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Unilever is a British multinational that produces food, cleaning and personal care products. The multinational has over 400 different brands. Well-known brands under Unilever include Hellman’s, Vaseline, Dove, Blue Band and Ben & Jerry’s. Despite Unilever owning these brands, these brands have their own ‘branding’ formula.
The corporate structure of Unilever
Unilever’s corporate structure is a so-called dual business structure. This means that it has two head offices, one in Rotterdam, The Netherlands (namely Unilever NV), and one in London (Unilever PLC). NV and PLC are two parent companies which operate separately from each other. There are also separate legal entities who have their own shares which are also not interchangeable. Nevertheless, NV and PLC have the same directors, so that unity of governance and management can be ensured.
Corporate responsibility
Unilever considers sustainability and improve people’s health, confidence and wellbeing as extremely important. They are aware of the impact they can make globally, since they have brands all over the world. To this end, it has developed the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan. Here it has three goals it wants to achieve. Firstly, to improve the health and well-being of people. Secondly, to halve the environmental footprint of its products. Finally, it wants to source 100% of its agricultural raw materials from sustainable agriculture, so that the living standards of those working in this chain can be greatly improved. To achieve its goals, Unilever is in constant dialogue with its suppliers and also with NGOs.
Responsibility’s
Being a multinational company, it therefore feels a certain responsibility towards the overall society. It therefore invests frequently in local economies and develops special programmes on, for example, hygiene, nutrition, environmental awareness and empowerment.
Origins
The fact that there is a headquarters in the Netherlands and a headquarters in the UK is not entirely without reason. In fact, Unilever was created in 1930 thanks to a merger between the Dutch Margarine Union and the British Lever Brothers. The British Kever Brothers is a soap manufacturer that also traded in other grocery products. The reason for the merger was that both companies were basically competing for the same raw materials.
After the merger, Unilever continued to expand into other types of products and also became active in more and more countries. This eventually allowed it to grow into the multinational company it is today.
