Unilever's Sustainable Living Plan: A Comprehensive Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Unilever's Sustainable Living Plan (USLP), examining its context within the international business environment, problem areas, and overall strategy. The analysis utilizes frameworks such as PESTEL and Porter's Five Forces to evaluate the effectiveness of the USLP, considering its implementation of sustainable brands, external partnerships, innovative marketing strategies, and product development. The report highlights both the benefits and disadvantages of the plan, considering the complexities of transnational marketing and the company's responsive approach to consumer concerns and environmental pressures. The report also includes recommendations for enhancing Unilever's sustainability efforts, offering valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities of integrating sustainability into a global business strategy.

RUNNING HEAD: THE UNILIVER SUSTAINABLE PLANNING
Title: Analysis of Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan
Name of Student:
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Author’s Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Unilever as a transnational company:..............................................................................................2
Problem areas in the context of the Transnational Marketing:........................................................3
Unilever Turned towards Sustainability:.........................................................................................4
The Sustainable Living Plan Analysis:............................................................................................6
1. Implementation of the sustainable brands:..............................................................................6
2. Building External Partnership supporting USLP.....................................................................8
3. Innovative Marketing Strategies:.............................................................................................9
4. Product Development in Market:...........................................................................................10
Recommendation:..........................................................................................................................10
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction:
Uniliver is one of the leading multi-national co-operations that is the owner of various
consumer product brands in a variety of sectors like cleaning, beverages, food or personal care
products (Jones, G. and Miskell, P., 2005). Like any other company with a considerable amount
of strength, Uniliver also has the capacity to explore their market area and have a well chalked
out sustainable policy. The company, moreover, is supported by some key global brand that gave
it the courage of entering into the foreign markets. According to page 528 of the given case study
Paul Polman, the then newly appointed CEO of the company inherited the company while it was
going through a long term decline. He decided to change the prevelant strategies of the business
and introduced the Uniliver Sustainable Living Plan that was actually a mission for the company
to attain the core sustainability goals (Jansen, K., 2018). The present report will deal with the
analysis of this sustainability plan and the effectiveness of the same. The report will take into
account the context of the implementation of the strategy and at the end it will also recommend
few alternatives for the better sustainability for the company.
Unilever as a transnational company:
` The international marketing strategy followed by Unilever is global and transnational.
The undertaking of such strategies allows the company to combine the efficiency of the global
scale with the benefits of the responsiveness of the local. Various products of the company are
standardized and can be recognized as the product of Uniliver in any country(Carroll, W.K. and
Fennema, M., 2004). The brands of this company are globally used. However, keeping in
consideration the various preferences and needs of the various locations, Uniliver serves to its

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target customer in a better manner by modifying those products accordingly. For example, the
Dove shampoo is a reputed product of the company all over the world. In different locations, the
product image and logo is kept the same but the company changes the ingredient in the shampoo
that will fit better to the local preferences. For example, in the tropical countries with more hot
and humid weather, the ingredients of the shampoo are made oil free to avoid the greasiness.
Another most innovative consideration with regard to the local preferences is the variation in the
Knor products. The Knor offers various recipes and sauces in various locations according to the
taste of the land. For example, in Vietnam the mixes are popularly the fish soup or stir fry sauces
while in America, the most circulated ones are the pasta or the gravy sauces.
Problem areas in the context of the Transnational Marketing:
PESTEL analysis of the Company:
1. Political
a. the company is a part of the UN after the 2015 development agenda. Hence, the company has
to focus on the sustainable and eco friendly policies for the protection of the brand image, which
has been stated in page 523 the case study of the sustainable living plan of Uniliver. .
b. the company can face the risks in the foreign exchange. The unfavourable currency movement
due to the political turmoil can affect the business.
c. the employment situation depends largely on the political system that can affect the busineszs
of Unilever.
2. Economical:

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1. Owing to the increase in cost of the raw materials, and the higher price of completely eco-
friendly material, the company has to face a tough time in maintaining the price margin under
the sustainable policies. The current economic recession worldwide is an emerging factor. This is
hampering the pricing strategies. The constant fight of the company to maintain a consumer
friendly price and also to retain the brand power has put Unilever in a flux. With the onset of
Brexit and other political turmoil consumer could become more conscious regarding their
expenditure and thus, Unilever would need to balance the value and volume of sales.
2. Customer relationships: the market place where Unilever works in is a tough and competitive
one. The company has the compulsion of selling the premium brands to the supermarkets like
Sainsbury’s Tesco and Morrisons’. These supermarkets are tough negotiators who can easily
delist brands and can also be a suitable place of competition (Carroll, W.K. and Fennema, M.,
2004). Thus, a successful customer relationship is required in the business and its growth. The
main issue that the company faces in is the risks in maintaining the strong relationships with the
consumers and also the retail customers.
Social:
1. The Unilever Company is the largest buyer of the palm oil the company turns the palm oil
material into the ingredients for the making of products like cosmetics, detergents, soaps or the
bio-fuels. For their requirement, palms trees in the vast area of the Kalimantan was destroying
the eco-habitat of Orang-utan, an endangered species that lived in the Kalimantan rainforest.
This resulted in the extinction of the species and was also equally damaging the Indonesia’s
rainforest which resulted in the change of climate (Bissonnette, J.F., 2012). This had been highly

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criticized and the company suffered the supplies in the New Zeeland, Australian and European
business.
2. consumer use accounted for 68% of the Company’s GHG impact and thus, it will help in the
flourish of laundry, detergent and washing products.
Technological:
The growth in the customer’s knowledge about the technology in developing countries has led to
the growth of concern in the technological innovations.
Any type of bad publicity can be quickly heard through the social media.
Environmental:
1. Increased concern over the climate change
2. Concern about business environment and categorising them as volatile and complex.

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Porters 5 force:
1. Competition of Rivals:
Low Switching cost
Lots of diversity
Brand strength
Barriers can be of high exit.
2. Threat of New Entrant;

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This may cause a high cost in the brand development
The industry is large in size thus the new entrants can be great competitor.
High alternative quality
Reduced switching cost
3. Threat of substitutes:
Unilever is more or less safe in this project since there are fewer substitutes available in the
market.
Low performance to the price ratio of substitute however can be a matter of concern.
4. Bargaining power of suppliers:
Unilever has a moderate size of individual suppliers and a moderate overall supply. They have to
depend on various suppliers for the raw materials and the bargaining of them can significantly
cut the profit.
5. Bargaining Power of Buyers:
The company has a small size of individual buyers as they mainly follow a B2B model. However
while selling to the market, the commissions, store display costs often cut down the product.

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Responsive Approach of Unilever:
Because of the above-mentioned problems, Unilever decided to respond to the growing
consumer concerns as well as the environmental pressure. In their approach, they have resorted
to the responsive nature of strategy making. In the 1990’s the company initiated a sustainable
agricultural programme, started the plan for the preservation of water and also started sourcing

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fishes on from the sustainable stocks. The company also focused on the improvement in the
nutritional quality in the foods and bought partnerships with the non-profit organizations. In
addition, the company co-founded the Roundtable on a more sustainable Palm oil.
The environment, also affects an international company with a high stature like Unilever.
The company has the policy of sourcing 12% black tea and 6% of tomato supply worldwide. The
company has to keep in mind that the climate change, the increased awareness of the consumer
and the tightened legislations in the environmental ground will possess a significant impact on
the business. Thus, Unilever has been focusing their sustainable efforts on the four major pillars-
water conservation, greenhouse emission sustainable sourcing and waste reduction (As stated in
the case study, page 530). The Company has thus focused on the capitalizing on highly
centralized, scale-intensive manufacturing and R&D operations and leveraging them through
worldwide exports of standardized global products. The main response of the company is to
develop them in the flexibility, learning capabilities, national differences and scope among them.
The CEO of Unilever, Paul Polman in March 2010 announced a new initiative called the
“Sustainable Living Plan”. The Sustainable Living Plan was launched with a vision of ten years
and the website of the company featured four live debates in London, Rotterdam, New Delhi and
New York around the quintessential question “Can consumption become sustainable?”
The Sustainable Living Plan Analysis:
The sustainable Living Plan of the Unilever Company aims at the attainment of the three
major goals in the year 2020 as declared in page 525 of the given case study.
1. The company will help more than one billion people in improving the health and well-being.

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2. The Company will aim at reducing the environmental impact of the products to half.
3. The company would source the agricultural raw material in a total sustainable manner
(Mizera, S., 2013).
Formulated around these three goals , the website of the company offers various
examples as well as metrics on the ways of achieving goals in the areas of nutrition, health and
hygiene, greenhouse gas, waste, sustainable sourcing, water and better livelihoods. Sustainability
experts and green blogs appreciated this sustainable plan. However, a closer study of the plan
will reveal that this strategy is more a global strategy taken on part of the company to strengthen
their base as the transnational business. The analysis of this global strategy can be done by
properly assessing the benefits and problems of the actions taken in the sustainable living plans:
1. Implementation of the sustainable brands:
With the investment of the physical, cognitive and emotional energies in the performance
of the sustainable plans, Polman focused on the sustainability as the core strategy of the
company. He linked sustainability not only with the commercial success, the company has been
relying on the strategic partnership with sustainable brands, Non-governmental organizations,
International organization, and other industries that have moved towards sustainability. In the
portfolio, the company is focusing more on the sustainable brands where the main projection is
the almost nil negative environmental impact.
Benefit of this plan:
1. The sustainable plan has been proven to help in the growth of the company internationally. It
has been analysed that the customers in the recent times has a growing concern towards the
environmental issues. Moreover, as an impact of globalisation, people are coming to know about

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the social issues all over the world which are making the customers well versed in the benefits or
disadvantages of the components used in the products.
2. Greater overall links between the portfolios of brands and Unilever goals will be maintained
effectively through this plan. The goal of Unilever to be seen as a sustainable company will be
known internationally with the increased number of sustainable brands within them.
3. The company will have a competitive advantage in the market because of the higher demand
of eco friendly products among the consumers.
4. Retention of Employees: the existing employees as well as the job seekers will find a more
diverse workplace to work in with a large number of brands that are socially and economically
more acceptable because of the sustainable policy.
Disadvantages:
1. The company will require a significant amount of upfront investment to set up the relationship
with the sustainable brands in their portfolio.
2. The scope for exploring various brands will also decrease and the company will have to
configure upon certain brands only.
2. Building External Partnership supporting USLP.
According to page 531 of the given case study the CEO and his management team has focused
on the leading of meetings, hosting forums as well as visiting operations to form new visions and
increasing communications. For the promotion of the sustainable plan, Polman has been meeting
press and speaking with analysts. He also focused on the partnerships with the NGOs, suppliers
and others and big challenges that would effectively affect the stakeholders. The implementation

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of the “Partners to win” program has resulted in the signing of a large number of agreements by
the suppliers. It partnered with the leading NGOs like Unicef, Oxfam, Rainforest Alliance or
WWF. It has also collaborated with the governments at local or national level worldwide
(Dentoni, D. and Veldhuizen, M., 2012).
Benefits of the Plan:
1. The partnership will foster a shared cost of investment that would help the company in better
profit making. The sharing of the responsibilities would also help the company to run effectively
and fast. This will make the company more cost effective and sustainable
2. The partners have the possibility of having the specialised resources that would help the
company to be more effective and responsive towards the particular needs. Moreover, the
partners in each location worldwide will more cater to the transnational needs.
3. Forming potential partnership all over the world would help the company in understanding the
variations and needs of the particular regions. This will foster more the transnational or the
global business policy.
Disadvantages:
1. It is necessary that the partners will have shared views about the policies and mission. When
there are various partners involved, the chances of conflicts are high.
2. There is also the potentiality of a joint liability that may affect the business.

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3. Innovative Marketing Strategies:
For the marketing strategy, the company combines the strategy with the social project
along with the priorities of the USLP. For example, the company changed the perspective about
the detergent advertisement by changing the tagline of Persil laundry brands from “Persil washes
whiter” to “Dirt is good”. This focuses on the mother’s interest in the growth of her child. The
company has also made educational campaign an effective tool for the raising of the awareness
for the Unilever brands like Dove or close up. It also conducts some awareness related
programmes like the hand wash awareness in schools.
Benefits:
1. The innovativeness will increase the rate of interest among the consumers regarding the
products.
2. The educational and awareness oriented programmes will effectively raise the attention of the
developing countries and emerging nations like Brazil or Austria.
3. The brand related programmes is a great way to display the products.
Disadvantages:
1. The traditional market may not find the new approaches helpful.
4. Product Development in Market:
For the attainment of the market leading positions, the company has been very active in
marketing programmes and store displays. This is a very important factor for the successful
marketing of the toiletries and make up products. The company has also shifted itself in a
dynamic product innovation and timely brand extension. This will cater to the needs of the

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changing preferences of the consumer. The company has also managed effectively to sustain a
wide variety of products in the market.
Benefit:
1. The innovation of the variety of products will ensure the wide presence of the company as the
different products will meet the different location and preference based requirements of the
customers (Maljers, F.A., 1992).
2. The wide market and the profit gained from there would decrease the overall costs and will
help in focusing more on the profit making objectives.
Disadvantages:
With the vast expansion and modification of the sustainable and eco friendly brands, the “not so
green brand” will struggle under the portfolio of Uniliver that would affective the relationships
with the stakeholders (Bissonnette, J.F., 2012.).
Recommendation:
1. The company can evaluate and analyse the current brands under their portfolio and list out the
sustainable brands and can think of re-adjusting any brands.
2. The company can try to implement the sustainable goals for these brands. According to the
Ansoff Matrix, it has been noted that the inclusion of the brands in their portfolio would help in
the fostering of new business plans.

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3. The managers and the line managers can be made accountable for the goal orientation and
financial performances. It has been noted that the in such a bureaucratic system, the
organisational matrix is carried out well and the strategies are implemented effectively.
4. The company can invest more on the development of the Research and Development for the
invention of more innovative products and for the adjustment of any products. The improved
innovation can be a motivational pull for the employees as there is a wide scope of profit.
5. The current focus of Unilever is particularly on the developing countries. However, this can be
unsuccessful because of the social and political turmoil in these areas (Levis, M., 1979). The
company can focus on the developed countries where these risks are comparatively low.
Developing joint venture strategies would help the company in the exploration of new markets in
the developing nations.
Conclusion:
The Unilever Company under the leadership of Polman has shown an intensive amount
of potentials in making the perfect sustainable decisions to achieve the global strategic goals and
to realise the mission of the company. The company has been influencing people with their
innovations and awareness programmes. The CEO has also invested a lot of effort in the
communication process to foster the transnational policy of the Company. the zero waste strategy
helps in the eco friendly approach towards the environment and also helps in increasing the
viability. Polman has turned out to be an ambitious leader and the Company has been steadily
evolving as the Transnational Company that is effectively responsive to the concerns of the
market and consumer.

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