UNILEVER’S LIFEBUOY IN INDIA :

IMPLEMENTING THE SUSTAINABILITY PLAN

GROUP 1 : ABHISHEK GHOSH| DIWAKAR PANTHRI
SHRADDHA ARYA| VISHAK CHANDRAN
How would you evaluate Samir
Singh’s first 3 years as Global
Brand VP for Lifebuoy soap?
Global Brand VP - Lifebuoy
• Lifebuoy – global market share had fallen from 11.2% in
2005 to 9.7% in 2009
• Lifebuoy’s largest market – India – 18.4% in 2005 to
15.5% in 2009
 Samir Singh – Key Goals
• Revive the champion Lifebuoy in India and globally

• Unilever Sustainable Living Program (USLP) – CEO’s Initiative

• Halve the environmental footprints of its products
• Source 100% agricultural raw materials sustainably
• Improve health and well being of a billion people

• Lifebuoy standard bearer USLP – double sales & ambitious profit

targets
 Initiatives under Samir
Singh’s Leadership
• Educate customers on the consequences of
germs by assuring Mothers.
• Aggressive marketing like tailored messages
signifying reassurance during Hot-Spots.
• Supported by Product Development
programs – Clinicare10, Lifebuoy colour
changing hand wash campaign and more.
• By 2012, sales revenue increased by 17 %
and gross profit by 22% p.a
 Initiatives under Samir
Singh’s Leadership – Contd.
• Focused on aligning lifebuoy’s social mission with commercial
interests
• Developed and implemented 2 programs through a collaborative
team session of sales team and brand directors from various opcos –
an Indonesian partnership program and an Indian multiband rural
outreach program.
• Implementation in India –
• KKD Rural outreach Initiative
• MP Partnership initiative
• Urban schools liquids initiative (by taking Sitapati’s suggestion)
 Evaluating Singh’s Progress
• Lifebuoy’s 3 year 17% average annual growth rate made it to
Unilever’s fastest growing brand while outplacing Dettol for the first
time.
• KKD reached 25% million people with a increase in rural soap
consumption increased by 8%.
• In UP, Lifebuoy’s market share increased from 13.9% to 15.6%.
 Shortcomings
• Hand wash program reached only 119 mil people globally.
• Hand washing behaviour change programs reached 47 million(by
2012), performance was below the trajectory required to achieve
the target of 450 million by 2015.
• Hand washing behaviour programs had a longer payback as
compared to traditional marketing campaigns.
• KKD Visits were becoming costly since the numbers were not picking
up as much
PAUL POLMAN : FEW POINTS….
“A purpose-driven business can be profitable,” the tall Dutchman
told journalists at last month’s annual results meeting. “I don’t
know where this notion that it can’t be comes from. Must be
because of what you write.”

• Paul Polman took the reins at Unilever during one of the most
precarious periods in the company’s 150-year history.

• It was during the aftermath of the financial crisis that the Dutch
businessman strode into Unilever HQ, in what has since become
a pivotal moment in the company’s evolution.

• Polman sent shockwaves throughout the world of business,

becoming a powerful advocate for social change, sustainability
and equal rights, as well as setting new standards for leadership.

• Under the guidance of Polman, Unilever has become a

frontrunner in CSR, steaming ahead in multiple polls and rankings
and in various fields.
Source : https://www.ft.com/content/7c79452e-ae5c-11e4-8188-00144feab7de
 What do you think of Paul Polman’s USLP Strategy
The Unilever Sustainable Living Plan is directly linked to earnings and returns – it drives growth,
reduces costs, mitigates risks and attracts talent. The Unilever plan identifies three main missions:
• Improving health and well-being
• Reducing environmental impact
• Enhancing livelihoods
The basic understanding of his strategy can be discussed under below heads:
1. Job engagement: In order to engage employees in the company’s sustainability journey, he took few
significant initiatives such as, defining company’s long term purposes, spelling out the economic case for
sustainability, creating sustainability knowledge and competence etc.
2. Implementation of the Term ‘Sustainability’ in Policy : Not only is sustainability perfectly compatible with
commercial success, Polman has claimed that the company can halve its environmental impact while ‘growing
the business’ at the same time
3. Thinking Long Term
4. Cultural and Management Change
5. Widening the Focus on Consumers Rather Than the Shareholders
6. Intensive Communication Campaigns and New Partnership Programs
Research paper referred : Fahad Bin Siddique and Iffat Sultana (2018), Unilever Sustainable Living Plan: A Critical Analysis
How realistic is it to overlay USLP’s bold sustainability
goals over financial objectives?
Sustainability Goals
• Halve the environmental footprint of its products
• Help 1 Billion people to improve their health and wellbeing
• Source 100% of its agricultural raw materials sustainably

Company’s aim is to help people in developing countries improve their quality of

life without a big increase in their environmental impacts, and to help those in
developed markets maintain a good standard of living while reducing theirs.

Company is finding these sustainability goals providing new opportunities for

growth by creating a preference for the brand, builds business with their retail
customers, driving their innovation, grows the market and also in many cases
generates cost saving.
What implications does it have for middle managers
like Singh and frontline managers like Sitapati?
Achievement and Shortfalls:
 Middle managers like Singh in the Unilever case was worried, as through USLP , handwash
program reached 119 million people globally. But it had to achieve 1 billion USLP target.
 Hand washing behavior change program had reached to 17 million people in India in 2012. While
the target was 450 million by 2015.
 Frontline managers like Sitapati had to manage the financial objectives along with the programs
which was being initiated by him.
 Sitapati decided to reach the rural locations by increasing the advertising and promotion budgets.
 With different behavior change options , different perspectives emerged.
 Had to estimate the cost and the market share for different options provided.
 Out of the different behavior change options , the frontline manager was able to determine the
most attractive option.
THANK YOU