Assignment

Unilever and Nestle Sustainable

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of the Institution]

Unilever and Nestle Sustainable

Introduction

Sustainability and the corporate social responsibility have become a bit of a buzz word for different corporations across the world. Specifically, the ones that are involved in the consumer market and consumer goods. One such example that stands out are Unilever and Nestle who despite the fact that they are competitors have made sure that they work together towards more sustainable business environment. In this paper, it is going to be seen that how the sustainability policies of both these businesses compare to one another.

Activities of Both the Organizations

One of the key things that is needed to be kept in mind here is that how the different activities are needed to be managed at the level of the organization at the particular point of time. Nestle and Unilever both are involved in the FMCG sector and if one looks at the product line of both the organizations, they tend to be more or less the same as far as the way they have panned out at the particular point of time. There are some major differences though. Nestle is more inclined towards the consumer goods and the customer base of the organization is such that all the given stakeholders are involved in the decision making that is taken at the broader level within the organization at the particular point of time. The idea for them is to make sure that they have a sense of insight in terms of how Unilever is supposed to work. Unilever is more towards the development and production is being done. Their product line is based on the products and goods that are more inclined towards the lifestyle goods. They are not really creating the consumer goods but in one way their activities can be differentiated from Nestle is that their product line is such that involves more usage of the personal care and beauty products. The difference in terms of the overall value of the organization is reflected in the current market standing of both the companies. Companies must build the capacity to adapt and innovate amidst disruptions. They need to adopt and embrace what can be an uncomfortable set of assumptions about the world around us. Sustainability requires: 1. "unlearning" how industrial society has operated for 150 years, and 2. "charting a new route" to reach the same goal of delivering shareholder value.

Range of Issues Dealt in Terms of Sustainability

Both the organizations have adopted completely different approach when it comes to making sure that how the sustainability across the operations is supposed to be adopted at the given point of time. The idea behind the functionality and the rationale for the different sustainability reports is that these companies work towards those objectives in an appropriate manner. First one needs to look at Nestle as it is one of the largest organizations in the world in terms of how the sustainability constraints are supposed to worked out. They have actively vouched for making sure that the controls in terms of the environmental damages as well as the other areas of the community development are made the part of their sustainability report.

On the other hand, if one compares them with Unilever, then they are more inclined towards reports that are more towards organizational and societal issues such as equality for women and making sure that the harassment free environment is being provided to women at the workplace. The other thing that they have done well is to make sure that the work is being carried out towards transparency in the corporate reporting and compliances. At the same time, both the organizations have worked towards making sure that the free and transparent environment is being provided to different stakeholders in terms of how the policy changes are implemented.

Relevance of the Different Sustainability Goals

For both the organizations, if one needs to have an insight about their sustainability goals, then it is a good idea to make sure that how the overall development is going to be done with the passage of time. Nestle has worked towards making sure that the environmental controls and the safe business practices are made the cornerstone of their business conduct. There is a deliberate attempt on their part to make sure that the reliance on these goals is carried out in the appropriate manner. The other thing that is being done by them is that how the corporate compliance and prudential regulations are something that they have made a forte. Comparing them to the Unilever, the key thing that tends to stand out is that how they have worked towards the causes and issues that have social ramifications. There are some people who tend to critique them in a sense that they have not been entirely sincere in their efforts when it comes to making sure that the right balance is needed to be adopted in terms of the way overall balance of the social issues is being witnessed at the particular point of time. It has to be noted that both the businesses have collaborated on different instances as far as the different causes that are sustainability of the community and how it tends to have resonated with their organizational concept at the particular point of time.

Sustainability Phase of the Organization

It can be seen that there is a deliberate attempt by both the organizations to make sure that they work towards more sustainable business model. In order for that to happen, they need to make sure that they are working in the manner that they understand how the sustainability transformation is supposed to be working out and how different elements integrate together in terms of the sustainability of the business at the particular point of time. First one has to be talked about Nestle and how the sustainability is being managed for this organization. The case can be made that they have been quite proactive when it comes to making sure that the concerns that are there for the business in terms of the sustainability are being realized and effort is being made to make sure that the corrective action is being taken regarding these actions. Not only that, it is quite important for them to make sure that they ensure compliance for the different sustainability standards that they have adopted. On the other hand, if one compares them with Unilever, the level of sustainability efforts that are carried out by them are quite small in scale and there is work that is needed to be done in terms of how these concerns are going to be managed at the broader level at the given point of time. They are compliant but more work is needed to be done for them to be efficient in terms of how the compliance is needed to be carried out. The four-stage transformation model helps companies assess and manage progress proactively through the "messy transformation." During the early stages, this involves engaging deeply with (and learning about) sustainability. Toward Stage 3 and Stage 4, it involves disruptive innovation — in the way that Airbnb, Tesla and Novelis are transforming their industries.

While it is convenient to express a company as being "in Stage 1" or "a Stage 2 company," in reality, most companies exhibit a range of attributes that fall across several stages of maturity on this scorecard.

Reflection of Social Values on the Provided Reports

It is fair to assume that both the organizations have come up with different mentalities in terms of how the overall provision of the report is supposed to be carried out. As discussed, Nestle’s sustainability is more inclined towards upholding their corporate value as well as making sure that they are in the position to stand out in terms of the market competence of their sustainable products. This is one of the major reasons that the reports related to the community development and environmental proliferation are some of the most commonly witnessed reports that are witnessed in the organization at the particular point of time as far as the way organization stands at the moment. The community development and the financial compliance is also one of their core values and there is great effort that is being undertaken during the course of the report to make sure that these values are reiterated and reflected in terms of the way major organizational decisions are taken. Comparing it with the Unilever, the inclusiveness and the creation of the society that is more just and accepting towards the other as well as the fairness are some of the values that are talked about when looking at the way Unilever sustainability reports are talked about, but the repots contemplate more on the social ramifications of the things rather than making sure that the discussion about the sustainability constraints are carried out.

Reflection on the Ideas Presented by the Group Members

The ethical judgement and how the moral dilemma that is needed to be resolved in different situations is one of the thing that is needed to be talked about during the course of how the discussions across the group members were carried out. Looking closely at the way they work; the assessment can be made that there is certain lack of insight in terms of some of the comments that were made by the group members during the course of the project. The thing that stood out the most is that how the involvement of all the stakeholders is something that was not thought about to be an important matter when the sustainability decisions and how the idea of sustainability is bound to vary from one organization to the other. Not only that, the other major thing that was lacking during the course of the group reflections that rather simplistic ideas were being presented in terms the way understanding about the ethical issues is supposed to be developed among all the stakeholders at the particular point of time. Thus, there is a need to make sure that the complexities of the business ethics and sustainability are understood

Conclusion

In the hindsight, it can be said that the both the organizations have a completely different idea in terms of how the sustainable business practices are supposed to be run. At the broader level, it becomes quite important for all the stakeholders to make sure that they have a sense of realization in terms of how the broader decision making is being taken. Unilever though needs to be more efficient and their practices need to align more with their set of values in order to make sure that they are adopting sustainable business practices. Because sustainability is fundamentally about industry transformation, board members and C-suite executives have found it helpful to assess their company’s current corporate sustainability position in terms of four stages. The four-stage transformation model described below refers to Hedstrom Associates' Corporate Sustainability Scorecard.

References

Dauvergne, P., & Lister, J. (2016). Eco-business: A big-brand takeover of sustainability. MIT Press.

Gold, S., Kunz, N., & Reiner, G. (2017). Sustainable global agrifood supply chains: exploring the barriers. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 21(2), 249-260.

Mirvis, P. (2017). Chapter 2 Unilever's Drive for Sustainability and CSR–Changing the Game. In Organizing for sustainability(pp. 41-72). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Reilly, A. H. (2016). Communicating sustainability initiatives in corporate reports: Linking implications to organizational change. SAM Advanced Management Journal, 74(3), 33.

Visser, W., & Courtice, P. (2018). Sustainability leadership: Linking theory and practice. Available at SSRN 1947221.