Bus2004 International Business: Business Plan Assessment Answers

Instructions:

Answer:

Introduction 

It is important for a multinational business organization to have an effective and efficient business plan that will help them to operate in the foreign nations. The company needs to understand the internal and external condition of the market that will help them in all types of business transaction process.

The current report focuses on making business plan for the Unilever Company, who is planning to expand its business in the nation of North Korea. The company is planning to launch a new personal care product in the consumer market of North Korea and hence, it is important for them to make their business plan in according to the business environment of the country. The report will also provide recommendations that will help in the overall business planning process for Unilever.   

Overview of Company Operations 

Unilever is one of the famous multinational Dutch-British transnational consumer goods companies that are currently operating in more than 100 nations all across the world. The company has its headquarters located in Rotterdam of Netherlands and London. The company is regarded as the largest consumer goods brand in the world in terms of the total revenue (Unilever global company website, 2017). It has a wide range of products that include food, beverage and all types of personal care products. The company is also one of the oldest consumer good brands and it was established in the year 1930. During the latter half of the 20th century the company expanded its operation by increasing the diversity in the range of products that are being sold in the market. The main mission of the company is to offer a wide range of products that can be affordable by people of all section of the society. Sustainable living is also one of the major aims of the company, which helps them to provide higher range of products for the market.

The company is currently planning to expand its market range in the consumer market of North Korea and launch a new personal care product. The company can use their international reputation that can help them in the overall business planning activities.  

Business Environment Analysis 

Analysis of the business environment is an important part of the marketing plan for all major multinational companies. According to Kim et al. (2014), the business environmental analysis includes analyzing the internal and external element of business. It is also possible to estimate the threat and opportunity that exist in the market. Popescu (2013), have mentioned that PESTEL analysis is one of the major marketing tools that are used by all major business organization in order to evaluate the market environment. The various elements of this marketing tool is used can help the business organization to understand the condition of the market environment.

Political:  The political factor is one of the important elements that helps in the matter related to the business scenario a market. Niemann-Struweg (2014), has added in the context that all the major political decisions taken by the government of a nation have major and direct impact on the business operation activity of a country. The style of leadership has direct impact on all the major business activities that are an important part of business part of the business.

 In case of Unilever it is important for them to analyze the political environment of North Korea. The autocratic type of rule in the North Korea is one of major challenges that are faced by all business organization in order to deal with the business marketing process. The country is operated by the communist leaders, which has also formed the constitution of the nation. The strict dictatorship that has implemented some business laws that may not help the smooth business transaction process and hence, it is important for the Unilever company to have proper business planning in order to deal with challenges that exist in the consumer market. The high degree of political violence is also one of the major causes of the major challenges that will be faced to deal with the political challenges of the nation. The military rule that is being implemented also is considered to be one of the major causes of political instability in the business environment.

Legal Environment:  The business laws that are implemented by the government have major impact of the business plan of a company, it is also important in this context. It is important for all business organization to understand the overall process of the business laws that are being implemented by the government. The foreign business corporation is one of the major powers that can help to deal with the business environment within the nation of North Korea. The act of Foreign Investment that is being implemented within the business policies can help to deal with all the major types of business process and all trade policies. The foreign investment law is one of the major business aspects that the Unilever Company has to consider in order to establish their business in the consumer market of North Korea.

Cultural Environment: The cultural aspect is one of the major parts of business that helps to understand the demand of the local people in the consumer market. The culture and individual lifestyle of all the people also has a major aspect that needs to be considered in case of making business plan and also to deal with all business transaction. In case of North Korea, the cultural aspect of the country has made it possible for all business process to be one of the most successful business operations. The people of North Korea also have the habit of using high quality of personal care products, which will allow the Unilever Company to expand their business process.

SWOT Analysis 

The SWOT analysis is one of the popularly used tools that are used by all business organization in order to properly evaluate the internal and external condition of the market. It is important for a business organization to make full use of the strength and also use the opportunity that exists in the market. It is also important to deal with the overall consequence of the weakness by identifying the threats that exist in the market (Menychtas et al. 2014).

In case of Unilever, the biggest strength of the company it is the largest consumer global brand and is currently operating in all the major nations of the globe. The company also enjoys a distinct competitive advantage over all the rivals. The broad portfolio is also considered to be one of the major strength of the company that is used to provide high quality of products. The Unilever Company has also implemented advanced form of research that will help them to introduce new style of product with the consumer market.

Due to the fact that the Unilever Company is able to operate in all the major countries of the world, it is not possible to have proper quality monitoring system. Hence, the level of quality is totally compromised due to the fact that they are not able to control quality management process.

The main opportunity for Unilever in the market of North Korea is that there is no major competitor due to the fact that most of the companies are not able to sustain the strict business laws of North Korea. On the other hand, Unilever being one of the major multinational brands it is possible for them to utilize the opportunity that exists within the consumer market of North Korea. Moreover, due to lack of personal care products in the consumer market of Korea, it is possible for Unilever Company to make high level of profit from, the sale of their new products in the Korean market.

The major threats that can be encountered in the consumer market of North Korea is due to the fact that there are risk of political instability that can destabilize the business environment of the region.   

Strategic Recommendations 

It is also one of the most important for all business organization to have the ability to deal with all the challenges that exist in the market. The marketing manager of Unilever needs to collect proper information related to the market condition of North Korea that will help in the overall process of marketing plan development. The use of SWOT and PESTEL analysis can help to deal with the process of data collection that is believed to be one of the important parts of business decision making process. It is also important for the management of their company to have better communication process with the government of North Korea that will help them in the overall process of understanding rule and regulations that are implemented by the government. The company also needs to have the business policies according to the business laws of the nation that will help them to deal with the process free and fair business transaction.      

References

Kim, M., Suresh, N.C. and Kocabasoglu-Hillmer, C., 2013. An impact of manufacturing flexibility and technological dimensions of manufacturing strategy on improving supply chain responsiveness: Business environment perspective. International Journal of Production Research, 51(18), pp.5597-5611.

Menychtas, A., Vogel, J., Giessmann, A., Gatzioura, A., Gomez, S.G., Moulos, V., Junker, F., Müller, M., Kyriazis, D., Stanoevska-Slabeva, K. and Varvarigou, T., 2014. 4CaaSt marketplace: An advanced business environment for trading cloud services. Future Generation Computer Systems, 41, pp.104-120.

Niemann-Struweg, I., 2014. An integrated communication implementation model for the post-2000 business environment. Public Relations Review, 40(2), pp.184-192.

Popescu, G.H., 2013. Macroeconomics, Effective Leadership, and the Global Business Environment. Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice, (2), pp.170-176.

Unilever global company website. (2017). About. [online] Available at: https://www.unilever.com/about/ [Accessed 2 Jun. 2017].