Introduction

ANSWER 1

Unilever’s regional organisational structure Unilever’s operations in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus (Unilever RUB) are structured under a centralized modelled by a CEO and a Board member who establish the company’s overall growth strategy for all Unilever operations in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. The headquarters of the company are in Moscow (Unilever 2009). It houses all of the company’s departments and management, including directors by function as well as the Chairperson of the Company. The Customer Development Group is among Unilever’s largest divisions, with personnel working in all parts of Russia to guarantee that items are produced on retail shelves from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok. It is split up into different divisions.

The Key Accounts department is in charge of selling to major clients (For example, Metro Cash & Carry, for example, distinct by sales capacity and in relative to the channel of occupation,) Field Sales is the responsibility of sales through a network of distributors. Customers Branding is in charge of organizing promotional efforts by revenue targets for multiple categories and brand themes (Merchant 2014).

Output, scheduling (manufacturing and shipment planning tasks), procuring (negotiation with vendors, enforcing deals with suppliers), logistics (deliveries and warehousing), and basic service management are all part of the Supply Chain Department (tracking the level of customer service and developing measures to improve it). This Department also covers production plants.

The marketing campaign is divided into two segments: developed a new form and brand building. Branding Strategy is in control of customer brand loyalty, as well as the necessity to make adjustments and generate new brands. The verdicts of the Brand Development line-up’s work (for example, in Eastern Europe) are transmitted to a brand Image Building a squad (for eg, in Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian) for any further commercialization. In turn, Marketing Strategy evaluates the industry and its needs, then organises marketing strategy based on that study (Young 2018).

Sales levels for specific times are cooperatively planned by Brand Management, Distribution Network, and Customer Marketing. The estimated volume of production that they will purchase from the Production Unit. If manufacturers in Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian are still unable to generate the needed volume in the timeline, the demand may be moved to a different plant in some other nation if it is more effective (Merchant 2014). As a result, factories “competition” with each other to give the corporation rising items at a decent cost.

ANSWER 2

Political – Most nations’ stability offers the prospect for Unilever to flourish in these areas. The political situation of the U. S., for instance, enables the firm’s operations executions in the nation to face fewer hurdles. Legislative difficulties in the Eu –, on the other side, pose a future threat to Unilever’s consumer products activity in the state. However, the business has the implications for greater expansion as a result of the growing number of free trade deals, particularly involving emerging economies. Depending on the political external factors mentioned in this segment of the PESTEL research, there are opportunities in the market in general, yet Unilever should handle the obstacles associated with the Euro Union’s political situation.

Economic – Unilever’s effectiveness in the household products business is influenced by three fiscal external factors:

• Income growth in emerging economies (opportunity)
• Emerging economies’ explosive evolution (opportunity)
• Advanced country’s macroeconomic stability (opportunity)

Unilever will be likely to profit more out of bigger future earnings as customers’ disposable incomes rise in emerging countries. However, also because the firm has several production facilities in emerging economies, the very same external element poses a challenge in concerns of increasing prices. Conversely, Unilever may expect extra sales as these nations’ consumer products marketplaces grow in scope and value.

Social – The following are the most important sociocultural exterior forces in Unilever’s consumer products company:

• Increasing health awareness (opportunity)
• Environmental activists attitudes are on the upsurge (opportunity)
• Demolishing the racial difference one step at a time (opportunity)

Unilever may expand by developing goods that directly satisfy customers’ growing desire for healthy foods. Additionally, emerging environmental behaviours offer the firm a chance to attain more customer needs and increase its ecological impact.

Technological – The main technical extrinsic factors are critical in Unilever’s case:

• Growing mechanization in the workplace (opportunity)
• Increased R&D expenditure (threat)
• Lowering shipping costs with technical advances (opportunity)

Unilever may take advantage of the rising process automation to improve efficiencies. New company machinery, for instance, can continue to supply chain and delivery operations by improving stock control.

Environmental – External environmental elements that have a major effect on Unilever’s consumer product sector include:

• Improved sales efforts on ecological (opportunity)
• Rising interest in business ecology (opportunity)
• Ecological programmes are becoming more complex (opportunity)

Unilever can use its growing focus on corporate ecology to better its green initiatives and attract environmentally conscious customers. In this sense, the firm might improve its ecological reforms to help its competition among other retail companies.

Legal – Unilever is obligated to fix the situation because of the previous legal external forces:

• Environmental standards are more complex (opportunity)
• Increasing the efficacy of global patent rights (opportunity)
• Improving consumer protection laws (opportunity)

By combining Unilever’s CSR plan with ecological criteria, the company can improve its brand image. Moreover, tightening foreign patent regulations may aid the firm’s expansion (Young 2018).

ANSWER 3

It was hard for the firm to build new international markets with the aid of the decentralized framework, as its rivals had done. Moreover, the firm’s management was obliged to develop a new organisation structure due to the high prices and a lack of economy of scale. Unilever’s indicated need for transformation might be fully implemented using the following change philosophies: The Eight-Step Change Model of John Kotter: In his 1996 book, Kotter developed this transition model. According to this change theory, seventy percent of a company’s board of directors must agree to the changes. Kotter outlined an eight-step approach for putting change into action. This 8-transformation strategy will help Unilever execute the proposed modification in the accompanying ways: Suffusing a Sense of Superiority: First and foremost, the top business must instil a sense of desperation in all Unilever employees concerning the need for transformation (Unilever 2009). This could be performed by assisting firm personnel in recognizing potential dangers, creating simulations illustrating what might happen in future, assessing emerging opportunities, and having open and transparent talks. Develop a Solid Coalition: The Corporation needs to develop a team with adequate energy to lead the improvement process to enact the indicated changes, such as an organisational structure and overseeing two global business divisions (Young 2018).

Motivate everyone in the team to work together to make a sense of desperation and drive for the transformation. Creating a Vision For change: Finally, the company’s management should develop a vision to aid in the direction of the indicated transformation. This can be achieved by defining the values that are important to the shift and writing a detailed summary that shows what the future holds (Unilever 2009). Set direction: Once the vision has been established, the firm’s leaders should communicate the clear paradigm, which can be performed by discussing often at the workplace.

It’s also critical to address employee complaints and concerns about the new vision & transition fairly and transparently. It’s also critical at this point to integrate visions into all aspects of its operations.

References

Merchant, H. (2014). Configurations of governance structure, generic strategy, and firm size. Global Strategy Journal, 4(4), 292-309.

Unilever. (2009). Case study Unilever: Towards a new Organization. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Henarath_Opatha/post/Can_anyone_provide_articles_of_one_company_that_has_recently_undergone_changes/attachment/59d6599a79197b80779af083/AS:543134212149248@1506504695007/download/CL-Unilever-Organizational-changes-in-INMARKO-ENG.pdf

Young, J. (2018). Unilever’s Organizational Structure for Product Innovation. Retrieved from: http://panmore.com/unilever-organizational-structure-product-innovation