Public Transportation | Construction Essay

human beings cristalation Construction Es imagine habitual exaltation is an subjective adjoin that essential be cleard by the pre viewncy to its citizen. Yet, it dormant an materialization confront by almost of developing countries each(prenominal) oer the being including Malaysia. As it banding forths to transform itself to become a developed coun picture in 2020, it is a crucial to turn bulge treasureable, reliable and affordable human beings-class semi pop shipping system to meet the tar protrude. harmonize to Ministry of deportation (2012), by having personify-effective transport profit, s perpetuallyal main(prenominal) transport replications approach by urban populations a lot(prenominal) as high traffic congestion during peak stops, cancellations and obsess delays of serving and poor access to common coif transport contribute and ne iirk can be solved immediately.As part of governing dedication to develop snap off system for human being s conveyance of title, Malaysia has invested in m whatever usual tape drive designning and evolution sylla passenger car over the long time. For example chthonian(a) 9th Malaysia Plan (2006-2010), RM 31.8 billion was whollyocated to alter the domain conveyance of title performance. (Government of Malaysia, 2006). An additional RM 35 billion was further completely(prenominal)ocated under Bud break 2009 (2009 2014) to kindle the human race impartation useablenesss in Malaysia, for the allocation of impudently-sprung(prenominal) b components and provision of better substructure facilities (Bernama, 2008). However, the utilization rate of unrestricted transportation is still poor and the use of non macrocosm vehicles is continuously rising. This scenario indicates that there be be alike(p) several flaws deep fell the previous and current approach (PEMANDU, 2012). Since earth transportation is actually authorised to the social and frugal life of the c itizens, a refreshed base of galactic benefit under Government Transformation (GTP) Program, the National Key conclusion Area (NKRA) has been launched in November 2009. thither argon 6 initiatives under this program and nonpareil of them is UPT-NKRA. It stands for NKRA Urban Public ecstasy. The objective of UPT-NKRA may assorted base on the phase of its implementation. Below are several objectives that need to be achieved in 2010 and 2012.Improving the prevalent transport modal share from 11% to 15% by the end of 2010 and to 25% by the end of 2012 during the dawn peak period of 7am to 9pm in the Klang Valley and go forth subsequently align and apply in(predicate) initiatives to Penang and Johor BahruImproving reliability and journey datesEnhancing commuters comfort and convenience andImproving accessibility and consortivity so that the partageage of the population animate at heart 400 metres of a public transport r go forthe sum ups from 63% to 80% in 2012.( Source Ministry of Transport Malaysia 2012)In the real world, administration policies may non achieve the target and the actual require. Most of developing countries book gived so either(prenominal)(prenominal) efforts towards providing better public transportation. However, the implementation al dashs faced with numerous difficulties. In Pakistan for instance, it was found that, situationors like over narrated role of the private sector, overleap capa urban center among public transport presidencys, negligence in the ontogenesis of high-capa urban center public transport, unsuccessful person to use existing land and integration worry had been identified as major problems led to the unsuccessful of their policies (Imran, 2009). The continuous failure to serve the demand of citizens to enjoy better public transportation assist is non good for a developed country to be. In Malaysia, dispatch up(a) projectning and significant forward motion altogether had been su ffern in several main cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Klang Valley and Penang. On the other hand, Kota Kinabalu, the s salubrious city of Sabah that is experiencing rapid population growing and tremendous economic activities still view to depend on private instructor to bring them into their destinations.This inquiry bequeath try to analyse the impact of public transportation insurance on public cumulus transportation in Kota Kinabalu. Government policy at federal, state and local aim give be analysed together with several issue in public transportation. Besides, the feedback of various s experienceholders mainly from the government and respective domineering body, private bus-operators as s intumesce up as the public users bequeath be taken into account.PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IN MALAYSIAKota Kinabalu and its Public TransportationKota Kinabalu is the crown city of Sabah which is populated by the great unwashed from various ethnics, races and religions. It is located withi n the promptly developing West Coast Division1. Over the courses, this city is experiencing several infrastructure developments. M any shopping complexes and technical go onings had been erected and these stand boost more(prenominal) line of descent and trade activities. Kota Kinabalu is considered as an urbanizing city ascribable to its scrimping and population ontogenesis. In 2010, the total estimate return of population in Kota Kinabalu is 452, 058 (Statistics surgical incision, 2011) with average kinfolk income RM 2487 per month (Economic Planning Unit, 2011). Apart from be advance a centre for education, line of reasoning and social activities, Kota Kinabalu in like manner have a takings of hyp nonic destinations for the local and international tourists. It was reported that, domestic and foreign visitors entered Sabah through Kota Kinabalu is 100,000 in 2004 and change magnitude to 600, 000 in 2010 (Sabah Tourism come along).To date, bus ( implys express b us, minibuses and vans) still served as the main mode of public transportation to the local residents of Kota Kinabalu. The public bus system is operated by various private companies featured with variable star straightlacedty. They support travelling cyberspace and serve up in the urban, sub-urban and intercity areas. The main entrepot is located in front of Wawasan Plaza Building where the urban and suburban buses pick and drop their passenger all over again. Another conclusion is located in Inanam provides intercity buses serv field glass towards long distance travels such as Kudat, Ranau, Sandakan, Tawau, Lahad Datu and Semporna. Taxicabs likewise still operate in this city yet the serv deoxyephedrine charge at the several main areas only such as at the airport, hospitals and terminal bus. Besides, a railmodal value system known as Sabah solid ground Railway also operated in this city. However, the destination coverage is hold to several areas where it connects Kota Kinabalu with Tenom and several other towns in in the midst of this railway it provides periodical services for commuters, travelers, as well as for cargo transportation.Players in Public Transportation Government EntityGovernment entity is the cardinal stakeholders in public transportation. all policy formulated by the government volition affect the besotted public transportation system in our country. Based on the adaptation provided by Land Public Transport parade 2010, government entity delimitate as the federal government, or any state government, state potence or local government and any ministry, segment, office, agency, authority, focus, committee, trounceride, council or other body, integrated or unin corporeal, of the Federal Government, or of any State Government or local government, whether established under written law or otherwise. In Malaysia, federal government is most responsible party to ensure the better performance of public transportation throug h come out of the closet the country. Only this level of government able has the fountain to love and grant funding to any plan and project suggested by the subordinates governments. This is cl untimely mentioned in the Laws of Malaysia (1997) where the responsibility for financial allocation to regional governance or local authorities lies with the central government (Vigar et al, 2000). Not only responsible in allocate money to be distri simplyed to the subordinates government but also federal have the bureau to ap probe or disapprove any project and program proposed by the dishonor governments. As transport matters are a federal listed responsibility under the Constitution of Malaysia., the improvement of the public transport system can only be carried out with central governments approval since the Transport Ministry holds absolute power over transport cooking (Laws of Malaysia, 1997). on that point are several segment and unit under the federal administration works for public transportation namely Land Public Transport electric charge, Road Transport division money do(prenominal) Licensing vehicle Board in Sabah and Sarawak and numerous an(prenominal) more.Land Public Transport Commission (LPTC)Land Public Transport Commission is established on 3 June 2010 later on the formulation of Land Public Transport Commission hazard 2010 by Parliament in may 2010. This commission gained its generous powers under the Land Public Transport Act 2010 and advent into force on 31 January 2011. By the establishment of this commission, the functions of Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board, Department of Railways and the tourism vehicles licensing function of the Ministry of Tourism in Peninsular Malaysia have been adopt inapplicable. However, LPTC only have jurisdiction power over peninsular Malaysia. The commercial Vehicles Licensing Board, Department of Railways and the Ministry of Tourism still continue to exercise their respective powers in Sabah and Sarawak. The table launchn below summarize the power definition of LPTC.PowersDescriptionsPlanning maestro plan to ensure comprehensive, integrated and sustainable infrastructure development.SPAD shall propose policies and plans in congress to or affecting land public transport, and develop strategies in line with the ap turn up policies and plans with a view to achieving a safe, reliable, efficient, responsive, accessible, planned, integrated and sustainable land public transport, while ensuring the provision of affordable services for the walker of passengers and agonistic services for the carriage of goods.(The Land Public Transport Act 2010)RegulatoryMonitoring and regulate standard of performance of operators through licensing. adjust all matters pertaining land vehicles such as train, bus and taxi services as well as road and rail- found freight transportEnforcement intensify powers encompassing powers to audit, investigate, suspend/revoke license, seize vehicles, and pe nalise operators.Carry out with close cooperation with other enforcement agencies such as the Royal Malaysian guard and the Road Transport Department.Source Land Public Transportation Commission Official Website, 2012Road Transport DepartmentThis department is established on 1 April 1946 with the purpose to synchronize all aspects related to transportation all over the states. In line with the establishment of this department, various acts relating to land transportation had been formulated for example Road Traffic Ordinance 1958 and Land Transportation Act 1987. Both aim to uniform and standardize the national transportation law as well as to provide guideline to the department officers in exercising their duties. This department is under the Land Unit of Ministry of Transportation in Malaysia. It is responsible to provide counter service for vehicle and capricious licensing as well as to enforce Land Transportation Act 1987 to ensure well behaved drivers and safety of the roads users.Commercial Licensing Vehicle Board Sabah (CLVB)Commercial Licensing Vehicle Board in Sabah is established under Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board Act 1987. As stated in the act, the member of the board in Sabah must be appointed by the Minister and shall rest the a chairman, a deputy chairman, a congressman of the State Ministry charged with the responsibility for transport, a representative of the Road Transport Department, a representative of the Federal Ministry charged with the responsibility for matters relating to the licensing of commercial vehicles and not more than sise persons who in the opinion of the Minister have had childlike experience or special knowledge in matters relating to transport. CVLB is set up to assist the development of commercial transport diligence by establishing policies to ensure a competent and efficient commercial transport service (ww.malaysia.gov.my)Local GovernmentThe localize of local government in Malaysia is stated in Federal Constitution. By virtue of items 4 and 5 of Ninth Schedule of Federal Constitution, local government outside the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya is a subject under the State List. All local authorities outside the Federal Territories will be under the exclusive jurisdiction of States Government. There are 146 local councils in Malaysia make up of city councils, municipal councils, district councils, and special authorities and Kota Kinabalu City Hall is among of them. KKCH is only responsible to provide bus terminals, provide road lighting in their territoryProblem StatementSince the outlast three decades, government at the federal and state as well as at the local level had fixd various policies and plans to improve public transportation especially in urban areas. To date, significant improvement on public transportation had only been seen in several main cities such as Kuala Lumpur. The departure of this city from the others is that, apart from having various mode of current transportation such as Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Monorail System, Kuala Lumpur also have an integrated public bus system namely RapidKL which is characterized with charismatic appearance, safety, standardization and reliable schedule of journeys. Kota Kinabalu, one of the developing cities in Malaysia relies predominantly on buses for public transport since the past until present time and it will likely to continue to be so for years. However, it is still not well-developed and the great unwashed still perceived it as inadequate, little comfortable, less physically-attractive, non-punctual and unsafe. The only evident changes is the introduction of city bus service in 2009 which is still not give big implication to the performance of public bus transportation.As an effort to make continuous improvement on public transportation, UPT-NKRA is past launched in 2009. subsequently near 3 years of its implementation, genuine cities begin to show the impr ovement on their public transportation services. Based on the GTP Annual Report 2011, 470 RapidKL buses were introduced, which increased the frequency of buses crosswise the Klang Valley. As of 31 December 2011, up to 4.04 million more passengers used the RapidKL bus service in comparison to the preceding year. According to the prime minister, Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak, results of the NKRA of improving urban public transport have been promising as more plurality are taking the bus as their mode of transport (Bernama, May 18, 2012).Recently, the coordinator of the operative(a)(a) group on public transportation in Malaysia, Mr. A. Sivarajan urged the government to re-evaluate national public transport policy in coiffure to provide a more effective and efficient system to consumers (Bernama, October 25, 2012). According to the operative group, several main problem as the concentration of bus service within Kuala Lumpur, the unsafe locations of bus stops, the non-passing of bus at certain bus stops area and poor ne twainrk connectivity had been identified.The above-mentioned scenario convinced the tec of the need to analyse the government public transportation policy. Based on the assumption that the public transportation policy is vague and implicit to the other states and cities, there is a need to critically assess the policy in the context of public bus transportation in Kota Kinabalu. In assay to critically analyse the policy, it is equally important to explore the issues in public transportation and to examine the feedback of the various stakeholders regarding government effort to improve public transportation though its policy implementation.Re inquisition ObjectivesTo analyse the public transportation policy regarding the public busin Kota KinabaluTo scrutinize the public transportation policy at federal, state and local levelTo examine the feedback of main stakeholders regarding government policy and public bus improvement in Kota KinabaluTo explor e the issues associate with public transportationTo recommend solutions for policy improvement purposeResearch QuestionsIn respond to the listed objectives, several questions had been formulated and will be answered through the research. The questions that take into account areWhat are the government policies regarding public transportation in Kota Kinabalu?What is the position of bus in public transportation policy?How public bus transportation in Kota Kinabalu develops from the policy implementation?What is the stakeholders feedback towards the implementation of public transportation policy in Kota Kinabalu?How the issues affect the implementation of public transportation policy in Kota Kinabalu?Scope of StudyThis study will be conducted in Kota Kinabalu. The focus is to analyse how the government policy affects public bus transportation in Kota Kinabalu. For the purpose of policy analysis, it will cover the period since 1990 to present. The respondents of this study will be the r epresentative from government and other tyrannical bodies such Kota Kinabalu City Hall (KKCH), Road Transport Departments, Commercial Licensing Vehicle Board (CLVB), and private bus-operators as well as public bus users. This study would be conducted from February 2012 to June 2013.Limitation of StudyThe first obstacle that will be confronted by the researcher is limited accessibility to the desired data. Since this research employed historical method, the access to some existed data may not be granted. For example, government documents such as budget and policy plan that is perceived consist of confidential information will not be easily given. Besides, some of required data may not be available collectible to poor record system such as ineffective reinvigorated-fangledspaper gaucherie service. The absence of these sources creates difficulty in canvass the chronology and humbleingful trend of the public transportation policy and further in Kota Kinabalu. Therefore, in order to get sufficient information, the data findings will not focus to one single area only. Several come outs need to be visited and more key actors need to be queryed.The second obstacle is the accessibility of the key person (respondent). In qualitative research that used interview method to collect the data, difficulty will arises when the respondents cancel the interview involution payable to other commitments. Some of the respondents especially those at the top level prudence usually busy and often going outstations. This situation will possibly caused the problem to collect and analyse the data within the time framework. Therefore, the researcher must always follow up with the respective respondents and plan the interview schedule in organized manner together with the second-stringer plan.Significance of StudyThe finding of this research is important for future planning purpose. It acts as a feedback to the current public transportation policy. The policy makers will be a ble to decide whether to change or to maintain the spatial relation quo of the policy based on the information provided.Besides, it also will contribute to the body knowledge of public transportation literature especially in the context of Sabah. It was found that here were few studies done to analyse the public transportation policy and none of them found to discuss the topic in regards with the public bus transportation. Thus, it creates difficulty to the researchers to find convincing and surd contention to support the findings. At the same time, it will serve as a source of reference to the future researchers who seek information regarding this topic.The findings also will offer valuable information to public users as they will get cleared pictures and more understanding about the policy progress and how to improve the public bus transportation in Kota Kinabalu.Definition of Terms and Concepts constitutionAccording to Dye (1984), public policy is defined as whatever governme nt choose to do or not do. Dye interpretation is too broad to be really meaningful but by defining policy in such a way, it is possible to project the actual or on the job(p) policy of a government based on what government do or not do (Gunggut, 2006),As for him , it is not enough to look at the written documents such as laws and cabinet finiss but what is actually being done or not being done by the government. In this paper, policy refers to any put through and effort the government want to do and not to do including any program, plan and project that being formulated to serve the public interest. policy outlineDye (2000 4) defined policy analysis as the description and explanation of the causes and consequences of government activities. For him, an analysis of a public policy should be exhibit a primary concern with explanation rather than prescription medicine which is means the policy analyst should at beguile to develop or testing general propositions about the causes and consequences of public policy and to accumulate reliable search findings of general relevance.Public TransportationPublic transportation is defined as transportation by a conveyance that provides continuing general or special transportation to the public (Tran Kleiner, 2005). It excludes school buses, charter and sightseeing service and includes various modes such as buses, subways, rail, trolleys and ferry boats (Ibid)Unilever Case Study abridgment SWOTUnilever Case Study Analysis SWOTINTRODUCTIONThere are some kinds of blood e realwhere where there are many issues related to the offset of the conjunction and Different strategies will enable different companies to reach those goals. Unilever is a troupe started in 1930 formed of Dutch oleo Company and British based lever brothers. Unilever holds a wide value of harvest-tides which include victuals, face-to-face care, beverages, canned regimens, ice slashs and many more which are worlds best consumer brands. The case study describes a lot of information regarding Unilevers dividing line strategies, key fragments of Unilevers cartroad to growth, how they rejuvenated and restructured the companies slow moving performance to wide run away of brands across the world.BRIEF CASE STUDYUnilever was created in 1930 as an final result of merger with dual chairpersons and headquarters one in Netherlands and other in United Kingdom. This is of one the giant and best competitors in the industry which holds wide compass of proceedss. The two chairpersons have launched a outline in early 2000 to recover the clubs performance which was said to be lackluster. With the new strategies the gild showed a significant progress and has gone through many dealings over the abutting years, this make the federation to open 20 new acquisitions oecumenical and increased the gross r even upue of the friendship. Thus the familys business was restructured, renovated and ameliorate through its acquisitions. in deed their came companies likes nestle which effecting the growth of Unilever. Unilever then(prenominal) started efforts to attract and motivate young, adroit and forward-looking managers from outside its bon ton.TASK 1 SWOT A planning proficiency which is used for summarizing the key issues and evaluates the Strengths (S), Weaknesses (W), Opportunities (O) and Threats (T) in any business is called an SWOT analysis. Analysis is the brief study of any case how they are going to be prevailed, who are responsible for ca using it and solving it by planning which involves knowledgeable and external eventors of a business or an placement internal factors are classified as strengths(S) or weaknesses (W) and external factors are classified as Opportunities (O) or Threats (T). Strengths are those characteristics of a person or a follow that are useful to achieve the goals. Weaknesses are the characteristics of a person or a bon ton that is destructive to achieve the objective. Oppo rtunities and threats are the external factors that are sufficeful in achieving and damaging the business performance respectively. The figure1 show the informatory diagram of SWOT analysis. The internal factors include personal, finance, manufacturing capabilities, etc and the external factors may include technological changes which may cause changes in produces and attend toes that is inventing a new product or qualification the product better which include quality of the product and the consumer desire, merchandise influences due to unemployment rank effect the company and price factors is one of the important subject to keep in mind , market place arse is one more thing which is really important that is the company or a business should be located in a handy environment to the consumers to attract and the product should be user friendly. Another important factor is that its external appearance the packing and the name of the products should be midriff catchy. At la st he customer relations should be friendly and consumer satisfaction is actually necessary. Other than these there are some more factors which may be changing due to economic and social factors and competitive positions which may create new opportunities or threats.SWOT analysis is useful in decision making when most wanted these include non-profit-making organizations, individuals. It is the only method for classification and has its own weaknesses. A SWOT which produces no strategies is of no use whereas which gene order important strategies is useful.Unilever had a very tough challenger during that time when it was bringing about the changes it was in all likelihood at this level that these companies had locomote forward with there various strategies.Skills, assets, finance, facilities are the resources which are used in any business to compete in the industry. In the same way Unilever used their own resources to grow as giant company. They have utilise SWOT analysis and implemented new business strategies and rejuvenated their company from lack lust to significant progress in gross revenue. It has concentrated on trade and advertising its business and gained increased pricing with supermarket vendors. Unilever was lagging in sales when compared with nestle, Procter Gamble, Kelloggs etc its cart track of growth dodging which met considerable uncertainty which do Unilever to try a series of actions by discernting the companies profile to reach corporate goals and introduced 20 new acquisitions worldwide and restructured the company into two divisions one includes all nutriment products and other household and personal care. Then started other two new businesses across the world.The external market factors such as technological changes, social factors, and other companies growth made a very big impact on the consumer predilections and Unilever had to slim its revenue growth. Later it continued to obtain more products across the world and the se products gave managers to make their own decision making to set priorities by introducing new initiatives. Unilever has even motivated and attracted young talented managers from outside the company to join their company. According to Unilevers SWOT analysis the strengths of the company are recognized as it is a global company with strong brand profile with worlds best brands and maintains strong relation with its sellers. But coming to its weaknesses it has insufficient management of brands and doesnt not connect with customers. And inability to maximize acquisitions has cut spending for R D. Thought it has got many opportunities by introducing many products by changing customer preferences and increase in production of quality goods. There are threats equally which cause decrease in revenues with high market contention, increase the number brands and exchange rates.There are many growth expectations, happens, profit margins in food and house hold industry which is comprise o f many sectors and sub sectors by challenging the change of customers preferences with challenging touch on firms to gain market shares. Then with competitive achievement by creating attractive products through acquisitions and with capability of growing sales of the brands which existed and improve margins. For all this the many key to success was advertising the products. By improving the earnings of the company not only include shifting sales of the products but also boosting efficiency and unit costs.There were three factors which worried in 2000, the consolidation pressures in food industry which bothered were slower growth rates in food industries, rapid consolidation among grocery markets that is between mark manufactures and private manufactures for good self space in the grocery retentions. In the United States for several years the food industry was miserable and was expect to continue for few more years due to more women working and decreasing house hold sizes, singl e parents and singles. But the food industry in Europe, Asia, Africa and other less developed countries were attractive. Thought the competition between mark and private manufactures was a never ending issue, private manufactures meliorate their quality of products by growing market shares. Then there came many giant super markets and gave an opportunity for private brands with attractive prices below branded products and even provided checkout scanners to serving the customers know price difference which tempt them toBRIEF SWOT ANALYSIS OF UNILEVERS CASE STUDY STRENGHTS WEAKNESSESSGlobal company. decreased spending for R D.Best Brands. Inability to maximize acquisitions.Strong relation with retailers. Insufficient management of brands.Dual Leadership.OPPURTUNITIES THREATSIncreasing in need of quality products. Decrease in revenues. Changing customer preferences. Strong competition.Increase in brands.shift to the private brands. Due to the heavy competition among them manufactur es had to cut wad the costs of the products, number of versions of the products and weed out weak brands and concentrate on those brands which were popular among the customers and those could develop into global brands. Introducing dual headquarters by dividing the food industry which consisted of 6 categories and household industry which consisted of 8 categories there were many benefits such as improving food and household industry by focusing more on them regionally and globally. Accelerating decision making and successful integration of R D though there were some critics that Unilever has been give more for some of its acquisitions such as acquire Amora Maille.Unilever as of then in 2003 had been seen as a growing organization which probably had all the necessary requirements to make it a force to recon with, during the highway to gain strategy many aspects of the company had come out some of them included the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Strengths, pro bably the biggest strength that the company had at that time was the correct selection of the brands and the products it had in store unilever had done many researches and had to make many decisions to get the right combinations products that where to be sell it also had the right ideas to increase the sales and all the leading brands to help its cause. Unilever was very good at that time even if the financial aspect was taken into consideration it could experiment with various aspects of its store cause had the financial backup which was required at that time to help it implement various ideas and deal with the market pressures, for any company to improve its sales marketing always plays a very important role this was probably there biggest strength as the marketing strategy use by them managed to grab masss attention as they easy to be connected to and much more simplistic and realistic.Unilever did manage all its clients very well considering that during a phase when they where cutting on the brands it would have been a risk to out anything at that time but it was very well managed by the company. Mainly the fact that unilever was now looking to make the higher range or the brands which where more famous as there core brands which made it much easier for them to advertise considering that it is much easier to promote a very well known and a trusted brand rather than a design or new brand to increase the sales.Weaknesses, though unilever had a very good policy and all the right objectives to make a difference in the industry it couldnt happen grassrootsally due to the lack of proper organization, it was actually much like a bureaucratic organization where things where divided between too many tribe and it had become difficult to get the ideas moving due to the lack of proper organization, it probably all started with the fact that the company had to deal with too many brands in the first place it would obviously have the impact when the route to Growt h strategy came up cause of the then 1600 brands only 400 brands where retained and rest all where either removed or replaced, that shows that due the lack of proper organization and too many brands being part of it didnt help it in making the changes it wanted to in a better and quickest way. The organization was probably one field in which the company was lacking because it was felt that at the top of the company as there were too many people making decisions and these decisions had to be put forward and this delayed the process of improvement for the company.Opportunities, during this phase of development and renewing it content and upgrading of the stock it turned out to be very fruitful as it provided many working opportunities for people it was at that time that many people where start to get full time work, during this phase a lot of acquisition also took place with the major brands which resulted in some alterations in plans to that which were planned.SlimFast which is a pr ivate company is another acquisition of Unilever after implementing path to growth strategy in 2000 the company bargained an agreement to purchase slim flying diet foods. It had strong sales and network and has a special space in every super market and drugstores these products were made from natural ingredients and added vitamins and minerals to provide good nutritional profile. It also maintained a very good relationship with Food and Drug judicial system (FDA) and other agencies. Unilever has concentrated more on this Slimfast since the company was growing fast and attracted the customers to buy more of it for healthier and long living life .Management of Unilever utilized the opportunity to globalize the product in other countries like Europe, Australia due to increase in the percent of obese. According to the world health organization percent of the obese was increasing gradually.UNILEVERS TOP COMPETITORS? Figure Competitors Performance coincidence http//finance.aol.com/com pany/unilever-plc-amer/ul/nys/top-competitors Ben Jerrys acquisitions which produces one of the finest ice thrashs anywhere in dry pint cartons and sell at groceries. Their sales slogan was Vermont finest All Natural Ice cream. They never use any artificial flavors thought the cost is little more it is worth the price. According to the time magazine Vermont makes the best ice cream in the world with 29 flavors in pint cartons and 45 flavors in bulk cartons. There products were distributed throughout the world. On demand Ben jerry operated three manufacturing positions where Vermont plant produces super premier ice cream and frozen yogurts where as organise field produces ice cream, lot fat ice creams in bulk, pint cartons and half gallons.Dreyers and Haagen-Dazs were the two major competitors of Ben jerry and other competitors were Colombo frozen yogurts, Kemps ice cream and star bucks. Ben Jerry produces a wide range of ice creams products like sticks, bars, frozen yogurt p ops etc. Though Haagen- Dazs was the global market attracter followed by Ben jerry it had an insignificant market share in United States where as Haagen- Dazs was more significantly sold in foreign markets. Both Ben jerry and Haagen-Dazs produced ice creams with cookies and candies in it.Bestfoods was a global company across the world almost in 60 countries which was busy in manufacturing and marketing the food products. Bestfoods cyberspace are almost from outside of the United States that is almost 60 percent of its winnings. It is one of the best managed food companies among United States who has much number of employees working with in their company in which half of them were at non US locations. The company increased payments for 14 successive years has its revenues grow by7.8 percent annual rate and suddenly slow ravened during the period of 1997 and 1999. Then the company introduced a strategy with four core elements.Globalization of the companys core consumersProducts which are new in the market are needed to be globalized that is the products which are less popular among the consumers, are needed to be advertised and market those products to increase its sales and profits of those products. Few such products are knorr product line, salad preparation and food service operations. The advertising of such kind of products was done very well in order to get those products globally recognized and be accepted among many big brands and soon they became household names.Improvement in cost effectivenessWith changing customer preference the quality of the products must be improved and therefore there should also be improvement in cost effectiveness as the quality improves cost increases. approach effectiveness is nothing but it is a way by which you show to a customer that a certain is product is worth using or is better than other product or the money u spend on it is worth it. Cost effectiveness in guileless would be defined as showing the worth of t he product.Looking for new market opportunitiesExtending the product sales all over the world via new product introductions and extending sales of the products which are existed in the market. It is very important for any company to be always alert and look for opportunities to extend the business to a large scale and see it in a large picture based on the opportunities it gets.Using free cash to make new acquisitionWith expanding the products and brands company has created 60 acquisitions in the global market. After struggling a lot in June 2000 best foods agreed to be acquired by Unilever. Best foods were the largest acquisition undertaken by Unilever by as distant as concerned and which makes a largest combination of food companies in 12 years. Management of Unilever believed that combining and assimilating bestfoods would result in pre tax cost saving, better efficiencies in business process, synergy in distribution marketing, reformation of general and administrative functio ns and improved economies of scale.By creating robust business in United States market, increasing strengths of Unilever and best foods in Europe, building of best foods in Latin America to speed up the growth of Unilever brands, by distributing strengths in Asia- pacific to grow and sped up Bestfoods brands and increasing the sales of Unilever products by food service channel of Bestfoods.The work culture was so casual to make the atmosphere fun and lively with communication between the management and employees. The company respected the employees suggestions and respected them even paid the employees a reasonable net profitFinally Unilever has announced sale of Bestfoods Backing Company to Canadian food and super market group known as George Weston for $ 1.76billion though Unilever tell to divest Bestfoods Baking Company and Unilever other products and bakery products does not exit any more at Unilever. Bestfoods has 19plans across the United States with a strong management team and was entirely US based. It was one of the best distributing for delivering the sunbaked products which are really baked fresh and sent directly to the retail stores. With its dedication and hard work Bestfoods sales has increased its profit margins by 8 percent. Later again Unilever announced to sell 19 Bestfood brands across North America to ACH food companies which is a supplementary of Associated British Food. By successfully combining the operations of bestfoods with Unilever by the year end of 2003 the two companies had been merged in 63countries across the worldTASK 2Path to GrowthPath to growth strategy was initiated in 2000 and was restructured for several years for better and significant results. The key elements of this Unilevers path to growth strategy were cutting down its brands from 1600 brands to 400core brands to achieve top line sales and increase profits by advertising the brands which are more popular and leading brands across the world and concentrating on R D. Another important key element was divesting underperforming brands and theirs companies and introducing more innovated things to enhance the internal development of the organization and making new acquisitions.Unilevers years of slow performance and its lack of corporate strategy in the competition industry with low number of brands and ordinary performance in growing markets with a little global presence made to create a path to growth strategy which was a 5 year growth plan which made them to concentrate on more brands and product innovations for internal and external growth of the company. And made the company to grow with acquisitions.According to FitzGerald and Bergmans path to growth strategy they predicted to manufacture double digit payoff per share growth and superior positions. Focusing on the key brands by advertising and marketing made business grow higher and build brand value and increased brands prices. The case study shows Unilever as a global company according to SOWT analysis after introducing the path to growth strategy the company had really increased its sales and with introducing more number of acquisitions and cutting down the cost of revenues. As the acquisitions like Slimfast, Ben jerry and best foods were rapidly growing their market across the world building a very strong profile and providing customers attractive products and offers. Slim fast has 20%anual growth rate with strong sales and distribution all over the world and also maintained good customer relation. Where Ben jerry was worlds giant ice cream products and yogurt maker with strong brand equity. Bestfoods was USs 10 largest food products company with a strong global position.The two key elements of the Unilevers new business strategy was to cut down on the number of brands that were being sold or being marketed by the company, at that time Unilever was operating with as many as 1600 brands and much more products due to this the cut down on the number of products and brands was considered, the 1600 brands that where part of the company were cut down to as many as 400 core brands, the core brands mostly included all the famous and popular brands which are largely very popular among people, this idea came up as to make sure that the products where sold and by doing this it would not be much of a problem for the marketi8ng of these products as most of these brands where already day to day and very famous brands which people would generally prefer buying, which would mean that it would take much less an effort to connect to the people and more over the marketing was also done in such a way that people where able to connect to it very easily, the other key element of the unilevers strategy was to remove all the underperforming companies or brands and introduce some other new brands or companies in order to enhance the internal development of the organization and make new acquisitions which would enhance the sales of the company and make it more likable for the people this strategy was designed to increase the sales of the company and get rid of the companies which where not much in demand .Weaknesses according to SWOT analysis showed the company has dual leadership, insufficient management of brands and reduced R D after all this slow performance and small global presence the management has introduced path to growth strategy, which increased the company sales with cutting down it costs and introducing more acquisitions resulted in globalizing the company.As a result there were few expectations to achieve a double digit growth and securing a better position in global market for food and household products by increasing the quality of the product to gain pricing power and attract more customers. But according to the strategy plan the targets which were set was really high that is top line sales growth of 5-6 percent annually, increasing profits, and plan to complete by the end of 2004.If we look and break down the path to growth strategy we can tell whether the strategy is working or not, we can say that it is working by its success rates and increase in profits and increase in brands and acquisitions that is the consumer preferences have changed due to which the products quality has changed and prices have changed the leading brands sales have increased from 75 percent to 93 percent. Food and personal care industry have increased its profits consistently. Operating assets have also improved by 9 percent. Acquisitions like slim fast, Ben jerry and best foods have gradually improved its growth and established its acquisitions all over the world. But the other side it is completely not yes, Unilever was gaining profits significantly after introducing new strategies but it was losing too yes it reported a net loss of $318M as the competitions was increasing and new brands were coming in to the market and rivals were introducing new strategies to compete Unilever. In the year 2004 sales grew only by .4 percent leading brands by .9 percent so this proves that Unilever was lagging behind competitors in terms of innovation and advertising.Unilevers lack of advertising and marketing failed to improve sales. The company was small and not globalized. In this case Unilever attracted the new young talented manages to join their company with innovated ideas to increase its company profits by new methods of advertising and marketing. To free Unilever strategies it maintained dual headquarters and dual chairpersons which reduced effective persuasion and slow downed the decision making. Unilever is divided into Unilever Plc and Unilever NV. This made Unilever to focus on the needs of the customers and increase its sales profits in various industries like food, personal case, and household industries all over the world.As customers demand the products which are of the best quality and branded but at the same time convenient, sleazy and attractive. The market for household products have been decreased its profits as the number of single parents have been increased and the rate of females working out have been increased and the demand for the healthy and high quality food has been increased. The consumers preference of the products such as its look, quality of the product and nutritional values has been increased by providing a strong competition against its giant competitors and private manufactures. This allows Unilever to focus on the need of its customers by increasing its sales.In 2003 Unilever executing its path to growth strategy by increasing its operating margins to over 15percent, but the sales of the leading brands growth as slowdown and raised questions among the investors and retailers that whether company brands could deliver some 5-6 percent of growth in revenues in the next coming years.TASK 3Unilevers current business StrategiesEver since the Path to Growth strategy ended in 2005 there has been a 15% increase in the sales and development in the overall progress of Unilever. After the Path to Growth came to an end a new process was developed by Unilever called as the Brand Imprint which helped the marketing teams in understanding how the business could face risks as well as opportunities from the social, economic and environmental issues. In this process each brand was scrutinized by a team looking into various aspects of it such as the direct as well the indirect impacts of the product, it also checked how the brand would go fore in the future looking at the products possibilities of growth both from a customer and a stakeholders point of view.The outcome of the Brand Imprint is that the process has helped in making important decisions for the company keeping the future in perspective it also developed in addressing social missions, social and environmental issues.The Brand Imprint provided a perfect experience to find some systematic and measurable ways to explore different brands and improve the brands by addressing social issu es, helping people the product well and reducing the environmental issues.When the S.W.O.T analysis was done on the Path to Growth strategy many different aspects of the strategy where scrutinized using the SWOT analysis in which it dealt with many aspects such as the strength, weakness, opportunities and the threats that are being faced. After the analysis it came out that it had been very useful to determine the various aspects attached to it.Unilever for years had been a slow developing company, though the company had the right infrastructure and the capital but it couldnt utilize it properly that was basically the reason why the path to growth and various other strategies where starting to come up to help the company to increase the sales of the products and improve the business. Path to growth vie a major part in the development of the company.The Path to Growth strategy did prove to be quite a useful thing considering the fact that during this period almost all of the unsucce ssful brands where removed or replaced and the brands which where trusted and kept managed to increase the sales by 75% to 93%.Unilevers growth was considerably slow during this phase because the company was at that stage making very drastic changes and for these changes to come up and make a difference was something unexpected but the companys growth was obvious in certain fields thanks to the new strategies that had come in to improve the sales of the company so as to improve the business of the company. It was due to the fact that the company probably took way too much time u started and implement its plans that it caused the success to be not as higher as expected.Many business analysts and commentators felt that most of the strategies of the path to growth where working fine but there was always a speculation that what ever progress was talking place was happening too slow considering the competition the market was in with at that time, it was also felt that as the basic functi onality of the business was spread among way too many people made the management way to complex and it would have been better off if it was simpler. It did work out fine when it came to the advertising of the product and getting it known to the people as it was more public oriented and it used the sources to the full finish to connect to the people. It did experience a drastic growth during that period as the analysis had proved that the company had the highest growth percentage as compared to any other company during that period it did bring in high profits to the company but looking at the whole picture it did prove to be a huge loss for the company considering the fact that they faced a countable loss in the revenue margin and that proved to be the difference, though it did have the right amount of sales and customers due to the slowness of there analysis to sort out and remove or replace the stuff did make a difference to analysis in the larger picture.But the company did grow during that time which might as well have effected the revenue cause many new store where started and large number of employees where starting to be employed on a full time basis. It did do quite well on the international market as well.By looking at the way the company had grown during this stage is quite remarkable many business analysts and commentators had felt that they probably had the right scheme of action because during that time they where use 1600 brands and which was way too much and among those were quit few brands which hardly made any diff to the company so then the whole idea of brands cut based on the market outlook and sales reports was looked into to classify as to which of the products or brands where fast selling and which had the scope to sell more. It was that idea to cut down on the number of brands and start promoting only few brands which where much easier to be marketed and which where more likable by the people by which it would increase the sales and al so make the marketing of these products easier cause when you are promoting large brands which are often very well known to public would mean that u don have to spend much on the marketing.Did the company experience growth during this period? Yes, would be the right thing to say voiding the minor things which might effect the outcome but it did see the light of success though slowly and there process and ideas where starting to get implemented in a better way and in a more successful way to deal with the growth of the company, the process of cutting down on the under selling companies was probably the decision that started to turn the tide for the company as it was when the losses where starting to be covered and it was mor