Assignment Sample on Supply Chain Strategy and Processes
1. Introduction
The report has aimed at the supply chain management of the company Unilever with a chosen product group with it. The operation performance objective of quality is identified to have critical evaluation of the supply chain. The supply chain strategy of Unilever is enlightened in a thoughtful manner to point out its performance. The upstream of Unilever in the supply chain is identified as well the intermediaries remaining at the lower part of the supply chain of Unilever. Further, recommendation is made on the supply chain processes and upgrading the quality of operation performance. The supply chain management and the performance objectives on quality is compared with the competitive rival of Unilever in this assignment.
2. Suppliers of the company
Unilever is a well-known brand globally known for manufacturing different types of customer goods. As Acar et al. (2019) mentioned, the company prefers delivering the best quality products to the customers to maintain a good relationship with the customers. One of the company’s goals is to improve the productivity and image of the company and the other parties involved with Unilever. The company has claimed that they gather the raw materials for the products from different places across the world to maintain the quality of the product. The company has suppliers in nearly more than 187 countries and has multiple delivery channels for reaching the maximum customers. The main reason for having a wide range of suppliers is to satisfy the customers by not compromising the products quality.
Due to a large supply chain of ingredients, the company does not face any shortage of raw materials. According to Hofmann and Sertori (2020), the company can supply the desired products to respective customers according to their desire. The image of the company is maintained and creates a clear and positive view of the existing customers. It is only possible due to the exact supply of ingredients and a good and healthy relationship between the company and the suppliers for finished products. The substances delivered to Unilever are checked by the company and returned in case of defects. The availability of the substances is never hampered due to a wide range of supply chains. It is an essential and fundamental part of the business and needs to be maintained accordingly. The entire processing of the products depends on the delivery, quality and prices of the raw materials.
Unilever being a manufacturer of customer products, suppliers who are working are heard to accompany the company for a long time. As urged by Chernobay et al. (2020), it helps the company maintain sustainability and increase its launching of different products in the market. The production of the company increases along with the increase in the customer and their trust. It has also been heard that the company has also planned for establishing an inter-organizational relationship with the suppliers that are in the long term with the company. The idea includes the involvement of the product’s entire procedure like raw materials, processes, and packaging till the delivery. A good volume of suppliers are operating from various regions of the globe and is contributing towards a higher competition level.
The company claims to buy the raw materials from suppliers that provide the best quality of substances at a reasonable rate and has a low default rate. According to Sinulingga (2019), the contracts that are made between the company and the suppliers are renewed based on previous experiences. The continuous improvement of quality, capability, introducing new materials and pricing depending on quality and quantity are the factors that are the main demands of Unilever from the suppliers. Nowadays, the customers focus more on the different ingredients present on the finished product as they are much more health-conscious.
3. Intermediaries of the Supply chain
The intermediaries of a supply chain are referred to as the groups who distribute the products after the manufacturing process of a productive firm is completed. The groups or organizations focus on the distribution process of a product that is available for consumption. As per the view of Wieland (2021), these organizations ensure the purchase of the commodity by the consumers. The intermediaries consist of the groups of wholesalers, distributors, retailers and agents. The intermediaries remain the backbone for the manufacturing firm Unilever as they depend on these groups or organizations for the purchase of their products and items. These groups form a chain or network that spreads out the supply of the items or products after manufacturing firms let off the products from their warehouses.
Unilever has multiple intermediaries such Walmart, P&G, Kimberly Clark Corporations who have a large network in the lower level of supply that distributes the products and items. As per the view of Sinulingga (2019), the company is further increasing their strategic partnership with other intermediaries of the supply chain as it would lead to better reach of their products in the market. Unilever has fluent supply chain management that empowers the company to have a better distribution of their items and products. Unilever has logistics operations of over 100 countries around the world that influence the company to have a further distribution of the products (SURESH et al. 2021).
Recent changes in the international market have impacted in considering to change the supply chain of Unilever as current trends are having a deep impact in the market. The consumers have moreover enjoyed the benefits of shopping from home as the coronavirus pandemic has forced the people from going outside. Unilever has also shifted its focus to website marketing by developing their websites and provided the customers to shop from there. As per the view of Chang(2020), has influenced in developing the logistics department of the company as delivery of the products remains a crucial part of this process. Expansion of the logistics team encouraged the company to focus on logistics management. Unilever has expanded their partnership with the JD logistics to expand their logistics management in China (unilever.com, 2020). The partnership will help the company to explore sustainable and smart solutions for logistics in the supply chain.
Unilever is already partnered with the global supply chain such as Amazon, Alibaba that distributes the products of the company through the internet in multiple countries. Those companies completely taking the responsibility of logistics and distribution operation in several countries have influenced the company in capturing the market. As per the view of Min (2019), having partners for global distributors of the products and items in the international market has raised the growth rate of the company. However, the main concern for the company is this aspect is that the intermediaries must hand over the items and products in appropriate condition to the customers. Products with degraded quality can create a terrible impression of the company in the minds of the consumers.
From the above discussion, it can be understood that an effective utilization of the intermediaries in the supply chain management process is a key for any global business to have a great outcome. On the other hand, this is also a reliable approach to ensure a considerably higher competitive edge over the other companies by ensuring a higher degree of customer satisfaction rate. An impressive supply chain management practices can ensure a better customer service and this is also a beneficial approach for Unilever to abide by the norms of making a business successful and uninterrupted.
4. Critical analysis of Operation performance objective
The following factors can be employed for a critical analysis of the product quality of Unilever:
Responsible Innovation: Unilever follows a code of product safety that ensures the maintenance of quality for all its products. The innovations are based on sound science which ensures that the products are made with safety and are of high quality.
Continual improvements: Unilever does not claim its products to be foolproof at all and is always conducting more tests in order to create a better version of the product. The firm always keeps a close eye on the feedback provided by the customers. The flaws are generally associated with improper ingredients or wrong labelling. It might also have a quality defect which can go undetected during the packaging process. Unilever is always open to its customers for feedback and does not mind the criticism. For them, nothing is more important than the safety of the customers (Bilovodska et al. 2018).
Sharing knowledge: Unilever tries to share its intellectual capital with other firms as much as possible. This includes collaborating with the scientific community of the country which is usually organized during the SEAC conferences. The topics discussed include contemporary issues such as testing of animals, the use of healthy ingredients, and managing waster products especially plastic.
Lending an ear to the consumers: Unilever has organized a digital platform for all its consumers which allow them to provide feedback to the company. These conversations happen through social media channels and are centered on consumer engagement, rating of the products, and generating a variety of commodities. Unilever is always open to listen to the positive as well as the negative reception from their customers. This also helps them to ensure that customers remain loyal to them and do not switch over to other brands of the same industry.
Lessons Learned: Unilever tracks their product incidents globally to classify them and determine their effects on the customer. Investigating issues that arise regarding the safety and quality of products helps Unilever to better assess the strategies for mitigating these issues. Investigating and solving the issues allows Unilever to continuously attract customers and drive their performance positively. As per the views of Chang et al. (2020), the quality of products can help in assuring proper customer satisfaction and in turn raise the sales performance of the organization. The organization also sets annual targets to reduce these issues in the market and cater to the customer needs effectively. The quality improvement programmers in the organization allow the company to cover all the aspects of the value chain and thus it helps them to learn from the issues and mitigate them in real time.
Supply chain strategy: The supply chain management of Unilever has focused on the five basic steps of supply chain management. The supply chain of Unilever initiates with acquiring the raw material for the production purposes. Supply chain management requires a strong focus and control throughout the process as uncontrolled supply management can disrupt the whole process. As per the view of Koberg and Longoni (2019), a smooth supply chain management implicates the effectiveness of the company in procuring the raw material and distributing the products to the consumers. The supply chain strategy of Unilever is planned as the company has few selected suppliers of the raw material who supplies high-quality ingredients. The company always checks the resources supplied to them and has criteria for the materials.
The production process of the Unilever is structured and follows a scientific method that enhances the quality of the products or items. The intermediaries partnered with Unilever secure the delivery of the products and through a systematic process.
5. Comparing the supply chain with competitors
The idea of business:
Nestle mainly emphasizes establishing an inter-organizational relationship with the other organizations involved with the company (Nestle. in, 2020). It helps improve the business by satisfying the customers and giving healthy competition in the food industry. The company’s customer goods are accepted globally by the users due to their high product quality. Nestle is claimed to be involved with different social activities that help the company create a different industry image. The company’s working strategy is to provide an equal advantage to all the workers irrespective of gender. Unilever is also a globally recognized company that deals with different kinds of foods, beverages, and environmentally friendly personal care. The quality of the products manufactured by the company is never compromised and continuously improves to meet the customers’ satisfaction (Unilever.com, 2020). Unilever is well known for protecting the forest and making products that do not harm the surroundings.
Existing plans:
Nestle that manufactures coffee, dairy products, baby foods, and beverages, has always maintained high quality. The pricing of the products is appropriate according to the quantity and quality of the products. As mentioned by Lan and Papier (2018), the workers working fields in manufacturing the raw materials for the processing of the food items are also taken care of by the company. The latest technologies and pieces of machinery are given to the farmers to improve the substances’ production. It also increases the workers’ income, which works as the company’s social initiatives (Nestle. 2020). The initiatives taken by Unilever are fulfilled following different possible steps for the growth of the company. The main reason is to improve the relationship with the customers by meeting their satisfaction, reducing the production cost, decreasing the faults and improving the productivity. The initiates are to make the earth a better planet to survive for future generations and to make more people aware of health. Unilever’s action is to make people conscious of different dangerous chemicals and germs and provide them precautionary methods (Unilever.com, 2020).
Centre of attention:
Nestle has spent particular money on water to start its new step towards manufacturing purified water in the market. The company’s primary aim is to launch the water that would emit the minimum amount of carbon dioxide to protect the world. The company also produces different food items for people of different ages and is working on improving the quality of the food. The customers have become more health-conscious after the covid-19 and are more focused on consuming foods of the company that keeps their promises. The foods and beverages that are fresh, provide a balanced diet, health and increase immunity in the body are mainly recommended by the users (Nestle. in, 2020). Unilever puts more emphasis on cleanliness and maintaining hygiene in the entire supply chain of the products. The company believes that the first preference should be maintaining hygiene and sanitizing to protect human lives from germs. It has been heard that during the covid-19 period the company has offered many sanitizing products as well as food items in different rural areas. Unilever also manufactures disinfectant to clean toilets that help eliminate germs and provide a healthy surrounding (Unilever.com, 2020).
Profit of the organizations:
Nestle is better than Unilever as they believe in spreading the business globally and the other organizations involved with them. It has been noted that Nestle involves much more workers in their business than Unilever as they have introduced the ‘SAI’ field (Unilever.com, 2020). In the particular field, the company has allowed all the other organizations that supply different parts of the finished products and provide a larger platform. The central concept of Nestle is to give jobs to many people to lead their better livelihood. Unilever is more involved in the improvement in the company’s internal section to stay in the competitive food market. The company switches the people’s position and the structure of different groups to improve the challenges faced by them.
Eco-friendly surrounding:
The products manufactured by Nestle are more eco-friendly than the products manufactured by Unilever. Nestle believes in improving the entire world that helps them achieve more privilege in the global food market. In contrast, Unilever focuses on the development of only the company. On the other hand, Unilever is against the violence of cutting down trees and making environmentally friendly products. Previously, the Nestle company people were children and were against child labor law (Nestle. 2020). The company has improved the policy and is now against the use of viable products to protect forests.
6. Recommendation
Unilever is one of the best companies that have trustworthy customers and is considered a good competitor. There are specific sectors both internally and externally that need to be studied and improved. The recommended areas are:
- Innovation of new products: In the past few years, the company has changed its existing products. Unilever should try to bring new products to the market that would increase the number of customers and improve the company’s position. An urged by Zhao et al. (2019), the company also needs to launch the product in different other sectors apart from customer goods. It would help the company to get the view of the customers about their products.
- Change in ingredients of products: The raw materials used in the products are common and are readily available in the market and count as a drawback. According to Ali et al. (2018), the uniqueness of the products attracts new customers to be loyal to the company. The company needs to improve the substances used for the processing of the products so that the competitors cannot copy them. The raw materials used are needed to be organic, suitable for different aged people and clinically tested, which would increase the trust of the customers.
- Costing of the products: One of the company’s essential and crucial recommendations is to decrease the production cost. Unilever needs to revise the entire supply chain and mark the positions that need to be changed. As stated by Liuet al. (2017), the products’ cost is needed to be chosen based on the quality and the quantity for attracting the customers. The company also needs to keep an eye on the customers’ choice, and they should be asked about the feedback that will help the company. The customers’ recommendation about the pricing of different products can be obtained that will help Unilever revise the prices of the products. The company can also cut the cost of products similar to the products from other companies. It would attract the customers’ attention to buy the product at a much lower price, and a profit can be measured on both ends.
7. Conclusion
It is concluded that Unilever’s supply chain is already strong, established and preferable customer brands that have a reputed position globally. The parts that are highlighted in the report are about different strategies followed by suppliers of the company. Unilever’s supply chain is compared with Nestlé’s competitors to check the position and emphasis different sectors that need to be changed. The different intermediaries such as Walmart, P&G, and Kimberly Clark Corporations are linked with the company and are maintaining a long term partnership with Unilever. The company’s performance regarding the operations performed is analyzed in detail, and the objectives are also mentioned in the following report. The recommendation related to the production cost, innovation of new products, and change in ingredients of products is recommended to improve the company’s drawbacks.
Individual report plan
Company information:
Unilever is considered one of the companies in the market that gives tough competition to both the existing and the new companies. Now the company has become one of the most preferred and recommended companies for customer goods. The products manufactured by the company are hygienist, organic, easy to use, and readily available. One of the company’s targets was to make the lives of the people using the products a better place to live. In recent times the company is still trying to make the earth an improved and updated place for the future generation.
Description of the products:
The company produces consumer goods based on foods, beverages, personal care and disinfectants. Nearly more than 2 million people prefer using the company’s product daily. Unilever has around 370 brands with the company for a long time and maintains consistency with the company. The brands that are involved with Unilever are Ben & Jerry, Vaseline, Magnum and Persil, Marmite. The brands generally preferred for different kinds of beverages are Lipton, PG Tips, whereas the brands presenting house-related staff are Surf, Dove, Redox. The company promises to serve foods to healthy customers and contains all the balanced diets in it for the betterment of livelihood. The products used for beauty care are natural and made with care to meet the customers’ satisfaction without harming nature. In this high technology world, the company also promises to deliver the products to keep different places all around the world safe and clean (Unilever.com, 2020).
Operation performance objective:
- The improvement of the products of Unilever is based on the customer’s recommendation and feedback. It helps the company know about the customers’ different perspectives for revising the products and launching the new items in the market.
- In today’s high technology world, almost all people are aware of different social platforms and are free to tell about their views. As Wan (2019) mentioned, the conversation between the sellers and the customers is also considered an essential part of the supply chain.
- The company always accepts the innovative ideas that the clients tell to improve the productivity of the company.
- The different environmental issues such as checking the sources of the raw materials, protecting forests, child labor are also highly regulated by the company.
- The company has also taken the pledge of using natural fresh products, keeping their loyal customers away from dangerous chemicals and germs and providing them with a bright future.
- Unilever’s entire supply chain is sectioned into different parts, and each section is highly maintained, and necessary changes are also done periodically.
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