Abstract
Unilever was established in 1930 by the merger of British soapmaker Lever Brothers and Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie. Unilever has more than 179,000 employess in and around 100 countries worldwide and have 317 manufacturing sites in the world. In 2007, Unilever's turnover was a whopping €40 billion.
Unilever is the global market leader in all the food categories in which it operates: Savory and Dressings, Spreads, Weight Management, Tea, and Ice Cream. Unilever is also a leading brand in Skincare and Deodorants, and it has maintained a very strong position in other Home and Personal Care categories. We can classify Unilever's brand in two categories which are foods and personal and home care.
In the 80s, Unilever was one of the world's biggest companies, but took the decision to focus its portfolio, and soon rationalized its businesses to concentrate on core products and brands. In 1999, Unilever had a portfolio of more or less 1600 brands. But the company notes that a very few number of brands earned all its profits.
Unilever launched a strategy of Path to Growth, a five-year strategic plan. In 2004 Unilever further sharpened its focus on the needs of 21st century consumers with its Vitality mission. According to Unilever “More than ever, our brands are helping people feel good, look good and get more out of life”.
This paper deals with the analysis of Unilever's marketing policy integrating both an empirical and theoretical approach. External Analysis examines opportunities and threats that exist in the environment which is competition from other brands such as Procter & Gamble, Nestle, Kraft Foods, Mars Incorporated, and Reckitt Benckiser.
The Internal Analysis of strengths and weaknesses mainly focus on internal factors that give Unilever certain advantages and disadvantages in meeting the needs of its target market.
