This Five Forces analysis of Unilever shows the need to strategically prioritize competition and the bargaining power of customers in the multinational consumer goods company’s industry environment. Michael Porter’s Five Forces Analysis model is a management tool for understanding the impacts of external factors in a company’s competitive environment. In this Five Forces analysis of Unilever, competitive rivalry is viewed as one of the strongest external forces, along with the bargaining power of buyers. To ensure long-term success, the company must address the issues related to these forces. Unilever’s market position and organizational strengths are adequate to address such forces.
This Five Forces analysis of Unilever identifies competition and consumers as the most important forces. The external factors related to these forces impact the company’s financial performance in the consumer goods market. Thus, the competitive environment described in this Five Forces analysis influences the achievement of business goals linked to Unilever’s mission statement and vision statement.
Summary & Recommendations: Porter’s Five Forces Analysis of Unilever
Unilever deals with a wide variety of external factors, considering the extent of its operations in the global consumer goods market. However, as shown in this Five Forces analysis, such external factors lead to variations in the intensities of the five forces impacting the business. The following are the intensities of the five forces affecting Unilever:
- Competitive rivalry or competition: Strong force
- Bargaining power of buyers or customers: Strong force
- Bargaining power of suppliers: Moderate force
- Threat of substitutes or substitution: Weak force
- Threat of new entrants or new entry: Weak force
This Five Forces analysis highlights competitive rivalry and the bargaining power of buyers as the issues of highest intensity affecting Unilever’s business. The bargaining power of suppliers is also important but has limited impact on the company. The threats of substitutes and new entry have a limited effect on Unilever and the consumer goods industry environment. This Five Forces analysis indicates that strategic action must prioritize competition and the bargaining power of customers.
Recommendations. Based on external factors in this Five Forces analysis, a recommendation is for Unilever to further build its competitive advantages through product innovation. For example, the company can increase its investment to produce better and more competitive variants of its current personal care and home care products. This effort should reflect Unilever’s generic competitive strategy and intensive growth strategies, which emphasize product uniqueness as a strategic approach. Considering the buyer power evaluated in this Five Forces analysis, it is also recommended that the company enhance its customer relations to attract and retain more consumers. For example, in applying Unilever’s company culture (business culture) in customer relations processes, higher quality in the processing of external communications can improve consumers’ perception of the company and its brands. The company has the strengths needed to strategically address these issues, as discussed in the SWOT analysis of Unilever.
Competitive Rivalry or Competition with Unilever (Strong Force)
Competition is a major force in Unilever’s industry. This section of the Five Forces analysis identifies the external factors that present the impact of firms on each other. The strong force of competitive rivalry against Unilever is based on the following external factors and their intensities:
- High number of firms (strong force)
- High aggressiveness of consumer goods firms (strong force)
- Low switching costs for consumers (strong force)
There are many competitors operating in the market for food and non-food consumer goods, including Procter & Gamble (P&G), Colgate-Palmolive, Coca-Cola, and PepsiCo. This external factor imposes a strong force on Unilever. In addition, these firms are generally aggressive, further adding to the intensity of competition in this Five Forces analysis case. Unilever also experiences tough competition because of low switching costs. For example, it is easy for consumers to switch from one consumer goods company to another. Thus, a high level of competition is shown in this section of the Five Forces analysis, highlighting the need to consider competitive rivalry as a high-priority force in Unilever’s industry environment.
Bargaining Power of Unilever’s Customers/Buyers (Strong Force)
Unilever’s business and industry depend on the response of consumers to its products. The influence of buyers on business performance is considered in this section of the Five Forces analysis. Unilever must address the following external factors that lead to the strong force of the bargaining power of customers:
- Consumers’ low switching costs (strong force)
- High quality of information about consumer goods (strong force)
- Small size of individual buyers (weak force)
The low switching costs make it easy for consumers to transfer from Unilever’s products to other companies’ products. This external factor contributes to the strong intensity of the bargaining power of buyers. In addition, consumers have access to high-quality information about consumer goods, making it even easier for them to decide when transferring from Unilever to other providers. For example, buyers can compare products based on online information. Moreover, the small size of an individual consumer’s purchases has minimal impact on Unilever’s profits. However, the low switching costs and high quality of information outweigh this third external factor in the industry environment. Based on this section of the Five Forces analysis, the bargaining power of customers is one of the strongest forces affecting the consumer goods business. Unilever’s marketing mix (4Ps) influences customer perception and contributes to the company’s effectiveness in managing the buyer power determined in this Five Forces analysis.
Bargaining Power of Unilever’s Suppliers (Moderate Force)
Suppliers impact Unilever’s industry environment by affecting the level of supply available to firms. This section of the Five Forces analysis presents the influence of suppliers on companies. The following are the external factors that contribute to the moderate force of the bargaining power of suppliers on Unilever:
- Moderate size of individual suppliers (moderate force)
- Moderate population of suppliers (moderate force)
- Moderate overall supply (moderate force)
While Unilever has large suppliers, like foreign firms that supply paper and oil, the average supplier is moderate in size. This external factor imposes a moderate-intensity force on the consumer goods industry environment. In addition, the moderate population of suppliers enables them to impose significant but limited influence on Unilever. Similarly, the moderate level of the overall supply adds to such a significant but limited influence of suppliers. For example, any supplier’s change in production levels leads to a significant but limited change in the availability of materials used in Unilever’s business. Other firms in the industry are similarly affected. As shown in this section of the Five Forces analysis of Unilever, the bargaining power of suppliers is a significant but moderate consideration in the consumer goods industry environment. The approaches used in Unilever’s operations management, particularly for supply chain management, help address the supplier power determined in this Five Forces analysis.
Threat of Substitutes or Substitution (Weak Force)
Substitutes can reduce Unilever’s revenues and the competitive strength of the company in the consumer goods industry. The impact of substitution is determined in this section of the Five Forces analysis. In Unilever’s case, the following external factors are responsible for the weak force of the threat of substitution:
- Consumers’ low switching costs (strong force)
- Low substitute availability (weak force)
- Low performance to price ratio of substitutes (weak force)
The low switching costs enable consumers to easily use substitutes instead of Unilever’s products. This external factor imposes a strong force on the company and the consumer goods industry environment examined in this Five Forces analysis of Unilever. However, the overall impact of substitution is weakened because of the low availability of substitutes. For example, it is easier to access Unilever’s toothpaste from grocery stores than to obtain substitutes, like homemade organic dentifrices. In relation, most substitutes have low performance levels and a minimal or insignificant cost difference when compared to mass-produced consumer goods readily available in the market. This condition makes Unilever’s products more attractive than substitutes, thereby further weakening the intensity of the threat of substitution. This section of the Five Forces analysis of Unilever shows that the threat of substitutes is a minor business issue.
Threat of New Entrants or New Entry (Weak Force)
Unilever competes with established firms and new firms in the consumer goods market. This section of the Five Forces analysis considers the influence of new firms on the industry environment. The following external factors create the weak force of the threat of new entrants against Unilever:
- Consumers’ low switching costs (strong force)
- High cost of consumer goods brand development (weak force)
- High economies of scale (weak force)
The low switching costs enable new entrants to impose a strong force against Unilever. For example, consumers can easily decide to try new products from new firms. However, it is costly to build strong brands, like Unilever’s. This external factor weakens the intensity of the threat of new entrants against the company. Also, Unilever takes advantage of high economies of scale, which support competitive pricing and high organizational efficiencies that new firms typically lack. As a result, the company remains strong despite new entrants. Based on this section of the Five Forces analysis, the threat of new entry is a minor concern in Unilever’s industry environment.
References
- U.S. Department of Commerce – International Trade Administration – Consumer Goods Industry.
- Unilever – Form 20-F.
- Unilever – Our Strategy and Growth Action Plan.
- Unilever – Our Suppliers.
- Wahasusmiah, R. (2024). Determination of financial performance in predicting profit growth of consumer goods industry companies. Journal of Accounting and Taxation, 4(2), 123-136.