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UNILEVER

A CASE STUDY
Presented by: Sagar Madan - 32

09-02-2014

UNILEVER - Case Study Presentation

INTRODUCTION
The article considers key issues relating to the organization & performance of large MNCs in the post-Second World War period.

Issue of control is examined.


Central issues related to the organization and performance of MNCs
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Organizational Structure
Chairman
Unilever Ltd. (PLC after 1981), London Director

UNILEVER
Unilever N.V., Rotterdam Chairman

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UNILEVER - Case Study Presentation

UNILEVER A Complex Organization


Headed by two British and Dutch Companies
Unilever Ltd. (PLC after 1981) Unilever N.V.

Different sets of shareholders, but identical boards of directors. Equalization Agreement: All time dividends of equivalent value in sterling and guilders.

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UNILEVER - Case Study Presentation

Contd
The complexity was compounded by Unilever's wide portfolio of products and by their changes. Edible fats, and soap and detergents were the historical origins of Unilever's business. By the 1950s, Unilever manufactured convenience foods, such as frozen foods and soup, ice cream, meat products, and tea and other drinks. It manufactured personal care products, including toothpaste, shampoo, hairsprays, and deodorants. The oils and fats business also led Unilever into specialty chemicals and animal feeds. In Europe, its food business spanned all stages of the industry, from fishing fleets to retail shops.

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UNILEVER - Case Study Presentation

Contd
Its ancillary services include shipping, paper, packaging, plastics, and advertising and market research. Unilever also owned a trading company, called the United Africa Company, which began by importing and exporting into West Africa. Beginning in the 1950s, It turned to investing heavily in local manufacturing, especially brewing and textiles.
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UNITED AFRICA COMPANY


Employed around 70,000 people in the 1970s. Was the largest modern business enterprise in West Africa.

Unilever's total employment was over 350,000 in the mid-1970s


Around seven times larger than that ofP&G, its main rival in the U.S. detergent & toothpaste markets.

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UNILEVER - Case Study Presentation

WORLD WIDE INVESTOR


An early multinational investor. Possessed extensive manufacturing & trading businesses throughout Europe, North and South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Oldest and Largest Foreign MNC. Unilever's longevity as an inward investor provides an opportunity to explore in depth a puzzle about inward FDI

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Contd
The case of Unilever is instructive in investigating these matters, including the issue of whether managing in the United States was particularly hard, even for a company with experience in managing large-scale businesses in some of the world's more challenging political, economic, and financial locations, like Brazil, India, Nigeria, and Turkey.
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Empirical Evidences
The story of Unilever provides rich new empirical evidence on critical issues relating to the functioning of MNCs and their impact. Management and control at the heart of definitions of MNCs and FDI.

Transaction-cost theory postulates that intangibles can often be transferred more efficiently and effectively within a firm than between independent firms.

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Competitive advantage
For growth:-

Sales rose from $843,466 in 1913 to $150 million in 1946 with the support of new president Francis A. Soap had a firmly oligopolistic market structure in the United States. Countway contribute in marketing and advertising campaign stressing the glamour of the new product Lever's agreement with a New York agent to sell its soap everywhere beyond New England.
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Contd
FOR DOWNFALL:-

P&G launched a line of synthetic detergents, Dreft and liquid shampoo 1993, which was more effective than solid soap in areas of hard water. Competition made lever to lower its product price which lead to no profit on the product until 1941. In 1946 countway retired who was replaced by president of pepsodent. He dismissed about 15% of the work force soon after taking office, and shifted the head office from Boston to New York, taking only around 10% of the existing executives with him further which was subsequently acquired by MIT and became the Sloan Building.
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THANK
YOU

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