Unilever
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| Type | Public (Euronext: UNA) (LSE: ULVR) (NYSE: UN) (Unilever N.V.) (NYSE: UL) (Unilever PLC) |
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| Industry | Conglomerate |
| Founded | 1930 |
| Headquarters |
Unilever House, City of London, United Kingdom Rotterdam, Netherlands |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Key people | Michael Treschow (Chairman) Lord Simon of Highbury (Vice Chairman) Paul Polman (CEO) |
| Products | See brands listing |
| Revenue | €39,823 million (2009)[1] |
| Operating income | €5,020 million (2009)[1] |
| Net income | €3,659 million (2009)[1] |
| Employees | 163,000 (2010)[2] |
| Website | http://unilever.com |
Unilever is an Anglo-Dutch multinational corporation that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products.
Unilever is a dual-listed company consisting of Unilever N.V. in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and Unilever PLC in London, United Kingdom. This arrangement is similar to those of Reed Elsevier and Royal Dutch Shell prior to their unified structures. Both Unilever companies have the same directors and effectively operate as a single business. The current non-executive Chairman of Unilever N.V. and PLC is Michael Treschow while Paul Polman is Group Chief Executive.
Unilever's main competitors include Danone, Henkel, Kraft Foods, Nestlé, Pepsico, Procter & Gamble, Reckitt Benckiser, Sara Lee and S. C. Johnson & Son.
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History
Unilever was created in 1930 by the amalgamation of the operations of British soapmaker Lever Brothers and Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie, a merger as palm oil was a major raw material for both margarines and soaps and could be imported more efficiently in larger quantities.
In the 1930s the business of Unilever grew and new ventures were launched in Latin America. In 1972 Unilever purchased A&W Restaurants' Canadian division but sold its shares through a management buyout to former A&W Food Services of Canada CEO Jefferson J. Mooney in July 1996.[3] By 1980 soap and edible fats contributed just 40% of profits, compared with an original 90%. In 1984 the company bought the brand Brooke Bond (maker of PG Tips tea).
In 1987 Unilever strengthened its position in the world skin care market by acquiring Chesebrough-Ponds, the maker of Ragú, Pond's, Aqua-Net, Cutex Nail Polish, and Vaseline. In 1989 Unilever bought Calvin Klein Cosmetics, Fabergé, and Elizabeth Arden, but the latter was later sold (in 2000) to FFI Fragrances.[4]
In 1996 Unilever purchased Helene Curtis Industries, giving the company "a powerful new presence in the United States shampoo and deodorant market".[4] The purchase brought Unilever the Suave and Finesse hair-care product brands and Degree deodorant brand.[5]
Black represents employment numbers in Europe, light grey represents the Americas and dark grey represents Asia, Africa, and Middle East. Between 2000 and 2008 Unilever reduced global workforce numbers by 41%, from 295,000 to 174,000. Note: Europe figures for 2000-2003 are all Europe; from 2004 figures in black are Western Europe. For 2004-2008 Figures for Asia, Africa and Middle East include Eastern and Central Europe.
Source: Unilever Annual Reports 2004, 2008
In 2000 the company absorbed the American business Best Foods, strengthening its presence in North America and extending its portfolio of foods brands. In April 2000 it bought both Ben & Jerry's and Slim Fast.
The company is fully multinational with operating companies and factories on every continent (except Antarctica) and research laboratories at Colworth and Port Sunlight in England; Vlaardingen in the Netherlands; Trumbull, Connecticut, and Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey in the United States; Bangalore in India (see also Hindustan Unilever Limited); and Shanghai in China.
The US division continued to carry the Lever Brothers name until the 1990s, when it adopted the parent company's moniker. The American unit now has headquarters in New Jersey, and no longer maintains a presence at Lever House, the iconic skyscraper on Park Avenue in New York City.
The company is said to promote sustainability[6] and started a sustainable agriculture programme in 1998.[7] In May 2007 it became the first tea company to commit to sourcing all its tea in a sustainable manner,[8] employing the Rainforest Alliance, an international environmental NGO, to certify its tea estates in East Africa, as well as third-party suppliers in Africa and other parts of the world.[9] It declared its aim to have all Lipton Yellow Label and PG Tips tea bags sold in Western Europe certified by 2010, followed by all Lipton tea bags globally by 2015.[10]
Covalence, an ethical reputation ranking agency, placed Unilever at the top of its ranking based on positive versus negative news coverage for 2007.[11]
In 2008 Unilever was honoured at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Achievement in Advanced Media Technology for Creation and Distribution of Interactive Commercial Advertising Delivered Through Digital Set Top Boxes" for its program Axe: Boost Your ESP.[12]
Products
Unilever owns more than 400 brands as a result of acquisitions, however, the company focuses on what are called the "billion-dollar brands", 13 brands, each of which achieve annual sales in excess of €1 billion. Unilever's top 25 brands account for more than 70% of sales.[13] The brands fall almost entirely into two categories: Food and Beverages, and Home and Personal Care.
Unilever's brands include:
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Advertising
Unilever has produced many advertising campaigns, including:
- Lynx/Axe click advert with Nick Lachey
- PG Tips Monkey and Al
- Knorr Chicken Tonight, 'I feel like chicken tonight'
- Flora London Marathon
- Knorr global brand
- Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, including Evolution
- Calve Pindakaas (peanut butter) in the Netherlands
- Comfort Pure recommended by mothercare
- Clear Anti-Dandruff shampoo and conditioner with the entertainer Rain
- Clear Anti-Dandruff shampoo and conditioner with the entertainer Nicole Scherzinger
- Clear Soft and Shiny shampoo and conditioner with the actress Sandra Dewi
Corporate governance
Unilever's highest executive body is called the Unilever Executive which is led by the Group Chief Executive (Paul Polman). It is responsible for delivering profit and growth across the company.
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Members of the Unilever Executive include:
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Executive and non-executive directors at Unilever are:
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Corporate image
Unilever claims that corporate social responsibility is at the heart of its business.[17] However, the transition to a responsible and sustainable company is ongoing and Unilever has attracted a variety of criticisms from political, environmental and human rights activists on not achieving the high aims it communicates on a number of topics.[18]
Environmental issues
- Palm oil
Unilever has been criticised by Greenpeace for causing deforestation,[19] Unilever was targeted in 2008 by Greenpeace UK,[20] which criticised the company for buying palm oil from suppliers that are damaging Indonesia's rainforests. Unilever, as a founding member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), responded by publicizing its plan to obtain its palm oil from sources that are certified as sustainable by 2015.[21]
In Côte d'Ivoire, one of Unilever's palm oil suppliers was accused of clearing forest for plantations, an activity that threatens a primate species, Miss Waldron's Red Colobus. Unilever intervened to halt the clearances pending the results of an environmental assessment.[22]
On 4 July 2010, Unilever announced that it has secured enough GreenPalm certificates of sustainable palm oil to cover the requirements of its European, Australia, and New Zealand business. GreenPalm is a certificate trading programme, endorsed by the RSPO, which is designed to tackle the environmental and social problems created by the production of palm oil.
- Rainforest Alliance
Unilever has committed to purchase all its tea from sustainable, ethical sources. It has asked the international environmental NGO, Rainforest Alliance, to start by certifying tea farms in Africa.
Lipton and PG Tips will be the first brands to contain certified tea. The company aims to have all Lipton Yellow Label and PG Tips tea bags sold in Western Europe certified by 2010 and all Lipton tea bags sold globally by 2015.
- Dumping of chemical waste
Greenpeace accused Unilver of double standards for allowing its Indian subsidiary, Hindustan Lever, to dump several tonnes of highly toxic mercury waste in the tourist resort of Kodaikanal and the surrounding protected nature reserve of Pambar Shola, in Tamil Nadu, Southern India. The mercury is a rest product of the Hindustan Lever factory which manufactures mercury thermometers for export, mainly to the United States.[23]
- Animal testing
Unilever states it is committed to the elimination of animal testing, and where it is a legal requirement in some countries, it tries to convince the local authorities to change the law.[24] Some activists argue that this is little more than an effort to gain good publicity and Unilever continue to use animal experimentation such as the LD50 poisoning test.
Social issues
Race and advertisements
Hindustan Unilever, had been showing television advertisements for skin-lightening cream, Fair and Lovely, depicting depressed, dark-skinned women, who had been ignored by employers and men, suddenly finding new boyfriends and glamorous careers after the cream had lightened their skin.[25]
The Austrian branch of Unilever (Eskimo) is producing and marketing an ice-cream under the name Mohr im Hemd. "Mohr" (moor), is a colonial German word for African or black people, has a heavily colonialist and racist connotation.[26][27], "Mohr im Hemd" (moor in the shirt) is a traditional Austrian chocolate speciality which refers to naked, "wild" Africans. Unilever refutes any racist intentions and claims that it has tested the name in broad market studies in Austria without any critical feedback.
On 22 April 2010, Unilever distanced itself from the far-right British National Party, after a jar of Marmite was featured on a BNP election propaganda film.[28] The company statement said: "It has been brought to our attention that the British National Party has included a Marmite jar in a political broadcast shown currently online. We want to make it absolutely clear that Marmite did not give the BNP permission to use a pack shot of our product in their broadcast. Neither Marmite nor any other Unilever brand are aligned to any political party. We are currently initiating injunction proceedings against the BNP to remove the Marmite jar from the online broadcast and prevent them from using it in future."
Sexism in advertisements
The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood criticized Unilever for the 2007 Axe marketing campaign, which they considered sexist.[29] Unilever's response is that the Axe campaign is intended as a spoof and "not meant to be taken literally".[30]
Unilever has launched the Dove "Real Beauty" marketing campaign, which encouraged women to reject the underfed and hyper-sexualized images of modern advertising in 2007.[31]
Child labour
Hindustan Unilever has been accused of making use of child labour,[32] among others.
Relief support
On 15 January 2010, Unilever donated a $500,000 monetary donation to the victims of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, through its global partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).
See also
- Morris Tabaksblat, a previous CEO
- Gorton's of Gloucester, a former subsidiary
- Palm Line, a former shipping company
- Unilever Australasia
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Annual Report 2009
- ↑ Unilever: About us
- ↑ Chronolgy of A&W Root Beer Canada
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 New York Times, February 15, 1996 "Unilever Agrees to Buy Helene Curtis".
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ Ethical Corporation article
- ↑ Unilever's sustainable agriculture programme
- ↑ San Diego Times
- ↑ Unilver: Sustainable Tea
- ↑ Unilever press release
- ↑ Covalence Ethical Ranking 2007 Press Release, 2 January 2008
- ↑ 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards
- ↑ 2008 Annual Report and Accounts pp.2-3.
- ↑ "Blue Band, Rama". http://www.unilever.com/brands/foodbrands/blueband_rama_countrycrock_doriana/index.aspx.
- ↑ "Unilever Completes TIGI Acquisition". GCI magazine. April 14, 2009. http://www.gcimagazine.com/business/suppliers/acquisitions/42958262.html.
- ↑ "TIGI consumer site". http://www.tigihaircare.com/consumer/en-NZ/home/.
- ↑ "Beyond Corporate Responsibility:Social innovation and sustainable development as drivers of business growth". Unilever. http://www.unilever.com/images/Beyond%20Corporate%20Responsibilty%20-%20Social%20innovation%20and%20sustainable%20development%20as%20drivers%20of%20business%20growth_tcm13-95521.pdf. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
- ↑ "Unilever Corporate Crimes". Corporate Watch. http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=260#cheapresources. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
- ↑ "Unilever admits toxic dumping: will clean up but not come clean". Greenpeace. http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/contentlookup.cfm?CFID=6864301&CFTOKEN=96874361&ucidparam=20010620124942&MenuPoint=G-A. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
- ↑ "Ape protest at Unilever factory". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7358071.stm. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
- ↑ "Unilever has announced its intention to have all of its palm oil certified sustainable by 2015". http://www.unilever.com.au/ourcompany/newsandmedia/pressreleases/Sustainable-palm-oil.asp. Retrieved 2008-05-01.
- ↑ "Manifesto for the Conservation of the Tanoé Swamps Forest". http://www.manifeste-fmt.org/updates.php. Retrieved 2008-07-19.
- ↑ "Unilever Environmental Pollution". Corporate Watch. http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=260#env. Retrieved 2007-08-08.
- ↑ "Developing Alternative Approaches To Animal Testing". http://www.unilever.com/sustainability/consumer/testing/. Retrieved 2010-08-05.
- ↑ Dhillon, Amrit (2007-07-01). "India's hue and cry over paler skin". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/01/wskin101.xml. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
- ↑ Der Standard: "I will mohr!: Werberat prüft"
- ↑ FM4: "Will i mohr?"
- ↑ Jeffery, Simon (2010-04-22). "Marmite and the BNP: love them or hate them, they've added a new taste to the election". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2010/apr/22/general-election-20101. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
- ↑ Ax the Axe Campaign
- ↑ Unilever Shuns Stereotypes of Women (Unless Talking to Men) - New York Times
- ↑ Unilever Disrobed: Interview With Dove/Axe Mashup Artist
- ↑ "Monsanto, Unilever use Child Labour in India". India Committee of the Netherlands. http://www.indiaresource.org/issues/agbiotech/2003/monsantounilever.html. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
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