Logistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Logistics - Essay Example Today, 49% of the equity of the company is owned by Nigerians and Nigerian organizations, while the remaining 51% is owned by Unilever Plc of UK. The company prides itself as being in virtually almost all sectors of the economy which includes nutrition, hygiene, personal care etc. and its products are of world class standards. The popular ones in the market include Omo detergent, Persil, Lux soap, Lipton Tea label, Blue band margarine, Close Up toothpaste and many more. With an employee strength of over 10,000, turnover of N44 bn, profit before tax of over N5 bn, shareholders funds of N8 bn, indeed Unilever Plc is a company the exemplifies a giant productive entity, hence the decision to adopt it as a case study for this paper. Vision and Mission Every organization has its raison d’etre in other words, its reason for existence. This is stated in its mission and vision statements. Drucker (1974) classifies these to include what is our business? What will it be? And what should it be? For Unilever Plc, its vision statement is inspiring billions of people to take small everyday actions that add up to a big difference. The mission statement is to meet everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene and personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life. Future of the company The company has four pillars which directs the long term direction and ensures that it knows where it wants to go and how it’s going there and this is inline with its vision and mission statements. These are: to create a better future everyday; to help people feel good, look good and get more out of life with brands and services that are good for them and good for others; to inspire people to take everyday actions that can add up to a big difference for the world; and to develop new ways of doing business with the aim of doubling the size of the company while reducing the environmental impact. These four pillars which serve as the guiding and driving pr inciple of Unilever are achieve through its key two strengths. First, its strong roots in local markets and firsthand knowledge of the local culture, and secondly, world class business expertise applied internationally to serve consumers everywhere. These key two strengths has over the years ensured consistent growth, increase return on investment (ROI) and maintained a relative high share price in the stock exchange market. Internal, External and Temporal Environment According to Kazmi (2002) the environment in which an organization exists could be broadly divided into two parts: the external and the internal environment. Environment literally means the surroundings, external objects, influences or circumstances under which someone or something exists. The environment of any organization is â€Å"the aggregate of all conditions, events, and influences that surround and affect it† (Davis, 1982). The internal environment of Unilever from the above description involves all that goes on with in the company. Unilever like most production companies that wishes to make optimum use of available resources runs three shifts, Monday to Saturday. While Sundays are basically for the maintenance of production machineries, Administrative and