Global Strategic Management Plans Company Selected: Unilever PLC Unilever PLC has a robust global strategic management s

Global Strategic Management Plans

Company Selected: Unilever PLC

Unilever PLC has a robust global strategic management strategy, which is closely related to the definition of strategic management provided by Frynas and Mellahi (2015) as a long-term strategy of decision-making dedicated to the attainment of a sustainable competitive advantage. Unilever is an MNC with operations in more than 190 countries and it has traditionally combined global efficiency and local responsiveness, which makes it a suitable case of successful global strategic management.

The long term strategic management direction towards sustainability and value creation is the first key factor that demonstrates that Unilever has strong global strategic management. Unilever Compass strategy incorporates environmental, social and economic goals in the business activities. Unilever integrates sustainability in product development, supply chain management, and market expansion instead of considering sustainability as a marginal activity, which enhances long-term competitiveness and trust between the company and its stakeholders (Eccles, Ioannou, and Serafeim, 2022).

Second, Unilever has a good global-local integration. The company has a transnational strategy that includes global brand consistency and regional subsidiaries that are flexible to suit local preferences of consumers. The resultant strategic balance would facilitate Unilever to attain economies of scale without being culturally and market insensitive, which is a major success factor in global strategic management (Verbeke and Kano, 2021).

Third, the development of the dynamic capability and the constant strategic adaptation of Unilever is the reason of its good global strategy. The company is actively reconstructing its portfolio, sells the brands that are not performing, and makes investments in the areas of high growth, including plant-based foods and personal care. This flexibility enables Unilever to be effective to global disruptions, competitive forces, and changing consumer demands and hence competitive advantage over time (Teece, 2023).

To sum it up, the long-term strategic orientation, successful global-local integration and adaptive capabilities of Unilever present a strong global strategic management plan that is consistent with the existing strategic management theory and modern global business issues.

References

Eccles, R. G., Ioannou, I., & Serafeim, G. (2022). The impact of corporate sustainability on organizational performance. Management Science, 68(4), 2489–2511. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.4022

Frynas, J. G., & Mellahi, K. (2015). Global strategic management (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Teece, D. J. (2023). Dynamic capabilities and strategic management: Organizing for innovation and growth. Strategic Management Journal, 44(1), 3–21. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3495

Verbeke, A., & Kano, L. (2021). The new internalization theory and multinational enterprises from emerging economies. Journal of World Business, 56(4), 101–115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2021.101202