The Influence of Unilever's History and Values on Their Strategy

Paul Polman: Turnaround and development of strategy at Unilever

The influence of Unilever's history and values on their strategy^[a]

Unilever is made up of two separate entities. This is a factor that needs to be taken into consideration when analyzing the company’s history and values effect on their strategy. The fact that Unilever has been made up by two separate entities have made them accustomed to coordinate several smaller units into working as one. This might have been the reason for Unilevers choice to use an international strategy consisting of several divisions, a so called multiple divisional structure. (Johnson et al. 2017) The choice to expand internationally might come from the fact that Unilever has a tradition of being an actor on a global playing field. (Eppink 2016) This has, of course, had an effect on their strategy as it has to take into consideration how such a global^[b][c][d][e] attendance should be operated. Changing both the structure and systems required in the company. The structure might have to change when working internationally as well as the systems that support and control the people within the organization. (Johnson et al. 2017)

Unilever also has a tradition of being in a leading position and working in high growth markets. (Eppink 2016) This also has an effect on the way the strategy is formulated as it will both have to setup a way in which the leading position will be reached but also a way in which the success of the strategy can be measured. The statement of being in leading position will demand some sort of control system may it be an indirect one such as a planning system or a performance target or a direct system such as a cultural system or internal markets it will be affected by Unilever's history of being in a leading position. (Johnson et al. 2017). This since it may be argued that a company that has a tradition of being in a leading position strive to keep it and evolve further. The high growth markets will have a similar effect as that of the global approach of Unilever's strategy. Demanding a different structure compared to a compa^{[f][g][h][i][j][k]}ny only operating domestically. (Johnson et al. 2017)

Unilever's performance before 2009^[l]

Unilever wasn’t in any sort of crisis prior to the arrival of their new CEO Paul Polman, however one can draw the conclusion based on their financial reports that they were in a state of stagnation. The company didn’t manage to turn their turnover growth in to actual operating profit. Instead the operating profit seemed to have reached some sort of invisible roof, and had stagnated at a somewhat constant level. Neither did it seem to be any synergy effects of operating both the food and personal care products in the same company. (Eppink 2016) The company seemed have a hard time converting it potential in to numbers in its reports.