An Assignment about "Crafting and Executing Strategy
For the course of
Strategic Management (MBA-516)

Submitted to:
Dr. Stephen Onu
Virginia International University

Submitted By:
Safayet Hossain
MBA
ID# 10000123015
Virginia International University

Date of Submission: September 25, 2013

In the 1890s, William Hesketh Lever, founder of Lever Bros, wrote down his ideas for Sunlight Soap – his revolutionary new product that helped popularise cleanliness and hygiene in Victorian England. It was 'to make cleanliness commonplace; to lessen work for women; to foster health and contribute to personal attractiveness, that life may be more enjoyable and rewarding for the people who use our products In the late 19th century the businesses that would later become Unilever were among the most philanthropic of their time. They set up projects to improve the lot of their workers and created products with a positive social impact, making hygiene and personal care commonplace and improving nutrition through adding vitamins to foods that were already daily staples. At the beginning of the 21st century, our Path to Growth strategy focused us on global high-potential brands and our Vitality mission has taken us into a new phase of development. More than ever, our brands are helping people 'feel good, look good and get more out of life' – a sentiment close to Lord Leverhulme's heart over a hundred years ago.

Mission Statement “Unilever's mission is to add Vitality to life. We meet every day needs for nutrition; hygiene and personal care with brands that help people look good, feel good and get more out of life”

Vision Statement
Our Vision is to help people feel good, look good and get more out of life with brands and services that are good for them and good for others. We will inspire people to take small everyday actions that can add up to a big difference for the world. We will develop new ways of doing business that will allow us to double the size of our company while reducing our environmental impact.
We've always believed in the power of our brands to improve the quality of people’s lives and in doing the right thing. As our business grows, so do our responsibilities. We recognize that global challenges such as climate change concern us all. Considering the wider impact of our actions is embedded in our values and is a fundamental part of who we are.
Objectives of the company
Unilevers objective will vary according to its different products as it is a conglomerate. Some of the objectives that unilever have are; * Unilever aims to double the size of its business * Reducing environmental footprints * Unilever is aiming to cut safety stock by up to 15% * Unilever's Flora global campaign aims to get 100m people to take a 'heart age' test * Improvement in Return on Invested Capital

Industry Analysis:
Porters Fives Forces Model provides an excellent framework to use in analysing a particular industry globalisation potential. Porter’s model is based on a corporate strategy that should meet the opportunities and threats in the organizations external environment.

1) Competitive Rivalry: There is a high level of rivalry between Unilever and its competitors in the food and home and personal care market in which a large part of this rivalry is marketing and advertising. In 2000 Unilever spent 3.5 billion pounds marketing their brands. Another large part of the rivalry is in trying to be the first to market a new product. Unilever realizes the importance of product differentiation and an indication of this is the fact that Unilever spent 1.2 billion pounds in 2000 on R&D. 2) 2) The power of suppliers: Unilever’s has a significant advantage in that their suppliers have little power over them. Unilever owns their own bottling, packaging, and distributing centers thus keeping them from having to be subject to other company’s prices and efficiencies. 3) The power of buyers: Due to the large number of alternatives (competitor’s brands) Unilever has to make sure that the customer values their product and therefore Unilever’s customers have a significant amount of power when it comes choosing products and brands. Therefore as mentioned above Unilever dedicates a significant amount of time and money to advertising and marketing. 4) The threats of substitutes: Due to Unilever’s wide variety of products and because of their similarities and commonness there are many available substitute products that their products compete with. Therefore the idea of product differentiation is one way that Unilever helps reduce competition from competing substitutes. By making their products unique consumers cannot go elsewhere for the same product. 5) The threat of new entrants: The threat of new entry competition is relatively low in the home and personal care and food market food. While it is easy and common for companies to start out in local markets very few of them gain a national market. This is due to the significantly large resources that are necessary to compete with the larger companies marketing and the larger companies have smaller brands that compete in local markets with them.

Financial analysis: Income statement

12 months ended | Dec 31, 2013 | Dec 31, 2012 | Dec 31, 2011 | Dec 31, 2010 | Turnover | 68,619 | 67,674 | 60,284 | 58,734 | Cost of sales | -40,299 | -40,484 | -36,235 | -34,355 | Gross profit | 28,320 | 27,190 | 24,049 | 24,379 | Selling and administrative expenses | -17,962 | -17,975 | -15,703 | -15,967 | Operating profit | 10,358 | 9,215 | 8,346 | 8,412 | Bank loans, overdrafts, bonds and other loans | -679 | -686 | -689 | -636 | Dividends paid on preference shares | -6 | -5 | -6 | -8 | Net gain (loss) on derivatives for which hedge accounting is not applied | -4 | -3 | -5 | -8 | Finance costs | -689 | -694 | -701 | -652 | Finance income | 142 | 179 | 119 | 102 | Pensions and similar obligations | -183 | -9 | 92 | 27 | Net finance costs | -730 | -523 | -489 | -523 | Share of net profit (loss) of joint ventures and associates | 156 | 138 | 147 | 147 | Other income (loss) from non-current investments | 19 | -18 | 99 | 101 | Profit before taxation | 9,803 | 8,812 | 8,102 | 8,137 | Taxation | -2,551 | -2,288 | -2,104 | -2,036 | Net profit | 7,252 | 6,524 | 5,998 | 6,101 | Net profit attributable to non-controlling interests | -580 | -617 | -481 | -470 | Net profit attributable to shareholders’ equity | 6,672 | 5,907 | 5,516 | 5,632 |

Source: Unilever N.V., Annual Reports

By observing this Income statement it is easily understandable that Unilever is in very good position especially in the financial aspect. And Shareholders wealth is going up in every year which is following the mission statement.
Human Resource Management:
Unilever is one of the companies that have set examples of efficient human resource management. The company focuses greatly on human rights and ensures that compliance with human rights is carried out through its positive assurance process. In order to learn about the perspective of its employees, Unilever carried out self-assessments of employees, external audits, and trainings. The strategic management of Unilever realizes that happiness among employees directly influences the success and growth of its business.
Unilever has initiated numerous campaigns internationally that strengthen its HRM strategy and enhance the motivation of employees. In 2013, Unilever held a global ‘Winning with Integrity’ week that comprised of surveys and interviews regarding human rights, and it encouraged the suppliers of Unilever to operate to the standard set by the company. This campaign was continued in the form of the ‘speaking up’ initiative in 2014, which also helped the company learns the concerns of employees around the world.

Swot analysis:
Strengths
* Variety Products of the company * Research and development * Competitive advantage

Weakness

* Strong competitors * Substitute products

Opportunity

* Health conscious products demand * Changing life styles * Emerging new markets * Increase production volumes * Move operations to undeveloped countries

Threat * Economic downturn * Environmental effects * Global competition * New local products * legal effects

Competitor analysis:

Indicators | UL | KFT | NSRGY.PK | PG | Industry | Market Cap: | 25.87B | 59.59B | N/A | 134.44B | 174.91M | Employees: | 240,000 | 106,000 | N/A | 110,000 | 1.10K | Rev. Growth (ttm): | 4.90% | 4.30% | N/A | 18.50% | 6.50% | Revenue (ttm): | 55.49B | 32.06B | N/A | 52.96B | 315.64M | Gross Margin (ttm): | 15.48% | 37.39% | N/A | 51.27% | 26.34% | EBITDA (ttm): | 8.42B | 5.16B | N/A | 11.86B | 20.02M | Oper. Margins (ttm): | 12.78% | 16.05% | N/A | 18.99% | 5.65% | Net Income (ttm): | 3.66B | 2.91B | N/A | 6.59B | 7.14M | EPS (ttm): | 14.737 | 1.693 | N/A | 2.417 | 0.38 | PE (ttm): | 2.41 | 20.58 | N/A | 21.93 | 19.20 | PEG (ttm): | 0.76 | 2.61 | N/A | 1.76 | 1.78 | PS (ttm): | 0.46 | 1.83 | N/A | 2.53 | 0.69 | |

Source:
UL=Unilever
KFT=Kraft food Inc.
NSRGY.PK=Nestle SA
PG=Proctor & Gamble Co
Industry=Food processing

By observing the market comparison of those above company we can come up with a conclusion that Unilever is the market leader.

References:
Kirner. K, (2004), “Unilever Sales Decline Accelerates on Lower Demand, Competition”, Bloomberg, Oct. 27.
Recklies, D. 2001. Porters Five Forces. The manager.org. Retrieved 09/24/14 http://www.themanager.org/Models/p5f.htm Unilever, 2004. “Presentations and Speeches”. Retrieved 09/24/14 http://www.unilever.com/investorcentre/presentationsspeeches/2004/default.asp Yip, G.S., (2003) Total Global Strategy II, New Jersey: Prentice Hall