I. a.

Historical

Introduction Background

Known until the early 1990s as Philippine Refining Company (PRC), Unilever Philippines started as an oil milling business which at its peak produced nearly 100,000 tons of coconut oil annually. Recognised annually amongst the Top 20 Tax Payers in the country, Unilever Philippines employs over 1,000 people directly, as well as provides jobs for 10,000 indirectly (i.e. distributors and suppliers), as a result of its business presence in the country. Employees and business partners recognise that energy, creativity, the resilience to face changes and make things better are all needed for business and people to grow together. Unilever is known to be one of the few companies in the industry that has succeeded in keeping majority of its manufacturing base in the Philippines. Its Personal Care unit made news by securing the right to manufacture deodorant mini-sticks for local and export markets. It has succeeded in entering the US market and achieved the milestone on producing its 100 millionth stick in 2004. The company has been a leader in introducing new technologies into the country since the early days of its existence - margarine production in the 1930s, non-soap detergents, shampoos and toothpaste in the 1960s and 1970s and state of the art sulphonation technology and cogeneration power plant in the 1980s. The nineties has seen the company focusing on several improvements in the Environment front one of which was the introduction of the first 100% biodegradable detergent bar in the Philippines. Unilever works closely with the community and other NGOs to protect and improve the environment. Unilever Philippines is also a leading company in the area of Human Resources Management and Development. Unilever has for decades also been known in the industry as a sound training ground for young Filipino graduates Some of its managers have progressed to senior levels in government and public life. Unilever seeks to manage and grow its business sustainably, focusing on three pillars as set out by the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan Health & Well-Being, Environmental Impact and Enhancing Livelihoods. We will developnew ways of doing business if we are to meet the needs of the billions of people in the developing world who are yet to become consumers and deserve a better quality of life.

http://www.academia.edu/5182979/Marketing_Planfor_Knorr

http://pt.slideshare.net/situmobe/10-step-marketing-plansunsilk-v52berly Introduction

When a company with a well-established supply chain enters the sustainability space, it is understandably with trepidation, and in the best-case scenario, with curiosity and a willingness to experiment. In order to drive sustainability changes, there are a plethora of places to start from shifting consumer buying patterns, to farmers production practices, to corporate culture. Commonly, large multinationals rely on multiple product streams going into multiple product lines; the task to green the entire supply chain is daunting, and the process iterative. A company must do two things over and over again. First, the company must find the appropriate tools to help prioritize a starting place. Second, once this prioritization process happens, the company must dig into an evolving toolbox of items which can drive sustainability down the supply chain and ensure compliance in the areas that the company is seeking sustainability. Finally, the company must follow these steps over and over again capturing learning as the tools are applied and then re-evaluating its sustainability priorities up and down the supply chain. To assist Unilever with this iterative process, Unilever requested two primary tasks. First, Unilever wanted high-level strategies and frameworks with which the company can make decisions about where to begin implementing sustainability measures across its vast supply chain. Second, Unilever asked for a discussion of ways that the company could drive sustainability down the supply chain and verify supply chain sustainability compliance, particularly in cases where Unilever did not use 3rd party certification schemes. To satisfy Unilevers requests, our team began by researching background information on Unilever and its sustainability values and practices, using mainly external literature sources and the limited internal Unilever documents for which we had access. We also tapped into MITs network of sustainability experts in the Media Lab and Center for Transportation and Logistics. After several brainstorming sessions discussing various prioritization schemes that Unilever could employ, we developed a supply chain prioritization tool called the Sustainability Stakeholder Rating Tool (SSRT). Taking into account the complex supply chain ecosystem, the tool is meant to prioritize supply chain actions based on a combination of financial, social, and environmental consideration in various product lines (dairy, oil, and vegetables) from the perspective of Unilevers main stakeholders. The culmination of these exercises is reported below and is split into four sections. First, the paper provides a background on Unilever as a company. Second, this document discusses several lenses with which Unilever may view their options to find the most optimal starting point or points to enact sustainability measures. The paper then demonstrates one such tool, Sustainability Stakeholder Rating Tool (SSRT) and discusses how this weighting tool may be applied to three key products including dairy, vegetables, and palm oil. Following this, the document discusses various ways that Unilever may

encourage sustainable supply chain compliance, verify practices, and drive sustainability down the supply chain via the innovation and still relatively new radical transparency practices of certification, crowd-sourcing, and trust -based networks. Unilever and Sustainability Unilever, based in Rotterdam, Netherlands, owns many of the leading consumer brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents, and personal care products. Unilever employs 163,000 people in around 100 countries and their products are sold in over 170 countries around the world.1

The top 25 brands in their portfolio account for nearly 75% of their sales. They are the global market leader in all the food categories in which they operate: Savoury, Spreads, Dressings, Tea and Ice Cream. They are also the global market leader in Mass Skin Care and Deodorants, and have very strong positions in other Home and Personal Care categories. They have 264 manufacturing sites worldwide, all of which align with their values of safety, efficiency, quality and environmental impacts. Around 50% of the raw materials that they use for our products come from agriculture and forestry. They, buy approximately 12% of the worlds black tea, 6% of its tomatoes and 3% of its palm oil. 2

Unilever as company has made a strategic shift towards sustainability, and CEO Paul Polman recently wrote that, 2009 saw the launch of a new vision for Unilever to double the size of the company while reducing our overall impact on the environment. The commitment presents Unilever with a major

challenge In short, we intend to decouple growth from environmental impact.3 Unilevers largest opportunities in sustainability are in the expansion in developing and emerging markets and the growing movement of socially conscious consumers.4Developing countries face a plethora of issues including major climate change challenges, poverty, and mal-nutrition which may seem daunting for companies to react to. However, large players like Unilever can develop products that meet their functional needs while factoring in the social and environmental challenges. This will allow Unilever to be better positioned to grow in the future compared to those who do not address these challenges.

http://mitsloan.mit.edu/actionlearning/media/documents/s-lab-projects/Unilever-report.pdf shaighai unilever he current Unilever Group came into fruition after the merger between Margrine Unie in Holland and Lever Brothers in England in 1929. Its headquarters in Rotterdam is responsible for its food products, and its office in London is responsible for its cleaning products. There are now 264 production bases. It has a huge sales network in 100 countries over the world, and has over 500 subsidiaries, and has total employees of over 300,000. It is now the worlds second largest producer for fast-moving consumer goods, with an annual turnover of more than 40 billion dollars. Unilever has 400 brands which fall under 14 different categories. It is currently one of the biggest producers for ice cream, tea drinks, margarine and ingredients and also one of the biggest producers for cleaning products, skin care and hair care products. Everyday there are over 160 million consumers who buy Unilever products. Its famous brands like Lipton(), OMO(), Lux(), Dove(), and Walls() have all developed to become brands with turnovers of over one billion euros. In 2009, Unilever invested nearly 891 million euros in research and development. Currently, it has six major R&D centers in England, Holland, America, India, and China. They are working to develop the newest products and methods to better satisfy peoples needs. As one of the worlds largest advertisers, Unilever spends over five billion euros in advertisements. China: a huge market No brand can resist the temptation from the Chinese market. Unilever entered China in 1986 in Shanghai(), when its first jointly-owned enterprise, Shanghai Unilever, began producing Lux soap. Due to the limited standards of living in China back then, Lux brand

was used primarily only by young people as many people did not use soap at all. Today, Lux has become the best-selling soap in China. Unilever China is responsible for its business in mainland China, Hong Kong(), Macau(), Taiwan() and Mongolia. In the category of family and personal care, its famous brands include Lux(), Dove(), Hazeline(), Ponds(), and Vaseline(). In the food category, its main brands are Lipton() and Knorr(). Their main products include chicken essence, salad dressing, peanut butter, red tea, green tea and jasmine tea. In 2011, Unilever announced that it will establish a production base and sales center in Tianjin() to be put into use in August, 2012. Unilevers revenues from China are increasing 15-20% annually and it expects to increase business five-fold by 2020. If Unilever continues its current strategy in China, it may be able to accomplish this. - See more at: http://daxueconsulting.com/unilever-in-china/#sthash.YQCkur2X.dpuf Unilever eco-friendly distribution system We make millions of products every day that must be moved efficiently from our factories to their point of sale. Our logistics network transports our finished goods over 1.5 billion kilometres each year. This scale enables us to have global and regional distribution hubs, improving operational efficiency significantly and reducing vehicle kilometres by 175 million over the next three years in Europe alone cutting costs and emissions while improving service. OUR APPROACH We sell our products in more than 190 countries. For every sale, there are journeys back and forth from our factories. These generate a corresponding impact in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. We are working to minimise the emissions that derive from transport and distribution. Reducing our environmental impact helps us achieve cost-effective and efficient distribution of our products. Making our logistics more efficient delivers real business benefits, including reduced costs, lower GHG emissions, better business planning and improved service for our customers. OUR LOGISTICS NETWORK In most markets, we do not own any distribution vehicles. However, we estimate that at a global level our transport and distribution systems emit a similar proportion of CO2 emissions from energy as our manufacturing operations. We spend a significant amount every year on transportation and warehousing from suppliers factories to our own factories, from our factories to our distribution centres and from there to our customers. We are working to reduce the CO2 emissions from energy used during these operations. We are committed to tackling our CO2 emissions from transport. As part of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, we have set the following target: TARGETS & PERFORMANCE EXTERNAL LINKS

Institute of Grocery Distribution: Optimising Load Fill Case Study The Sustainable Shipping Initiative European Supply Chain Excellence Awards Efficient Consumer Response REDUCE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS FROM TRANSPORT

By 2020, CO emissions from our global logistics network will be at or below 2010 levels despite significantly higher volumes. This will represent a 40% improvement in CO efficiency. We will achieve this by reducing truck mileage; using lower emission vehicles; employing alternative transport such as rail or ship; and improving the energy efficiency of our warehouses. 10% improvement in CO efficiency since 2010. 7% improvement in CO efficiency and a 7% reduction in absolute terms in 2012 compared to 2011*. achieved on-plan off-plan %of target achieved * Cumulative improvement since 2010 is measured across our top 14 countries; annual improvement is measured in more than 50 countries. While our progress continues to be strong, meeting our 2020 commitment remains tough. For that reason, we are pursuing opportunities to work in partnership to drive improvements at an industry level. The scope of our target includes transportation of products from our factories and warehousing dedicated to Unilever products alone. We do not currently include the raw materials coming into our factories, multi-user warehousing or air freight in our metrics for the Sustainable Living Plan. EFFICIENT TRANSPORT MANAGEMENT Back in April 2008, we launched our own internal transport management organisation, UltraLogistik, which manages our transport movements across Europe. UltraLogistik finds the most efficient ways to move raw materials and packaging to our factories and then transport finished goods to around 300 warehouses in Europe. From this original initiative came the idea to establish global and regional control hubs. These enable us to co-ordinate our transport activities efficiently and ensure that trucks are as full as possible. In total, the hub system, promises to reduce total distance travelled by 175 million km in Europe alone from 2013 to 2015 (compared to 2010 levels). These hubs are part-funded by the EUs programme for logistics operators who are committed to the sustainable transport of goods across Europe. We will have 12 hubs in Europe by 2014. This will equate to a total reduction of annual CO2 emissions of around 16,000 tonnes of CO2 over 2010-2014. Another successful strategy that we are continuing to roll out is our implementation of the Ultralogistik control tower network. We invested in the first control tower in Poland in 2007. These are designed to give visibility and management control for our multiple transport movements across Europe. The tower in Poland has enabled us to deliver cost savings of 50 million over 2008-2012. We now have towers in place in Panama, east coast USA and So Paolo, Brazil. More control towers will be established in the near future. We are delivering CO2 savings in a number of ways. For example, by improving the loadfill of vehicles, we can maximise how much product we load onto our trucks. Our UK business identified inefficiencies in trucking laundry products across Europe. By double stacking

products, we achieved a 60% reduction in vehicle kilometres and a 38% reduction in CO2 emissions. Switching transport modes also delivers efficiencies. In Germany, we are one of the first fastmoving consumer goods (FMCG) companies to deliver our products to the retail market using rail wagons. Instead of using two trucks to transport our goods over 600km, we now use rail wagons which provide improved flexibility to reach the required destinations. WORKING WITH OTHERS We cannot achieve our target by working alone; we need to work in partnership with our suppliers and others. This is particularly the case in logistics as, in general, we do not own any of the vehicles, trains and vessels used to transport our raw materials and finished goods. For this reason, we are making sustainability part of our working agreements with infrastructure providers and operators. TRANSPORT BY ROAD An illustrative example of our collaborative approach is our work with Indian integrated logistics firm Varuna. With our encouragement, Varuna invested in trucks that are ideally sized for the efficient delivery of our products. This is helping us avoid around 2,000 truck trips per year and has achieved significant savings. It is also significantly increasing Varunas revenue, profile and market share as a transporter in the Indian transport market. . Varuna won Unilevers Partner to Win award under the Winning through Capacity and Capability Pillar in our 2012 PtW summit in Mumbai. Partner to Win is a programme that enables Unilever to create long-term partnerships with its suppliers in order to achieve mutual growth for both. We realise that reducing the carbon footprint of our distribution activities requires us to rethink traditional ways of working. Backhauling is a great case in point. The term describes the use of another companys trucks during their return leg, when they are generally empty. In Hungary, we have this arrangement with retailer Tesco, our biggest customer. After Tescos trucks have delivered to the store, they are loaded with our goods for their return trip. This reduces our costs as well as the CO2 emissions between our businesses. In China, we have had a similar system in place with Walmart. Running since 2009, this backhaul approach has so far reduced vehicle distances by 50,000 km. It has also shaved 10% off our distribution costs. Unilever supports a range of cross-sector sustainability initiatives at a national level. For example, we are a key player in the haulage element of a UK industry efficiency initiative to reduce transport impacts the Sustainable Distribution Group of the Efficient Consumer Response (ECR). In France, on the other hand, we are collaborating with three companies (our logistics provider STEF, food and beverage company PepsiCo and cheese manufacturer Bel) to share deliveries of our chilled products from our north Paris distribution centre. This delivered a net saving of over 600,000 in 2012, while at the same time reducing CO2 emissions by 40%. RE-DESIGNING PALLETS, PRODUCTS AND TRUCKS We estimate that we use over 30 million pallets to store and transport our products. We are trialling new designs that will have both cost and environmental benefits. In France, for instance, we recently ran a successful pilot using cardboard and wooden pallets. This combination provides both efficiency and handling benefits. Meanwhile, in Turkey, our R&D team has re-designed our packs and pallets to allow us to fill trucks more efficiently. This led to a net saving of over 200,000 and a reduction of 277 tonnes in transport-related CO2 emissions. We are also looking to introduce new technologies where appropriate. Battery-powered vehicles provide an interesting example. In Rome, we recently trialled a hybrid electric van for our ice cream deliveries. The test demonstrated potential CO2 emissions savings of up to

70% a year compared to a diesel van. In Spain, meanwhile, we are piloting a technology that allows double temperature truck deliveries by isolating our chilled products from the ambient ones in cross-category deliveries. The technology enables us to combine deliveries of chilled and ambient products without wasting energy to cool the ambient products. TRANSPORT BY SEA Shipping is an important part of the Unilever supply chain. We use ships to transport our raw materials and packaging to our factories and finished goods to markets. Unilever became a member of the Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI) in July 2011 and sits on the steering committee. A coalition led by Forum for the Future and WWF, the SSI aims to define what sustainability looks like for the industry in 2040. It seeks to address the three main challenges facing the industry: rising oil prices; structural changes in world trade; and increasing scrutiny of the industrys social and environmental impacts. The SSI aims to lead the industry to promote understanding of sustainability and best practice. Other members include Cargill, Maersk Line, RSA and ABN AMRO. TRANSPORT BY RAIL Transporting our goods to markets by rail is an effective way for us to grow our business sustainably. However, in many markets, lack of adequate rail infrastructure represents a major constraint. Where this is not the case, we look for every opportunity to shift from road to rail. Take India, for example. Here, we are delivering over 100,000 tonnes of our products by rail from two of our large factories in the north of the country. This will reduce CO2 emissions by 7,000 tonnes. At the same time, switching from road to rail is saving us over 500,000 in road transport costs. This is not affecting customer service, thanks to the faster speed of trains (60-70km/hr versus road average 30km/hr) and good management of the first and last mile challenges. Because the rail terminals are not next do or to our factories or our customers, we need to handle the product more times during the first and last mile of distribution. Our increase in rail use in India is facilitated by close co-operation with the Container Corporation of India Ltd of Indian Railways. EXTERNAL RECOGNITION Our performance to date is winning plaudits externally. For example, in 2011, Unilever received the Contribution to Environmental Improvement award at the annual European Supply Chain Excellence Awards. The awards recognise organisations that demonstrate excellence in their supply chain operations. The judges commended our achievements in reducing the carbon footprint of our logistics operations through more efficient use of vehicles, using an optimal vehicle load fill solution, and energy-saving initiatives in our warehouse network (delivering a 33% improvement in absolute CO2emissions from 2008 to 2010). In 2012, Unilever won Logistics and Distribution Operations award for our work with DHL at the European Supply Chain

China unilever initiatives Inspite of major difficulties, Unilever was committed to building and sustaining a successful business in China. The company therefore adopted several measures like enhanced research

and development, modern management systems and large scale organizational restructuring to anticipate and integrate the needs and aspirations of the Chinese customers into its growth plan. In the mid 1980s and 1990s, the large number of joint ventures entered by the company failed to earn profits for the multinational and also proved unsuccessful in integrating Unilever to mainstream Chinese economy. Therefore, in 1999, the company entered into large scale consolidation and integrated its various units under one holding company. Special localized strategies like hiring of local employees, setting up an R&D unit, and planning for stock market listing were initiated to strengthen the company's position in China. Unilever China responded to the complex needs of the country's consumers by developing a portfolio of brands-both local and global, and incorporated traditional Chinese sciences with technological enhancements. The company aimed to identify itself as the brand that was quality conscious and consistently endeavored to meet local needs and tastes. Global brandsDove, Lux, Ponds, Lipton-promised international expertise in their formulation and development but had local professionals to manage them to ease communication between the company and its customers. Similarly, local brands such as Hazeline and Lao Cai soy sauce benefited from Unilever's extensive knowledge and resources, without losing their local character. Thus, Unilever China endeavored to balance global and local needs by developing solutions that satisfied the demands of its target consumer segment. Issues: Understand the approach taken by multinationals to tap new markets

Determine the various issues involved in the setting up of a new company in a foreign market Appreciate the localization strategies that need to be adopted to counter local issues and problems Appreciate Evaluate the the complexity growth of a of a growing FMCG market major like in China China

European

Discuss the strategies that Unilever adopted in China and examine the reasons for its initial failure Compare and discuss Unilever's market expansion policies viz-a-viz that adopted by Procter and Gamble hul Two FMCG companies, Unilever and Procter & Gamble (P&G) dominate the global consumer goods market. They have not remained untouched from the growing clout of the emerging economies. Going forward, what is their game plan to benefit from the rising importance of developing countries? In this article we delve on the efforts by these companies to raise their share in emerging economies, particularly in India. A brief background

Internationally, P&G is a much bigger FMCG company having turnover of $ 83.7 bn as

compared to turnover of $ 66.7 bn raked in by Unilever. Unilever had commenced operations almost a decade later than the former in 1885. Both of them market home care and personal care products. In case of P&G, these two product segments contribute a lion's share of 75% with the balance coming from over-the-counter healthcare products. For Unilever, home care and personal care account for 53% of sales and the rest 47% comes from foods and refreshments.

Even geographically, the two companies differ in their core markets. In case of Unilever a huge share of 55% of its sales comes from emerging economies. On the other hand, P&G derives a majority 62% of its overall sales from developed markets. Both companies boast of strong brands. Unilever has brands such as Dove, Axe, Rexona, Vaseline, Lifebuoy, Lux, Ponds, Vaseline, Sunsilk, TRESemme, VO5, Clear, Surf, OMO, CIF, Domestos, Comfort, Lipton, Walls & Knorr. P&G is equipped with brands such as Head & Shoulder, Olay, Pantene, Wella Braun, Gillette, Mach 3, Crest, Oral-B, Ariel, Duracell, Gain, Tide and Pampers. Financial performance

A look at the financial parameters clearly shows that P&G, backed by better operating leverage, enjoys higher profitability than Unilever. However, Unilever offers better shareholder's returns.

Financial performance FY12/CY12 Revenues Operating cost EBITDA EBITDA margin Net profit Net profit margin Return on equity Return on asset Debt to equity Unit US$ m US$ m US$ m % US$ m % % % x HUL* 3,732 3,247 485 13.0 449 12.0 76.6 24.6 0.0 Unilever 66,737 58,819 7,918 11.9 6,434 9.6 31.5 10.7 0.7 P&G 83,680 70,388 13,292 15.9 10,756 12.9 16.8 8.1 0.3

* Year ended March 2012 and year ending June 2012. For others, figures are for year ended December 2012 Source: Equitymaster Research, Company Annual Reports

Rising

power

of

emerging

economies

The onslaught of the global financial crisis in 2008 has led to moderation in consumer demand from developed countries. This development has adversely impacted P&G's topline growth as it still derives a bulk of its sales from the US and other developed markets. In FY12, the company's sales increased by a mere 1.5%. Developing countries such as China, India and other Asian and African countries have managed to report healthy economic growth. Therefore these countries have been clocking robust growth in consumer goods sales. For Unilever, emerging economies are already a big market. In CY12, Unilever's turnover increased by 10.5% crossing the $ 50 bn mark. This was achieved by underlying sales growth of 11.4% from emerging markets, even as slower sales from developed market pulled down the overall underlying sales growth to 6.9%. Faced with slowdown in home markets, global FMCG companies have been vying with each other to raise their share of sales from emerging economies. Unilever wants to further raise the share of sales from emerging markets to 70-75% of turnover by 2020. The company is building 27-28 factories worldwide out of which barring two, all are in the developing

economies. P&G wants to expand its sales share from emerging markets to 50% by 2025. Market dynamics in India

In India, Unilever operates through its subsidiary Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL). Hindustan Unilever is the largest consumer goods company in the country with a presence in home care, personal care, foods and beverages. While the company is a market leader in most of the personal care and home care products, it has not gained much success in the foods portfolio. The company has increased focus on its personal care portfolio in the past five years through increased launches. The company has an additional advantage of strong rural reach and products straddling the price pyramid. Unilever is hiking stake in HUL from 52.5% to 75% through an open offer to capitalize on the huge untapped potential.. Procter & Gamble is present through three subsidiaries, Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Healthcare (PGHH), Gillette and Procter & Gamble Home Products (PGHP). Only the first two are listed subsidiaries with the largest one still remaining unlisted. PGHH sells feminine hygiene and healthcare products whereas Gillette markets men grooming products. The unlisted subsidiary, PGHP sells the bulk of personal care and home care products that compete with rival HUL's products. The combined turnover of the Indian business is over $ 1 bn which is around 1% to P&G's overall turnover. P&G has planned a $1 bn investment plan for India over the next five years spread across capital and marketing investments. The company recently launched toothpaste under the Oral-B brand taking on established players such as Colgate and HUL. Conclusion The growing power of emerging economies is forcing a re-think in the strategy of global FMCG majors. Unilever, which has a higher share of its sales from developing countries, has been able to weather the global downturn much better as compared to larger peer P&G. Both companies have now chalked out plans to expand their market share in the emerging markets. In India, Unilever has a formidable presence through strong distribution reach and with products across price points. In comparison, P&G's products are more premium. It remains to be seen, how the two companies battle out to increase their turf Omo Detergent Omo is a blue detergent powder launched in 1954, and became the Unilever spearhead in the synthetic detergent market. New Blue Star Omo was introduced at the end of March 1963. Today, Unilever is aggressively promoting Omo all over Asia and Africa, packaged in quantities down to 35 gram. Unilevers brands Persil, Omo and Skip (other Unilever brands include the pre-war brand Sunlight, Sun, Vim and Surf) are engaged in fierce competition with Procter & Gamble's washing powder brands for pole position in just about every world market. P&G was the first to use one brand name for its leading detergent (Tide) in some countries and another brand name, with a different package (Ariel) in the others. Unilever copied this policy. The company markets Surf in many countries and Omo in the remainder. The products are almost identical. But the packages are dissimilar enough that retailers stock Surf

in the same section with Omo, often at the same price, so consumers must believe they are different products. 1 UNILEVER GLOBAL Unilever is an Anglo-Dutch company, with a history of colonial exploitation, on which it has gradually built its capital. Today it owns most of the world's consumer product brands in food, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. Unilever employs more than 247,000 people and had worldwide revenue of 48 760 million in 2002. Unilever has two parent companies: Unilever NV in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and Unilever PLC in London, United Kingdom. This arrangement is similar to that of Reed Elsevier, and that of Royal Dutch Shell prior to their unified structure. Both Unilever companies have the same directors and effectively operate as a single business. The current non-executive Chairman of Unilever N.V. and PLC is Antony Burgmans while Patrick Cescau is Group Chief Executive. Unilever's major competitors include Nestl and Procter & Gamble. Key facts: In 2008 Unilevers worldwide turnover was 40.5 billion They employ 174 000 people in around 100 countries worldwide Every day, 160 million people choose their brands to feed their families and to clean themselves and their homes. Their strong portfolio of foods, home and personal care brands is trusted by consumers the world over. Among them, the top 25 brands account for over 70% of sales. In 2008 they invested 927 million in research and development. positions in other Home and Personal Care categories. 2.2 HISTORY OF UNILEVER Lever Brothers was founded in 1885 by William Hesketh Lever. Lever established soap factories around the world. In 1917, he began to diversify into foods, acquiring fish, ice market leader in all the Food categories in which they operate: Savoury and Dressings, Spreads, Weight Management, Tea, and Ice Cream

cream and canned foods businesses. In the Thirties, Unilever introduced improved technology to the business. The business grew and new ventures were launched in Latin In 2005, Unilever decided to change their logo to represent their new theme of vitality. The new logo was also planned to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the company. The new logo tells the story of Unilever and vitality. It brings together 25 different icons representing Unilever and its brands, the idea of vitality and the benefits Unilever brings to consumers. The icons are represented below.