Assignment:
Labor Market
Write a 1000-1200 word paper that:
• Describes the results of your assessment of the labor market from which your selected organization (Unilever) draws candidates for open positions.
• Explains the population, demographics of the population, levels of education, and how much training may be required to prepare new workers drawn from this pool for positions in the firm.
• Use regional economic corporations, US Department of Labor and other sources to provide data.
In addition to the requirements above, your paper:
• Must be double-spaced and 12 point font
• Must be formatted according to APA style
• Must include an introductory paragraph with a thesis statement
• Must conclude with a restatement of the thesis and a conclusion paragraph
• Must reference a minimum of two recent scholarly resources
Must include a reference page written in APA format'
Company Analysis
Strategies in Human Resource Management
Introduction
Unilever is one of the world's leading fast-moving consumer goods organizations. The company provides products across different lines, including personal care, foods, home care, as well as refreshment categories. Headquartered in London, United Kingdom, Unilever is a multinational corporation that has expanded its operations in different parts of the world, including regions such as Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa (Unilever Plc, 2017). In 2016, Unilever recorded an operating margin of 14.8 percent compared to an operating margin of 14.1 percent in 2015. The firm operates as a dual listed organization that has two major components: Unilever N.V and Unilever PLC. Unilever N.V is a public limited firm that is registered in Netherlands, while Unilever PLC is a public limited company that is registered in England and Wales. These two corporations function as a single operating business. However, they have retained their separate legal identities and stock exchange listings (Unilever Plc, 2017). The two parent organizations, alongside their Group companies, function as a single entity (Unilever). Further, Unilever is among the world's premier fast-moving consumer goods organizations with a host of widely-known brands in foods, home care, refreshments, as well as personal are categories. Today, the company functions through four major product categories, namely: personal care, foods, home care, as well as refreshments.
Nature of the Organization
Industry
Unilever operates in the fast-moving consumer goods industry. Almost everyone in both developed and developing countries uses fast-moving products daily. These purchases are often made in small-scale. The sector is large and includes key players such as Unilever, General Mills, Coca-Cola, as well as Dole Foods (FRPT, 2017). Therefore, Unilever operates in a market that is characterized by stiff competition as rivals compete for a small and already-exhausted market segment. The industry often accounts for more than half of all consumers spending. However, these spending tend to be low-involvement purchases. The fast-moving consumer goods industry is expected to witness a growth (FRPT, 2017). After a low slowdown for the past here years, the industry is expected to grow more than 15 percent for the next three years, especially if players in the market emphasize on improving brand penetration.
Products/ Services
Unilever is one of the largest fast moving and consumer goods organizations.The organization provides a wide range of products, which include personal care, food, home care, and refreshments(Unilever Plc, 2017). Personal care products category includes skin care products, hair care products, deodorants, and oral care products. Examples of food products include soups, bouillons, sauces, snacks, mayonnaise, salad dressings, margarines, as well as spreads. Further, home care product categories include powders, liquids and capsules, soap bars, and cleaning products(Unilever Plc, 2017). Finally, refreshment products include ice cream, tea-based beverages, water purifiers, and food and drinks.
Brief History
Unilever started as an Anglo-Dutch soap-to-soap conglomerate that was established in 1929 through a merger between British soap maker Lever Brothers and a Dutch margarine making organization known as Margarine Unie(Unilever Plc, 2017). While it is listed on stock exchanges as two separate firms, Unilever has a common board of governors. The $129 billion organization later expanded its operations beyond the national frontiers to include US, Europe, Asia, and Africa. After becoming a multinational corporation, Unilever established more than 400 brands with almost a dozen of them developing sales of more than a billion dollars. Unilever expanded over the last nine decades by acquiring operational brands. In 1919, the Lever Brothers bought the Crossfield of Warrington. Unilever later bought Frosted Foods brand Bachelor Foods in 1943. Towards the end of 1950s, Unilever shifted its focus to a personal care firm and launched successful brands such as Signal, Dove, and Sunsilk. Today, the company registers annual sales of approximately $64 billion.
Position in Relation to Competition
From a competitive perspective, Unilever tops the list as the leading fast-moving consumer goods organization in the United States and other parts of the world. The company leads in terms of sales and market share. The key players in the industry include Nestle, Coca-Cola, Kraft, PepsioCo, and Cargil (FRPT, 2017). From this list, Unilever enjoys the highest competitive position with a market share of 8 percent. This is closely followed by Con Agra with a market share of 6 percent. Other organizations include Nestle, Coca-Cola, Kraft, as well as Diageo. In addition, Unilever is the fifth leading deodorant brand in the world. The company also enjoys an operating profit of EUR 7.801 million (FRPT, 2017). It also has the third widest plethora of brands ranging from food and beverage to home and personal care. Thirteen of these brands produce yearly sales of one billion Euros.
Organizational Chart
Duties and Responsibilities
CEO
- Overall leader of the company.
- Overall decision-maker of the organization
- Implements the overall organizational change, both long-term and short-term.
- Collaborates with board to communicate to the public on behalf of the company
MD, Finance
- Directs research and development programs
- Is concerned with financial issues such as evaluation of sales, revenue, and profits
- Disburses salaries to workers
Foods, Home, and Personal Care
- Heads the three major units of the firm: Home, foods, and personal care
- Oversees the production and distribution of products related to home, personal care, and foods
- Leads the three units in developing innovative ideas to meet consumer needs
- Involved in the expansion of company operations and markets
Business Strategy of the Selected Company
The main business strategy that Unilever uses is differentiation strategy. A differentiation strategy provides products that are distinct and different from competitors'. Organizations that pursue a differentiation strategy seek to gain a competitive edge over rivals through distinctiveness (Schermerhorn Jr, 2011). They seek to develop products and services that are clearly different from those of their competitors or through successful advertising, and are perceived to be as clearly different. The primary objective of utilizing differentiation strategy is to establish a strong base of consumers who are loyal to the company's products and lose interest in commodities that belong to competitors (Schermerhorn Jr, 2011). In order to ensure that this strategy works, Unilever has allocated a lot of resources towards initiatives such as research and development, marketing, as well as advertizing.
Unilever employs broad differentiation as its generic strategy. The main emphasis of differentiation is focus on the features that make the organization's products stand out against rivals. For instance, Unilever generates personal care products such as Dove Cream Bars to meet the needs of customers for soaps that are not harsh or drying. Despite its relatively high selling prices, these products are competitive since they stand out from most of soaps that emphasize more on cleaning than being moisturized. Therefore, the company works to attract consumers to specially designed commodities. This approach is in line with the organization's vision, which is to support global sustainability and to increase vitality in customers' lives, respectively. The company's strategic goal based on the differentiation generic competitive strategy is to grow Unilever through an intensive effort in product development. This goal focuses on producing products that stand out from the competition and attract new and already-existing clients.
Specific Area of the Business that need to be Addressed- Recommendations
While Unilever has utilizeddifferentiation strategy to ensure that it stands out from its competitors and maintain a competitive edge over its rivals, its products are expensive in terms of price (Baroto, Abdullah&Wan, 2012). This makes it harder for some of its loyal clients to remain locked into the company's services. This strategy works by seeking to operate at a low cost to ensure that the products are sold at low prices. The low-cost strategy can enable the company to continue searching for innovations that can increase its operating efficiencies. Apart from cost leadership, the company can employ the focus strategy that concentrates on serving a distinct market segment than any other firm. For instance, since the firm operates in different types of markets with different nature of customers, focused differentiation strategy can be used(Baroto, Abdullah&Wan, 2012). Focused differentiation strategy provides a unique product to a special market segment. This can help it have a competitive edge over competing firms.
References
Baroto, M. B., Abdullah, M. M. B., & Wan, H. L. (2012). Hybrid strategy: a new strategy for
competitive advantage. International Journal of Business and Management, 7(20), 120.
FRPT. (2017). FMCG firms start putting infra in place for GST. FRPT-FMCG Snapshot, 9-11.
Schermerhorn Jr, J. R. (2011). Management for productivity.New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Unilever, Plc. (2017). Unilever Plc: company profile. Marketline, 1-40.