Unilever

Did you hear before of  the brand Sunsilk? What about Lipton? Or Rexona? Ben & Jerry's? Persil? Dove? Vaseline? These are all brands owned by one of the world's leading consumer goods companies, Unilever with more than 400 brands, operations in over 100 countries and sales in 190. Consumers buy 170 billion Unilever packs around the world every year, and their products are used over two billion times a day (CSRWire 2015; Unilever, 2015). Unknowingly, we may be using one of these products by Unilever everyday!

Having won the 2011 Green International Awards, they have set sustainability as one of their goals since 1996 and has the Plan to achieve the targets they set by 2020.

In this video, Unilever has introduced their rational for working towards being a more sustainable company and as mentioned in the video, with more concentrated laundry detergent, it will reduce the transportation needed etc and thus, reducing the energy required. For consumers like us, we are unknowingly living more sustainably when we use their products as we reduce the amount of water and electricity which together, we can reduce 40 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emission in a year. Thus, making the choice to buy brands that are doing their part to produce using more sustainable methods is a decision that we as consumers can make although it may cost a little more. If we can afford it, why not just do a little bit more and make a wise choice?

Diagram 1: Unilever's Business Model

Their business model is different from the traditional business model as they believe that sustainability does not deter growth but on the contrary, sustainability promotes growth and helps to increase profits. Diagram 1 shows their current business model which focuses on sustainable living. They aim to increase their business size while decreasing their carbon footprint. Apparently, they are doing a great job and are constantly having breakthroughs through Research & Development (R&D). One good example would be their newly developed MuCell® Technology that they announced in 2014 (Unilever, 2014). It uses 15% less plastic in Dove Body Wash bottles that are sold in Europe and can reduce up to 275 tonnes of plastic a year (CSRWire, 2014; Unilever2015)! Isn't that absolutely fantastic? An even better news is that other manufacturers are able to follow and make use of this technology for their brands and products as Unilever waived specific exclusivity rights in January earlier this year (Unilever, 2015). Thus, it will definitely have positive changes to the entire industry and therefore, has a significant reduction in the overall environmental impact by the market. This definitely helps Unilever to build their corporate identity and fulfills their social responsibility.

Unilever has moved many steps forward to bring about changes in the way they produce their goods and it is a great step ahead to encourage their users to do so as well.

References:

CSRwire, 2014. Unilever Launches Breakthrough Packaging Technology That Uses 15% Less Plastic. Available at: <http://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/36962-Unilever-Launches-Breakthrough-Packaging-Technology-That-Uses-15-Less-Plastic>. [Accessed 19 September 2015]

CSRWire, 2015. Unilever - Corporate Social Responsibility News, Reports and Events – CSRwire.com.Available at: <http://www.csrwire.com/members/16348-Unilever>. [Accessed 19 Sep. 2015].

Unilever Global Company, 2015. Unilever Annual Report and Accounts 2014. Available at:  <https://www.unilever.com/Images/ir_Strategic_Report_AR14_tcm244-421555.pdf>. [Accessed 19 September 2015].

Unilever Global Company, 2015. About Unilever. Available at: <https://www.unilever.com/about/who-we-are/about-Unilever/>. [Accessed 19 September 2015].