International Marketing Assignment: Case Analysis of Unilever

Question

Task: You are required to prepare a detailed international marketing assignment discussing the key concepts of marketing management and use contemporary marketing models, tools and techniques in a practical context. Specifically, you will:

• Analyze the changing business environment(s) globally and how they pose challenges to marketing management functions in organizations;
• Develop marketing strategies with the application of appropriate marketing tools;
• Evaluate the processes involved in brand management and how they influence consumer behavior;
• Decide how to launch new products/services in a dynamic global marketplace.

You can choose any organisation that you have sufficient first-hand knowledge of, preferably where you are working currently or have worked in the past, or an example organization that you have chosen for the purposes of this assignment. This may be a family business, a multi-national organisation, a college or university, or any other organization that lends itself to discussion and analysis.

Answer

Introduction
Due to globalization, businesses face extreme challenges to sustain themselves in the long run. However, the companies those who adopt themselves with the changing environment can sustain. Therefore, in this report, the sustainability of a company named Unilever is highlighted and how they expand their business internationally. Therefore, Unilever managed its marketing strategy internationally by advertising its brand through various distribution channels and keeps innovating its product. They choose various ways toinfluence their target audience to sustain their existence in the international market. As stated by Chieduet al., (2017, p. 375) with regards to the case scenario of international marketing assignment, Unilever penetrate the internal market only after therigorous researchof the place. They thoroughly researched the market to identify the needs and demands of the consumer. They also have understood the competitive environment and other parameters that can affect the growth in their business.

Initially itwas little difficult for Unilever to face such challenging parameters and factors. However, to overcome such situations they implemented proactive international marketing management strategy, to achieve success globally. They also have their competitors all over the world and compete with them to make their presence.Globally, Unilever was listed the 4th largest FMCG company in 2018 with respect to their sales. Later in 2019, Dove was the top-most selling deodorant in the UK.

Background of the organisation
Unilever is a multinational company that offers consumer goods. It is headquartered in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Rotterdam and London. They offer numerous products such as sweets, baby food, coffee, tea, bottled water, pregnancy tests, ice cream, chewing gum, pharmaceutical healthcare products, medicine, breakfast cereals, cleaning agents, juice, beauty products and lots more (Unilever UK & Ireland. 2020). Unilever is the oldest company having its availability in more than 190 countries. It is being researched that they are globally known for their best production of soap such as Dove and Lux. At first, the company began its journey by entering into a few foreign markets to compete with them internationally. They successfully introduced its product internationally and expanded its successful brand to other markets to compete with global brands. Unilever was established on 2nd September 1929. The founder is the Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie and the British soap maker Lever Brothers. The company increasingly expanded its operations globally.

They gained success and fame worldwide. Later on, Unilever divested its chemical business to ICI in 1997. However, under Paul Polman’s leadership in the year 2010, the company shifted its attention gradually towards beauty and health brands from any sort of food brand as the growth was slow. The major competitors of Unilever in cosmetics in the global competitive sectors are Procter as well as Gamble &L’Oréal(Sauraet al., 2017, p.76). They actively offer significant resources to any changes in product development and adopt themselves in such a situation faster and easily than Unilever. Therefore, to win the competition, the company has to innovate its products to maintain its brand. Thus, Unilever chooses cross-market subsidization to achieve its target audience and maintain sales. As per the thesis that was conducted in the year 2008reviewed herein international marketing assignment, Unilever is known to operate worldwide and has around 1,74,000 employees in their 316 companies(Haski-Leventhalet al., 2017, p. 40).

Literature review
Issues or concepts relevant or impacting the international marketing environment
Entrepreneurs seek various ways to introduce their products internationally (Hultet al., 2018, p. 20). Unfortunately, the environmental conditions pose numerous threats and opportunities to new entrants in the foreign market. Such as technological, political and cultural factors that are responsible for growth and success. This report aims to unravel such effects on the development of the businesses. As stated by Müller et al., (2018, p. 247), the study has been historical and descriptive which relies directly on secondary sources of information. According to the analysis, it revealed that the human factor as well as PESTEL analysis has a great impact on businesses across the world. Therefore, the issues that are impacting the international marketing environment is as follows:

Global Business Strategies
It is a major concern for businesses planning to penetrate themselves worldwide and has to trade-off between local responsiveness and global integration (Lee and Eckhardt, 2017, p. 370). Local responsiveness means the company needs to customize its products per its policy and methods. This condition was adopted by Unilever and it was the main reason for their success. Whereas, Global integration means businesses can follow the same methods and products in other countries. Both of these dimensions have 4 basic business strategies globally such as standardization, transnational, export and multi-domestic.

Standardization Strategy
It is the strategy in which businesses treat the globe as a single market and make small variations in their product (Cointe et al., 2017, p. 187). The standard is followed in the respective organisation so that people can avail of the same product everywhere. Information technologies, equipment and machine tools are universal & it requires little customization following the local conditions.

Multi-domestic strategy
This strategy customizes processes or products by the specific conditions of the country. Therefore, retailers use these strategies as they try to meet the local customer's tastes. Unilever is an example that has been using multi-domestic strategies for decades. Their marketing management and strategy are being centralized from their home country.

Transnational Strategy
This strategy is the combination of both a multi-domestic strategy and a standardization strategy. The transnational strategy is used by companies when they face any significant pressure on cost from their international competitors but they keep in mind that their products should meet the needs of the local customers (Pruthiet al., 2018, p. 211). However, it is very difficult for companies to follow this strategy. One of the companies named Ford is the producer of “world cars” has adopted this transnational strategy.

Export strategy
This strategy noted in the international marketing assignment primarily focuses on domestic operations (Larinaet al., 2019, p. 20). They don't intend to expand their business globally but export some of their products to gain advantages of international marketing. This business doesn't even attempt to customize its products following international marketing. They do not take stress to make any variations in their product.

Impact of macro and microenvironment on international marketing
The marketing environment of a company consists of outside forces and factors that can have an adverse effect on the company's marketing manager. They can maintain and build successful relationships with their target customers. Therefore, the aspects of marketing management and decisions are influenced by global factors. The global factors that influence international marketing are macro & microenvironment. A brief discussion about the global factors is mentioned below within this international marketing assignment:

Customers
The powerful marketing strategy plays a vital role and helps to attract more and more customers in line. Companies need to focus on the demands of local customers to achieve success. Therefore, Unilever focused on producing low priced goods to compete with the local international market. Their marketing strategy worked and helped them to attract more potential customers. The consumers have the power to make a company achieve success thus Unilever achieved its objective and goals vice versa.

Competition
As mentioned above within this international marketing assignment, the products and services of Unilever are similar to some of its competitors (Kaleka and Morgan, 2019, p. 120). The current rivals of Unilever are Procter as well as Gamble &L’Oréal. According to the thesis, Unilever keeps on competing with its rival competitor and achieved moderate sales growth in the year 2006. They also followed some strategy to get an edge over their competitors and thus attract most of the audiences.

Suppliers
Businesses can achieve success depending on their suppliers. Private label products are a mass-market retail supplier. Unilever increased its production in low-priced and sophisticated private label products with the help of large retailers. Moreover, Unilever distributes its goods through its company-owned sales force, independent distributors, agents, independent grocers and foodservice distributors. Additionally, special distributors supply the company's valued customers.

Impact of domestic factors on international marketing
According to Morgan et al., (2018, p. 70), domestic factors play a vital role in the growth and success of any company. The factors are social, legal, economic, cultural, demographic, political and cultural. These aspects are required for international marketing management. Some of these factors are briefly highlighted below.

Demographic factor
This has an impact on various marketing segments that include educational level, age, ethnicity, cultural norms, lifestyle, region and values (Meyer et al., 2019, p. 588). Thus, even after the tremendous changing demographics, Unilever continues to get benefitted from anti-agers, nourishers or even firming skincare products become increasingly popular (Anggrianiet al., 2018, p. 012036).

Economic factors
Various parameters are responsible to reduce the selling of the products which are being produced by the company. The economic environment can be drastic for organization growth. This issue was initially faced by Unilever. However, the company managed to overcome the situation.

Technological factors
This factor is considered by Unilever. This is because technological factors help to develop the skills and knowledge required for the production of the products. The materials and technology are used for the smooth running of the business.

Background analysis
Local; the national or regional context of marketing approaches of the organisation
The Unilever Company turned into a transnational organisation and used some basic sense for marketing on a worldwide perspective. This company increases the business locally as well as acts globally. The quality of products needs proximity to neighbourhood markets. The economic condition and factions handled by the head office of the area. The requirement to profit from everybody's experience and creativity makes classy features of transferring different information across the world as the respective organization is highly popular. The manager of the office focuses on some marketing strategy which is based on different areas. In 75 countries Unilever established the business and operated different companies. Overall, 500 companies have been operated by Unilever all over the world. For local marketing plans, the company manages the search engines' demands and Unilever follows this approach. Social media is a good concept for marketing policies where marketing strategies fulfil customers' desired products (Cleverism, 2020).Unilever’s most valuable antiperspirants and deodorants brands were Axe and Dove. As stated by Juriettiet al., (2017, p. 365), the company made up to 36% share in the global antiperspirant market. Unfortunately, the company’s share dropped to 26% in 2019. Currently, Unilever’s intense competitors are Nestle, P&G, PepsiCo and lots more.

Digital Marketing –In the present situation of international marketing assignmentthe digital marketing plan and different strategies are exceptionally cost-efficient for any business and the present organisation used this strategy. The traditional marketing strategy is newspaper, billboards, radio etc but in the current situation, this organisation follows the new trends like different online social media platforms which are very effective. With this strategy, the local or national manager of an organisation measures the different effects which are very useful. With the help of digital marketing procedure, the organisation spared the business all over the world which was found to be a helpful approach for organisations like Unilever. The digital marketing process targets directly to the customer and encourages the products.

Create culture about strong brands – As stated byAlmond et al (2017, p. 115) creating a consistent and strong culture of branding about any product always increases the profit for the organisation on a global perspective. This procedure seems recognizable to consumers and is a big priority for organisations which grow internationally. The expanding internet facilities and raising brand construction has become a good business strategy and increases the brand culture. Nowadays, this strategy is prevalent for a particular cultural growth with the brand support and this approach is known to increase the profit range in the local market and as well as the growth in the global market. Marketing plan creations- To create a successful business marketing plan, support of a manager is very important for the Unilever organisation. Based on local demands and global traditional culture, the regional and local manager can improve the idea to increase the marketing strategies (Wu, 2016, p. 1347).

The manager has to communicate with local people to find out the demands about the different products. The organisation follows the norms, payment types, laws and business practices which changes with the region along with the procedure for customer increments. Herein international marketing assignment, another important plan is the budget planning where only a local manager and regional manager advise about this matter, the consumer demands for high cost branded products or low cost.

Marketing Mix Strategy- The organisation focused on the mix a strategy which is based on the distribution of products, promotions, and price and product quality. The company's distribution system depends on delivery to the customer. There are a lot of distribution alternatives available; the organisation has to follow the proper way and the ways that influence the consumer. The respective organisation focuses on communication and promotion of the products. The organisation increases the promotion by using advertising, salespeople, sales promotions, packaging and public relation maintenance. Product quality and price is important for success. Unilever fixes the price according to the location and comparison with other companies. The product quality increases the financial condition and the company reputation.

Three international entry methods
The company has increased its business in the international market which is important for success and increment. There are some different modes applicable to enter the international market. The international markets have more power and purchasing capabilities which is better for the company and spread the business with extra profit. The same goods can earn a higher profit from the international markets (Tower et al., 2019, p. 20). There are a lot of different entry methods available but in the present case, it generally focuses on three important methods which are used by Unilever organizations.

Direct Exporting – These entry methods focus on directly exporting on goods and other products for international marketing. This is considered the fastest entry mode into international markets. This method provides direct sale. The particular method refers to the policy that establishes the particular organisation's retail presence in the international market. The organisation focuses on products and brand distribution indirectly or directly and uses important distributors and sales representatives. The company selects a foreign sales representative in the international market. It uses the direct exporting policy to distribute the products and for testing before any huge investment in the international market. This method protects the goodwill of the particular organisation, trademarks and patents and also increases intangible assets.

The franchising and Licensing- This method considered in the international marketing assignment is focused on retail presence with minimal risk at the international market. This franchising and licensing approach allow the business to calculate the risk of the company on the behalf. This entry method is based on franchising and licensing agreements and on commission and loyalty of the brand name. This method includes the name of the particular brand which is used in international marketing, product quality, the process of making and delivery, intellectual properties and trademarks. The franchising and licensing method assume the bears losses and risks (Pedadaet al., 2019, p. 20). It established a proportion of profits and revenues. It helps to find out the country where this company already has a loyal consumer and focuses on an entry in the international market with low costs. The franchising and licensing market is focused on the partnership and collects knowledge about local markets. This method is focused on passive income sources and works on the reduction of political risks. This franchising and licensing approach allow the expansion in different regions with very low investments.

Joint Ventures- The present method is important for the entry into the international market and focuses on the culture or country who is interested to share their expertise, brand and knowledge. The organisation expands the business to regional from international fields then this joint venture method is focused on local business all over the international market. The joint venture shares the risk associate and rewards of the business. The organisation applying the joint venture shares the cost, investments, losses and profits at the proportions which are predetermined. This method is very appropriate for the country where the government does not allow foreign organisations in countries with certain industries. In joint venture method, it is associated with the respective expertise to expand and grow in a particular chosen market. This method helps to lower the political risks because of local partnership and helps to increase the business market on local perspectives. It focused on assets, transfer, knowledge, technology and intellectual properties between joint partnership companies.

Influence of changing business environment for marketing priorities
It is evident in the international marketing assignment that business marketing is never the same as it maintains the changing and varies from time to place. This transformation is either due to different and critical situations or due to marketing shifts. Some other factors can vary and change marketing managements like governmental issues and political issues. The environmental changes are never predicated. Marking and business are not static and is always a dynamic process. The marketing function and strategies always change the flows with proper maintenance of changing which is a challenging matter. Sometimes a business organisation changes the methods because of competition with other organisations and the Unilever organisation always goes with the new transformation and exhibits the changes for better developments. There are a lot of factors responsible for changing business marketing (Kunle et al, 2017, p. 509).

The ecological and geographical factors- The ecological and geographical factor is responsible for the change in business management. This is because of the particular region where people's demands are different. The requirements, preferences and tastes matter from one place to another place. According to the regional geographical structure, Unilever changed its marketing strategies. Natural Resource of product- The government executes a lot of law regarding natural resources so the organisation has to reduce the natural products. This is a change which is essential for business performance.

Pollution measures- The control of pollution is an important factor in the present situation so the organisation has to focus on this and change the manufacturing techniques. The different product manufactures techniques which need to be proper. The company has to change the method of manufacture of the products and control the water and air pollution.

Demographic environment- The demographic environment is another factor of changing the system. The area and location can provide the data on demographic changes; it depends on the economic conditions of the place. The product rate has to change and depend on people that they want high-cost products or low. The company has to change the method because of environmental factors.

The Economic environmental changes- This depends on the economic condition, system and economic policies. The company has to change this factor and which also depends on the environment and geographical location like some countries are poor and some countries have a stable economic condition so the change depends on the regional area of a country.

Legal and political Changes- The legal factors and political condition depends on the situation so the company has to change its policies itself and which also depend on the government and administrational law (Gürel and Tat,2017, p.55).

Cultural and Social environment- The Company examined in the international marketing assignment has to follow the traditional thoughts of people which is related to the requirements of the product. The cultural practice and social condition are different. The organisation has to follow this fact and produce products on cultural and social demands of customers.

Marketing management functions for the organisation
The management of marketing is a process of marketing activities management of any organisation. The marketing management is focused on advertising, branding, labelling plus other fundamental activities that come under the management of marketing. There are a lot of functions used as marketing management and Unilever organisation follows the management functions.

The marketing objectives- Every company has the objective and goal based on the situation and expenses. Marketing goals include the objectives that a business desire to accomplish via its marketing management techniques. These purposes should be consistent with the different goals of the company. The different purposes can be short term or long term depending on the marking management procedure. During the appropriate marketing management, the business marketing goals of the company can be achieved without difficulty.

Planning- After fixing the marketing objective the next focus is at working on the formula and different ideas to fulfil the objectives. The company plans different formulates, strategies and ways. The planning function provides a lot of new ways to achieve the goal. The planning functions focused on procedure and different devices policies to achieve the goal (Haideret al., 2017, p. 24)

Organising- The pattern of organizing refers to an exact procedure of functioning of the arrangement. This function includes grouping and identifying the goals that contribute to fulfilling the achievements of the company's marketing aim. In the sector of marketing management, the company organises the different ways of the management function and the employee has to perform well to contribute to achieving the goal. This includes responsibilities, supremacy and obligations and every employee worked as a marketing team.

Staffing- Staff selection is the process of marketing management. The proper staff hiring is important for management functions of an organisation. The HRM department and manager together chose the particular candidate and provide training so the organisation can work with the marketing management system and increase the profit (Adams et al., 2019, p.132).

Directing- It is an essential part to control as it guarantees that the employees are working professionally towards the reaching of the aims. Hence, during the expressing the workers, the fresh marketing management can be increased and workers are enthused to employment with their greatest efforts.

Controlling- The method of planning activities and process of comparison for developing the marketing managements and this function is controlled by the administrative at Unilever organisation. The controlling factors set the level of performance and define the perfect flaws. The corrective planning can be taken by the organisation.

Evaluation- The other important function is evaluating and analysing the productivity of management marketing and campaigns and this also evaluates the performance of workers (Mullakhmetovet al. 2016, p. 15).

Application of learning to practice
Marketing strategies
The marketing strategy is focused on distributing and creating the information which is based on needs and organisational service. Growth in business is not easy so Unilever has to follow different kinds of strategy such as social media development strategy because of this the customer can gain the idea about this organisation from different places. It helps in creating different product-related videos and posts it on the Unilever website for development. This focuses on the optimal search engine and finds out the customer need, however, varies in different locations. This can leverage influencing which is another part of marketing strategy and create different programmes regarding products. Sale and discount method are another important strategy of marketing and it helps to increase economic growth.Unilever also analyse the environmental conditions of the international marketing before their entry.

Marketing theories and roles for international market entry strategy
The international marketing assignment examines the words of Buehler (2013, p.212) that different theories are essential for marketing management and the respective organisation has applied some for development in business and increased international marketing. In general, the basic marketing strategy promotes different products that are initially related to place, production, promotion and price along with marketing programme, sale management, policy, partnership and public demands. There are some relevant theories used by Unilever noted in the international marketing assignment and the theories are Institutional theory, Transaction Cost Theory, Eclectic Paradigm, Resource view-based theory and Internationalisation Model.

Institutional theory- The Institutional Theory explores the entry process in the international market and operational plan making. This theory is represented in the respect of norms, values, rules and institutional context. The concept of institutional theory is related to isomorphism which describes the process of constraining and expecting the one-unit force of a population. The organisation applies it to relate to the different environmental conditions which are eventually connected to international marketing and competitiveness in the same market.

Transaction Cost Theory- the Transactional Cost Theory represents the perspective of overriding and related to system management and entry choice mode (Key and Czaplewski, 2017, p.330). This theory outlined in this aspect of international marketing assignment is determined by some transactional dimension such as environmental uncertainty, asset specificity, transaction frequency and behavioural uncertainty. The analysis of the transaction represents the cost of the transaction more than the cost of production. The organisation can assume the opportunity to engage and deliberately define behaviours which are related to self-interest. This relationship creates a market entry strategy which includes stealing, lying and violating agreements.

Eclectic Paradigm- This theory represents the management of marketing emergencies and is based on the transactional cost analysis. The advantage of ownership represents the controls, cost and relationships of inter firms. Different firms and intangible accumulation assets help in innovative products and capacity. This asset refers to the international experience and size of the markets. The main organisation gets some advantages like a sustainable and unique facility of creation of advantages in the competitive market and focuses on international marketing emergency management.

Resource view-based theory- Resource-based theory represents the organisation as an exceptional package of accumulated intangible and tangible stocks of resource which include the process, assets, processes, capabilities and knowledge. This Resource view theory was built up in the sector of unique field and strategic management. This theory for the respective organisation focuses on cost, firm assessment, different attribute copies. The sustainable advantage in a competitive way and company performance needs for the international market.

Internationalisation Model- The Internationalisation model is influenced in a high manner by the theory of Penrose. The theory focuses on change and knowledge of the organisation and the firm's behavioural concept. The internationalism model works with various learning methods and different activities of organisations (Schellenberget al, 2018, p.620). This theory implements international operational increments and foreign involvement in the market. Application of this theory helps the organisation to consider the psychic mode like different business practices, language and education. This theory helps to accumulate international operation and to influence the decision-making model on an international perspective.

PESTLE Analysis
The organisation Unilever needs to concentrate on the different external factors especially when this organisation is participating in international marketing. The PESTEL analysis is to provide the information on the macro environment and cover the remote situations in the global perspective on the goods market and consumer demands. The PESTLE analysis finds out the external factor which is related to this organisation. This analysis model is used as a strategic tool for the management and influences the macro environment on the tread. For Unilever, the different external factors are significantly related to the international business scope and increase the performance rate. With the help of PESTEL analysis based on the case scenario of international marketing assignment, Unilever improved the strategic performance and overcame the outside threats and focused on huge opportunities (Maiyusril, 2018, p. 400).

Table 1: Pestle analysis
Source: (Developed by the Learner)

BCG Matrix
The BCG matrix is a planning tool in corporate sectors. Another name of BCG Matrix is called Growth-Share Matrix which focuses on the organisation's brand name and shares the marketing growth and relative marketing situation. This is a tool that provides data on the business sector. This tool is related to the marketing share and growth rate of the industry which estimates the business potential portfolio of a brand and provides the different strategies for future investments. The BCG matrix is a business framework and discovered by the Boston Consulting Group that helps to evaluate the potentiality of the brand and strategic positions. There are some categories based on this Matrix such as competitive position and industry attractiveness which helps to analyse the investment situation and understand the profit rate (Mohajan, 2017, p. 4).

The BCG Matrix build in this international marketing assignment helps to improve the relative share market on an international perspective and provide the data on higher condition. Unilever used this BCG Matrix in business for further improvement and provided the business all over the world. The BCG Matrix tool helps to increase the growth rate of marketing and there are four quadrants available like dogs that represent the share of the market in the respect to operating and competitors. Another one is cash cows that help to analyse the possible cash and invest cash in the respect of profitable brands. Star is another part and operates the maintenance of shares in the high market plus provides the growth in the industry. The last category is thequestion marks,that provide a closer consideration on brands and helps to grow first plus provide the data on incurring cash and large consuming amounts.

Brand management
In the marketing management sector, the management of a brand is a sequence of different techniques that helps to enlarge the perceived assessment of service or products. Effective management of brands establishes loyal consumer value through the positive association of brand and positive outcome of consumer decision making on brands (Greco and Polli, 2020, p. 500).

Keller's brand equity model and relation with a selected organisation
This model is a business tool that helps to manage and build customer support. This model explained in the international marketing assignment is called a consumer-based enquiry of brands. Kevin Keller develops this Keller's brand equity model for brand management. This model represents four levels such as identity, relationships, meaning and response. The identity focuses on the brand identity and communicates with consumers about this. This level also focused on brand quality and customer demands.

The relationship is related to the resonance concept and helps to increase the financial condition. Brand building is a challenging situation for any organisation and Unilever follows Keller's brand equity. This considers the meaning level represents customer loyalty and includes different social causes. Through this, the organisation focuses on branding quality and delivery techniques. The last level is a response that represents the brand's reputation and also focused on success and growth (Vasileva and Vasileva, 2017, p.95).

Figure 1: Keller’s brand equity model
Source: (Vasileva and Vasileva, 2017, p.95)

Psychological and sociological factors influencing customer decision
As stated by Cetinaet al., (2012, p.185), the psychological and sociological factors play a huge role in the status of manufactured goods. Unilever groups expend a lot of finance to influence famous opinion because this company knows that the influence of culture and customer’s mind set up which also varies country wise or area wise.

The psychological concept is important for marketing because this factor determines the consumer behaviour. Motivation is an important psychological factor that influences a person for security needs, social needs and basic needs. Perception is another factor that represents the consumer perception and provides the correct information about products. Learning depends on the consumer's knowledge and skills factor and depends on the place. Beliefs and attitude influence consumer buying decisions.

The social factor influences customer behaviour on buying products or service. The social factor is influenced by the family choices, group references that associate with consumers. Status and role represent the economic condition and influence the pattern of buying products (Chauke, and Duh, 2019, p. 900).

Development of a brand strategy
Brand development provides a strategy on the brand which is a process of strengthening and creating the service of the brand. Unilever focuses on different strategies for development which are mentioned below herein international marketing assignment:

• This concentrates on the overall business and creates a strategy based on this for brand development.
• Planning is very important for branding and business growth.
• Identifying the client from a different zone, where client target is important and it depends on the regional manager.
• Works on the clientage group and focuses on consumer demands. Understanding consumer demands is a vital part of developing the brand.
• Tries to develop the brand position that represents the professional service provider work in the business market.
• Developing the social media site and the organisational website is important because in the present situation everyone depends on online business marketing.
• Improve the logo, tagline and name that helps to increase the consumption.
• The important strategy is content marketing and this is a traditional marketing style.
• Implement a marketing tool kit, track procedure of adjustments.

New product development
As stated by Cooper (2019, p.40) a new item for consumption has been a new product of the organisation introduced through the management system. Product improvement is another step in planning products. The new product enlargement is the procedure of searching for the opportunity of making a product.

3 strengths and weaknesses of the new product development process
Based on the views of Samiee and Chirapanda, (2019, p. 35), the strengths and weaknesses both are important for new product development so the organisation provides extra care on this matter. The different strengths of new product development-

• Focuses on strong financial performance consistently.
• Strategic alliances and key acquisition are important.
• Provide extra knowledge of new technology and consumer service
• The weaknesses are important for better development.
• Focus on job and cost-cutting.
• Frequent controversies undermined by the organisation.
• Search out and reduce the overseas operation of Unilever.

International marketing strategy
For entering along with competing within the foreign markets regarding the cosmetics and toiletries products, the respective organisation is known to follow a global strategy making use of a similar competitive strategic approach within the markets of the country where the company is seen to be present. This allows the organisation to sell much of its products along with striving for building global brands. Apart from this, for new product marketing, the organisation focused on different strategies for improvement which are mentioned below within the international marketing assignment:

• The organisation needs to gain knowledge of international market policy.
• Focuses on a proper international marketing plan to improve the business and increase the growth curve.
• Approach the different country’s business person for the partnership.
• Communication is important with the manager and citizens at international locations.
• Focus on websites and other social media sectors and Unilever gives advertisements about the new product and this is a vital part of international marketing.

International marketing plan
According to the readings ofIšorait?, (2018, p. 7) considered in this section of international marketing assignment, planning is very important for new products launching in the international market. The organisation focused on the main objective planning about the different launching programmes. Work on situational analysis programmes, the organisation has to analyse the present situation of the particular place and after analysis launch the new product which increases the productivity rate. The operation marketing management department works on warehousing, transportation and logistic support before launching a new product in the international market. The localization strategy represents the promotional effects and planning that is good for the international market. The pricing depends on the country's financial condition and tracking method refers to the environmental, political and economic situation (Poulis, 2020, 35).

Recommendation for the strategy
Unilever has to prepare for the new launch of products in international marketing.

• Knowing about the customer demands of a particular location, it targets the choices and prepares the products according to the plan.
• It is known to be clear about the product and finds out the consumer segments.
• Focuses on huge goals and high audience segments.
• Clear the effectiveness of the new products and establish the brand, position and name before launch in the international market.
• Executes the oriented benefits.
• Decide the product cost according to the financial condition of the country.
• Focuses on product quality when the organisation is launching a new product in the international market.

Timescale for the process of product development

Table 1: Gantt chart regarding the Process of product development
Source: (Developed by the learner)

Conclusion
This study analysed in this international marketing assignment is based on the International Marketing strategies of Unilever organisation. International marketing management is the function of different marketing opinions which differs country wise. The study discussed the background of the Unilever company while focusing on different issues and concepts that implement the international marketing environment and global basis strategy. It has highlighted different strategies which are related to international marketing. It has focused on the impact of micro and macro environmental situations on an international perspective and domestic factors that are included in the study. Moreover, it has emphasized the analysis of background on local, national and regional context while considering different changes in business marketing along with the organisational functions; marketing strategies, brand management and new product management.

References
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