Mission

Our Mission
In the last five years, we have built our business by focusing on
our brands, streamlining how we work, and improving our insight
into the evolving needs and tastes of consumers. Now we are
taking the next step in simplification - by aligning ourselves
around a clear common mission.
We recognise that the world in which we operate is changing. Consumers are
increasingly bringing their views as citizens into their buying decisions,
demanding more from the companies behind the brands. They want companies
and brands they trust.
Unilever embraces these new expectations. Our heritage of good governance,
product quality and long experience of working with communities gives us a
strong base.We aim to build on this by taking the next step in transparency and
accountability. We will stand visibly as Unilever, behind our products and
everything we do, everywhere.
Every day 150 million people in over 150 countries choose our products.
Already, most of our brands give the benefits of feeling good, looking good and
getting more out of life. Bertolli, for example, conjures up the Italian zest for life
and Becel/Flora keeps hearts healthy. Sunsilk helps you feel happier because
your hair looks great. Our laundry brand, Omo, encourages children to get dirty
so they can experience more of life.
In the future, our brands will do even more to add vitality to life. Our vitality
mission will focus our brands on meeting consumer needs arising from the
biggest issues around the world today ageing populations, urbanisation,
changing diets and lifestyles.
We see growing consumer need for:

a healthy lifestyle

more variety, quality, taste and enjoyment

time, as an increasingly precious commodity

helping people to feel good, look good and get more out of life will enable
us to meet these needs and expand our business.
Unilever is in a unique position to understand the interrelationships between
nutrition, hygiene and personal care. We can do this thanks to our strong

science capability and our locally rooted consumer insight. It is by bringing all
this together that we can strive to contribute to quality of life and wellbeing adding vitality to life.
The long-term success of our business is intimately interconnected with the
vitality of the environment and the communities in which we operate. The
environment provides us with our raw materials and the ingredients we need to
make our products. Healthy, prosperous communities provide us with a healthy,
growing consumer base.

Vision

Our vision
Unilever products touch the lives of over 2 billion people every
day whether that's through feeling great because they've got
shiny hair and a brilliant smile, keeping their homes fresh and
clean, or by enjoying a great cup of tea, satisfying meal or healthy
snack.

A clear direction
The four pillars of our vision set out the long term direction for the company
where we want to go and how we are going to get there:

We work to create a better future every day

We help people feel good, look good and get more out of life with brands
and services that are good for them and good for others.

We will inspire people to take small everyday actions that can add up to a
big difference for the world.

We will develop new ways of doing business that will allow us to double
the size of our company while reducing our environmental impact.

We've always believed in the power of our brands to improve the quality of
peoples lives and in doing the right thing. As our business grows, so do our
responsibilities. We recognise that global challenges such as climate change
concern us all. Considering the wider impact of our actions is embedded in our
values and is a fundamental part of who we are.
Historical background

Our history
Unilever's corporate vision helping people to look good, feel
good and get more out of life shows how clearly the business
understands 21st century-consumers and their lives. But the spirit
of this mission forms a thread that runs throughout our history.

Helping people get more out of life

In the 1890s, William Hesketh Lever, founder of Lever Bros, wrote down his ideas
for Sunlight Soap his revolutionary new product that helped popularise
cleanliness and hygiene in Victorian England. It was 'to make cleanliness
commonplace; to lessen work for women; to foster health and contribute to
personal attractiveness, that life may be more enjoyable and rewarding for the
people who use our products'.
This was long before the phrase 'Corporate Mission' had been invented, but
these ideas have stayed at the heart of our business. Even if their language
and the notion of only women doing housework has become outdated.
In a history that now crosses three centuries, Unilever's success has been
influenced by the major events of the day economic boom, depression, world
wars, changing consumer lifestyles and advances in technology. And throughout
we've created products that help people get more out of life cutting the time
spent on household chores, improving nutrition, enabling people to enjoy food
and take care of their homes, their clothes and themselves.

Balancing profit with responsible corporate behaviour

In the late 19th century the businesses that would later become Unilever were
among the most philanthropic of their time. They set up projects to improve the
lot of their workers and created products with a positive social impact, making
hygiene and personal care commonplace and improving nutrition through
adding vitamins to foods that were already daily staples.
Today, Unilever still believes that success means acting with 'the highest
standards of corporate behaviour towards our employees, consumers and the
societies and world in which we live'. Over the years we've launched or
participated in an ever-growing range of initiatives to source sustainable
supplies of raw materials, protect environments, support local communities and
much more.
Through this timeline you'll see how our brand portfolio has evolved. At the
beginning of the 21st century, our Path to Growth strategy focused us on global
high-potential brands and our Vitality mission has taken us into a new phase of
development. More than ever, our brands are helping people 'feel good, look
good and get more out of life' a sentiment close to Lord Leverhulme's heart
over a hundred years ago.
Building on this heritage, our priorities now are inspiring people to take small
everyday actions that can add up to a big difference for the world from laundry
brands that help minimise wasted water and packaging to nutritious, easily
prepared and affordable meals and snacks.

Timeline

19th
centur
y
1900s

1910s

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

Although Unilever wasn't formed until 1930, the companies that

joined forces to create the business we know today were already
well established before the start of the 20th century.

Unilever's founding companies produced products made of oils and

fats, principally soap and margarine. At the beginning of the 20th
century their expansion nearly outstrips the supply of raw
materials.

Tough economic conditions and the First World War make trading
difficult for everyone, so many businesses form trade associations
to protect their shared interests.

With businesses expanding fast, companies set up negotiations

intending to stop others producing the same types of products. But
instead they agree to merge - and so Unilever is created.

Unilever's first decade is no easy ride: it starts with the Great

Depression and ends with the Second World War. But while the
business rationalises operations, it also continues to diversify.

Unilever's operations around the world begin to fragment, but the

business continues to expand further into the foods market and
increase investment in research and development.

Business booms as new technology and the European Economic

Community lead to rising standards of living in the West, while new
markets open up in emerging economies around the globe.

As the world economy expands, so does Unilever and it sets about

developing new products, entering new markets and running a
highly ambitious acquisition programme.

Hard economic conditions and high inflation make the 70s a tough

time for everyone, but things are particularly difficult in the fastmoving consumer goods (FMCG) sector as the big retailers start to
flex their muscles.

1980s

1990s

The
21st
centur
y

Unilever is now one of the world's biggest companies, but takes

the decision to focus its portfolio, and rationalise its businesses to
focus on core products and brands.

The business expands into Central and Eastern Europe and further
sharpens its focus on fewer product categories, leading to the sale
or withdrawal of two-thirds of its brands.

The decade starts with the launch of Path to Growth, a five-year

strategic plan, and in 2004 further sharpens its focus on the needs
of 21st century consumers with its Vitality mission. In 2009,
Unilever announces its new corporate vision working to create a
better future every day with brands that help people look good,
feel good and get more out of life.

Introduction to Unilever
Bangladesh
Unilever Bangladesh (UBL) is the leading Fast Moving Consumer
Goods Company in Bangladesh with a heritage of 50 years and
products that are present in 98% of Bangladeshi households.
UBL started its journey in Bangladesh with the production of soaps in its factory
in Kalurghat, Chittagong. Over the years the company introduced many
affordable brands which won the hearts of consumers across the country. Today,
our brands are present in almost every household in the country.
UBL is the market leader in 7 of the 8 categories it operates in, with 20 brands
spanning across Home Care, Personal Care and Foods.

Its operations provide employment to over 10,000 people directly and indirectly
through its dedicated suppliers, distributors and service providers. 99.8% of UBL
employees are locals with a large number of local UBL employees now working
abroad in other Unilever companies as expatriates.

Doing Well by Doing Good

Unilever believes in ambitious growth of the business while fostering a
sustainable environment. We believe the two must be related and hence
sustainability is placed at the heart of everything we do. Our philosophy of
Doing Well by Doing Good is captured in the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan
(USLP).
Some of the initiatives under USLP in Bangladesh are :

Lifebuoy Lifesaver Program a Lifebuoy initiative to reduce child mortality

through handwashing with soap.

Oral Health & Hygiene Awareness Programme led by Pepsodent, this

school-based activation program aims to reach 7 million people with its dental
checkups and oral hygiene awareness.

Lifebuoy Friendship Hospital - launched in March 2002 in association with

the humanitarian organization "Friendship, the hospital is situated on a boat
with a dedicated medical team and reaches out to people who do not have
access to proper medical facilities.

Pureit - launched in 2010, Pureit is a water purifier which aims to provide

safe drinking water to 2.5 million people by 2015.

Pollydut - through this project unemployed youth in villages have been

incorporated into our distribution network to provide them with a sustainable
livelihood.

Aparajita - in association with JITA Bangladesh, UBL has created a

sustainable business opportunity for rural women in the form of Aparajita.
Aparajitas are recruited to sell UBL and other company products, door-to-door.
Over 7000 Aparajitas earn their living by selling UBL products.

Project Laser Beam (PLB) PLB, a multi-million dollar, multi-stakeholder

project between Unilever Foundation and WFP, was conducted in Shatkhira,
Bangladesh from 2010 to 2014. The project worked across four pillars

Nutrition, Water, Health and Hygiene, and Livelihood, to develop a holistic model
to eradicate malnutrition.

Tackling Malnutirition 2 projects with Save the Children addressing child

malnutrition have programs running in 4 divisions of the country. These projects
are aimed at aiding the Government improve their malnutrition treatment
infrastructure and provide direct interventions for effected individuals in terms
of nutrition education and livelihood.

UBL is a Joint Venture of the Government of Bangladesh and Unilever, one of the
worlds leading suppliers of fast moving consumer goods with strong local roots
in more than 100 countries across the globe. Unilever holds 60.4% share in UBL.

FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) industry is one of the faster growing
segments of the market. This segment touches every aspect of human life. The
market dynamics of the segment are changing very frequently. Even in the harsh
economic conditions of Bangladesh the FMCG market continues to grow at a
satisfactory rate of over 9%. With such rapid growth FMCG marketers need to
analyze selling performances of each product line in a professional manner. They
should also check the supermarket shelves to analyze in details of secondary sales
statistics of their products & the competitors products to understand the real world
market dynamics.
Bangladesh is a very populated country, which is the eighth largest in the world.
This large number of population of the country makes the FMCG segment more
potential. The top FMCG companies are characterized by their ability to produce the
items that are in highest demand by consumers and, at the same time, develop
loyalty and trust towards their brands.
What are Consumer Goods?
Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) or consumer packaged goods (CPG) are
products that are sold quickly and at relatively low cost. Examples include nondurable goods such as soft drinks, toiletries, over-the-counter drugs, toys, processed
foods and many other consumables. The term was coined by Neil H. Borden in 'The
Concept of the Marketing Mix' in 1965. ref. Wikipedia

FMCGs generally have a short shelf life. Some FMCGs, such as meat, fruits and
vegetables, dairy products, and baked goods, are highly perishable. Other goods
such as alcohol, toiletries, pre-packaged foods, soft drinks, and cleaning products
have high turnover rates.
As contribution margin (CM) of FMCG products is relatively small, they are generally
sold in large quantities to make substantial cumulative profit. FMCG is probably the
most classic case of low margin and high volume business.
One of the characteristics that define any type of product as a true FMCG is the fact
that it is non-durable. This leads to a continual cycle of consumption that makes it
feasible to mass produce the goods. Pre-packaged foods are a good example of this
characteristic. The food is purchased then consumed. When the food is gone,
consumers return to a retail outlet to purchase more units of the pre-packaged food.
Characteristics of FMCG products
From the consumers' perspective: Frequent purchase, Low involvement (little or no
effort to choose the item), and Low price
From the marketers' angle: High volumes, Low contribution margins, Extensive
distribution networks, and High stock turnover
Consumers play a crucial role in the FMCG sector as the price band of each FMCG
product is fixed depending largely on the consumer class which the particular
company is targeting.
SWOT Analysis of FMCG sector
Strengths
Low operational costs
Presence of established distribution networks in both urban and rural areas
Presence of well-known brands in FMCG sector
Weaknesses
Lower scope of investing in technology and achieving economies of scale,
especially in small sectors
Low exports levels
Me-too products illegally mimic the labels of the established brands. These
products narrow the scope of FMCG products in rural and semi-urban market.

Opportunities
Untapped rural market
Rising income levels, i.e. increase in purchasing power of consumers
Large domestic market
Export potential
High consumer goods spending
Threats
Removal of import restrictions resulting in replacing of domestic brands
Marketing Management of FMCG Products
FMCG organizations must go through answers of the following questions for better
marketing management
How to adopt brand management strategies?
How to train up salespeople and improve their sales revenue?
How to set advertising expenses?
How to analyze the competitors information in a short time?
How to do the sales forecast and planning in an efficient manner?
How to track sales & marketing data in real time and generate flexible sales
reports as different stakeholders require?
How to analyze consumer brand preferences?
How to establish positive company & brand images to the consumers?
Brand Managers / Marketing Managers of FMCG companies require facing the
challenges of finding and analyzing answers of the above questions for formulating
winning strategies for their brands.
The FMCG products of a company will find better development opportunities, if the
findings of the above questions are addressed properly as an input in its strategic
decision making.