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Week 6. Discussion response and student response. Case Study

Case Study Instructions:

Week 6 Case Discussion
5 Sources including the case are required including the ones listed below
https://www(dot)bcg(dot)com/publications/2019/overcoming-four-big-barriers-to-innovation-success.aspx
https://www(dot)mckinsey(dot)com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/the-eight-essentials-of-innovation
https://www(dot)forbes(dot)com/innovative-companies/list/
PLEASE USE THE ATTACHED CASE
PART 1
Questions for this Week:
1. What were the key organizational changes that Unilever introduced internally to support the transition to sustainable products? What else could the/should they have done?
Remember to support your answers by citing your source in APA style citations.
PART 2
Please respond to the following discussion post, talk about what you agree with what you disagree with BACK UP YOUR RESPONSE WITH SOURCES FROM THE ATTACHED CASE STUDY OR OUTSIDE SOURCES
MUST FOLLOW APA.
Rutherford Johnson
Unilever’s new CEO decided to take the company in a new direction, making sustainability an integral part not just of values of the company, but of corporate strategy (Bartlett, 2016). He believed that would be the key to long-term success (Bartlett, 2016). In order to do that, he had to create a new internal organisational structure focused on channeling responsibility and authority in the right directions (Bartlett, 2016).

Roma uno die non aedificata est. So, first, the CEO created a new version of a Chief Marketing Officer, tasking that person with the responsibility not only for communications, but also sustainability. More than simply sustainability implementation, the CMO would have responsibility for integrating the sustainability portion of corporate strategy with marketing, indicating that the two were inherently linked. From there, building on the success of that first step, the CEO created an expanded role of Chief Sustainability Officer in order to help ensure sustainability-based strategy was well known as something that touched all aspects of company operations. Next, a new Senior Vice President of Marketing launched a new programme to build “brand love” based on the sustainable values and product quality of the company. This further helps to solidify the linkage of sustainability with all aspects of corporate strategy in all divisions of the company. Then, to expand the focus on the triple bottom line, the social element was added. A new Vice President of Social Impact was recruited in order to focus on a social agenda, such as workplace fairness and human rights in the supply chain. Continuing, and also building on the CEO’s appointment to a United Nations group focused on the UN Global Compact, the company sought to bolster its internal efforts with partnerships with governments, NGOs, supply chain members, etc., as well as supporting those organisations with its internal efforts. That final step was designed to further Unilever as a company in a global leadership role for environmental and social transformation. That included elements such as sustainable agriculture and the improvement of health and hygiene (For simplicity of citation, n.b.: This paragraph is derived from the following article: Bartlett, 2016).

In order to ensure effectiveness, sufficient stakeholder involvement is needed (Griffiths and Petrick, 2001). Perhaps I missed it, but there did not appear to me to be a tremendous amount of stakeholder feedback from the company, but rather a lot of internal decision-making for the purpose of leading the community and outside organisations. So, again assuming I read that correctly, one area of possible improvement would be to get more direct feedback from various stakeholder groups, particularly in the societal areas that they are trying to help. (Perhaps this is already being done and is what is actually driving the internal decisions?)

Another aspect that will be needed moving into the future is to remain flexible in strategy and organisational structure in order to maintain efficient operations that account for intended environmental and social goals (Griffiths and Petrick, 2001). Given the CEO’s current track record of continual modification, I suspect this will not likely be a problem – with the acknowledgment that it is always a theoretical possibility for anyone to get stuck in one method of doing things.

Also, an area of their social efforts that they may wish to consider as they move forward is to consider how, if at all, their operations currently cause social or cultural disruptions (Sánchez, 1998). This would seem to me to be particularly important given the rapid societal changes around the world at present. Additionally, this seems particularly important given the vast array of social conditions and cultures in which Unilever and its supply and distribution chains operate.

REFERENCES
Bartlett, C.A. (2016). Unilever's New Global Strategy: Competing through Sustainability. Harvard Business School Case 916-414, November 2015. (Revised August 2016.)
Griffiths, A. and Petrick, J. A. (2001). Corporate architectures for sustainability. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 21(12).
Sánchez, L.E. (1998). Industry Response to the Challenge of Sustainability: The Case of the Canadian Nonferrous Mining Sector. Environmental Management, 22(4).

Case Study Sample Content Preview:

WEEK 6 DISCUSSION RESPONSE AND STUDENT RESPONSE
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The key organizational changes that Unilever introduced internally to support the transition to sustainable products.
When Polman was hired to run Unilever in the capacity of CEO, he introduced a few strategies that he hoped would transform the company to be competitive and sustainable in the long run. Polman expected the transition to be complex and challenging but he implemented several strategies to overcome them. First, he constituted a new role (Unilever leadership executive ULE) to which he tasked with Keith Weed. The new role came about after combining the role of chief marketing officer with the responsibility of both communications and sustainability CITATION Bar16 \l 1033 (Bartlett, 2016). Weed would coordinate the development and implementation of the USLP sustainability strategy. Therefore, one of the key changes Polman did was to create a new role and appointed a person to oversee the program.
Secondly, he shuffled and reconstituted top management. In his first year at the helm of Unilever, Polman changed a third of the top 100 executives CITATION Bar16 \l 1033 (Bartlett, 2016). He also changed the roles of many other executives within the top management to align their roles with the new strategic direction of the company. Along the way, other new faces were hired to take up new roles aligned with the strategic direction of the company. For example, Gail Klintworth was hired to the chief sustainability officer and Jeff Seabright replaced him. Other executives who were axed, transferred or their roles scrapped altogether were the global head of foods, home, personal care and chief marketing officer CITATION Bar16 \l 1033 (Bartlett, 2016).
Thirdly, Polman changed the culture which de described to be ‘internally focused and self-serving.’ in his early days, Polman froze the salaries of some of the executives and cut overseas travel. It was only after five years wen Polman considered his vision to have significantly progressed that he considered reintroducing rewards based on ‘manager’s effectiveness in meeting USLP goals.’ Previously, managers were awarded based on their financial performance. Still, the new approach was designed based on their accountability on their sustainability objectives.
Concisely, Unilever created new roles and departments and tasked them with implementing the new corporate strategy. It restructured the organization and, in some cases the roles of some employees in various capacities.
What Unilever would have done
While the strategy adopted by Polman was largely effective, there was still room to improve in the implement...
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