As a result, educational institutions should have a renewed knowledge on how to
respond to societal skills requirements, changing technological capabilities, and challenges of the
society.
The social arena has a rapid change which is steered by an agenda for stable democracies
and sustainable economic development. Engineers and scientists play a key role in the
development of an economy which is innovation-driven to assist in the development of
communities, particularly in Africa. Productive transformation leads to the development of the
economy, due to the non-sequential and non-linear nature of innovation. In addition, a
community’s technical growth depends on the technological and social innovations.
Consequently, higher education should be able to prepare individuals in the application of
technology and knowledge in addressing the challenges of the society.
A central function of a state which is developing is supporting the processes of learning
for the development of dynamic capabilities of technology at all levels. Technological,
economic, and academic competitiveness of a community depends on the re-evaluation of the
educational system, the revival of learning commitment, and rethinking of the learning approach

Social innovation concept 6
by the community (John 2008 p.11). Therefore, disruptive innovation should be integrated into
higher education, coupled with a viable method of enabling the change. The number of
organizations working towards community engagement and traditional non-profits has
significantly increased, resulting in the social enterprise becoming a field of study at higher
education institutions globally. Furthermore, a marked shift has existed in the world of
traditional business from green-washing to an increase in new businesses which are socially-
minded.
Community engagement and the concept of social entrepreneurship has been rapidly on
the rise and is being used as an innovative approach in addressing various needs of the society.
Social entrepreneurship has emphasized problem-solving techniques which are related to how
people in the community are engaged and their participation, their behavior, the impact to the
society, and innovation. It pursues and recognizes opportunities in creating a social value
through crafting approaches to innovation for addressing the various needs of the community
which are critical. Moreover, engaging the community through participation in education and
research programs that support social innovation develops an environment of learning, which is
based on social challenges reality (Vescio, Ross and Adams 2008 p.80). However, social
innovation does not comfortably fit in traditional academic institutions, or where the main
research focus is technology, engineering, and science. In addition, higher education institutions
should focus on effectively tapping the knowledge, although it will require a stronger focus on
community engagement and learning through the integration of new mechanisms.

Social innovation concept 7
Proposed Social Innovation and How Social Innovation Contributes to the Common Good
The proposed social innovation is an online volunteering program that is to be
implemented at Unilever Company limited. Unilever is a transnational British-Dutch company
dealing in consumer goods and has its headquarters in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and
London (Jones 2013 p.15). The company’s products include beverages and food, personal care
products, and cleaning agents, and is the world’s largest company dealing in consumer goods, as
measured by the revenue of 2012 (Reilly and Weirup 2012 p.1). The implementation of online
volunteering program will assist the company in reaching out to its clients living in marginalized
areas and assist in getting firsthand information on customer feedback.
Online volunteering will assist in collecting statistical data on how customers from
marginalized communities use the company’s products. Therefore, social innovation will assist
the company in improving its services and products especially when introducing a new product,
service or brand, the company will be having an idea about the needs of its customers. In
addition, the online volunteering program will assist Unilever in measuring the satisfaction of
customers from marginalized communities in order to enhance customer loyalty and satisfaction
as it is an integral part of the company’s financial performance. Customer loyalty is linked to
various benefits to the company that includes higher revenue, lower costs, and increased market
share (Weber 2008 p.27). Furthermore, the online volunteering program will show the customers
that the company values their opinions hence they will experience a feeling of importance to the
company, although they come from marginalized communities. Involving customers in shaping
the business will make them feel more attached to the company and, therefore, will build a
stronger relationship with them. Moreover, the best customer experience will be created since
customer’s opinions will be considered in the decision making of the organization, since the

Social innovation concept 8
methods of marketing in today’s economy are heavily based on people’s experiences with
brands, services, and products, since customers do not buy a company’s products just because
they are good, but because of their general experience with the company, services and products.
Online volunteering program will also assist in the retention of customers since customer
satisfaction is directly linked to retention. Other consumers will also be able to view the
experience of customers and make informed decisions on whether or not to buy the company’s
products. Furthermore, online volunteering program will provide a source of information that is
reliable for the making of business decisions, and for the development of future strategies.
SWOT Analysis
In terms of strengths, Unilever has gained a good reputation and great customer service
for some time and therefore the implementation of volunteering online services will catch the eye
of people from all interest. Furthermore, people will gain confidence in the social innovation and
their needs will be addressed through this online platform. Online volunteers have the passion of
serving people, better talents and strengths that will make sure community have better services.
Concerning weaknesses, Volunteers offering the online services have limited roles to influence,
as they are restricted to their services. Furthermore, most of the volunteers make lacks enough
time for face-to-face interactions with the community. Changes in administration affect the
continuity of many volunteers and staff in Unilever lacks time for inspiring the volunteers.
Concerning opportunities, the competent staff and appropriate leadership of Unilever
express the best ideas to online volunteers as they try to improve their services. The community
is adapting to technologies and its associated mean of communications. In terms of threats, the
volunteers can fail to offer quality services to the community due to the economy. Changes in

Social innovation concept 9
personal lifestyles or motivation can affect the ability of online volunteers to be hundred percent
committed to offer services to the community (Bushra, Ahmad and Naveed 2011 p.18).
Frequently changes in the organization can affect online volunteering program progress and
growth. Personal attitudes, values and culture can make people in the community fear to address
their concerns through online media. Some members of the community could fail to adapt with
the latest technology. Language barriers may lead to difficulties in communication.
PESTLE Analysis
The political situations might impede the work pace as online volunteers especially those
on site collecting data may find themselves partially involved in political conflicts. Furthermore,
many countries could impede constraints on online volunteering services and issues regarding
transactions hence resulting in delays in executing programs accomplishing the projects. From
the economic point of view, online volunteering program could fail to find an appropriate
channel for acquiring sufficient funds to run the projects. Furthermore, online volunteering
services might face issues of balancing budgets and delivering services to the community with
the needed resources. Therefore, Unilever must start announcing adding online volunteering
social innovation to the public by designing adverts and commercials that will raise enough
funds to accomplish the success of the program.
From a social point of view, cultural factors are likely to slow down the ability of online
volunteers delivering services as some communities have cultures that prohibit people from
getting straight help from the organization without following a specific cultural communication
channel. In fact, these cultures limit the capabilities of the organization to conduct deep research
and identify people who are in need of these services in the community. The technology required
to provide quality services is sufficient for the online volunteering program to provide enough

Social innovation concept 10
services. However, the expectation of future advancement in technology could slow down the
program growth as people have a tendency of taking time to before adapting to the latest
technologies.
In legal aspects, the volunteers should consider the program as non-profit and follow all
regulations and guides authorized by the government regarding volunteering work. Furthermore,
volunteers have to respect all guidelines and not to violate them so that they can be prone to legal
issues. Furthermore, the online volunteers must make be on the frontline of encouraging
environment conservations and make sure the services and products offered to the community
will not interfere with the environment.
Funding, the Ethical Implication and Social Responsibility of the Social Innovation
The sources of funds for the online volunteering program will come from non-
governmental organizations (NGOs), Unilever and any well-wishers who would like to support
the program. The ethics of the program is ultimately for a better life. For effective
implementation of the program, the innovation considers culture and diversity ethics whereby all
the members of the community are treated equally and with integrity without discrimination of
personal race and related biases. The innovation also considers social responsibility, as
volunteers are accountable for fulfillment of their actions, which will benefit the community and
provide balanced welfare of society, environment, and economic growth.
Overview and the Challenges for Implementation
The main challenge of implementing the online volunteering programs is lack of
insufficient funds and support to facilitate the required resources that are needed in the
organizations. Lack of enough funds further demotivates the available volunteers who are willing

Social innovation concept 11
to serve the community as Tella, Ayeni, and Popoola (2007 p. 118) state “lack of enough money
may result to lack of commitment among people”. Furthermore, in the past, many organization
like FEGS have failed cope with a changing environment because of insufficient funds (Spreat
2017 p. 128).
Changes in technology and leadership is another barrier that hinders the successful
implementation of the online volunteer program. The changes are associated with time-
consuming challenges, as it will take time to access the cost of upgrading technology that can
sustain better services to the community. Furthermore, these changes imply that the volunteers
will take time to adapt to the changing environment and community may fail to respond fully to
changes taking place in technology (Merkel et al. 2004 p. 5). Additionally, the program being
incorporated in Unilever organization may result to the problem of employee conflicts between
staff and volunteers. The online volunteering program may lack enough volunteers who are
willing to attend the training and get committed to offering services to the community.
Insufficient for volunteers have a higher risk of the program failing to catch up with objectives
and missions. Furthermore, many non- profit organization has faced these challenges while
trying to execute their projects.
Conclusion
The paper has clearly shown that online volunteering social innovation program will be
of benefit to both Unilever Company and community. The execution of the program will be a
way of providing the community with the appropriate communication channel where they can
address their concerns faster and effectively.

Social innovation concept 12
References
Bushra, F., Ahmad, U. and Naveed, A., 2011. Effect of transformational leadership on
employees' job satisfaction and organizational commitment in banking sector of Lahore
(Pakistan). International journal of Business and Social science, 2(18). Germany: Research gate
Godfray, H.C.J., Beddington, J.R., Crute, I.R., Haddad, L., Lawrence, D., Muir, J.F., Pretty, J.,
Robinson, S., Thomas, S.M. and Toulmin, C., 2010. Food security: the challenge of feeding 9
billion people. science, p.1185383. U.S.A: Elsevier
John, P.D., 2008. The predicament of the teaching profession and the revival of professional
authority: a Parsonian perspective. In Teaching: professionalization, development and
leadership (pp. 11-24). Dordrecht: Springer
Jones, G., 2013. Multinational trading companies in history and theory. In The multinational
traders (pp. 15-35). Britain: Routledge.
Merkel, C.B., Xiao, L., Farooq, U., Ganoe, C.H., Lee, R., Carroll, J.M. and Rosson, M.B., 2004,
July. Participatory design in community computing contexts: Tales from the field. In
Proceedings of the eighth conference on Participatory design: Artful integration: interweaving
media, materials and practices-Volume 1 (pp. 1-10). ACM. U.S: Elsevier

Social innovation concept 13
Reilly, A. and Weirup, A., 2012. Sustainability initiatives, social media activity, and
organizational culture: An exploratory study. Journal of sustainability and green business, 1, p.1.
UK: Kingston E-prints
Spreat, S., 2017. An Analysis of Revenue and Expenses for Providers of Intellectual Disability
Supports and Services. Social Sciences, 6(4), p.128. Germany: Springer
Tella, A., Ayeni, C.O. and Popoola, S.O., 2007. Work motivation, job satisfaction, and
organisational commitment of library personnel in academic and research libraries in Oyo State,
Nigeria. Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal), p.118. Pakistan: Bahria University press
Vescio, V., Ross, D. and Adams, A., 2008. A review of research on the impact of professional
learning communities on teaching practice and student learning. Teaching and teacher
education, 24(1), pp.80-91. U.S: Elsevier
Weber, M., 2008. The business case for corporate social responsibility: A company-level
measurement approach for CSR. European Management Journal, 26(4), pp.247-261. U.S:
Elsevier