Unilever 2015 Annual Report Download - page 11

self-esteem
project
Q Unlever has many
stakeholders How dd the
roup best serve them
A We treat our relatonshp wth the many
stakeholders we serve – and rely upon –
ncredbly serously We wouldn’t have a
healthy and thrvng busness wthout them
Our frst prorty s to the 2 bllon
consumers we serve every day wth
products that make them feel good, look
good and get more out of lfe, and last year
we were proud to see Unlever appear as
the company wth the hghest number
of brands n the Kantar Top 50 rankng
of the World’s Most hosen Brands
Our approach to those we work wth across
the value chan has always been based on
collaboraton and partnershp and we were
pleased to take that forward agan under
our hugely successful Partner to Wn
programme We have a broad base of
long-term shareholders and they benefted
from a Total Shareholder Return of 156%
n 2015 We also contnued to nvest heavly
n our most mportant resource – our
people – ncludng through measures to
further our commtment to gender
balance The number of women among
our total populaton of managers rose to
45% – stll short of where we want to be,
but among the best record of any company
of our sze and up sgnfcantly over the
past fve years
The USLP, as reported elsewhere,
and the work of the Unlever Foundaton
contnue to ensure that we not only serve
the communtes n whch we operate
but engage fully wth them n a sprt
of seekng to drve wder socetal and
envronmental benefts
Q What do you see as the
bggest challenge and the
bggest opportunty ahead
A Next to dealng wth the effects of
clmate change, requrng world leaders
to mplement the agreements that wll
enable us to drve sustanable models,
the bggest challenge and opportunty we
face s the pace of change hange today
s exponental Drven by advances n
technology, whole ndustry sectors are
beng dsrupted ompanes that have been
around for decades can suddenly fnd
themselves obsolete, whle – at the other
end of the spectrum – relatvely young
companes are beng valued at bllons of
euros even before they start to generate
much n the way of revenue
For the fast movng consumer goods sector,
these changes manfest themselves n a
number of ways They gve rse, for example,
to much more formdable local compettors
Wth ther agle busness models and
proxmty to consumers, these busnesses
are ganng share n many markets
In ths envronment, the opportunty exsts
to show that we can contnue to develop
a portfolo of brands wth the rght blend
of global and local presence, supported
by an organsatonal structure that s
reslent enough to wthstand shocks
and agle enough to respond to rapdly
emergng trends
We are dong ust that and made further
progress n 2015, ncludng – as I lke to
put t – by ‘expermentng on the edges’
wth dfferent models that st outsde our
core busness and allow us to tral new
approaches The creaton of our new
Bakng, ookng and Spreads busness s
a good example of how we are dong ths
n a more establshed part of the busness
whle our drect-to-consumer offerngs
n premum busnesses lke T2 and Malle,
and our Unlever Foundry and the platform
t provdes to work collaboratvely wth
nnovators and entrepreneurs n the
technology space, are great examples of
how we are tappng nto emergng trends
Q What s your outlook for 2016
A We don’t expect to see any sgnfcant
or mmedate mprovement n the overall
health of the world economy It s clear that
the economc recovery n the developed
markets of Europe and North Amerca wll
reman slow and protracted, whle the
slowdown n the emergng markets s lkely
to contnue for some tme to come
For all these reasons, we reman prudent
n our approach and sngle-mndedly
focused on buldng the reslence and the
aglty of our portfolo and our organsaton
We made good progress on these fronts
n 2015, whch gves me further confdence
that we can contnue to delver on our
obectve of consstent top and bottom lne
growth, to the beneft of our long-term
shareholders and the many others who
rely on Unlever I want to thank them and,
above all, our wonderful 169,000 employees,
whose dedcaton, commtment and sense
of purpose shone through agan n 2015
Paul Polman
hef Executve Offcer
BUSINESS IMPAT OF
SUSTAINABLE LIVIN BRANDS SUSTAINABLE LIVIN BRANDS
AOUNTED FOR HALF OF UNILEVER’S
ROWTH IN 2014
SUSTAINABLE
LIVIN BRANDS
REW AT TWIE
THE RATE OF
OTHER UNILEVER
BRANDS IN 2014
onsumers want responsble busness
and responsble brands Our brands whose
purpose and products respond to that –
Sustanable Lvng brands – are delverng
stronger and faster growth
The Dove Self-Esteem Proect s helpng young
people around the world buld postve body
confdence and self-esteem through evdence-based
programmes n schools, onlne resources for
parents and partnershps wth youth organsatons
8Unilever Annual Report and Accounts 2015Strategic Report
HIEF EXEUTIVE OFFIER’S REVIEW
ONTINUED