Unilever In India - Case Study Example

The paper "Unilever In India" is a wonderful example of a Management Case Study. This paper provides a study of investment of a subsidiary of Unilever in India and various strategies that the company applied in order to compete favorably in the types of products that it dealt in and maintain high profitability despite high competition from similar companies. For instance, it explains how the company competed favorably with unorganized players that operated in small geographies. The historical background of the company is also reviewed following into entry into India and the various initiatives that were used to compete for the popularity of its products such as supply chain management and the launch of product innovations. The impact brought by the strategy of the Channel Approach is also examined. The strategies that were used to penetrate into rural areas such as the streamlined method and the indirect coverage method are also examined. This is followed by the introduction of the Shakti Project and its Historical background. The paper examines the impact that project Shakti brought on the performance of the company and the efforts that were made by Sharat Dhall who was the project leader and his boss Dalip Seghal to ensure the success of the project. It also includes a review of statistics of performance of the company following its entry into India and the contribution of the HLL subsidiary to the overall profit of Unilever. For instance, it examines how the project was used to empower women through various federations that were used to enable women to obtain products from the HLL and sell to consumers at a small profit that they retained. The challenges that were experienced during the implementation of the Shakti project are also reviewed. This paper examines how challenges were counteracted as they came up and how sustainable growth was achieved by the Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) amidst high competition from similar companies in the products that the company marketed to consumers. Methods that were used to improve the effectiveness of women empowerment such as the iShakti approach, the Shakti Vani and the health awareness campaign are also examined and the impact brought on the effectiveness of the Shakti project. The main areas that this paper covers are the initial performance of the company following its entry into India and the advantages that it enjoyed in comparison to its competitors. It involves the identification of the challenges that the management of the subsidiary experienced and the strategies that were used to market its products and reach consumers in areas where there was a potential demand for its products. The issues that the company faced in the process of establishing itself in India are examined. These include cost issues, marketing issues, inability to get marketers, language barriers and lack of information technology and poor infrastructure that prevented its effectiveness in conducting its marketing and reaching potential consumers (Adler, 2011). The Shakti initiative is also explained and the various methods that were used to implement this initiative are also explained. It includes the use of relevant materials to make an analysis of the case and the study of challenges that the Indian subsidiary of Unilever experienced. This paper also applies various theories and tools in enabling the process of understanding the solutions to the problems that the company faced while trying to establish itself in India.