In 2000 Unilever developed a new stratgic plan called the "Path to Growth". This 6 page paper conducts a SWOT analysis to examine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the company following the implementation of this plan, including the acquisition of companies such as Slimfast, Ben and Jerry's and best foods as well as numerous divestitures.
Name of Research Paper File: TS14_TEunilever.rtf
Buy This Research Paper »
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
company needs to build on strengths and reduce weaknesses whilst taking advantage of opportunities and mitigating threats. With a reputation for lacklustre brands and more than 110 divestments and acquisition
over the last few years the company has certainly undergone a lot of change. To examine the company we can use a SWOT analysis. SWOT Analysis Strengths The company
has many strengths, there is a strong leadership from Niall FitzGerald and Antony Burgmans as the co-chairmen of the company. Formed as the result of a merger in 1930 between
Unie, a Dutch margarine company and Lever Brothers, a company which started out as a soap manufacturer the company has developed a unique culture, with duel head offices in
Rotterdam and London as well as a divided organisational structure. The leadership appears to have good long term planning and strategy development abilities. The development of the strategy the Path
to Growth, was not only a good strategy in terms of development, but in hindsight we can also see it has been a strategy that has been followed that has
been able to realise many of the goals even before the end of the process. The use of two chairmen may be seen as a weakness, but this also leads
to a greater level of input to the decision making process and reduces the issues of bounded rationality and as such may have a great deal of potential to make
higher quality decisions as a result of this duel leadership. If communications and co-operations were not as strong this may not realise these benefits so efficiency. If we
look at the way this strategy has been implemented we can also argue this has not only made the company stronger, but has also increased the potential for shareholder value
Back to Research Paper Results