Ceo paul pol ma n s s tr ategy for the co mp an y m

CEO Paul
Pol ma n 's s tr ategy for the co mp an y. M ore th an most
ot her co mpanies . Unilever h as e mb e dd ed its sustain-
ability pro gram within it s strategi c, op erat ional, an d
human reso ur ce managemen t: th e plan Is ove rseen
by the board and inc ent ive b on uses are l inke d m I1s
qua nt ita ti ve targets fo r imp rove men ts in e mi ssions,
waste re du ct io n. and energy and wat er conservat ion .
While Pel man emp h asi zes that Unilever's commit -
me nt to sustainability is be cause
it
Is - th e rig ht th ing
to d o· he is also clear that th e primary m otivat io n is
the fact that th e Su stainable Li vi ng Plan is in the l ong-
te rm i nt erests of Unilever itself. In an inte rv i ew w ith
McKinsey and Compan y, Pol man noted t hat the bene -
fits to Unilev er in cluded im p ro v ed access to raw mate -
rial s, gre at er emp loy ee c omm, t ment a stronger drrve
to ward in nov ati on through ou t t he company , great ly
increas ed numbe rs of a ppli c at ions for Jobs at Uni l ever ,
and im pro ve ment In effici ency in Uni l eve r pla n ts and
thr o ugh o ut its suppl y c hai n. Sharehol ders appear to
have be nelined as w e ll : in th e li ve ye a rs f ollowing t he
lau nc h of the Sustainab le Li ving Plan, Unilever's share
price rose by 4 0% , well ahead of rivals Pr octer & Gamble
and Nesil e.
Howeve r, wh en Pol ma n annou n ced. en r ou te for
the January 2015 Davos meetings, tha t he planned to
-use t he size and sca le of U nileve r·t o lobby global lead-
ers for a bi n ding a gr ee m ent o n cl im ate change and
pove r ty erad ica tio n, s om e wo nd ered w h ether he was
p umng g lobal i nt erests ah ead of U rn lever· s-es p eci ally
give n Un il ev e r' s di s appoint ing sales pe rf or ma n ce du r-
in g 201 4.
Sources:
McK, nsey & Company . ·comm1tt1ng to susta1nab1l1ty
An in t erv i ew w i th Urnl eve r 's Paul Pe lman." h np // www
mck insey.co m/ vld eos/v id eo ?v1d=
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20 1 S, ·unilever : In
sea rch
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Aug ust 9, 20 14.
va lu e ava ilable to me firm. The si mpl e id ea that an opt ion-th e cho ice of whe th er to
do some thin g o r not- h as va lue ha s imp orta nt im p li ca tio ns fo r ho w we value firms . In
recen t ye ar s, th e prin cipl es of o pti o n pricing ha ve b ee n extended fr o m va luin g finan cia l
se curiti es to va luin g in ves tm en t projec ts and co mpanies. The res ult ing field of real
option analysis h as e mer ge d as o ne of th e m os t imp or ta nt d eve lo pm e n ts in fin an -
cial th eory ove r th e pa st d ec ad e , with far -r eac hing implic a tion s for stra t egy ana ly sis .
The tec hni ca l deta il s of valui ng r ea l o pti o ns are co mplex. Ho w eve r, th e und e rly in g
prin ciples are intuiti ve . Let me o udir1e th e basic i deas of r ea l op tio ns th eory a nd
w hat th ey mean for s trateg y analysis .