Case Description of Unilever's Lifebuoy in India: Implementing the Sustainability Plan Case Study

Unilever's new Global Brand VP must not only revitalize Lifebuoy soap's sagging market performance, but
simultaneously impact the health of one billion people worldwide. The latter challenge comes from
Unilever's new CEO who has introduced the Unilever Sustainable Living Program (USLP), a set of bold
environmental and social objectives that he has integrated into the heart of the company's global
strategy. In contrast to most corporate social responsibility programs, USLP's quantified objectives are
clearly defined, tightly specified, and independently audited. And managers are held strictly accountable
for their achievement. After describing the background of the 100 year old Lifebuoy soap brand which is
now sold primarily in developing country markets, the case outlines the steps taken by Samir Singh,
Lifebuoy's newly appointed Global Brand VP as he tries to reverse its declining sales and profit
performance. The case then focuses on Singh's relationship with Sudir Sitapiti, the category manager for
Lifebuoy in India, the brand's largest market worldwide. Although Sitapiti has done a creditable job in
turning around sales and profitability, he has fallen behind on his USLP challenge to bring handwashing
behavior change to 450 million people in poor, remote Indian villages. The case concludes with some
specific marketing investment decisions that Sitapati is considering and that Singh hopes to influence.

Opportunities Threats

Strengths Strength Opportunities (SO) Strategies Strength Threats (ST) Strategies

Using Lifebuoy Unilever's strengths to
consolidate and expand the market
position.
Weaknesses Weakness Opportunities (WO)
Strategies
Building strategies based on consumer
oriented product development and
marketing approach.
Lifebuoy Unilever's can use two approaches - building on present
strengths, or analyze the trend and build processes to two
pronged market penetration approach.
Weaknesses Threats (WT) Strategies
Lifebuoy Unilever's should just get out of these business areas and
focus on strength and threats box , or on weakness and
opportunities box.

Strengths - Unilever's Lifebuoy in India: Implementing the Sustainability Plan

Strengths are the Lifebuoy Unilever's capabilities and resources that it can leverage to build a sustainable
competitive advantage in the marketplace. Strengths come from positive aspects of five key resources &
capabilities - financial resources, past experiences and successes, physical resources such as land, building,
activities & processes, and human resources .

- Superior product and services quality can help Lifebuoy Unilever's to further increase its market share as
the current customer are extremely loyal to it. According to Christopher A. Bartlett in Unilever's Lifebuoy
in India: Implementing the Sustainability Plan study – there are enough evidences that with such a high
quality of products and services, Lifebuoy Unilever's can compete with other global players in
international market.

- Managing Regulations and Business Environment – Lifebuoy Unilever's operates in an environment

where it faces numerous regulations and government diktats. In Corporate governance, Customers,
Emerging markets, Ethics, Health, Social responsibility, Strategy execution areas, the firm needs to
navigate environment by building strong relationship with lobby groups and political network.

- Successful Go To Market Track Record – Lifebuoy Unilever's has a highly successful track record of both
launching new products in the domestic market but also catering to the various market based on the
insights from local consumers. According to Christopher A. Bartlett , Lifebuoy Unilever's has tested various
concepts in different markets and come up with successful Strategy & Execution solutions.

- High Margins – Lifebuoy Unilever's charges a premium compare to its competitors. According to
Christopher A. Bartlett of Unilever's Lifebuoy in India: Implementing the Sustainability Plan case study, this
has provided Lifebuoy Unilever's resources to not only thwart competitive pressures but also to invest into
research and development.

- Diverse Product Portfolio of Lifebuoy Unilever's – The products and brand portfolio of Lifebuoy
Unilever's is enabling it to target various segments in the domestic market at the same time. This has
enabled Lifebuoy Unilever's to build diverse revenue source and profit mix.

- Strong Balance Sheet and Financial Statement of Lifebuoy Unilever's can help it to invest in new and
diverse projects that can further diversify the revenue stream and increase Return on Sales (RoS) & other
metrics.

- First Mover Advantage – Lifebuoy Unilever's has first mover advantage in number of segments. It has
experimented in various areas Corporate governance, Customers, Emerging markets, Ethics, Health, Social
responsibility, Strategy execution. The Strategy & Execution solutions & strategies has helped Lifebuoy
Unilever's in coming up with unique solution to tap the un-catered markets.

Weakness- Unilever's Lifebuoy in India: Implementing the Sustainability Plan

Weaknesses are the areas, capabilities or skills in which Lifebuoy Unilever's lacks. It limits the ability of the
firm to build a sustainable competitive advantage. Weaknesses come from lack or absence of five key
resources & capabilities - human resources, physical resources such as land, building, financial resources,
past experiences and successes, and activities & processes .
- Lack of Work force diversity – I believe that Lifebuoy Unilever's is not diverse enough given that most of
its growth so far is in its domestic market. According to Christopher A. Bartlett , this can reduce the
potential of success of Lifebuoy Unilever's in the international market.

- Lack of critical talent – I believe that Lifebuoy Unilever's is suffering from lack of critical talent especially
in the field of technology & digital transformation. Lifebuoy Unilever's is struggling to restructure
processes in light of developments in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning.

- Customer Dissatisfaction – Even though the demand for products have not gone down but there is a
simmering sense of dissatisfaction among the customers of Lifebuoy Unilever's . It is reflected on the
reviews on various on-line platforms. Lifebuoy Unilever's should focus on areas where it can improve the
customer purchase and post purchase experience.

- Track record on environment consideration is not very encouraging – Lifebuoy Unilever's track record on
environmental issues is not very encouraging. According to Christopher A. Bartlett , this can lead to
consumer backlash as customers are now considering environmental protections as integral to part of
doing business.

- Project Management is too focused on internal delivery rather than considering all the interests of
external stakeholders. This approach can lead to poor public relation and customer backlash.

- Organization Culture – It seems that organization culture of Lifebuoy Unilever's is still dominated by turf
wars within various divisions, leading to managers keeping information close to their chests. According to
Christopher A. Bartlett of Unilever's Lifebuoy in India: Implementing the Sustainability Plan case study, this
can lead to serious road blocks in future growth as information in silos can result can lead to missed
opportunities in market place.

Opportunities- Unilever's Lifebuoy in India: Implementing the Sustainability Plan

Opportunities are macro environment factors and developments that Lifebuoy Unilever's can leverage
either to consolidate existing market position or use them for further expansion. Opportunities can
emerge from various factors such as - increase in consumer disposable income, economic growth,
changes in consumer preferences, political developments & policy changes, and technological innovations
.

- Growing Market Size and Evolving Preferences of Consumers – Over the last decade and half the market
size has grown at brisk pace. The influx of new customers has also led to evolution of consumer
preferences and tastes. This presents Lifebuoy Unilever's two big challenges – how to maintain loyal
customers and how to cater to the new customers. Lifebuoy Unilever's has tried to diversify first using
different brands and then by adding various features based on customer preferences.
- Reducing Cost of Market Entry and Marketing into International Markets – According to Christopher A.
Bartlett, globalization along with boom in digital marketing and social media has considerably reduced
the risks of market entry and marketing in international market.

- Increase in Consumer Disposable Income – Lifebuoy Unilever's can use the increasing disposable income
to build a new business model where customers start paying progressively for using its products.
According to Christopher A. Bartlett of Unilever's Lifebuoy in India: Implementing the Sustainability Plan
case study, Lifebuoy Unilever's can use this trend to expand in adjacent areas Corporate governance,
Customers, Emerging markets, Ethics, Health, Social responsibility, Strategy execution.

- Changing Technology Landscape – Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence boom is transforming the
technology landscape that Lifebuoy Unilever's operates in. According to Christopher A. Bartlett , Lifebuoy
Unilever's can use these developments in improving efficiencies, lowering costs, and transforming
processes.

- Access to International Talent in Global Market – One of the challenges Lifebuoy Unilever's facing right
now is limited access to high level talent market because of limited budget. Expansion into international
market can help Lifebuoy Unilever's to tap into international talent market. According to Christopher A.
Bartlett , it can also help in bringing the talent into domestic market and expanding into new areas
Corporate governance, Customers, Emerging markets, Ethics, Health, Social responsibility, Strategy
execution.

- Opportunities in Adjacent Markets – Lifebuoy Unilever's can explore adjacent industries Corporate
governance, Customers, Emerging markets, Ethics, Health, Social responsibility, Strategy execution to
further market growth especially by extending the features of present products and services.

Threats- Unilever's Lifebuoy in India: Implementing the Sustainability Plan

Threats are macro environment factors and developments that can derail business model of Lifebuoy
Unilever's. Threats can emerge from various factors such as - changes in consumer preferences, political
developments & policy changes, increase in consumer disposable income, economic growth, and
technological innovations .

- Culture of sticky prices in the industry – Lifebuoy Unilever's operates in an industry where there is a
culture of sticky prices. According to Christopher A. Bartlett of Unilever's Lifebuoy in India: Implementing
the Sustainability Plan case study, this can lead to inability on part of the organization to increase prices
that its premium prices deserve.

- Increasing bargaining power of buyers – Over the years the bargaining power of customers of Lifebuoy
Unilever's has increased significantly that is putting downward pressure on prices. The company can
pursue horizontal integration to consolidate and bring efficiencies but I believe it will be a short term
relief. According to Christopher A. Bartlett , Lifebuoy Unilever's needs fundamental changes to business
model rather than cosmetic changes.
- US China Trade Relations – Lifebuoy Unilever's has focused on China for its next phase of growth. But
there is growing tension between US China trade relations and it can lead to protectionism, more friction
into international trade, rising costs both in terms of labor cost and cost of doing business.

- Government Regulations and Bureaucracy – Lifebuoy Unilever's should keep a close eye on the fast
changing government regulations under the growing pressure from protest groups and non government
organization especially regarding to environmental and labor safety aspects.

- Growing Protectionism - Lifebuoy Unilever's should hedge the risk against growing protectionism
ranging from – storing data into international market to diversifying risk by operating into countries at
different economic cycle.

- Credit Binge post 2008 Recession – Easy access to credit can be over any time, so Lifebuoy Unilever's
should focus on reducing its dependence on debt to expand. The party has lasted for more than a decade
and rollback from Fed can result in huge interest costs for Lifebuoy Unilever's.

References & Further Readings

Christopher A. Bartlett (2018), "Unilever's Lifebuoy in India: Implementing the Sustainability Plan
Harvard Business Review Case Study. Published by HBR Publications.