Management Research Proposal: Unilever's CSR Global Implementation

This management research proposal delves into the challenges Unilever faces in the global application of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies. It identifies the need to examine and address these challenges to ensure the company's future sustainability. The proposal aims to answer the research question: "What are the exact challenges faced by Unilever in the global application of the various CSR policies, and what ways need to be adopted to erase these challenges?" The research objectives include tracing the nature of challenges, analyzing their impact on Unilever's functioning, and recommending measures for their erasure. The research will utilize secondary data sources such as journal articles, peer-reviewed articles, news articles, government databases, and Unilever's official website, employing a deductive approach, interpretivism philosophy, and analytical research design focusing on selection, interpretation, and abstraction of data.

Running head: MANAGEMENT RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Name
Student Number
Company Name
Unilever
Company Location United Kingdom and Global
Why do you want to research this company?
The Global challenges faced by Unilever in implementing the CSR policies is a
pressing issue that needs to be examined and erased.

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MANAGEMENT RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Research Question...........................................................................................................................2
Key Issues........................................................................................................................................3
Sources of Information....................................................................................................................3
Research Objectives.........................................................................................................................3
Structure of the Report.....................................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................5

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MANAGEMENT RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Task 1. Research Question
The research proposal will endeavor to delve deeper into the various aspects of
application of CSR policies, in the case of Unilever. The following paragraphs will argue for the
fact that the existence of various challenges impedes the proper realization of the crucial social
goals. The need of the hour is to gauge the nature of the problems to erase them in the future.
The following research is based on the following questions:
RQ) What are the exact challenges faced by Unilever in the global application of the
various CSR policies? What are the ways that need to be adopted to erase these challenges?
This is a crucial issue that needs to be addressed to ensure the better and enhanced future
sustainability of the multinational business enterprise, that is, Unilever. This is an issue now
become because recent statistical data and facts unearth that the social and environmental goals
envisioned by Unilever needs the help of collaborative support (Unilever.com 2019). This is an
important issue for Unilever because it envisions to look into the CSR ideas. Further, it is an
integral part of the company’s policies and objectives. This is an important issue because failure
to meet the envisioned CSR policies can act as an impeding challenge in the realization of the
future goals and objectives (Poret 2014). Lack of proper application and the surging challenges
in the goal of CSR policies can also reduce the trust vested by the customers upon the services
and products of the above-mentioned company (Fatma, Rahman and Khan 2015). A closer look
at the issue of global challenges in the application will reveal that it is based on the background
that due to the various governmental and political interventions. The current situation in relation
to the issue can be analyzed in terms of the steps undertaken by Unilever. Unilever had adopted

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the method of annual reporting for the index of sustainable production and CSR policies (Living
2019). However, the enterprise continues facing the challenges.
Task 2. What do I need to know?
1. What are the areas and issues that leads to the creation of various challenges in the global
application of CSR policies of Unilever?
2. How does these challenges related to CSR impact the functioning of Unilever?
3. What are the ways in which the various challenges can be mitigated in a comprehensive
and proper manner?
4. What strategies can Unilever adopt to collate and erase the differences related to the
realization of the goals of Corporate Social Responsibility?
Task 3. Sources of Information
The required information will be collected through the amalgamation of various relevant
secondary resources. Secondary source shall consist of journal articles, peer-reviewed articles,
references to news articles and government databases (Johnston 2017). The relevant resources
shall be differentiated from others on the basis of the information provided as well as the
relevance to the topic concerned. In addition to this, the information will also be gathered
through the ideas and data provided in the official website of the above-mentioned company, that
is, Unilever.
Task 4. Research Objectives
The following research is based on the following objectives:

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MANAGEMENT RESEARCH PROPOSAL
 To trace the exact nature of the various challenges faced by Unilever in the global
application of the CSR goals.
 To analyze the impact of the various challenges related to CSR application upon the
everyday functioning of Unilever.
 To analyze the measures that can be adopted for the erasure of the identified challenges.
 To recommend ways in which the challenges and problems can be erased in a
comprehensive manner.
Research Scope
By answering the main research question, the report shall hope to trace the exact
challenges and their impact upon the future sustenance of Unilever. The report will not
take into consideration irrelevant ideas such as the data and opinion of rival business
organizations. This will allow the researcher to focus on the chief and central ideas. The
research will be limited to the various CSR policies and the challenges faced during their
global application.
Task 5. Structure of the Report
After introducing the main idea and research question, the report will delve into a
comprehensive discussion of the available secondary literature. The discussion and analysis of
the available literature will cover the span of three weeks. The research will be based on the
approach of deductive approach. The research will follow the methodology where the data will
be collected from secondary sources. Followed by this, it will include the research philosophy of
interpretivism. The Analytical research design will be used in this research. The analytical
strategy that shall be used is selection, interpretation and abstraction. This strategy refers to

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MANAGEMENT RESEARCH PROPOSAL
the processes of collection, proper interpretation and proper encapsulation of the data to arrive at
the results. The research will follow the research integrity and ethical practices.
References
Fatma, M., Rahman, Z. and Khan, I., 2015. Building company reputation and brand equity
through CSR: the mediating role of trust. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 33(6),
pp.840-856.
Johnston, M.P., 2017. Secondary data analysis: A method of which the time has
come. Qualitative and quantitative methods in libraries, 3(3), pp.619-626.
Living, S. (2019). Our approach to reporting. [online] Unilever global company website.
Available at: https://www.unilever.com/sustainable-living/our-approach-to-reporting/ [Accessed
25 Feb. 2019].
Poret, S., 2014. Corporate-NGO partnerships in CSR activities: why and how?.
Unilever.com (2019). [online] Unilever.com. Available at:
https://www.unilever.com/Images/global-challenges-local-actions_tcm13-5100_tcm244-
409749_1_en.pdf [Accessed 25 Feb. 2019].