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Week 7
Daihan Cheng
Karen Manuharan
The case study this week is mainly talking about Unilever CEO Patrick Cescaus
description on as a company how to find a sweet spot between achieving social responsibility
and environmental sustainability, and making a profit in the market. At the beginning of
introduction, he said that the market complex nowadays is far away from the laissez faire
economics in early eighties that social responsibility and environmental sustainability are core
In the 21st century, in order to be faced with social and environmental challenges, the
only solution is to gather government, NGOs and industry work together effectively. Of course it
could be difficult to balance the interests among the entities, it is slowly but surely that both
governments and NGOs are able to gradually accept that NGOs has a social role in the
development agenda beyond making a few charitable donations. Furthermore, every time when
they face some challenges, both of them will also have an opportunity for innovation and
business development.
Patrick indicates that participating in the agenda is not only a business strategy for NGOs,
but also a critical driver of business growth. He also asserted that the business success are mainly
based on three key premises: Firstly, economic development. Developing and emerging markets
can make a positive contribution to economics especially in developing countries; it can also
reduce poverty rate in the areas; Secondly, social innovation. Companies should do more to
tackle issues newly emerged in the society; Thirdly, sustainability. In order to be successful,
Case Study for Week 7-Group #D (Group Member: Daihan Cheng, Karen Manuharan, Kyu Bum
Kim, Maria Verone Tanteo)
companies should reduce their environmental pollution and increase the sustainability in their
production process.
For Unilever itself, the company always follow their two principles to do the business: First, the
business health and prosperity is closely related to health and prosperity in the community they
economic growth through international trade and facilitate social progress by developing human
capital. However, the positive role of business is not often mentioned in the media. Companies
do not usually measure their economic, social and environmental footprint in the markets they
operate as communication without facts is tough. Therefore, Unilever tries to find out the
impacts its operations have in the developing world and Patrick chose Indonesia. The report
shows several interesting things. Firstly, most cash value Unilever creates stays in the Indonesia
local economy which challenges the perception which NGO have that multinationals make large
profits locally and immediately extract the wealth to shareholders in London and New York
without benefiting the local economy. Secondly, it is found that 84% of the raw materials were
from local suppliers therefore creating jobs and transferring technology from Unilever factories
all across the world. Finally, the report also reveals that their operations in Indonesia have a
multiplier effect on job creation. The business supports full time equivalent of 300,000 jobs
where more than half is in the distribution and retail chain while Unilever Indonesia only
The exercise revealed that the operation had limited impact in helping farmers and
shopkeepers to lift themselves out of poverty and also proves that it has a positive effect on
Case Study for Week 7-Group #D (Group Member: Daihan Cheng, Karen Manuharan, Kyu Bum
Kim, Maria Verone Tanteo)
developing countries. Patrick also initiated a second study together with Ethan Kapstein to
measure their footprint in quantitative terms and also analyses the soft impacts such as training
and skills transfer, support for government capacity building, black empowerment initiatives and
Capacity building is used by economists to describe the creation of skills and physical
infrastructure, public health and administrative frameworks which are essential for developing
countries in order to prosper which can be built at the micro level of individual companies and
communities and also at the macro level of the state. Unilever engages at both levels in Africa.
An example pf macro level intervention is the work that Unilever was one of the founder
members of Investment Climate Facility which have committed 1M Euros to address some
building at micro level is Business Action against Chronic Hunger which aims to help
Unilevers Kenyan tea plantations are aiming to help farmers to convert their small holdings
from commodities to higher value crops like sunflowers, herbs and spices where Unilever
guaranteed to buy their crop at market prices which will then be used in Blue Band Margarine
and herbs in Royco. Unilevers aim is to enable farmers to earn enough money during the first
year and make a surplus for nest year where farmers agreed to put 10% of their surplus value into
community projects in future years in return for the help with training and start-up costs.
Unilever has high performance in fulfilling its corporate social responsibilities. This
performance is notable even though the Unilever Foundation was globally launched only in
2012. The global reach of the companys business partners, supply chain and distribution
networks facilitates the large-scale positive impact of its CSR strategy. Nonetheless, increased
Case Study for Week 7-Group #D (Group Member: Daihan Cheng, Karen Manuharan, Kyu Bum
Kim, Maria Verone Tanteo)
market presence can enhance such performance. For example, Unilever can use its strong brand
image to raise consumer awareness about community needs. This recommendation emphasizes
the need for public awareness to support the corporate citizenship activities of the company and
related organizations. Unilever has announced the next wave of innovation challenges as part of
The Transform initiative is a result of a partnership between the UKs Department for
International Development (DFID), the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership (CGEP) and
Unilever with the aim to create jobs, increase incomes and improve the health and wellbeing of
100 million people in developing countries by 2025, in support of the Global Goals.
which aims to double the size of the Unilever business while reducing the companys
environmental footprint and increasing its positive social impact. The Transform initiative will be
a five year, minimum 10 million, programme that will initially focus on water, sanitation and
hygiene (WASH) and household energy. The project is the first initiative to be launched since
Unilever and DFID committed to working together to help the worlds poor in 2014 and the first
partnership of its kind between a leading international business and DFID. CGEP joins as the
Dove commissioned new research with social media scholar and Principal Researcher at
Microsoft Research, Danah Boyd, to better understand how girls are engaging with and effected
by social media. 95% of girls have seen negative beauty posts, comments, snaps, videos or
photos, and 72% see these beauty critiques at least once a week4. The next generation is
growing up fully immersed in a social media world where female empowerment is at its peak,
Case Study for Week 7-Group #D (Group Member: Daihan Cheng, Karen Manuharan, Kyu Bum
Kim, Maria Verone Tanteo)
said Danah Boyd. Girls have heard the message loud and clear that positive self-image matters,
but theyre also struggling with what it means in practice. Were seeing a growing desire among
the next generation to change the world through social media movements, and we have an
incredible opportunity to offer girls the online tools to make this change happen.
Majority of companies around the world are considering the issues of sustainability as the
term actually matters to everyone. Sustainability consist of not only environmental issues but
also economical and social norms. Not long ago, companies started how to go green and with
minimum natural resources they initiate plan to maximize the outcome of raw materials. This
matter became reality after the consumer has become part of the companies.
The consumers of companies now want to make sure the people who are supporting for
their goods. One of example would be coffee companies, they are willing to provide necessary
goods for their supply chains; Columbia. Not only coffee companies but also numerous
businesses are willing to take part in eco-ethical project. What consumers want to see is the
change of it not the formal news. It is very obvious if certain company is practicing sustainability
or not.
The sustainability would not be favorable to all of companies but certainly it does provide
vast opportunities and innovating futuristic companies. The Lipton one of most famous and
company supplying the tea is also taking steps of sustainability. Now the company Lipton
established to support their supply chain developing countries, The Lipton Company can lift
Not all companies will continue to be genuinely sustainable. The reason for explanation
is that if the companies fail to do the sustainable actions, the win-win business will never come.
Case Study for Week 7-Group #D (Group Member: Daihan Cheng, Karen Manuharan, Kyu Bum
Kim, Maria Verone Tanteo)
As in business sense, happy cows make happy cheese. What it means is that if companies can
support and interact with consumer and farmers and have great communications, there will be
better bright future. If companies are hiding the truth and makes no effort, the result will be
negative.
In conclusion, the businesses around the world must dedicate and have social
responsibility plus sustainable plans as it is no longer option for them. Now that we
acknowledge it is crucial for our society and company, the guidance to employees and young
adults is necessary. At the very end, what it matters to all the businesses are the internal and
external consumers and the suppliers. If we all know how of corporate social responsibility,
sustainability and how we should treat our society there wont be people who are suffering from
lack of anything.
References
Case Study for Week 7-Group #D (Group Member: Daihan Cheng, Karen Manuharan, Kyu Bum
Kim, Maria Verone Tanteo)
MacDonald, C. (2013). Business Ethics: Decision-Making for Personal Integrity &
Social Responsibility.
Ditlev-Simonsen, C. D., & Wenstop, F. (2013). How stakeholders view stakeholders as CSR
Dove. (2016). Dove and Twitter Launch #SpeakBeautiful Effect, a New Technology That
Analyzes Tweets About Appearance to Help Us Realize the Emotional Effect of Our
releases/2016/new-dove-research-reveals-girls-want-to-make-social-media-a-positive-
place.html
Miles, M. P., Munilla, L. S., & Darroch, J. (2006). The role of strategic conversations with