ASSESSMENT 3

PUBLIC CONSULTATION REPORT

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 Table of Contents

Introduction................................................................................................................................3

Background of organisation.......................................................................................................3

Literature review........................................................................................................................4

Critical analysis of the product, service or process....................................................................5

Strengths and weaknesses of the process...................................................................................7

Recommendations......................................................................................................................8

Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9

Reference..................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction

Organisation in the current era is working towards achieving high competitiveness and also
so the market environment has become more Agile and dynamic in nature. Therefore,
organisations are aiming towards developing relevant products and services which will help
them to achieve a different level of productivity that would ultimately help them to outgrow
their competitors (Bilovodska et al., 2018). In the process of making the organisational
framework more efficient and effective companies are resorting to various design thinking
and innovative models that enhances the productivity of the process and the product and
services of a particular organisation.

This research report takes into account Unilever, one of the highly reputed multinational
corporations based in the UK. By reading this research report one will get enlightened about
the framework of a particular product or service the company has and also states out the
strengths and weaknesses related to it. It also highlights the probable recommendations which
if implied will fetch productive results.

Background of organisation

Unilever is basically a FMCG company headquartered in London, UK. It has a diverse range
of products and services and is present globally. Unilever is a Dutch multinational company
whose CEO is Alan Jope and was established on 2nd September 1929. Throughout the
decades of its working it has maintained its legacy throughout the world by providing the best
quality of products and services. Its parent company is named as Unilever PLC. Unilever
deals in a huge range of products and brands which are highly popular and trusted by
consumers worldwide. The mission and vision statement of the organisation is highly
consumer centric and revolves around providing best possible nutritional and healthy edible
products. Its mission is to add vitality in the life of its customers and also focuses on
providing value for money to its stakeholders. With this it also aims in bringing
competitiveness by meeting the new challenges which the dynamic environment pops up
with. Unilever deals with more than thousand brands globally among which few are been
stated- Axe, Clear, Comfort, Day 2, Cornetto, Knor , Dove, Glow and lovely, lifebuoy,
Rexona, Sunlight, Sunsilk, Bru, Lipton, lux and Magnum. All these products have a global

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reach and a global outlook which fulfills their vision of connecting to consumers by giving
them valued solutions for the problems faced.

This research paper deals with the supply chain management process which Unilever uses for
proper logistics outfits goods and services throughout the UK. Unilever focuses on proper
management and strategy formulation regarding its logistic works so that timely demands
could cater to (Ravindran, 2016). As the organization focuses on the notion of being united to
build a future which is better therefore their strategy focuses on navigating competitively and
effectively towards the purpose.

Literature review

This section of the research report contents the analysis of the similar kind of research studies
held before. It studies the various literatures which support this particular research report.

The first research paper which is analysed in this section is named as the impact of engineer’s
skills and problem solving abilities and process innovation. This literature paper was
conducted by Yasushi Ueki and Jose Manuel (Ueki and Guaita Martínez, 2020). The study
paper there for AIIMS to examine the relationship between the basic skills which engineers
have and the problem solving and problem finding capabilities of them. It also looks after the
ability of critical thinking and innovation while working on a project. This research paper is
done with the help of questionnaire survey it was done in Thailand and Vietnam for the
period of 2016 to 2017 two stages least-squares estimations were formed using the variables
such as skills capabilities problem solving problem finding qualities and design thinking
capabilities of the engineers. Thus it helped to understand and analyse the factors which
impact the skills and the productivity of the engineers targeting the end result. It was found
through this study paper that the necessity of upgrading strategies which would transform
quality control management into innovative abilities. It also supported the requirement of the
policies which would support in not sure both engineers basic technological skills as well as
the conceptual and managerial skills and abilities (Ueki and Guaita Martínez, 2020).
Therefore it was analysed that the above recommendations would have developed the
problem solving and problem finding qualities of the engineers.

The second study paper is based on the topic of Assessing soft skills of undergraduate
students: framework for improving competitive innovation and competence of higher

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education graduates. This study paper focused on the skills both managerial as well as a
generic skill which the recent graduates required to process while entering into the corporate
environment. It takes into account skills such as teamwork capabilities, creativity time
management, problem solving skills, communication skills, conflict management, leadership
skills, cultural awareness, information management skills and work ethics into consideration
as the basic skills required for working or getting employed (Arifin and Ikhfan, 2018). It also
points out the factor that these are the basic skills which industries and the copper is a
demanding for but these are still lacking in the higher education system. The research paper
aimed at identifying the quality is on the scale 20 teaching and learning models and concepts
by collaborating and integrating soft skills as well as hard skills together. Ultimately the
result came out to be that the mapped soft skill mastery profile of the students accounted for
72% and therefore this model was ultimately implemented for following in the higher
education system.

The third research paper that is being reviewed in this section is named as is marketing
strategy and sustainable plan of Unilever, by Manjurul Hossain Reza. This study paper talks
about the innovative plans and procedures which Unilever took into account for making its
product and manufacturing process sustainable (Baller et al., 2016). As the products of
Unilever are commonly used by most of the nations, typically for the global impact of the
eight big brands such as Dove, Sunsilk, Ponds, Vaseline, Magnum, Rexona and lux.
Therefore this research paper basically focuses on bringing out the probable factors and
aspects which period Unilever a global brand. It also analyses the organisational structure and
format of the same.

Critical analysis of the product, service or process

In the current market situation each and every company is subjected to competition and thus
it becomes very essential to develop strategies and plans which strengthen the processes
which an organisation uses. There are various factors which need to be considered while
planning a process or a product. The most important element of any manufacturing company
is its logistics. It helps the company or the organisation to reach out to its people and does
meet their demand. Similarly Unilever being a global brand has their own supply chain
management system which looks after the logistic purposes (Sharma and Singhi, 2018). As
the company is dealing into more than 1000 brands and products therefore the supply

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Management process needs to be very strong. The below critical analysis let's one to
understand how the supply chain management of Unilever works and what are the strengths
and the probable weaknesses persisting in the process.

Evaluation of the chosen process

The supply chain management process of Unilever is one of the strongest logistic processes
designed by the company. As it focuses on delivering goods to almost every household in the
UK with respect to consumer durables and FMCG products therefore it is evident that for
such a strong footprint Unilever has to have a well-planned and structured logistic process
(Saher and Oleksiivna, 2019). The supply chain process in Unilever follows a few key
elements which makes it easy for them to carry on their services and meet the huge demand
of the customers. They are as follows

● Planning

The first key element is to plan a proper and a basic supply chain management process by
implementing various models and theories. First and foremost organisation structure and the
demand pattern is being analysed only then various models and theories are reviewed so as to
bring out the best possible choice for the same. This helps to ensure that demands are met
without any hindrance.

● Logistics

Logistics is yet another key element which the supply chain management process has to focus
on. It ensures and helps the organisation to ensure on shelf availability of products which are
in demand (Pagano and Liotine, 2019). This also ensures order management buy interfacing
with transportation and warehousing and thus helps to manage quality delivery.

● Customer service

Customer service is the basic process which helps in customer retention as well as enhances
customer’s perception towards a brand and their experience. This also helps in assisting the
B2B services which Unilever deals into.

● Procurement

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Unilever ensures maximum quality of the products and does for that they take care of proper
procurement by optimising cost and the quality of what they buy. They use intelligent
sourcing for procuring components for production of the goods.

● Cross functional exposure

The supply chain management of the company elaborately works with every other functional
unit of the organisation so as to understand the cross functional exposure and their impact on
the delivery and production of the goods and services.

Strengths and weaknesses of the process

Strengths

As Unilever is a global company therefore the supply chain management is a well organised
process. The positive factors which strengthens the process in Unilever is that the
management is having a clear vision regarding its logistics (Pettit et al., 2019). Following are
the strengths of its logistics system

● The global strategy is very clearly defined and thus is very efficient and effective in
formulating the action process.
● Focuses on cost reduction. It also establishes processes which enable quick and cost
effective innovative implications.
● Regular monitoring and controlling processes are done which helps to indicate and to
maintain the key performance indicators.
● The performance indicators and the standard set are globally implemented and thus
the level of the processes are maintained.
● The supply chain management of Unilever follows a convergent model of
organisation structure which clearly defines and lives down the skill sets, objectives
and the requirements of the supply chain roles.
● Amalgamation of information technology with the supply chain management of
Unilever has further strengthened the process. It has enhanced the flow of products
and thus helped in collaborating different sorts of supply chain structures for meeting
the demand of the customers throughout the UK.

Weaknesses

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Unilever being one of the biggest multinational corporations in the world and it deals into a
vast categories of brands and products, therefore the main weakness which the supply chain
management of the company faces is due to its large assortment of products and brands.
Among all the products which Unilever produces only 400 brands accounts for 90% of its
total sales which implies that the other half of the brands are ineffective and thus drains the
resources of the organisation (Zhu et al., 2017). Another major weakness of Unilever is that it
operates in a competitive market where many other big multinational corporations exist.
There exists a hyper competitive market where even the local brands compete and create
dominance in the local market with price competitiveness. The products which Unilever
manufactures are consumer durable goods and FMCG products and thus they could be easily
replaceable by substitute products.

Recommendations

By studying the above analysis it can be understood that in spite of being one of the strongest
brands of the world Unilever have certain factors which negatively affect the supply chain
management process. This in a way also hampers the brand image and the product
availability in the local market of the UK. Therefore this section of the research report
highlights some recommendations and probable solutions which are implied can bring out
best possible solutions to the weaknesses specified above. The recommendations are as
follows

● Incorporating AI and Big Data

Involving the internet of things, big data, information technology and cloud computing can
fetch certain results which will increase the productivity of the logistic department of the
organisation. Information technology let's an open door for the organisation to analyse,
gather, utilise and store data of customers resorting to the brand. This also lets the
organisation to analyse the future demand and supply forces which will impact the
organisation in the forthcoming period (Baller et al., 2016). It also helps organisations to
retain customers with the help of loyalty programs and valuable offerings. On the other hand
technology initiates the use of bots and robots in an organisation which helps in increasing
the productivity of the processes. Storing data also gives the organisation benefits of
eliminating physical data storages. Creating or converting supply chain processes and other

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processes digitally will help the organisation to increase the speed and accuracy and will
eliminate the burden of monotonous data recording jobs of the human force.

● Implementing green supply chain management system

Implementing green supply chain management in the organisation will also help the
organisation to become sustainable and also will increase the corporate social responsibility.
Corporate social responsibility or responsiveness is the responsibility of the organisations to
give back to the society and the environment from which it is taking its resources for creating
its own business (Khan et al., 2016). Green supply chain management utilizes the principles
of green economy which basically focuses on eliminating factors such as carbon footprint,
plastic waste and other hazardous factors which harms the environment and other nature
(Tseng et al., 2019). This initiative will initiate critical thinking among the management of
the organisation so as to bring out sustainable and replaceable ideas for the current process
being used.

● Elimination of ineffective processes.

Based on the weakness which the supply chain management of Unilever is having it is
necessary for it to eliminate the processes which are not productive and the grains resources
of the organisation (Zhu et al., 2017). Elimination of such processes can be done by including
artificial intelligence and robotics in the management of the production area and the logistic
area.

Conclusion

This study paper depicts and analyses the supply chain management process and the logistic
process of Unilever in the UK. It critically analyses the strengths and the weaknesses which
this organisation has with respect to its supply chain management and logistics. It can be
analysed from the above paper that in spite of being one of the biggest corporate Unilever
have certain shortcomings which affect its management process. Unilever totally focuses on
providing value to its customers through its products and services it operates with more than
1000 products and brands throughout the world. As it is known that it deals in products which
are required on a daily basis by the customers therefore it becomes very essential for the
company to create one of the greatest and the strongest logistic processes within its
organisation. There have been many research papers describing organisation structure and the
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managerial processes which are being used in human labour throughout the world therefore
there have been research papers who have also described the supply chain and logistics
management process of Unilever. From the context of those research papers it can be
deliberately said that Unilever has one of the greatest and the most efficient supply chain
management systems for delivering proper services to its customers. It also uses rigorous
logistics and warehousing for delivery in IT services to the B2B customers. As seen in the
above section, despite having one of the most efficient supply chain management processes
Unilever consists of some of the weaknesses which are still pulling it back and are hampering
its productivity. For that purpose there have been some of the recommendations which have
been suggested in this research report which includes the inclusion of a green supply
management system, artificial intelligence and elimination of the ineffective processes which
are headlining the resources of the organisation. By reading this research paper one can be
enlightened on the topic of supply chain management as well as green supply chain
management and the process which Unilever uses.

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Reference

Arifin, S. and Ikhfan, H., 2018. Assessing soft skills of undergraduate students: framework
for improving competitiveness, innovation and competence of higher education graduates.
Studia Humanitatis, (1).

Baller, S., Dutta, S. and Lanvin, B., 2016. Global information technology report 2016.
Geneva: Ouranos.

Bilovodska, O., Syhyda, L. and Saher, L., 2018. Supply chain management: world’s
companies experience. MIND Journal, (5), pp.1-17.

Khan, M., Hussain, M. and Ajmal, M.M. eds., 2016. Green supply chain management for
sustainable business practice. IGI Global.

Pagano, A.M. and Liotine, M., 2019. Technology in Supply Chain Management and
Logistics: Current Practice and Future Applications. Elsevier.

Pettit, T.J., Croxton, K.L. and Fiksel, J., 2019. The evolution of resilience in supply chain
management: a retrospective on ensuring supply chain resilience. Journal of Business
Logistics, 40(1), pp.56-65.

Ravindran, A.R. ed., 2016. Multiple criteria decision making in supply chain management.
CRC Press.

Reza, M.H., Marketing Strategy and Sustainable Plan of Unilever.

Saher, L.Y. and Oleksiivna, S.L., 2019. Supply chain management and innovative decisions’
commercialization: world experience (Doctoral dissertation, Київський політехнічний
інститут імені Ігоря Сікорського).

Sharma, N. and Singhi, R., 2018. Logistics and Supply Chain Management Quality
Improvement of Supply Chain Process Through Vendor Managed Inventory: A QFD
Approach. Journal of Supply Chain Management Systems, 7(3).

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Tseng, M.L., Islam, M.S., Karia, N., Fauzi, F.A. and Afrin, S., 2019. A literature review on
green supply chain management: Trends and future challenges. Resources, Conservation and
Recycling, 141, pp.145-162.

Ueki, Y. and Guaita Martínez, J.M., 2020. The impact of engineers’ skills and problem-
solving abilities on process innovation. Economic research-Ekonomska istraživanja, 33(1),
pp.0-0.

Zhu, Q., Feng, Y. and Choi, S.B., 2017. The role of customer relational governance in
environmental and economic performance improvement through green supply chain
management. Journal of Cleaner Production, 155, pp.46-53.

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