Critical Analysis of Unilever's Strategic Planning Process and Impact

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Unilever's strategic planning process, focusing on the methodologies used to determine strategy and the impact of internal and external environmental variations. It delves into Unilever's strategic position, objective prioritization, plan development, execution, management, review, and revision processes. The report employs SWOT and PESTLE analyses to evaluate Unilever's internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as external political, environmental, social, technological, legal, and economic factors. It critically assesses how these elements influence Unilever's strategic decisions and overall performance, highlighting the company's strengths in global presence and CSR initiatives, while also addressing weaknesses in competitive strategies and threats from technological advancements and economic uncertainties. The analysis concludes with a review of Unilever's strategic plan, emphasizing the importance of adapting strategies to market dynamics and leveraging opportunities for sustainable growth. This assignment solution is available on Desklib, where students can find a wealth of academic resources and study tools.

Strategic planning

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
TASK ..............................................................................................................................................3
A critical assessment of the process used by organisations to determine their strategy.............3
A critical evaluation of the impact of internal and external environmental variation on
organisational strategy................................................................................................................4
A review of an organisation’s strategic plan ..............................................................................8
REFERNCES:................................................................................................................................10
Books and Journals:..................................................................................................................10
Online........................................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
The report aims to provide knowledge about strategic planning. It is process of taking
decisions and makes plans for strategy formulation. There are many functions performed by each
department in the organisation. It require appropriate strategy and plans in order to carry out the
work is systematic manner. Therefore, strategic management is necessary and helpful to achieve
strategic goals. It takes a lot of research, observation, implementation and execution in order to
make a successful strategy which could contribute in gaining success and growth of organisation
in competitive market (Cardoni, and.et.al, 2018). This report is going to showcase the strategic
management plan of Unilever. It is one of the to manufacture of consumer goods. The company
was founded in 1929. in London, UK. The company provides all the consumer goods and has
different department for different production. Their products include beauty soap, detergents,
beauty essentials and other daily purpose goods. The report will present the discussion about the
internal and external environment of company through exercising models. Also, how company
will manage their strategies will be defined through presenting strategic plan. It is required to
take necessary action by analysing weak areas where improvements are required.
MAIN BODY
TASK
A critical assessment of the process used by organisations to determine their strategy.
Strategic planning process is an important documentation and process for an organisation.
It consist all the necessary details and actions which will give benefits in future. It helps in
achieving competitive advantage and convert failure into winning. The strategic process plays
vital role in systematically represent the mission, vision and objectives of organisation. This
process helps in achieving objectives by outlining key strength and weakness of company. The
key elements of strategic plan of Unilever is described below:
Determine strategic position: It is the first process of strategic panning. In which,
organisation ascertain its position by identifying top most stakeholders. The company analyse
the key its internal and external environment to identify their strength, weakness and
opportunity. This will help In identifying that what resource they have to achieve mission and
vision. Unilever determine their strategy through analysing market environment by conducting

research on customers trends, market expectations, shareholder needs and legal interferences. It
is an effective process to make strategies by keeping all the factors in mind.
Prioritizing objectives: once the company identify its position and capabilities to make
strategies, the next step will be setting objectives for overall department. In this process and plan,
organisation will make strategies for the prioritise areas of their research. For instance, Unilever
needs to grow in market after the pandemic crises (Marshall, 2018). So, the company focus on
fulfilling customer needs which is their foremost priority. Therefore, the company start making
objective for engaging large customer towards organisation by making changes in products
features, taste and price.
Develop a plan: once objectives get achieved, the organisation will lead to start
developing effective plans for implementation. Unilever prepare plans to reach their goals in
effective manner. These plan will include all the details regarding changes required, competition,
risk factors, resources and budgets. The company focus on formulating plan which support long
terms initiatives as Unilever works on global level which require high concentration and wide
scope of strategies.
Execute and manage plan: once the plan has made, the time come for its execution and
managing all strategies in appropriate manner. It include communicating and regulating the plans
in all over the company. Make employees familiar with mission, objectives and strategies in
order to achieve the same. Process mapping is also determine by Unilever at this stage, the
managers put control over all the responsibility, tasks and activities that are must to perform on
daily basis.
Review and revise the plan: the organisation needs to regular review and revise their
strategies and actions (Al-Dhaafri, and Alosani, 2020). This process helps in analysing mistakes
and unforeseen circumstances that might affect on the strategies and planning which involve
huge cost and efforts. Unilever exercise this activity by tracking progress through KPI
techniques, regular supervision and effective leadership.
A critical evaluation of the impact of internal and external environmental variation on
organisational strategy.
Strategic planning involve creation of plans and strategies by analysing internal and
external environment of company. There are a lot of factors which impact on the organisation
performance, strategies and functions. In order to manage and implement good strategies and

achieve success in fulfilling mission, it is vital to get into the internal functioning and asses how
external factors may become barriers. These market factors are must be considered to create
strategies as per the requirement. It eliminates any overlapping and choice of ineffective
strategies. Therefore, in order to analyse internal and external environment of Unilever which is
presented below:
Swot analysis
It is the most widely used tool to analyse and interpret macro environment of business.
This analysis will help in identifying the potential capabilities which organisation perform in
market. This internal analyse consist factors which are performed by internal management and
department and how it impact on organisation success.
Strength Weaknesses
 Unilever attain a worldwide presence
across many countries. This brand
recognition is the main strength of
company which helps in attracting
shareholders and investors (D’Ely,
Mota, and Bygate, 2019).
 Unilever present global strategic base
due to which they let win the hearts of
consumers. It shows the company has
huge customer base and popularity.
 Unilever has one of its main weakness
that their products are easily imitable.
People find substitutes easily in the
global market which creates
competition in the market.
 Unilever does not have effective
strategies to be the top player in
revenue as compared to other brands.
 The company is depended upon
collaborations and mediators and does
not deal directly with customer.
opportunity Threats
 The company has good financial
stability and global presence which rise
the need for technological
development. It welcomes globalisation
through which Unilever could engage
in fulfilling modern demand and taste
of customers.
 The company face huge threat due to
economic crises in the country
(Grubesic, Nelson,and Wei, ). It leads
to raise the expectations of consumers
and current strategies are not enough to
fulfil their demand. As they want less
money and more value.

 The company is already been helpful
for environment and society as having
good sustainable records. It is an
opportunity to come forward with
organic products range which establish
a unique brand image in the eyes of
customers.
 Due to having good records in CSR
acts, the company some time face
criticism in their strategies as people
expect high from the company. Thus
impact on strategical development of
Company which must be made after all
the observation or cause and effect.
It has evaluated from above discussion, the Unilever needs to work on its weakness and
overcome the threats (Unilever’s SWOT Analysis & Recommendations, 2017). Due to having
relevant strength and potential of global presence, the company has to prepare strategies for
being more practical in CSR acts and producing products with less availability by competitors.
Pestle analysis
This analysis is helpful in analysing external environment factors of business. Apart from
the internal functioning, outside factors creates a lot influence on decision making, Strategic
formulation of company. It also works as a tool to accomplish market research in terms of legal,
social, technological, environmental and economical factors.
Political: This factor consist a lot of elements which restrict over the product and service
of the company. Political interference include many barriers related to tax, tariffs, terrorism and
regulations. This factor include all the administration related to delivering product and service by
involving trade reforms (Webb, 2019). The retail industry is highly affected with these restriction
as Unilever face many duties and regulations in relation to serving large products portfolio. The
company affected with Brexit regulation which restrict the trade in European countries. This
factor creates negative influence in Unilever due to which an effective strategy is required to
enter in free trades and established growth and success into market.
Environmental: this factor consist a lot of influence on environmental condition of
country. A business has their responsibility to regulate practice which does not harm the
environment and resource. This factor creates impact on strategical decision of Unilever. The
company has positive impact due to having good records in corporate sustainable acts. Unilever
works highly for environmental solution by reducing carbon emission, control on waste

management, recycling and reusing are the main criteria of Unilever. This impact on maintaining
good image into market.
Social: society and its customer are the priority of the company. Social responsibility is
the the foremost factor which impact on profitability and existence of company. The retail
industry is most connected with the customers which needs to be fulfil all their needs and
preferences. The Unilever has its focus on customer taste and society demands which creates
positive influence of the company. It has strategies to attract customer in better way by regular
advertisement, bringing necessary change in product and service.
Technological: technology is major factor which keeps the organisation connected with
the market and its opportunities (Lozano-Nieto,2020). The retail industry is majorly required to
focus on technological presence in order to grow and avoid competition. It refers to taking social
media, digital, outlook and many software which helps in fulfilling work completing targets.
Unilever needs to mainly focus in more of digital presence and technological up gradation as it
require to adopt modern trends and factors to fulfil modern consumer needs.
Legal: legal factors creates high influence on retail industry. As there are many laws and
provision which must be obliged by every business working under UK provisions. The
organisation must ascertain employment, health and safety, equality and diversity in order to
carry out work by following ethics and culture. Unilever has positive impact of this factor due to
effective strategies and adherence of legal provisions in terms of giving employment hours and
benefits, maintain diversity and equality at workplace and provide benefits in terms of health
protocols.
Economical: This factor emphasize on economic condition of the country. The business
play vital role in economic development by contributing in GDP. It helps in making balance
between demand and supply, inflation and economic growth. Therefore, the Unilever has to
maintain its global presence by making economic welfare. Unilever needs to majorly focus on
giving employment opportunities in order to secure current economic crises after the pandemic.
It will emphasize on keeping good money flow in the country and people will get their
purchasing power back.
From the pestle analysis, it has evaluated that all the external market factors must be
taken into consideration for undertaking good growth of the company. These factors are required
to be analyse on regular basis so that, uncertainties and risk would keep in distance. The more

Unilever will ascertain all these factors, the more they will be able to formulate good strategies.
Currently, the company needs to focus on bringing technology, economical development and
eliminate political interference which restrict on their trade.
A review of an organisation’s strategic plan
A strategic plan is a combination of strategy, tactics, action and control over all the
activities which an organisation wants to achieve. The plan for Unilever involve necessary steps
which are defined below:
Strategy: The strategy involves all the actions which an organisation takes to achieve
their goals and objectives. Unilever aims to deliver effective goods and varieties of product on all
the over the world. They use strategy to segment their market in terms of their demographical,
geographical factors (Khatib, and Farahanynia, 2020). It consist age, culture, gender, value and
income of the society. Unilever deals in varieties of product as they have to deliver goods on the
basis of the segmented factors. Therefore, this strategy works effectively but the company needs
to utilise all the stages of STP approach by targeting and positioning their product and service. It
could be done through giving unique products which does not have much availability into
market. The customer will have a unique position of the brand into market. As Unilever
performing good promotional activities by regularly making advertisements which influence
customers towards making purchase.
Tactics: This process refers to create a roadmap or strategy to implement organisation
plan in effective way. These tactics define what actions the organisation and management team
need to take towards achieving success and goals of the organisation. In order to secure a
technological presence in the company, Unilever takes several actions and there is requirement
for more which are described below:
 The Unilever is currently using corporate social responsibility in order to create a positive
impact on the organisation.
 The company making use of good leadership approach like transnational and contingent.
It helps the leaders to provide flexibility to the employees for taking decision (Pill,
Gurran, Gilbert, and Phibbs, 2020). Although, the company has professional employees
which carry out functions through be in organisation culture and ethics.

 The organisation has marketing department which carry out promotional activities like
advertisement through television, banners and social media. It helps them to attain huge
customer base.
Action: once all the plans and strategy are review, there comes a need for making action plan so
that, organisation could improve in each areas and activities of the company. In the case of
Unilever, there are a lot of factors which has impacted on company by analysing internal and
external business environment. The Unilever needs to take necessary actions which are presented
below:
 Unilever must involve in digital presence by adapting online selling platforms. These
digital presence will save unnecessary cost of mediators and collaborations and Unilever
could set their own brand image as well as provide convenient services.
 The company has to focus on more of CSR acts by taking initiative for providing healthy
and organic products.
Control: in order to maintain strategic regulation and get the best outcome, it is necessary for the
Unilever to make proper control on all the activities, employees working, sales targets and
promotional tactics (Kamariotou, and Kitsios, 2019). It could be done through using KPI
techniques and benchmarking analysis. It is the best tools which measure the organisation
performance in the competitive market.
CONCLUSION
The report has concluded about the strategic management and planning. It is the vital
process for an organisation which leads them towards achieving aims and targets. Therefore, the
report has presented all, the process that helps in making great strategies and develop plans for
its implementation. Therefore, Swot and pestle analysis has helped in identifying current position
of the company through which relevant actions are identified to overcome weakness and threats.

REFERNCES:
Books and Journals:
Cardoni, A., Tompson, G.H.J., Bartolacci, F. and Zanin, F., 2018. Strategic planning for value
creation in business networks: conceptual framework and theoretical
proposals. Strategic planning for value creation in business networks: conceptual
framework and theoretical proposals., pp.17-44.
Marshall, S.J., 2018. Strategic Planning as Sense-Making. In Shaping the University of the
Future (pp. 413-436). Springer, Singapore.
Al-Dhaafri, H. and Alosani, M., 2020. Closing the strategic planning and implementation gap
through excellence in the public sector: Empirical investigation using SEM. Measuring
Business Excellence.
D’Ely, R., Mota, M. and Bygate, M., 2019. Strategic planning and repetition as metacognitive
processes in task performance. Researching L2 task performance and pedagogy: In
honor of Peter Skehan, pp.199-228.
Grubesic, T.H., Nelson, J.R. and Wei, R., 2019. A strategic planning approach for protecting
environmentally sensitive coastlines from oil spills: Allocating response resources on a
limited budget. Marine Policy, 108, p.103549.
Webb, A., 2019. How to do strategic planning like a futurist. Harvard Business Review. July, 30.
Lozano-Nieto, A., 2020. Program-level strategic planning for electrical engineering technology
programs. The International Journal of Electrical Engineering & Education,
p.0020720920953129.
Khatib, M. and Farahanynia, M., 2020. Planning conditions (strategic planning, task repetition,
and joint planning), cognitive task complexity, and task type: Effects on L2 oral
performance. System, 93, p.102297.
Kamariotou, M. and Kitsios, F., 2019, July. Strategic planning and information systems success:
Evaluation in Greek SMEs. In 2019 IEEE 21st Conference on Business Informatics
(CBI) (Vol. 1, pp. 204-211). IEEE.
Pill, M., Gurran, N., Gilbert, C. and Phibbs, P., 2020. Strategic planning,‘city deals’ and
affordable housing.

Online
Unilever’s SWOT Analysis & Recommendations, 2017. [online] Available through:
<http://panmore.com/unilever-swot-analysis-recommendations>