Hindustan Unilever Ltd Essay Example for Free

Hindustan Unilever Ltd Essay Hindustan Unilever Limited, a fast moving consumer goods company, manufactures and sells home care, personal care, and food products in India and internationally. The company offers soaps, detergent bars, detergent powders, detergent liquids, scourers, etc.; and personal products, such as oral care, skin care, and hair care products, as well as deodorants, talcum powders, color cosmetic products, and Ayush health care and personal care products and services. It also offers packaged foods, such as atta, salt, bread, etc.; ice creams and frozen desserts; culinary products comprising tomato based products, fruit based products, soups, etc. ; and beverages, including tea and coffee. In addition, the company exports marine and leather products, as well as offers chemicals; Pureit in-home water purifiers; and salon services. It offers food products primarily under the Annapurna, Brooke Bond 3 Roses, Annapurna, Brooke Bond Red Label, Brooke Bond Taaza, Brooke Bond Taj Mahal, Bru, Kissan, Knorr, Kwality Wall’s, Lipton, Magic, Magnum, and Modern brand names; personal care products under the Aviance, Axe, Breeze, Clear, Clinic Plus, Closeup, Dove, ELLE 18, Fair Lovely, Hamam, Lakme, Lifebuoy, Liril 2000, Lux, Pears, Pepsodent, Ponds, Rexona, Sure, Sunsilk, TRESemmà ©, and Vaseline brand names; and home care products under the Active Wheel, Cif, Comfort Fabric Conditioner, Domex, Rin, Sunlight, Surf Excel, and Vim brand names. The company was formerly known as Hindustan Lever Limited and changed its name to Hindustan Unilever Limited in May 2007. Hindustan Unilever Limited was founded in 1931 and is based in Mumbai, India. As of July 4, 2013, Hindustan Unilever Ltd. operates as a subsidiary of Unilever plc. Many challenges for HULs new boss Cheap Flights from New Delhi to Toronto As low as Fares Have Reduced, Book Your Flight Now! Yatra.com www.Yatra.com Ads by Google Add to My Page Read more on: Hul | Fmcg | Mena | Hindustan Unilever | Sanjiv Mehta Nitin Paranjpe RELATED NEWS Diageo stirs USL in bid to shake Indian market Shreekant Sambrani: Gandhis truth Then and now ITC looks away from fairness for men in personal wash Cabinet to take up ordinance on convicted netas on Oct 2 Rahuls opinion well taken in party, govt: Cong SBI Life Insurance Plans 1 Cr Life Cover @ Rs 543* pm Only Save upto 50%, Get Free Quotes Now!www.policybazaar.com/Tax_Saving IDFC Mutual Fund Invest in a wide range of Funds. Meet an Advisor in Your City Now!www.idfcmf.com Ads by Google Sanjiv Mehta has cut himself an unusual career for a chartered accountant. Rather than move up the echelons of finance management, he was part of crisis management at his first employer, and then the commercial head of home and personal care products and, lately, chairman of MENA (Middle East and North Africa) for Unilever, the second-largest fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company in the world. As he takes over as chief executive at Unilevers India arm, and the countrys largest FMCG company, Hindustan Unilever (HUL), on Tuesday, he will be the first to not have had a stint in Indian business before doing so. The current slowdown has not spared FMCG companies and though fortified on the back of an open offer and a reinforced supply chain, HUL has challenges of its own to battle. If not for these, all Mehta had to do was ensure continuity to ride out the gloom. However, he will now have to iron out creases at one of its bread and butter segments, skincare, at a time when HULs top brass drive on premiumisation is seeing resistance due to sobering consumer sentiment. Comparisons The company is different from the HUL in April 2008, when predecessor Nitin Paranjpe had taken over as CEO. Paranjpe, who joins the Unilever Leadership Executive, took on the role of president, home care, moved up the ranks in  laundry and home care and then personal care, right from being an area sales manager to being the executive director. He took the company out of the woods during the previous slowdown that India had faced. Jyothy Laboratories joint managing director, Ullas Kamath, says: Nitin breathed new life into HUL by doing away with power brands, increasing rural and semi-urban reach and, most important, building a team that worked hard, stayed together in the past five years. I wish Sanjiv all the best; he should strive to not undo what has been done so far. Another industry peer points to the internal changes under Paranjpes watch and what Mehta would do well to preserve: He brought Leena Nair on board and rehauled the human resources at HUL, with a young team which was answerable for bringing about results and members rotated every three years for a rounded experience. Various programmes also led to low-cost production and an extensive distribution in the hinterlands. It is like HUL is now on auto-pilot and process-driven in a way that people are more aware of the company than the man behind it, which is the mark of a leader. Observers are perhaps worried about the new CEO’s rallying skills because Paranjpe did it very well. One of Paranjpe’s peers and batchmates says, â€Å"HUL will have to be mindful of the drain of human capital to other organisations. ITC is also of a similar size but it does not suffer as much. Paranjpe knew the system and got the top people on his side. He was quiet. Rather than be visible outside like Banga (CEO before him), he was visible inside the organisation and, hence, could influence top guys more.† Mehta has not worked with the Indian team so far but taking over without rocking the boat at this time will be crucial. So far, in various interviews, he has spoken about empowering people and developing them. Nirmal Jain, chairman, India Infoline (IIFL), says: â€Å"Mehta will have to reinforce the strategy so far, so that the morale of his team remains high. He is from an emerging markets background, so he will understand the focus on market share, volume growth and spends on brands.† Challenges One of Paranjpe’s peers and batchmates says, â€Å"Mehta might need to reassure shareholders on not losing margins. He would have to think of ways in absorbing the pressure on volume growth in these times. One of these could be telling them that HUL would take a hit on volume but maintain margins since it can afford to do so.† IIFL’s Jain wants Mehta to focus on innovation and relaunches. Nikhil Vora, managing director at IDFC, says: â€Å"Paranjpe has been able to restrict market share losses and even grow in some categories. But the biggest challenge remains the absence of a funnel of new products, especially because its core categories are only expected to grow weaker.† Jain says going into a service-led business of water purifiers rather than sell bottled water amounts to HUL playing in a niche category, whereas it is better geared to succeed in mass segments. The clamour for innovation can also be linked to how one of HUL’s erstwhile blockbusters has run into trouble of late. Fair and Lovely, a Rs 1,500-crore brand in personal care, a segment that contributes nearly 30 per cent to HULs revenue, is in a category (fairness) which is not growing. â€Å"It shows a consumer disconnect with the brand,† says Vora. Food remains a challenge. Analysts like Vora point to a lack of investment in the category. â€Å"It has been historically coy with introducing innovation in snacks, foods and dairy. These are categories in which its competition has been active with innovation. It needs to get into these categories to stay formidable in the years to come.† Ahead In his Bangladesh stint, Mehta was known to take risks and alter the operating style to turn around a troubled loss-making business, in two and a half years. He is also aware of the cultures in Southeast Asia and West Asia. In his first job with Union Carbide, he was part of the crisis management team after the Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984 and remained till 1992  before joining Unilever in Dubai. Nitin Mathur, consumer research analyst with Espirito Santo Securities, says: â€Å"North Africa due to its proximity with markets in Europe has about 80-90 per cent media penetration and a greater presence of modern trade than India.† While Bangladesh and West Asia not only boast of Indian expats but also media habits that are similar to India. Mehta’s succeeding Paranjpe is reminiscent of the latter’s ascension in the downturn of 2008. However, at that time the FMCG sector was not hit and 2010-11 saw a boom. Will Mehta’s emerging market exposure stand him in good stead now?

Escape from Industrialization in Wells The Time Machine Essay examples

Escape from Industrialization in Wells' The Time Machine      Ã‚      Our society craves an escape from life.   When our tedious jobs bog us down, we escape into a hobby.   When the responsibilities of school tire us, we escape in a vacation.   When world affairs take a frightening turn of events, we escape in a good movie or absorbing book.   There are countless distractions available to lighten our heavy minds and ease our anxieties.   But it was not always as easy as it is today.   What if distractions such as these were available only to a leisured class?   What if the average person did not have the means to escape, even in small ways?   This was the dilemma in late Victorian England.   The people who needed and craved escape the most, the working and poor classes, could not achieve it.   Industrialization had locked many of them into their subservient social positions, disallowing any means of even temporary escape from the harshness of Victorian life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   H.G. Wells' The Time Machine addresses this desire to escape.   The unnamed Time Traveler himself does not necessarily have the desire to escape from Victorian life.   He is wealthy and educated enough to spend his days creating a time machine to satisfy his desire to explore time.   But escapism is addressed in his changing theories about the origin and nature of the Eloi and Morlocks, whom he encounters in his travels.   Related to this theme of escape is the concept of progress not universally yielding good.   The Time Machine speaks to the powerful late Victorian themes of escape and progress, painting a frightening picture of the dystopia that could result from the Victorians' ruthless exploitation of the working class during industrialization.   Begi... ...k. "The Railway God" The Birth of Neurosis: Myth, Malady, and the Victorians.   Simon & Schuster: New York, 1984. 108-122.   "Man or Beast?   The Lasting Effects of Darwin."   Victorian Monstrosities Essay 2.   3 December 2001. http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/rtotaro/ENL4122Essay2.htm Mitchell, Sally. "Class, Tradition, and Money" and "Working Life" Daily Life in Victorian England. Greenwood: Westport, Connecticut, 1996. 19-39, 43-61. Rose, Holly, Toni Veloce, and Bobby Zarnecki. "Feminism and Literature: A Look at Sarah Grand and The Heavenly Twins." Victorian Monstrosities Group Presentation. Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, Florida. 6 Nov. 2001.   Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. New York: Dover, 1991.   Wilde, Oscar.   The Picture of Dorian Gray.   New York: Dover, 1993.  

Benjamin D. Powell

Benjamin D. Powell makes an argument in his paper â€Å"Exploring Mirror Neurons: Rethinking Performance and Communicative Processes† that will make every self-avowed video game dork ecstatic. The concept that by observing an action repeatedly our mirror neurons learn to perform the action will appeal to thousands or even millions who spend their days in front of a television or video screen rather than out experiencing life. Powell adds the caveat that without practicing the action, the body will not be able to perform it with the skill of a trained athlete, but argues that the presence of mirror neurons explains why he was not more injured when hit by a car. The paper claims that the presence of mirror neurons may indicate that more study is needed regarding how our bodies develop skills and what effect activities like playing video games have on our neurological development. At worst, Powell’s theory is an interesting pipe dream. At best, it is hope for the people who spend too much time playing â€Å"World of Warcraft†. Unfortunately, the reality is it seems to be something of a pipe dream. It is much more likely that he simply got lucky when the car hit him and instinctively tucked and rolled. And, the car, which he described as barreling toward him, probably was not moving with the speed he believed it to be.   Writing for the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Kathleen Wilkes seems to echo parts of Powell’s basic thesis. (Wilkes 111). She argues that the possibility exists that people are capable of learning simply through observation, but there is no hard science to defend either her statement or Powell’s. The reality is that this is some odd combination of philosophy and science, with people speculating on something that science has yet to be able to measure or prove. In the end, while the philosophy of a mind-body link so deep that the mind can control the body’s actions after merely observing an action seems plausible there is no science to back it up. Powell’s evidence is merely a corollary, coincidental and not direct proof of a tie. To actually prove Powell’s theory would be difficult and complicated. One would have to prove that there was simply no other way, short of mirror neurons that the test subject could have learned to complete a specific action. And, the researcher would have to be able to determine how much of the action and the response to it is based on intellectual knowledge versus muscle knowledge. In short, the researcher would have to prove that simply watching someone swing a bat repeatedly would equate to the ability to do it and that the ability is more than the intellectual knowledge of where to place one’s hands on the bat. He would have to prove that Powell’s escape from injury was more related to his ability to tuck and roll than his knowledge that tuck and roll was the right way to minimize the force of impact of an oncoming car. Ultimately, Powell’s problem becomes in determining what actions are effective because of the mental processes telling us how to do them and which ones are effective because of the muscle knowledge of when to flex or release. Even making the differentiation there could take years. WORKS CITED Powell, Benjamin D. â€Å"Exploring Mirror Neurons: Rethinking Performance and Communicative Processes.† Wilkes, Kathleen V. â€Å"Brain States†Ã‚   The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 31, No.2. June, 1980. pp. 111-129.   

Case of the Fashion Channel - 2061 Words

The Fashion Channel Case Analysis Problem Statement: The case of the Fashion Channel exhibited possible failures and multiple problems. After thorough review of the case I felt the core problem is the failure to focus on a specific demographic. TFC had run off the marketing strategy of â€Å"something-for-everyone† for plenty of years and found success in this untouched niche of fashion television. Without competition, this marketing mentality had been very profitable, and started drawing up attention from other networks. With rising competition in this network specialty, TFC was losing CPM (cost per thousand) advertising value and market share. Stuck in the past success of their previous marketing strategy, TFC is in dire need of†¦show more content†¦In dire need of success these threats would have to be assessed thoroughly to assure the network’s future. Alternatives: One alternative is to specify TFC’s segmentation and positioning to only women between the ages 18 to 34. One positive outcome by targeting this demographic is that the target market is specific, and is a premium market for advertising agencies. This could increase the CPM value and boost ratings. Another possible outcome could be that the competition wouldn’t be able to compete in this specified field. Being a specialty network in fashion focusing on the female 18-34 demographic would possibly push the competition in this demographic, and recover some lost market share. A negative outcome of this alternative is the possibility of losing existing customers and market share. By narrowing the marketing focus the current viewers may not like the change in which the network takes course. The goal is to keep the existing customers and bring in new viewers in the newly obtained demographic. A second alternative is to target two segments, the Fashionistas and the Shoppers/Planners. 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