The Importance Of Business Effectiveness And Efficiency: A Case Study On Unilever Company

About Unilever Company

Effectiveness is simply a measure of how much a business organization has achieved in terms of reaching for their goals and objectives. Additionally it also relates to the degree to which a company has been able to solve certain problems that frequently face the organization. In the business world, it is very vital a business to be not only effective but also efficient for it to be successful in achieving its objectives and goals. However, the difference between efficient and effective in the business world is that the company has to do “things right” and do the “right things” respectively (Kim et al, 2003). It is all about an employee doing their duty and responsibility the best way they can and working towards the overall organizational goal (Chuang, 2013). Business effectiveness is the ability of an organization to achieve its set goals and objectives with the resources at its disposal like raw materials, labor, funds to name just but a few. Therefore, every organization ought to be efficient and effective in order for it to survive in its business dealings. For this assignment, I am going to use Unilever Company as the business of study.

It is multinational consumer goods company that deals with beverages, cleaning detergents, foods and personal care products. After Procter & Gamble (P & G) and Nestle, Unilever is the third largest consumer product producing company in the world. It is however, one of the best companies that produce best foods and personal effects for usage. Unilever has got about 400 different brands of products which are grouped into four main groups i.e. foods, refreshments, home care and personal care products. The company sells its products in around 190 countries which makes one of the most leading business in the world. Also this means that it is one of the most successful companies in the world.

Unilever operations are entirely based on its set goals and objectives which includes making profits, customer satisfaction, cost effectiveness, effective use of natural resources to name a few. Since the company deals with various types of consumer goods, then its responsibility is to/it aims at providing the best possible satisfaction that a consumer can get from their product. It works towards making sure that the products are always available to the consumer, are of good and high quality, are fairly priced and are of the correct amount among other things. In addition to that, the companies makes sure that its product branding is unique as well as one of the best in the market with an aim of catching the attention of every customer that uses it and attracting those who do not use their products. The company also invests in world-wide promotions of its products in its various outlets and depot centers with an aim of capturing more customers to buy its products. Therefore, I can say that Unilever has a great deal of effectiveness when it comes to its business operations and responsibilities.

Unilever’s Set Goals and Objectives

Unilever operates in a very competitive business environment simply because it always competes with the most successful companies like Procter and Gamble and Nestle. Therefore, they all have to work extra hard and smart to be able to keep themselves in the markets. They may be doing same things or even producing almost same/same products but they certainly operate differently. Businesses may appear as the same but will obviously be different when it comes to consumers, culture, production methods and processes and many other things (Turner et al, 2007). Additionally, Unilever has its depots and outlets in so many countries of the world where it meets other businesses with their products. Nonetheless, Unilever’s products have always been unique and have had better preferences than others by consumers.

Unilever has an outstanding competitive advantage compared to its competitors. Apparently, it has a very large and strong customer base compared to either of its competitors. This is because its products are all round i.e. they can be used by people in all age groups and gender. In addition, it has operating companies in all the continents of the world except in Antarctica. It also has its research laboratories in all the places that it operates where it manufactures and produces the products and certainly sells them. It has its subsidiaries in about 100 countries around the world. Unilever also sells products that are almost the same with P&G its competitor e.g. products like cleaning agents and personal care products. Nevertheless, P&G sells just those two products while Unilever sells many other different products apart from those like foods and beverages.

As stated earlier, Unilever, deals with various kinds of products i.e. 400 brands. However, its main concentration is on 13 brads which are produced and sold in every country that Unilever is allowed to operate or where it has its offices, laboratories and factories. However, its competitors concentrate only on two brands for its success. This therefore shows how much advantage Unilever has over its competitors which is an evidence of its effective business operations.

Consumer need are simply the desire for any kind of satisfaction from either a certain product or service. Consumer needs vary with seasons, price, preference, amount of income, lifestyle to name a few. Therefore, the consumer need can only be achieved by providing them with the correct type and quantity of a product or service. Additionally, it also has to be of good quality for it to satisfy the consumer. A business has to do a lot of marketing and research to be able to figure out the consumer need for its product (Karri et al, 2011). Considering Unilever Company, it ensures that its consumers’ needs are satisfied by making sure that the products are affordable, available, of good quality and are of the right amount. Also it does a lot of research on its consumers and does a lot of sales marketing media advertising and promotions to increase the need for its products to its current and potential consumers.

Unilever’s Competitive Advantage

Employee needs is the satisfaction that every employee desired in its area of work. This may include in terms of rewards, salary, pension, commission and vacations among other things (Zheng et al, 2013). A business that treats its employees in a respectful, meaningful and professional manner is likely to be more successful than one that does not. By doing this, the employees will have the motivation and morale of working harder, increasing their commitments towards the businesses objectives and goals (Dogan et al, 2014). Therefore, this will certainly the chances of success for the business.

This refer to the problems or challenges that face businesses in their day to day operations. They include:

The rate of technological improvement nowadays is very high and the changes come along with great effects to business organizations. It is important for every organization to use the cheapest way of production which includes use of technology (Borate et al, 2014). Therefore, when technology change frequently, then it will hard for businesses to invest in some as they hope for better advancement next.

Many businesses do not a way of knowing what the future my look like. E.g. uncertainty in price change, market trends, customer trends, competitor operations, uncertainty in how new regulations will change the business or markets to name just but a few worries. This worries lead some businesses into setting and concentrating entirely on the short term goals and objectives evading the long term opportunities simply because they have no clue of what will happen (Nouri et al, 2014). This therefore limits the expansion, growth and development of the business.

There are many sudden and frequent changes that take place in every country be it the government rules, markets regulations or technological regulations. This have great effect to every business operations and management such that it has become a common thing to deal with (Reinsch et al, 2008). Therefore, the business are simply choosing to hire an adviser or expert to help the deal with the changes without affecting their operations, growth and development.

Diversity factor can cause both positive and negative impacts to an organization. First and foremost, it is important for every organization to encourage diversity towards their employees as well as their consumers. It can bring positive impacts by sharing various ideas from different gender, cultures and levels of authority among other differences. Also it can cause negative effects whereby there is no diversity by producing the same decisions and ideas in a business (Roghanian et al, 2012). Therefore, this has cause problems because some people may not be used to interacting with others which brings negative energy into the business.

Conclusion

I can say that business effectiveness and efficiency are some of the vital factors that are needed for success. However, every business has to evaluate itself in all ways to be able to be successful which can include in fields like customer treatment, employee treatment, environmental evaluation, competitor evaluation and understanding and being aware of the current challenges that it may be facing and be able to find a solution.

References

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