Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again
The case tells the story of the turnaround of Unilever Philippines (ULP) between 2013 and 2016. The Philippines Leadership Team (PhLT) set a vision to rediscover the greatness of the Philippines by achieving a growth rate of at least 10% a year, becoming a disciplined execution machine so that it could generate consistent results, and connecting with the hearts and minds of the Filipino consumer. The case discusses the key factors that led to the success of the turnaround including the cohesiveness of the PhLT, empowering the extended leadership team, and focusing on the core. ULP crossed the billion euro revenue threshold in 2015 after two years of double digit growth. The case ends with Rohit Jawa, the Managing Director, reflecting on two key questions. First, what needed to change to sustain the growth of the company since "what got the company here may not get it there"? Second, how could he ensure that the positive changes made would outlast the current PhLT?
Swot Analysis of "Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again" written by Jean Francois Manzoni, P.C. Abraham includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Philippines Phlt facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Crisis management, Leadership, Leading teams, Organizational culture, Sustainability and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Philippines Phlt, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Philippines Phlt operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Philippines Phlt
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Philippines Phlt
Strengths Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Philippines Phlt in Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Philippines Phlt is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
High brand equity
– Philippines Phlt has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Philippines Phlt to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Philippines Phlt is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Philippines Phlt is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Philippines Phlt is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Philippines Phlt in the sector have low bargaining power. Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Philippines Phlt to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Philippines Phlt is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Philippines Phlt to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Philippines Phlt to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Philippines Phlt in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Philippines Phlt has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Philippines Phlt is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Organizational Resilience of Philippines Phlt
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Philippines Phlt does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Philippines Phlt 's lucrative customers.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Philippines Phlt supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Philippines Phlt vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again HBR case study mentions - Philippines Phlt takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Philippines Phlt is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Philippines Phlt has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Lack of clear differentiation of Philippines Phlt products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Philippines Phlt needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Philippines Phlt is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Philippines Phlt needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Philippines Phlt to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Philippines Phlt needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Philippines Phlt has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Philippines Phlt is planning to shift buying processes online.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Philippines Phlt has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Opportunities Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Philippines Phlt can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Philippines Phlt operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Philippines Phlt can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Leadership & Managing People segment.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Philippines Phlt to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Philippines Phlt can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Philippines Phlt is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Philippines Phlt can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Philippines Phlt has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Philippines Phlt to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again case study. Philippines Phlt can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Philippines Phlt can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Philippines Phlt to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Philippines Phlt to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– Philippines Phlt can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Philippines Phlt has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Philippines Phlt to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Philippines Phlt in the consumer business. Now Philippines Phlt can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Philippines Phlt can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Threats Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again are -
Environmental challenges
– Philippines Phlt needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Philippines Phlt can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Increasing wage structure of Philippines Phlt
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Philippines Phlt.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again, Philippines Phlt may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Philippines Phlt business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Philippines Phlt.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Philippines Phlt demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Philippines Phlt in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Philippines Phlt can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Philippines Phlt needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Philippines Phlt in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Philippines Phlt with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Unilever Philippines: Making the Philippines Great Again is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Philippines Phlt needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.