Unilever, founded in year 1929 through the merging of Margarine Unie and Lever Brothers, has expanded their business to various sectors and is greatly influence by its task environment which is competitors (Unilever 2015). One of Unilever’s greatest competitors is Nestlé, and in order to stay competitive, Unilever has possesses competitive advantages which enable the company to gain advantage over its competitors. Competitive advantage can be defined as the capability of a business firm to compete others through efficiency and effectiveness to produce better goods and services (Waddell, Jones and George 2013, 21).
Unilever’s sensitivity towards customers’ demands becomes one of its competitive advantages. In response to customers’ concerns of a healthier and safer lifestyle, Unilever creates new products and add values in their existing brands which enable customers to enjoy food, health and life (Simon 2012). For example, Unilever produced their ice-creams by adding proteins extracted from Arctic animals and plants in order for customers to enjoy soft and frost-free ice-creams (Bowonder et al. 2010, 22). As a result, Unilever’s hand-held ice-cream brands, Magnum and Cornetto, were the top-selling brands in the current
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With their strategy of ‘Popularly Positioned Products’ (PPPs), Nestlé applied their technology to create nutritious products with reduced costs and proper size. As a result, Nestlé entailed 3950 different products and increased market penetration, as well as generated 11 billion Swiss francs in 2010 through worldwide sales (George, McGahan and Prabhu 2012, 663). Besides that, Nestlé proudly presented its innovative product, Nespresso, which gave customers a new way of preparing coffee in the form of capsules. Nespresso successfully achieved 11 prestigious Red Dot Design Awards, 2 iF Product Design Awards and 4 Good Design Awards (Nestlé Nespresso SA