Technological Factor Analysis: Unilever
Technological Factor Analysis
Unilever has invested and is still investing heavily in IT to help to better its business activities more importantly in the areas of e-business for improvement in product quality and brand image.
“E-commerce grew by more than 40% in 2015 thanks to a focus on brilliant execution online where 80% of sales are made from the first page view”. (Unilever Annual Report, 2015)
Unilever is aware that lack of funding for development of new products, lack of technical expertise in R&D coupled with the rapid release of the products will have a negative effect on the company’s profit and profit margins, turnover, cash flow and overall reputation. Therefore, Unilever has automated most processes which have proved to be a major success factor for the company by way of differentiation from its rivals and doubles as a competitive edge. Unilever Technology Venture collaborates with the Unilever R&D group to help it attend to customer concerns better especially in areas of nanotechnology and advanced bio science (Albert, 2008)
Competitive Rivalry
Unilever faces competition in its operating environment. Discussed below are external factors as identified by the five forces analysis as they impact on the firm. The three main strong forces facing Unilever are a) Increased number of …show more content…
This impact strongly on Unilever. Additionally, these competitors are usually aggressive contributing more to the force of the competition. Due to the low cost of switching, Unilever is also faced with stiff competition. For instance, customers can easily switch from one company to the other. Hence, the level of competitiveness shown in this segment of the five forces as it relates to Unilever is very high which implies the company must take the issue of competitive rivalry very seriously as an increase in competition means less profit and vice versa. Some major Unilever rivals include Nestle, Procter, and Gamble
Unilever has invested and is still investing heavily in IT to help to better its business activities more importantly in the areas of e-business for improvement in product quality and brand image.
“E-commerce grew by more than 40% in 2015 thanks to a focus on brilliant execution online where 80% of sales are made from the first page view”. (Unilever Annual Report, 2015)
Unilever is aware that lack of funding for development of new products, lack of technical expertise in R&D coupled with the rapid release of the products will have a negative effect on the company’s profit and profit margins, turnover, cash flow and overall reputation. Therefore, Unilever has automated most processes which have proved to be a major success factor for the company by way of differentiation from its rivals and doubles as a competitive edge. Unilever Technology Venture collaborates with the Unilever R&D group to help it attend to customer concerns better especially in areas of nanotechnology and advanced bio science (Albert, 2008)
Competitive Rivalry
Unilever faces competition in its operating environment. Discussed below are external factors as identified by the five forces analysis as they impact on the firm. The three main strong forces facing Unilever are a) Increased number of …show more content…
This impact strongly on Unilever. Additionally, these competitors are usually aggressive contributing more to the force of the competition. Due to the low cost of switching, Unilever is also faced with stiff competition. For instance, customers can easily switch from one company to the other. Hence, the level of competitiveness shown in this segment of the five forces as it relates to Unilever is very high which implies the company must take the issue of competitive rivalry very seriously as an increase in competition means less profit and vice versa. Some major Unilever rivals include Nestle, Procter, and Gamble