Case Study: A Vision for Unilever
In 2009, the multinational company Unilever adopted a new strategic vision that integrated societal and environmental responsibilities. The company's Sustainable Living Plan was the center of this strategy. This plan aims to help more than a billion people improve their health and wellbeing, decouple Unilever's growth from its environmental impact, increase its social impact, and enhance the livelihoods of all those involved in its supply chain. Read this chapter to discover how Unilever merged sustainability with profitable growth.
What steps did Unilever take to re-engineer the company and implement the Sustainable Living Plan successfully? How did sustainable innovation play a role in helping Unilever achieve its goals? What were the results?
Implementing Change
"We try to bring the outside in by really putting consumers at the heart of everything we do. Broadly speaking we are trying to bring everything back to our purpose. The stronger your sense of purpose, the easier all this can be achieved.
"At Unilever we want to provide for everyone, including the under-served. As I said, you bring the outside in. I do a lot of talks outside the company, and when newspapers report on it employees actually read it. It's important to visit the markets and spend time with employees, partners, and consumers. This doesn't come naturally to everyone but that's a normal part of managing an organization. It is part of our job".