The management of strategies and plans used by Unilever for marketing and sustaining

as a leading brand worldwide.

I. Introduction

Management and marketing strategies are a set of methods and techniques that any business
or organisations use to make sure that the function of their company runs smoothly. It also
ensures that the company progresses in the market and also develop as per trend without
letting the core mission of the company from getting ignored (Thompson, 2019). When it
comes to marketing the strategies refer to the overall action plan of any organisation
regarding reaching potential consumers. For any business or company dealing with
consumers and people, it is very important to plan their marketing strategies in a way it meets
the desires and lifestyles of people. The marketing strategy deals with keeping the value of
the organisation in place, promoting the brand, keeping information about the potential
consumers, and other elements to make sure the brand and products reach and impact the
targeted customers (Barone, 2021).

The term Sustainable strategic management (SSM) is a form of management that is used to
keep the organisation sustained in the market for the long run. The process of SSM involves
components such as analysis, formulation, and implementation of business strategies which
economic, competitive, handle social responsibility and balances environment. Such
strategies of marketing and sustainable plans have helped many organisations survive and
stand in the market for centuries. One such example is Unilever, the company has been there
for more than 3 centuries (Stead, and Stead, 2014). Unilever has experienced various
conditions that impacted the whole world like the great depression, world wars, changes in
people’s standard of living and lifestyle. Etc. yet the company stayed and created products for
consumers helping them improve their lifestyle and to fulfil their needs (Unilever, 2022).

II. Literature review

The management strategies for marketing and sustainability is important for the development
of the organisation and its performance in the long run. Any organisation can achieve these if
they have a proper plan of action and resources available to make the action plan function.
The organisation that do not work on their management, marketing, and their plan to sustain
in the market can only move forward without direction and may end up crashing after a
certain period. The factors involved in the strategy and planning determine the stability of the
plan, it must combine all the basic factors mentioned below:
 Defining the purpose and objectives of the organisation.
 Forming a time frame to achieve them, as short term, medium, and long term.
 Finding and collecting the resources required to carry out the goals determined in the
plan.
 Providing a firm and strong direction to the various functioning bodies involved in the
processes etc. (Barone, 2021).

The study includes the case of Unilever is a company that sells its products in over 190
countries making it one of the biggest brands as a goods supplier as well as the second-largest
manufacturer of packaged goods. The company came up with a strategy named ‘The
Compass’ to double the size of business without exploiting the environment for gaining
positive social impact. In 2017 they came up with the idea to reduce, reuse, recycle/recover
all the waste generated in the office. In the year 2020, cutting the consumption of energy to
fulfil a goal of having an Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS) (Macdonald,
2012).

The business model of Unilever is based on consumer insight hence leading brand
innovations. Unilever combined manufacturing, marketing, logistic, customer perceptions,
sales, innovation, collaboration, sourcing etc. as the key factors of their business model
(Reza, 2020). Unilever followed responsible marketing strategies, of marketing and
advertising for changing the perspective and behaviour of consumers. This way they could
form a strategy that led more engagement of consumers towards their products and brands
(Zisa, 2011).

The marketing of Unilever include all the brands of Unilever but with different segments
according to their feature and structural value. The products of Unilever can be found in over
190 countries with different brands. Though all the brands have their branding strategy yet
they have Unilever's logo and follow their ideology, design, and message in their marketing
strategy. Unilever also included 25 icons in its logo to represent the importance of all 400
brands falling in it. It created a large network of retailers and distributors for making their
products available in retail stores, shopping malls, online, etc. (Reza, 2020).
Apart from having strong marketing strategies, Unilever always planned for the sustaining in
market, their plans are purpose-oriented that they followed since the beginning of the
company. They have a clear purpose of making the living and lifestyle sustainable (Reza,
2020). They have set a proper sustainability plan and implemented it for keeping its strong
market position intact. The company has always been ready for accepting and implement
cultural changes in the organisation if required for the growth of the business. Their policy
highly supports change in the system rather than accepting or adjusting with the barriers,
making its processes be fresh and up to date (Uren, 2011).

Unilever is an organisation that emerged as one of the most successful brands around the
globe and give tough competition to its rival companies because of the strategies and plans it
had been using for more than 3 centuries. The research will compile management of various
marketing strategies and sustainability plans and compare the strategies, plans used by
Unilever and its rival organisations.

III. Research questions

 What are the various strategies and plans of marketing and sustainability, how do
various leading organisations manage them?
 What are the marketing strategies and sustaining plans used by Unilever?
 What are the components involved in Unilever’s business model making it different
from its rivals?
IV. Aim:

To understand the strategies and business plans used by Unilever to grow and sustain itself in
the global market.

V. Objectives:
 To critically review the writings and data available about the strategies and plans of
management of ‘Marketing and Sustainability’ of organisation.
 To study how Unilever’s business plan is different from its rival companies as per the
purpose, planning, strategies, and management modules.
 To continue the study of the constant growth of the company after it came into
existence.
 To learn about any new understanding of marketing and management changes while
doing the research.
VI. Bibliography

Barone, A. (2022) Marketing Strategy. [Online] Available from:

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marketing-strategy.asp#:~:text=A
%20marketing%20strategy%20refers%20to,and%20other%20high%2Dlevel
%20elements.. [Accessed 02 February 2021].

CP Companies History. (2022) Unilever’s history – A helpful history. [Online] Available

from: https://www.companieshistory.com/unilever/. [Accessed 02 February 2021].

Macdonald, R. (2012) Unilever. A Strategic Analysis. [Online] Available from:

https://www.grin.com/document/215742. [Accessed 02 February 2021].

Reza, M. H. (2020) Marketing Strategy and Sustainable Plan of Unilever. International

Journal of Scientific Research and Engineering Development, [Online] 3(4), pp. 681-
691. Available from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343539636_Marketing_Strategy_and_Sustai
nable_Plan_of_Unilever. [Accessed 02 February 2021].

Stead, J. G, and Stead, W. E. (2014) Sustainable Strategic Management. 2nd Edition.

[Online] Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe. Available from:
https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu_books/101/#:~:text=Sustainable%20strategic%20management
%20(SSM)%20involves,with%20the%20cycles%20of%20nature.. [Accessed 02
February 2021]

Thompson, J. (2019) What Are Management Strategies?. [Online] Available from:

https://bizfluent.com/info-7737312-management-strategies.html. [Accessed 02
February 2021].
Unilever. (2022) Advertising and marketing. [Online] Available from:
https://www.unilever.com/planet-and-society/responsible-business/advertising-and-
marketing/. [Accessed 02 February 2021].

Uren, S. (2011) 6 ways Unilever has achieved success through sustainability - and how your
business can too [Blog] 21 November 2011. Available from:
https://www.forumforthefuture.org/blog/six-ways-unilever-has-achieved-success-
through-sustainability-and-how-your-business-can-too. [Accessed 02 February 2021].

Zisa, L. (2011) An analysis of Unilever's legal form, financial performance and business
strategy. EPUB 2. [Online] GRIN Publishing. Available from:
https://www.kobo.com/in/en/ebook/an-analysis-of-unilever-s-legal-form-financial-
performance-and-business-strategy. [Accessed 02 February 2021].