Stakeholders of Unilever (Stakeholder analysis of Unilever)

Stakeholders of Unilever (Stakeholder analysis of Unilever)

This is a detailed analysis of the stakeholders of Unilever. Unilever is a British consumer goods giant which has several stakeholders that can impact on its strategies and operations and can be affected by it as well. It interacts with some of them every single day. It cannot achieve its business goals alone; hence the necessity to engage with the stakeholders.

Internal stakeholders of Unilever

The main internal stakeholders of Unilever are the members of the leadership team, employees, managers, and shareholders. In the UK & Ireland, some of the key positions in its leadership team are the Vice President and GM, CEO, Vice Presidents, and directors of different activities (Unilever, 2021). These are very powerful people who chart its future direction.

Shareholders are certainly important for Unilever who provide it with money to run its operations. Likewise, employees also play a key role in its success. The company has around 149,000 employees around the world. It pays them a fair living wage. However, it is worth mentioning that the total number of employees decreased a lot in the past several years (Statista, 2021).

External stakeholders of Unilever

The main external stakeholders of Unilever are the governments, NGOs, suppliers, customers, consumers, local communities, and trade associations. It works with the governments and regulators to engage in policy discussions affecting its operations and pressing global issues such as climate change (Unilever, 2021).

Without suppliers, Unilever cannot deliver the promises it makes to its consumers. It is working with approximately 60,000 suppliers and has pledged to ensure that they pay their employees a living wage by 2030 (Hart, 2021). It provided financial supports to vulnerable suppliers during the global lockdowns in 2020/21. It also invests in a new Supplier Development Programme to address the barriers that affected diverse partners in the past.

Both customers and consumers are very important for Unilever. Around 2.5 billion consumers use its products every day. These consumers buy products from Unilever’s customers that are around 25 million retail sales outlets of different sizes globally. However, it is worth mentioning that Unilever had disputes with customers such as Tesco over pricing issues in the past.

Unilever engages with many NGOs to discuss and work on social issues. It contributes to the development of local communities directly and indirectly. It also works with many trade associations around the world.

We hope the article ‘Stakeholders of Unilever (Stakeholder association of Unilever)’ has been helpful. You may also like reading SWOT analysis of Unilever. Other relevant articles for you are:

Marketing mix of Unilever (4Ps of Unilever)

Competitors of Unilever (Unilever competitor analysis)

If you liked any of these articles, please feel free to share with others by clicking on the social media icons.

Last update: 15 October 2021

References:

Hart, C. (2021) Unilever to demand all suppliers pay a living wage, available at: https://www.cips.org/supply-management/news/2021/january/unilever-will-require-suppliers-to-pay-workers-a-living-wage/ (accessed 14 October 2021)
buy Flomax generic over the counter
Statista (2021) Unilever: number of employees globally 2003-2020, available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/254366/total-number-of-unilever-employees-worldwide/ (accessed 15 October 2021)

Unilever (2021) Engaging with stakeholders, available at: https://www.unilever.com/planet-and-society/responsible-business/engaging-with-stakeholders/ (accessed 12 October 2021)

Author: Joe David

Joe David has years of teaching experience both in the UK and abroad. He writes regularly online on a variety of topics. He has a keen interest in business, hospitality, and tourism management. He holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Management Studies and a Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing Management.