Angelie B.

Sombeling BSAB-4
Mgmt151 - Introduction To Strategic Management

Learning Tasks/Activities

Below is a SWOT Analysis of Unilever. Develop a SWOT Matrix utilizing the

information below. Follow all the SWOT guidelines provided in this lesson
including (S4, T3)-type notation at the end of each strategy. Include three
strategies in each of the four (SO, ST, WT, WO) quadrants. Avoid generic
strategy terms such as Forward Integration.

SWOT analysis of Unilever

Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational company, founded in 1929. It is
headquartered in London, the UK and Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Strengths of Unilever

Unilever is a consumer goods company. It has over 400 brands in its mega
portfolio. Its most famous and the leading brands are but not limited to PG
Tips, Lipton, Knorr, Ben & Jerry’s, Brut, Magnum, Pot Noodle, Vaseline, Persil,
Domestos, Dove, Lynx, Capri Sun, Heinz Ketchup, Philadelphia, and Flora.
There is hardly anyone who has not used at least one product from any of
these brands.

Unilever was founded in 1929. It is world’s one of the oldest multinational

companies. Its market experience is enormous. It operates in 190 countries
and has over 155,000 people delivering its success (Unilever, 2020).  It
invests a huge amount of money on research to develop new products in line
with current market trends.

Unilever’s turnover in 2019 was €52 billion. Out of it, €21.9 billion was
generated by beauty and personal care products, while €19.3 billion by foods
and refreshment products. Home care products generated €10.8 billion in the
same (Unilever, 2020). There is no doubt that that even in economic
difficulties, people will continue to buy foods & refreshment and beauty &
personal care products making Unilever’s brands highly sought after around
the world. In fact, Dove was the leading deodorant brand in the USA in 2019
which generated 203.9 million U.S. dollars (Shahbandeh, 2019).

Unilever is famous for its CSR activities. It has received a number of awards
and accolades on sustainability, social, and economic performance from
external bodies and agencies over the years. Its effective marketing
strategies and economies of scale have also played a big role behind its
global success.

Weaknesses of Unilever
Unilever is vulnerable to product imitation and substitute products. Many of
its products can be easily replaced with substitute products. Likewise, many
of its products can be easily imitated in countries where rules and regulations
are not very closely observed. Another weakness to note is that Unilever has
limited direct influence on consumers as it must rely on retailers.

Unilever’s corporate image has been affected by a number of controversies.

For instance, it was fined 104 million euros in 2011 for fixing washing powder
prices in eight European countries. Likewise, it is also accused of causing
deforestation and seen by many as one of the top global plastic polluters.

Opportunities for Unilever

While Unilever has over 400 brands, it can pursue new opportunities,
particularly beyond the consumer goods industry. It has good infrastructure,
expertise, market experience, distribution channels, and financial power to
explore and implement diversification strategies.

More and more people around the world are becoming health-conscious and
looking for goods that are healthy and environmentally friendly. Likewise, the
new generation is looking for products to address their needs. This gives
Unilever an enormous opportunity to develop new products and grown further
globally.

Threats to Unilever

 Threat is the last element to address in the SWOT analysis of Unilever.

Unilever faces a number of big competitors globally. Proctor & Gamble,
Nestle, Johnson & Johnson, Colgate Palmolive, Kimberly-Clark,

Mondelez International, Edgewell Personal Care, and some others put a huge
pressure on Unilever and impact on its pricing strategies and ultimately the
profits. Likewise, as Unilever operates around the world, it can anytime be
affected by local macro-environmental challenges.

INDICTORS STRENGTH WEAKNESSES

• Strong brand • Imitable products
• Broad Product Mix • Limited business
• Strong global market diversification
presence • Dependence on
retailers
OPPORTUNITIES STRENGTH -
• Business OPPORTUNITIES
diversification • Increased it's market
• Product enhancement presence WEAK -
for environmental • Reinforces brand OPPORTUNITIES
conservation popularity • Innovation
• Market development • Entering the business • Enhanced Marketing
outside the consumer Effort
goods industry
• Improves business
resilience
• Build new market
segments
THREATS STRENGTH - THREATS WEAK -
• Tough Competitive • Brand Product OPPORTUNITIES
Rivalry imitation from rivalry • Imitation product
• Product imitation • Increasing the
• Increasing popularity popularity of household
of retailers house business
brand