Research Paper on Organizational Strategic Planning: Change for Thriving & Outperforming Competitors

Introduction

The strategic planning of an organization is defined as the process that assists the organization's management get clear and allied on its strategy, launch, and execution of the organizational strategy. The process plays a crucial role in enabling the continuous improvement of the plan over time while supporting persistent results (Kolk, 2006). For an organization to continue thriving and surpassing the competition of the competitors in the industry, change is necessary. For instance, when Unilever is only concentrating on manufacturing cleaning agents, while its top competitor Procter and Gamble, is selling both personal care products and cleaning agents. The Company needs to adapt a change process to start selling its care products to remain competitive. Strategic change is required to move from the present to the future state.

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Unilever Company announced its strategy referred to as the compass approach in 2010. The plan focuses on doubling the business size while minimizing its environmental footprint and growing its positive impact on the community. The employees are encouraged to embrace the best solution to their problems through a virtual knowledge network. The progress report is availed every month, whereas the top sixty sites receive almost actual environmental performance reporting. This assists in making the most typical usage of resources and targets those prospects that promise the most enhancement (de Mortanges, 1998). Additionally, Unilever operates a restricted capital investment pool, assigned at the factory level, that finance more than two hundred of the best projects yearly. The Company has started decoupling growth from environmental effect, sharing ideal practice, and guaranteeing that new-made factories produce less than half of the carbon dioxide waste and water generalization of the present ones.

The Company expects each employee at Unilever to be an ambassador for the Company's high ethical standards, known as business integrity. The Firm has created an atmosphere where employees are not only living in the firm's worth in their job like pioneering, integrity, respect, and responsibility but are cautious in recognizing personal fears and confident regarding speaking up in such circumstances. The company's objectives do not end there. The Company aims to gain a positive contribution across its value chain, operating with suppliers, wholesalers, and all third parties to increase the bar on issues like human rights and corruption and anti-bribery (Jones, 2005). Additionally, to the Company's Code of Business Principles, it entails precise policies, guidelines, and associated learning materials and also robust processes and controls to assist the firm in avoiding, detecting, and responding to any inappropriate behavior.

The Firm's concentration on integrity in business makes it solid. It facilitates the firm attracting, retaining and engaging ideal staffs and better able to select their ideal suppliers and business associates. It safeguards its people, reputation, assets, and its relationship with stakeholders. It equally supports the conditions to work in partnership, both internally and externally. It eventually assists the Company is growing sustainably and deliver on the Company's Sustainable Living Plan. The Company's code and code of policies offer a structure of simple Musts and Musts Not designed to be voluntarily applied by staff in their daily work. They are compulsory for all staff and other functions of Unilever, inclusive of the Company's Board of Directors and refer to all subsidiaries of Unilever companies and organizations over which Unilever possesses management control.

Current and Future Competitive Conditions

Unilever is operating in a competitive business environment, and the Company has to analyze the business environment for it to remain competitive. Competitors play a crucial role in the Company's external environment. Lack of competitors would make a company lack the commitment and urge to improve their service and products. Unilever's biggest international competitors are Procter and Gamble and Nestle. It also encounters stiff competition from domestic markets, or particular product ranges from several companies inclusive of Danone and Bieiesdorf. Unilever has employed several strategic measures that have enabled it to remain competitive in the global market environment (Church, 2003). Unilever has sustainability molding its actions and how it communicates its brand, nurturing trust in the market place. As a firm that reaches 2.5 billion customers yearly boasts of more than 169,000 staffs, and 76,000 suppliers, this is a big undertaking with a substantial international impact.

This strategy has been active as the firm promised to double its size but sharing an environmental footprint. Unilever's Chief Executive Officer defined that asking the correct question can assist the business in creating profit and at the same time, realize a viable future (de Mortanges, 1998). The idea was to think about the lasting term, make new networks, and push the client to consider the viability, changing the old and long system to establish a more sustainable future.

Unilever has a successful growth strategy that has enabled it to continue building on the strengths of its four major global brand: Rexona, Sunsilk, Dove, and Lux. This has created robust platforms for further development in several toiletries and cosmetics sectors. This has been specifically unmistakable in deodorants, men's grooming products as well as shower and bath products, with robust growth for the Axe and Rexona brands. Nevertheless, competition in the toiletries and cosmetics industry remains harsh and. In contrast, the present strategy in offering results, great innovation of products and marketing support, and additional development of functionality in products will be required to maintain the market. Over the next couple of years, Unilever's key rivals will be Procter and Gamble, which has substantial resources for new product development activity and react to changes market changes in the market quickly compared to Unilever (Maljers, 1990). Another critical competitor will be L'Oreal, which equally benefits from being engaged in toiletries and cosmetics, unlike both Procter and Gamble and Unilever, which both possess cross-industry engagement, like in the packed food.

In an internationally competitive industry experienced by Unilever, much of the equivalent group of competing firms like L'Oreal and Procter and Gamble competes in several different nations. Particularly so in countries where sales volume is significant and where having a competitive presence is cleverly vital in building a robust global position in the industry. Hence, the competitive position of a company in one nation both impacts and is impacted by its position in other countries (Wheelen, 2011). In this case, invention plays a crucial role. Hence, in a market where innovation is always the key to growth, Unilever has spent in enhancing its research and developing procedure further inclusive of accelerating the process of launching new products in the market. Through the application of mass-market positioning, most of Unilever's organic growth approach is to influence the value of significant brands by cross-sectoral brand enlargement, hence taking advantage of client brand identification and loyalty, and forming market competences. The Dove brand is such one example of a renowned soap brand being effectively prolonged into hair and skincare and baby care grooming products.

References

Church, R., & Clark, C. (2003). Purposive Strategy or Serendipity? Development and Diversification in Three Consumer Product Companies, 1918-39: J. & J. Colman, Reckitt & Sons, and Lever Bros.Unilever. Business History, 45(1), 23-59.

de Mortanges, C. P., & Rad, A. T. (1998). Marketing strategy and market value: An event-study analysis. European Management Journal, 16(3), 365-371.

Jones, G., & Miskell, P. (2005). European integration and corporate restructuring: the strategy of Unilever, c. 1957-c. 1990 1. The Economic History Review, 58(1), 113-139.

Kolk, A., & Van Tulder, R. (2006). Poverty alleviation as business strategy? Evaluating commitments of frontrunner multinational corporations. World Development, 34(5), 789- 801.

Maljers, F. A. (1990). Strategic planning and intuition in Unilever. Long Range Planning, 23(2), 63-68.

Wheelen, T. L., & Hunger, J. D. (2011). Concepts in strategic management and business policy. Pearson Education India.