Unilever Bangladesh 2, Sample of Reviews

40 pages, 19948 words

Most of the South Asian economies (e.g. India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) have made significant economic progress in the last two decades and are well on track to becoming major regional or even world economic powerhouses. In the recent years, many MNCs are increasingly putting more attention to the emerging. Asian countries for competitive advantage. One classic example is China. With a population of more than 1.3 billion China is predicted to be the largest economy in the world by next 20 years surpassing United States (UN Report 2007).

China has become the manufacturing and investment hub for many MNCs. Despite huge success for most of the MNCs, many already failed in doing business in China due to their management’s inability to manage their human resources appropriately. Taking the Chinese lead like the tiger economies in Asia, Bangladesh is also emerging as a dynamic and significant economic player in South Asia. Bangladesh is one of the pioneers in the region for economic liberalization. It has adopted the best policies of South Asia to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

Doing business in Bangladesh is much easier than most of the developing countries. A recent report entitled “Doing Business in 2007: Creating Jobs” published jointly by World Bank and IFC placed Bangladesh in 68th position in terms of easy of doing business among 175 countries (World Bank, 2007).

This places Bangladesh ahead of other countries in the region such as India (88th) and China (128th).

In 2005 total FDI inflow into Bangladesh increased by 84% amounting to US$845 million. This growth is the second highest in the entire South Asia region. According to the World Investment Report 2006, Bangladesh is now ahead of India in terms of the FDI Performance Index being ranked 116 among 200 economies (BOI Handbook, 2007).

Unilever is an Anglo-Dutch company, with a history of grand operation, on which it has gradually built its capital. Today it owns most of the world’s consumer product brands in food, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. Unilever Bangladesh Ltd is one of the world’s most successful fast moving consumer goods manufacturing companies with local manufacturing facilities, reporting to regional business groups for innovation and business results. Unilever brands are trusted everywhere and, by listening to the people who buy them, they’ve grown into one of the world’s most successful consumer goods companies. In fact, 150 million times a day, someone somewhere chooses a Unilever product. Unilever Bangladesh Limited has five departments to carry out all the organizational functions. Multinational corporations are large companies which operate in more than one country.

Developing countries are the host countries and have become the object of study as there are many questions regarding the benefits of hosting a MNC. Are MNCs contributing to the sustainable development of a developing country? Or, do they simply exploit developing countries creating a country dependent on that MNC for their own economic, social and ecological growth? Apparently they are transferring new technologies to a developing country, the introduction of sophisticated managing techniques, and foreign direct investments. Depending on this point of view, either the MNC brings valuable tools to a developing country which in turn infuses their economy with new jobs and raises the skills of the workers or the MNC fully exploits the developing country exporting the technology, capital and resources back to the parent country or other developed countries for profit. MNCs help increase the investment level and thereby the income and employment in the host country. MNCs build up factories, office buildings, warehouses, etc. in the developing countries as a form of subsidiary investment. This results in a large scale flow of funds into the developing country, which is good for the developing nation as it is bringing in a gross amount of foreign currency into the country.

From the perspective of a developing country, establishing a MNC is beneficial in the sense that it creates a huge chance of employment for the labor force of the nation. It increases the employment rate as more people get employed in the newly setup company. As a result, the unemployment rate of the country is also reduced as an after-effect of the increased employment. The large MNCs that crop up in the developing country is all together a benefit for the country. The provision of employment created due to MNCs reduces the unemployment rate. The tax earned by the government from these MNCs produce a large sum of money that can be invested by the government in the economic development of the country. MNCs do many types social activities in Bangladesh which helps our society. For example: UniLever introduced many talent hunt programs to find the actual stars of our nation. Close-up1 Tomakei Kujchea, Lux Photogenic are the key programs introduced by them. British American Tobacco Bangladesh (BATB) is also doing some activities in Bangladesh. This report is designed in three major chapters. Initially the opening words about the report were described in the first segment titled “Introduction”. The next segment “Overview of Unilever” contains the history of Unilever, Unilever Bangladesh Ltd, and Organizational structure. Next two chapters are different factors faced by MNCs and explain how to avoid or to minimize risk and future direction. At the end I have find out some interpretation of the findings and gave recommendation.

Chapter ONE

In 2008 Unilever’s worldwide turnover was €40.5 billion

They employ 174 000 people in around 100 countries worldwide Every day, 160 million people choose their brands to feed their families and to clean themselves and their homes. Their strong portfolio of foods, home and personal care brands is trusted by consumers the world over. Among them, the top 25 brands account for over 70% of sales. In 2008 they invested €927 million in research and development. They are the global market leader in all the Food categories in which they operate: Savory and Dressings, Spreads, Weight Management, Tea, and Ice Cream. They are also global market leader in Skin and Deodorants, and have very strong positions in other Home and Personal Care categories. In 2008 they invested €91 million on community projects worldwide

HISTORY OF UNILEVER

Lever Brothers was founded in 1885 by William Hesketh Lever. Lever established soap factories around the world. In 1917, he began to diversify into foods, acquiring fish, ice cream and canned foods businesses. In the Thirties, Unilever introduced improved technology to the business. The business grew and new ventures were launched in Latin America. The entrepreneurial spirit of the founders and their caring approach to their employees and their communities remain at the heart of Unilever’s business today. Unilever was formed in 1930 when the Dutch margarine company Margarine Unie merged with British soap maker Lever Brothers. Companies were competing for the same raw materials, both were involved in large-scale marketing of household products and both used similar distribution channels. Between them, they had operations in over 40 countries. Margarine Unie grew through mergers with other margarine companies in the 1920s.

In a history that now crosses three centuries, Unilever’s success has been influenced by the major events of the day – economic boom, depression, world wars, changing consumer lifestyles and advances in technology. And throughout they’ve created products that help people get more out of life – cutting the time spent on household chores, improving nutrition, enabling people to enjoy food and take care of their homes, their clothes and themselves. Through this timeline you’ll see how UBL brand portfolio has evolved. At the beginning of the 21st century, path to Growth strategy focused us on global high-potential brands and vitality mission is taking us into a new phase of development. More than ever, how brands are helping people ‘feel good, look good and get more out of life’ – a sentiment close to Lord Leverhulme’s heart over a hundred years ago. Timeline 19th century Although Unilever wasn’t formed until 1930, the companies that joined forces to create the business we know today were already well established before the start of the 20th century. 1900s

Unilever’s founding companies produced products made of oils and fats, principally soap and margarine. At the beginning of the 20th century their expansion nearly outstrips the supply of raw materials. 1910s Tough economic conditions and the First World War make trading difficult for everyone, so many businesses form trade associations to protect their shared interests. 1920s With businesses expanding fast, companies set up negotiations intending to stop others producing the same types of products. But instead they agree to merge – and so Unilever is created. 1930s Unilever’s first decade is no easy ride: it starts with the Great Depression and ends with the Second World War. But while the business rationalises operations, it also continues to diversify. 1940s

Unilever’s operations around the world begin to fragment, but the business continues to expand further into the foods market and increase investment in research and development. 1950s Business booms as new technology and the European Economic Community lead to rising standards of living in the West, while new markets open up in emerging economies around the globe. 1960s As the world economy expands, so does Unilever and it sets about developing new products, entering new markets and running a highly ambitious acquisition programme. 1970s Hard economic conditions and high inflation make the 70s a tough time for everyone, but things are particularly difficult in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector as the big retailers start to flex their muscles. 1980s

Unilever is now one of the world’s biggest companies, but takes the decision to focus its portfolio, and rationalize its businesses to focus on core products and brands. 1990s The business expands into Central and Eastern Europe and further sharpens its focus on fewer product categories, leading to the sale or withdrawal of two-thirds of its brands. The 21st century The decade starts with the launch of Path to Growth, a five-year strategic plan, and in 2004 further sharpens its focus on the needs of 21st century consumers with its Vitality mission. In 2009, Unilever announces its new corporate vision – working to create a better future every day with brands that help people look good, feel good and get more out of life.

UNILEVER DESIGN AND HISTORY

In 2005, Unilever decided to change their logo to represent their new theme of vitality. The new logo was also planned to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the company. The new logo tells the story of Unilever and vitality. It brings together 25 different icons representing Unilever and its brands, the idea of vitality and the benefits Unilever brings to consumers. The icons are represented below.

UNILEVER BANGLADESH LIMITED

The history

Unilever Bangladesh Ltd is one of the world’s most successful fast moving consumer goods manufacturing companies with local manufacturing facilities, reporting to regional business groups for innovation and business results. Lever Brothers Bangladesh Ltd. as a subsidiary of Unilever is leading the home care, personal care and food product market of Bangladesh. On 25th February 1964 the eastern plant of Lever Brothers Pakistan Ltd. was inaugurated at Kalurghat, Chittagong with a soap production capacity of approximately 485 metric tons. It was a private limited company with 55% share held by Unilever and the rest by the Government of Pakistan. After independence the eastern plant was declared abandoned.

But on 5th July 1973 it was registered under the name of Lever Brothers Bangladesh Ltd. as a joint venture company of Unilever PLC and the Govt. of Bangladesh with a share arrangement of 60.75% to Unilever and 39.25% to the Bangladesh Govt. Unilever Bangladesh is market leader in 7 of the 8 categories it operates in, with 16 brands spanning across Home and Personal Care and Foods. Unilever Bangladesh’s operation provides employment to over 10,000 people directly and indirectly through its dedicated suppliers, distributors and service providers.99.8% of Unilever Bangladesh employees are locals. We also have a large number of Company employees working abroad in other Unilever companies as expatriates. Doing Well by Doing Good

Project Laser Beam – Bangladesh selected for pilot of Unilever-WFP led Public Private Partnership targeted towards eradicating child hunger and malnutrition. Global Hand washing Day – UBL, along with its partners, applied for Guinness Record for highest number of people (52,000) washing their hands together at a time Oral Heath & Hygiene Awareness Programme – led by Pepsodent through school-based activations, covering 700,000 contacts in ’09 and targeting 2.5mln in ‘10 Lifebuoy Friendship Hospital – Launched in March 2002 in association with the humanitarian organization “Friendship”. Has a dedicated medical team on board and reaches to people who would not have access to proper medical facility. Approximately 200,000 people benefited till date Empowerment of Women

Fair & Lovely Foundation gives empowerment training to women & scholarship to female students for IT education Worked with 23 NGOs and CARE Bangladesh to create sustainable business opportunities for rural women Over 2,500 Aparajitas (woman entrepreneurs) earn by selling UBL products Unilever today

Unilever brands are trusted everywhere and, by listening to the people who buy them, they’ve grown into one of the world’s most successful consumer goods companies. In fact, 150 million times a day, someone somewhere chooses a Unilever product.

UBL have a portfolio of brands that are popular across the globe – as well as regional products and local varieties of famous-name goods. This diversity comes from two of their Key strengths: Strong roots in local markets and first-hand knowledge of the local culture. World class business expertise applied internationally to serve consumers everywhere.

UNILEVER AT A GLANCE

MISSION

In the last five years, we have built our business by focusing on our brands, streamlining how we work, and improving our insight into the evolving needs and tastes of consumers. Now we are taking the next step in simplification – by aligning ourselves around a clear common mission. We recognize that the world in which we operate is changing. Consumers are increasingly bringing their views as citizens into their buying decisions, demanding more from the companies behind the brands. They want companies and brands they trust. Unilever embraces these new expectations. Our heritage of good governance, product quality and long experience of working with communities gives us a strong base.We aim to build on this by taking the next step in transparency and accountability. We will stand visibly as Unilever, behind our products and everything we do, everywhere. Every day 150 million people in over 150 countries choose our products. Already, most of our brands give the benefits of feeling good, looking good and getting more out of life. Bertolli, for example, conjures up the Italian zest for life and Becel/Flora keeps hearts healthy. Sunsilk helps you feel happier because your hair looks great. Our laundry brand, Omo, encourages children to get dirty so they can experience more of life.

We see growing consumer need for: a healthy lifestyle more variety, quality, taste and enjoyment time, as an increasingly precious commodity Helping people to feel good, look good and get more out of life will enable us to meet these needs and expand our business. Unilever is in a unique position to understand the interrelationships between nutrition, hygiene and personal care. We can do this thanks to our strong science capability and our locally rooted consumer insight. It is by bringing all this together that we can strive to contribute to quality of life and wellbeing – adding vitality to life. The long-term success of our business is intimately interconnected with the vitality of the environment and the communities in which we operate. The environment provides us with our raw materials and the ingredients we need to make our products. Healthy, prosperous communities provide us with a healthy, growing consumer base. VISION

To make cleanliness a commonplace; to lessen work for women; to foster health and contribute to personal attractiveness, in order that life may be more enjoyable and rewarding for the people who use the products. GOALS

Unilever Making a positive contribution to society through their brands, the commercial Operations and relationships, their voluntary contributions to the community and through their Wider engagement with Bangladeshi society.

72% of the company’s value addition is distributed to the Government of Bangladesh. UBL operations provide employment to over 10000 people.

UNILEVER BRANDS

Unilever has a portfolio of about 400 brands globally. However many of these are local that can only be found in certain countries, e.g. Fair & Lovely. In Bangladesh the number of UBL’s existing brands is 18 which are categorized in different sections. The brands fall almost entirely in two categories-

Food and beverages

Home and personal care brands

STRATEGIES FOLLOWED BY THE COMPANY

Functional Level Strategies:

Unilever Bangladesh Ltd follows different functional level strategies to gain competitive advantages and sustain it in the long run in the matured industries. They increase their efficiency through exploiting economies of scale and learning effects. For example, 808,720 bars of soaps, 1,023,810 packets of detergent powders,154, 430 toothpaste tubes and sachets,329, 530 bottles and sachets of shampoo, 156,910 tubes, jars, bottles and sachets of creams and lotions, and 35, 000 packets of tea are produced in one day in Bangladesh by Unilever. They adopt flexible manufacturing technologies, upgrade the skills of employees through training and perform research and development function to design products that are easy to manufacture. They have higher customer responsiveness rate. They carry out extensive research to innovate new products and modify the existing products to better satisfy the consumers. They continuously innovate products, promotional activities, packaging and distribution. This way they can respond quickly to customer demands. Business-Level Strategies:

Unilever’s strategic managers adopt different business level strategies to use the company’s resources and distinctive competencies to gain competitive advantage over its rivals. These are:

I. They follow cost-leadership strategy as they have intermittent over capacity and the ability to gain economies of scale. This way they can produce cost effective products and yet be profitable. II. They also follow differentiation strategy for some products to meet the needs of the consumers in a unique way. III. They also target different market segments with different products to have broad product line. By product proliferation they reduce the threat of entry and expand the range of products they make to fill a wide variety of niches. Strategy in the Global Environment:

Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. is registered under Unilever. As a part of a global company it follows some generalized strategies and principals of Unilever. However, they also modify different strategies based on the national conditions. The different strategies that they follow in the global environment are stated below: I. As a worldwide famous company and comprising internationally renowned brands gives them unique strengths that allow a company to achieve superior efficiency, quality, innovation, or customer responsiveness. The different policies and strategies Unilever follows and their experience is transferred to Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. II. They import the raw materials from the places where it is less costly, thus achieve location economy. III. They are locally responsive. They are always ready to improve and modify their products to meet the needs of the local customers. IV. UBL follows a multi domestic strategy where the companies extensively customize both their product offering and marketing strategy to different national conditions. Corporate strategy:

UBL carries out the following corporate level strategies:

I. They involve in short term contracts and competitive bidding for the supply of raw materials. II. They have a diversified business. UBL has both related and unrelated diversification. III. They compete in nine different industries with various products from home care, personal care and even food products. They have economies of scope as most of the products can share the same manufacturing facilities, inputs and specially the distribution channels. UNILEVER’S GROWTH

Although Unilever has been around since pre-liberation days, the real impetus for growth started from 1999. Since then the sales growth has consistently been in double digits and at more than double the GDP rate of growth. In 2003 UBL was the fastest growing business for Unilever Asia delivering profitable growth of 17%. They have also strengthened the fundamentals of the business and have been able to double the rate of gross margins, which has provided us the necessary fuel for growth. During the last few years the profit after tax has increased more than 8 times and this has resulted in exponential growth in shareholder’s fund now being one of the highest in corporate in Bangladesh. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

In terms of Unilever, they have two chairmen leading the company worldwide. They have seven top directors leading seven different departments. They have divided their worldwide business into different region and have different business groups to manage them. Unilever Bangladesh limited falls under the Southeast Asian region. On a more micro scale,Unilever Bangladesh ltd is monitored by Hindustan lever Ltd. which oversees operation in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Srilanka. The chairman of Unilever Bangladesh Limited is known as the managing director. The management staff of the company consists of six layers, starting from junior manager (who are local managers) to manager grade 5 (who are Unilever managers).

Apart from this the company also hires many non management staff as well as operatives to work in the factories. Unilever Bangladesh Limited structured in the following manner: Unilever Bangladesh Limited has five departments to carry out all the organizational Functions. Respective director’s head are head of all departments. These departments are: 1. Customer Development Department Headed by Customer Development Director (CDD)

Brands and Development Department:

The Brands Team has been expanded to Brands and Development, thus providing opportunity of increased coordination between the marketing and Development Team. Insight into consumer needs and aspirations is critical if new market opportunities are to be identified. New market opportunities must be identified if they are looking for sustainable profitable growth, keeping them miles ahead of their competitors. However it is also crucial to exploit technology and developments to translate the found insight into tangible products catering to the needs and aspirations of the consumers with speed. A deep understanding of both consumers and technologies provides an essential foundation for successful innovation. To ensure a successful innovation process at Unilever, Brands and Development have been bought together. This will help their development team to have closer contact with the consumer world, following the leads and cues of their aspirations and thus innovating products tailored accordingly at a faster pace. Brands and Development Department is further divided into six major areas. They include: Home care.

Supply Chain Department

The Supply Chain Director (SCD) who is in charge of planning, buying, manufacturing and distributing heads Supply Chain Department. The supply chain process constitutes a series of important activities ensuring smooth delivery to the consumers. Supply chain process led to joining planning and buying with manufacturing. This chain is further extended by joining distribution to the chain, thus integrating both backward and forward linkages. An integrated supply chain will give them the advantage of acting with speed, enabling them to keep up with pace of the ever changing business scenario. At present, it is divided into the following functions: Manufacturing

The Finance and IT departments are jointly headed by one Director. The main objectives of this department are to serve all the division and departments of the companies, to secure and safeguard company assets and interest, to ensure proper internal control within the company and above all, to be cost effective in order to get optimum benefit for the company while operating. At present the major sub departments are:

Human Resources Department

All these major personnel functions are integrated in the best possible way in Unilever Bangladesh Limited which results in its higher productivity. Industrial relations or the factory personnel functions are looked after by factory personnel manager, training and development Activities are supervised by Manager Human Resource Development, Employee Welfare, activities are monitored by Assistant Manager labor welfare, personnel services are looked after by the FPM along with the office services manager and finally security officer is responsible for all the security services At present, the total number of personnel in Unilever Bangladesh Limited are 720 which includes 159 in management & 543 unionized permanent workers. Customer Development Department

Managing customers i.e. retailers, wholesalers, and distributors, is becoming critical day by day. With the evolution of modern trade and aggressive local and international competition, role of Customer Management has also been gradually shifting from traditional “Sales: to “Trade Marketing”. Category Management, Space Management and In-store merchandising are ecoming more and more important. Exploring and developing new channels are becoming critical to drive their business forward. With more and more sophistication, the role of Customer Management will evolve further and the whole game will be turned into “Relationship Marketing”. The Customer customer management director (CMD) heads the Management Department. Reporting to him are the Sales Operation Manager, Regional Sales Managers and Area Sales Managers. Company organized media is under the Sales Operation Manager. Assistant Area managers Report to the Regional Sales Managers. Territory Managers report to the Assistant Area sales managers, Area Sales Managers and Regional Sales Managers, which differ in different sales areas. The Customer Management Department, early called ‘Sales Department’, is responsible For all company goods and maintains the following customer management strategy:

Unilever’s Social Responsibility

Eco-efficiency – Unilever Bangladesh Limited always tries t o reduce the impacts of company operations by efficient manufacturing equipments and proper waste management system. Eco-innovation – Unilever Bangladesh Limited also aim to mitigate the impacts of Unilever Bangladesh Limited products by using recyclable packages and safe ingredients. Sustainability programs in fish, agriculture and water.

LANGUAGE MANAGEMENT IN MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES

The importance of language management in multinational companies has never been greater than today. Multinationals are becoming ever more conscious of the importance of global coordination as a source of competitive advantage, and language remains the ultimate barrier to aspirations of international harmonization. In this article, we will review the solutions open to multinational companies in terms of language management. Before doing so, however, we will discuss the aforementioned trend to globalization; outline the dimensions of the language barrier and illustrate its consequences.

THE DIMENSIONS OF THE LANGUAGE BARRIER

Before attempting to consider language management strategies, companies will have to evaluate the magnitude of the language barrier confronting them and in doing so they will need to examine it in three dimensions. The first dimension is the number of different languages the company has to manage (the Language Diversity).

The second is the number of functions and the number of levels within those functions that are engaged in cross-lingual communication (the Language Penetration) and the third is the complexity and refinement of the language skills required (the Language Sophistication).

These three dimensions are discussed below:

Language Diversity

subsidiaries, customers, suppliers and joint ventures, though even the most international of enterprises will embrace only a minute fraction of the world’s 5,000 plus languages. Global giants such as Microsoft have strategies to manage around 80 different languages. However, this is likely to be an unrealistic target for most companies. More typically global enterprises will be able to manage their global networks provided they establish capabilities in the leading European languages, including some from Eastern Europe, in Japanese,Chinese, Arabic and in selected Asian languages notably Malay, Urdu, Hindi and Bengali. An Elucidate study identified the top dozen or so language priorities for European companies (Hagen, 1999).

This number is suggested also by the Engco model (Graddol, 1997) which uses population, demographic and economic data to position languages on a scale according to Global Influence. Beyond the leading 15 or so languages on this scale none can really be claimed to have any significant global influence.

Language Penetration

The level of language penetration will depend on the number of functional areas within a MNC that have to operate across linguistic boundaries. There may have been a time when cross-lingual communications could have been channeled through a small and exclusive band of language specialists. However, as we’ve discussed in the previous section the new integrated systems of global co-ordination now touch almost ever function of the business and at multiple levels. Finance (Global Treasury), R&D (Co-design), Production Engineering (Concurrent engineering), Logistics (Supply Chain Management), Sales (Global Account Management), Purchasing (Global Sourcing), Human Resources (Global Management Development) and MIS (Global Systems Integration) are all directly tasked with coordinating activities that span national and linguistic boundaries. And corporate level functions such as Legal and Public Relations require the same linguistic versatility to be able to support them.

Language Sophistication

Clearly the complexity, refinement and type of the language skills required will vary from post holder to post holder, within an organization. A receptionist will require essentially speaking-listening proficiency and might suffice with the limited skills necessary to recognize requests and to exchange pleasantries. A logistics clerk will need to have a greater foreign language capability including reading and writing, but will at least have the benefit of being able to operate with a limited vocabulary. An engineer working as part of an international design team represents a further progression in language sophistication. They will be required to evolve concepts and solve design problems in both spoken and written form without language being a barrier. And at the pinnacle of the scale comes the international manager. He or she will need excellent language proficiency embracing the full range of rhetorical skills such as egotiation,persuasion,motivation and humor. At this level the capability level might well exceed that of a typical Masters graduate in modern languages.

THE IMPACT OF THE LANGUAGE BARRIER

The impact of the language barrier cannot be evaluated using simple measures such as dollars spent on interpreters or days lost in translating documents. Instead the true cost has to be seen in terms of the way it distorts and damages relationships. These in turn then impose pressures and constraints on the strategies pursued by the company and the organizations and systems they consequentially adopt. Founded in sociolinguistic theory, Feely & Harzing (2002) offer a more extensive discussion of these processes. In summary however, it is worth noting that the language barrier triggers a whole range of negative consequences. It breeds uncertainty and suspicion, accentuates group divides, undermines trust, and leads to polarization of perspectives, perceptions and cognitions. And of course that is just the start. With the all-pervading nature of communication, it is hard to imagine any aspect of management that emerges undamaged by the corrosive effects of uncertainty, mistrust, conflict, and cognitive divides. Below we have advanced ideas illustrating just a few of the more the most probable consequences.

Buyer / Seller Relationships

Companies facing the prospect of globalising will sense a greater cultural distance and will be aware of greater uncertainty about markets that don’t share their language and salespersons working in their second language will appear less able,less credible, less likeable and ultimately less persuasive. As a consequence, companies will in general have more success selling to countries that share their language. Buyers too when working in their second language will not be as confident and assertive and will lose some of their relationship power. As a result they will be less successful in gaining advantageous deals. Aware of this, buyers are likely to demand increasingly that negotiations are conducted in the language of the customer. Companies unable to work in the language of the customer will therefore, under-perform in export markets relative to their more linguistically able competitors. And this is not limited to the Sales Department. All areas that interact with the customer will be similarly affected.

Foreign Market Expansion

The process school of internationalization (Johanson & Vahlne,1977) predicts that companies at the beginning of their global development will prefer to establish subsidiaries that are characterized by a low level of psychic distance to their home country. Language differences are a crucial element of psychic distance. In the absence of this possibility, parent companies will prefer to establish subsidiaries in countries where English,the dominant international language, is widely spoken. (Welch et al., 2001).

Joint Ventures

Whenever the host country and the parent country do not share the same language, the parent will inevitably feel an increased sense of uncertainty and will prefer an entry method where risk can be shared. Thus joint ventures will be likely where there is language difference. Joint entures between partners where only one of the partners has an international language will end up working in that language. Subsequently, as a consequence of power through communication, the partner with that language might start to dominate the relationship, which will pose increasing pressure on the JV.

HQ-subsidiary Relationship

Wherever language is a barrier to the development of close personal relationships the level of suspicion, mistrust and conflict between a parent company and its international subsidiaries will be heightened. Such mistrust will cause the parent company to be more formal and less subjective in its evaluation of subsidiary performance, and may also hinder collaborative processes such as knowledge and technology transfer.

We have not attempted to present an exhaustive list of the potential impact of the language barrier or to provide irrefutable evidence for our speculations. Future empirical work should be able to address this. Our aim was to illustrate that the impact of the language barrier can be wide-ranging and potentially serious to multinational enterprises, and that language should therefore be managed as a corporate asset. We will now turn to the main topic of this article: the options available to MNCs to manage language and to alleviate the problems it creates.

A more rational and obvious response to the language barrier is to employ external resources such as translators and interpreters, and certainly there are many excellent companies specialized in these fields. However, such a response is by no means an end to the language barrier. For a start these services can be very expensive, with a top Simultaneous Interpreter commanding daily rates as high as a partner in an international consulting company. Secondly, any good translator or interpreter will insist that to be fully effective they must understand the context of the subject matter. This is not always possible. In some cases it is prohibited by the specialization of the topic, sometimes by lack of preparation time but most often the obstacle is the reluctance of the parties to explain the wider context to an “outsider”.

Another problem is that unless there has been considerable pre-planning between the interpreter and his clients it is likely that there will be ambiguity and cultural overtones in the source messages the interpreter has to work with. They will of course endeavor to provide a hi-fidelity translation but in this circumstance the interpreter has to use initiative and guess work. This clearly injects a potential source of misunderstanding into the proceedings. Finally while a good interpreter will attempt to convey not only the meaning but also the spirit of any communication, there can be no doubt that there is loss of rhetorical power when communications go through a third party. So in situations requiring negotiation, persuasion, humor etc.the use of an interpreter is a poor substitute for direct communication.

Training

The immediate and understandable reaction to any skills-shortage in a business is to consider personnel development and certainly the language training industry is well developed, offering programs at almost every level and in numerous languages. However, without doubting the value of language training no company should be deluded into believing this to be assured of success. Training in most companies is geared to the economic cycle. When times are good money is invested in training. When belts get tightened training is one of the first “luxuries”to be pared down. In a study conducted across four European countries (Hagen, 1999), nearly twice as many companies said they needed language training in coming years as had conducted training in past years. This disparity, between “good intentions” and “actual delivery”,underlines the problems of relying upon training for language skills. Unless the company is totally committed to sustaining the strategy even through bad times, it will fail.

One notable and committed leader in the field of language training has been the Volkswagen Group. They have developed a language strategy over many years and in many respects can be regarded as a model of how to manage language professionally. However, the Volkswagen approach underlines that language training has to be considered a strategic rather than a tactical solution. In their system to progress from “basics” to “communications competence” in a language requires the completion of 6 language stages each one demanding approximately 90 hours of classroom tuition, supported by many more hours of self-study, spread over a 6-9 month period. The completion of each stage is marked by a post-stage achievement test,which is a pre-requisite for continued training. So even this professionally managed program expects a minimum of three years of fairly intensive study to produce an accountant, engineer,buyer or salesperson capable of working effectively in a foreign language. Clearly companies intending to pursue this route need to do so with realistic expectations and with the intention of sustaining the program over many years. Except in terms of “brush-up” courses for people who were reviously fluent in a foreign language, training cannot be considered a quick fix and hence other methods will have to be considered.

Corporate Languages

An alternative to a customized training program (in which different individuals are trained in different languages) is to adopt a single corporate language. All recruitment and personnel development could then be focused upon achievement of required standards in that one chosen language. A number of major multinational companies have adopted this strategy including iemens, Electrolux, Daimler-Chrysler and Olivetti. A Corporate Language can be considered to have a number of important benefits:

Facilitation of formal reporting

Ease of access to, and maintenance of, technical literature, policy and procedure documents and information systems. Facilitation of informal communications between operating units and within cross national teams. Fostering a sense of belonging as an element in diffusing a corporate culture. And of course it does focus the management of language problems.

However, in no sense is a Corporate Language solution without problems:

It is a long-term strategy. One study of a major Finnish company reported that decades years after the designation of English as the Corporate Language, the minutes of board meetings were still taken in Finnish (Marschan-Piekkari et al., 1999).

It is sometimes effectively impossible to adopt a single language for all circumstances. Nestle for example faced by a polarized split of personnel designated both English and French as the company’s official language. (Lester, 1994)

A corporate language will often incur resistance if there is a large body of corporate personnel lacking competence in the chosen language. In Kone, the Finnish, elevator, company for example English was adopted as the corporate language despite the fact that almost two thirds of its employees were non- native speakers of the language. (MarschanPiekkari et al., 1999)

And although a corporate language may well enhance intra-company communications it does nothing to ease the language barrier with external bodies such as customers, suppliers, international agencies and governments. So for these other solutions must be examined.

Language Nodes

In the absence of sufficient language capability and without the time or finances to adopt a training or corporate language approach, companies become heavily dependent upon their scarce linguistically skilled personnel. These key personnel become informal “language nodes” establishing themselves as the default communications channel between the company and the external world. Whilst it is understandable that companies leverage their scarce skills in this way, research has indicated that the approach has numerous drawbacks. It places an onerous burden on those acting as language nodes impairing their ability to perform their formal organizational duties. It introduces an increased risk of miscommunication, as the language node personnel might be inexpert in the field of work that is the subject of the communication. It invests in those individuals the power to act as communication gatekeepers. This inevitably brings with it the risk that this power will be used in counter-productive ways filtering, distorting or even blocking transmission, thereby impeding rather than facilitating the flow of information from the parent company. Finally within a parent subsidiary or Joint Venture relationship the Parallel Information Networks based on these nodes undermine the formal chain of reporting, weakening the positions of the senior managers who are being by-passed and hence creating potential for conflict.

Selective Recruitment

As noted in the case of Nestle, “the easiest and cheapest way to approach the language problem is to hire people already possessing the required skills” (Lester, 1994).

However, this is clearly not a painless solution implying, as it does, the redeployment and perhaps redundancy of existing post-holders lacking those skills. Moreover, there is considerable evidence to show that the right level and mix of language skills is not always available in the marketplace (Hagen, 1999).

So the recruitment approach to bridging the language barrier must be used very selectively, and is probably advantageous only in three distinct situations:

To fill critical areas of language exposure.

To create a language node.

To develop expatriate managers.

Language interfaces in these businesses will trigger problems of miscommunication, uncertainty, mistrust and conflict and unless these problems are professionally managed, they will bring detrimental consequences for the business and its relationships. Linguistic fragmentation results in depressed economic performance for whole countries. It would be naïve to think that the same impact would not be felt by linguistically fragmented companies. So the challenge facing these businesses is how to manage their language problems effectively.

Political risk for multinational companies

Political risk for multinational companies is a salient phenomenon. Consider, for example, the recent nationalizations and forced contract renegotiations faced by foreign investors in Bolivia and Venezuela; or the kidnappings that are routinely suffered by foreign employees in places like Nigeria, Yemen, Colombia, and the Gulf of Aden; or the lackluster judicial protection that multinational companies (MNCs) enjoy in many parts of the world. Consider also events in the realm of global politics, like international terrorism, or the sanctions against resilient Iran that have recently hurt a large number of energy multinationals.

So the risks to international business are clearly still there, as this paper will argue. But the paper also argues that the contents of the phenomenon of political risk have changed from the first half of the 1970s (the natural point of reference for a political risk analyst).

Whereas foreign investors used to worry about expropriations and nationalizations first and foremost,their worries have increased over the years in the sense that political risk has evolved to become much a more complex characteristic of the (arguably much more complex) international business environment. The events causing harm to investors – the political risk effects – vary greatly, as do the actors responsible for realizing the risk, and as do the root sources of the risks. Political risk, I hold, is a multidimensional phenomenon.

That is the argument and point of departure of the present paper. Yet establishing some reasonably firm testimony to the effect that socio-political risk is multifaceted surely requires us to go beyond the mere presentation of scattered anecdotal examples. Systematic empirical evidence is key. The paper offers just that. It seeks to increase our knowledge of political risk by means of presenting a new, explorative dataset. The data, which are based on prominent news reports, contain information on 332 cases of realized political risk in developing countries, from 1998 to 2005. In addition to exhibiting information about the risk effects, I also coded the probable source or sources of each event, along with actors and affected companies or industries. After the next main section‟s presentation of the theoretical model, this dataset is carefully examined (as is the methodology employed), and descriptive statistics are presented.

The causal chain in political risk analysis

Each possible country example of political risk usually exhibits its own unique combination of sources, effects, and actors. In Bolivia, the combination was particularly complex. In other nations, we find different mixes: In Nigeria, kidnappings and acts of sabotage directed against the oil industry by rebel groups or grievance-ridden local communities constitute the main risk; in Iran, it is currently mostly about economic sanctions being implemented by foreign states because of Tehran‟s purported nuclear ambitions; in Burma, a military dictatorship, the actions of (often foreign-based) activists have caused severe problems for Western multinationals.

Apart from emphasizing the distinction between sources of risk and risk effects, the main point I am trying to make is that political or country risk is a multidimensional phenomenon. The events causing harm to investors – the risk effects – vary greatly, as do the actors responsible for realizing the risk, and as do the root sources of the events. Political risk by country

This section presents descriptive statistics of the data. Table 1 ranks the countries according to the total number of events (only countries with six or more incidents are shown).

Of course, most reported cases occurred in countries with a comparatively large stock of FDI and, hence, a bigger pool of potential victims of political risk. Table 1 should therefore be interpreted with caution as it does not weigh the number of incidents in a country by that country’s total stock of FDI.

Nigeria tops the chart with 35 reported incidents of realized political risk in the period,nearly all of which involved oil firms and were directly associated with war, rebel activity, or social unrest (that is, the category labelled “War” in the table).

Foreign companies in Iraq faced similar problems: a total of 20 war-related incidents are recorded for the period, most of them occurring in 2003 and 2004, the first two years of U.S. occupation .My sample also suggests that kidnappings and acts of sabotage directed toward foreign investors were relatively common in Colombia (12 reported cases) and Indonesia (10).

Concerning the distribution of incidents of government intervention, which my data show to be the most common form of risk effect, China tops the table. Notable is the wide variety of interventions that characterizes this prime FDI destination: in the period under investigation, investors have suffered price controls, caps on profits, corporate tax increases, bans on nvestment, ex-post ownership restrictions, and contract breaches. These are all events that are relatively low-key and perhaps reflective of a complex, unfamiliar, and highly bureaucratic investment environment in which the Chinese government and the Communist Party are by far the most important stakeholders (Fan, Morck, & Xu, 2009).

Likewise, interventions by the host government in the affairs of multinationals have been quite common in Venezuela (12 registered cases), India (11), Indonesia (10), Russia (10), Argentina (9), Iraq (9), Iran (7), Bolivia (6), and South Africa (6).

Political risk effects, by industry

The distribution of political risk effects among different industries. It is noteworthy that nearly two-thirds of all cases involve firms in either the extractive sector or in infrastructure/utilities. Since these industries do not account for an equally large share of total FDI flows to the developing world, the evidence implicitly indicates that political risk is essentially industry-, firm-, or even project-specific. The risk profile of an oil company, for example, is significantly different from that of a trading firm. Whereas the former deploys large sunk assets that may become a tempting target for host-government appropriation, the latter does not; and while the oil firm is highly visible in the host country and can easily stir nationalist emotions simply by extracting a natural resource, the trading company operates in a non-strategic sector and is therefore less likely to receive negative attention. These notions are supported by the data: only four cases of realized political risk involving wholesale or retail trade are recorded, whereas 113 of the interventions targeted the petroleum industry.

By way of presenting and analyzing a new, explorative dataset on political risk effects in developing countries, I have sought to illustrate many of the theoretical and conceptual ideas that were outlined in the theoretical section. Results from the analysis were largely as expected, suggesting that profit-curbing events in the socio-political sphere can take on many forms and involve a wide range of actors. My data also indicate that the sources or causes of these effects are plentiful. A holistic approach to political risk analysis therefore seems warranted.

The first general finding is that the profit-curbing events themselves – the risk effects or outcomes – differ markedly from one another. Some 48 percent of the recorded incidents are associated with government intervention; 39 percent are acts of intervention related to war, terrorism, or social unrest; while 13 percent of risks were realized courtesy of actions taken by activists or MNC partners or competitors. But even within each of these broad categories, the actual incidents that ultimately cause corporate losses vary greatly. For example, the data suggest that host governments and politicians have at their disposal a wide array of policy tools that can be used in order to increase their nation‟s share of the proceeds from FDI. Acts of forced divestments of ownership, for their part, are relatively rare occurrences nowadays, as others have pointed out (Cass, 2007; Minor, 1994).

It seems that contemporary governments prefer to intervene in subtler and less extreme ways. This is possibly because the costs – including reputational losses – associated with throwing the foreigners out altogether are greater than the benefits, thereby encouraging smaller-scale regulatory moves instead.

Cultural factors in International Marketing

The activity of human being and the ways that gives the activities significance is called culture .Culture mainly is the main base of human , basically it is what people wear , eat , what he believes and what activities he does to support .In this age of competitive international marketing the different culture of different countries has turned into a very vital factor to the multinational companies to be successful in the field of international marketing. Though some multinational companies in the world has created their own culture in the global market but this own culture is nothing just to facilitate the culture of the local marketed countries.

All the multinational companies are facing the most important fear is the international marketing is the culture.All the better national companies in the world always thinking of expanding their business throughout the world. In this information age the world has become small thus it becomes easy to communicate with the local investors to expand the business globally.

The assignment will be focusing on the result whether culture as defined by maximum author is the essential part in effective international marketing or not. Besides the description will examine how culture is an important factor and also the role of culture in international marketing. In conclusion of the discussion, there will be comments about the author’s stand about the proposition of culture in successful international marketing.

INVESTIGAION

Different peoples of different countries and region have different culture. That is why the marketers should consider the cultures of different countries to develop their product for different countries. The design of the marketed products should focus the norms, values of local peoples and should be positive according to the culture of that country where they are eager to market their products . Also the promotional resources such as advertising should also be similar with the local culture. In product designing and advertising the cloths in Arab countries , and in the sub-continent the marketers should take into one system and in case of western countries the design and advertising should be another system because of the culture in that two different region.

Now-a-days focusing the customer has become an important factors for all the national and multinational companies that is why all the companies should take into consideration of the cultures of the customers to be a successful marketers. For example in India the cultural program is a part of life .They always organize different cultural program throughout the years. All the multinational companies (Coke, Pepsi ) always try to celebrate their culture to promote their products and make their products famous to India. They sometimes organizes different programs in different occasions , sometimes sponsors the cultural programs. That is why the people becomes aware of that multinational companies and take their products positively. Not only the general definition of culture we should also consider different components of culture in discussing the question. The components which we need to consider of culture as: 1. Communication (language), which may be classified as verbal and nonverbal; 2. Religion;

3. Aesthetics;

4. Education;

5. Symbols/ colors;

6. Country of origin.

Language

It is very important to consider language in case of international business as the meaning of language differ country to country area to area. Ther marketier should understand the language before preparing their slogan or motto.If the meaning is good in one country but bad in other country then the importance of motto and company may be decreased .The product may not be so popular for the motto. Example: Pepsi’s familiar “Come Alive with Pepsi” when translated into German conveyed the idea of “coming alive from Grave” Religion

Religion is a very important factor in International Marketing especially in the recent marketing world. Religion reflects the culture of individual nation. Religion is a cause of culture differences as each religion contains its own culture and beliefs. The eating , clothing are different in different religion. All international marketers if do not know a little of religion then there are big chance to make mistake .That may result crush in the international marketing. Example: Doing food business in Muslim countries all multinational companies usually thinks of introducing “Halal” food to make their brand favourite one .McDonald’s usually doing good by adopting this strategy. Education System

Segmenting the market depending on age may be an important factor in targeting different countries .As the age at education begins and ends differs in various countries . The marketers should consider this factor to segment the market and target the market .Levels of literacy of different countries should also take into consideration enter and target the market. Example : In doing business in the UK the literacy % must take into consideration but doing business in the less literacy country like India , Bangladesh the strategy may be different. Symbols and colors

Symbols and colors is a very important factor in International Marketing as it is a very important element of culture.Color , smells and even numbers can have different meaning in different culture .Before marketing internationally we need to consider this very important element of culture. Example: White symbolizes purity in the UK but means Death in Japan and others parts in Asia .McDonald’s use of Ronal McDonald a white faced clown, would not work as a promotion to children in Japan. Country of origin Effect

Peoples of different countries have their own believes about the quality of products.They usually believes that quality may differ from product to product if manufactured in different countries. Example: Germans are known as good Engineers that is why a customer may prefers German Car instead of that origin from other countries. Thus all the multinational companies should evaluate each cultural elements and should examine how it will affect the proposed marketing program .Some may have indirect program some may have direct impact on it . But still all must consider the elements to be a successful international marketer .

The Role of Culture in International Marketing

It is believed that globalization of culture is a source of international marketing .All the multinational companies are searching for new valuable and potential markets .All the companies are training their work force who deals with the international marketing about the culture of marketed country .All the companies which thinks of starting business globally should develop a product unique to the worlds. Cultural differences actually roles a vital play in identifying the proper way of business between companies with cross culture.Companies who are cross cultural should involve in business and should act in a way that they must understand the local culture and that their business do not harm to the local culture. “Successful foreign marketing begins with cultural sensitivity” Culture influences a very lot in international as well as national business. Understanding different culture has become very vital factor in international business. Peoples in different culture has different language , believes as well as same language but different believes .With the different or same language the choice of products sometimes differs and sometimes the language and believes does not influences in choice.

But still business firms should have clear understanding of different language as well as other elements of culture to be a successful marketer in the national and international business. The importance of understanding different language of a country is very important in international business and it can not be overestimated. The successful business organization should have skilled communication in doing business internationally. This includes not only understanding the local language but also all advertisement promotion should also have perfect meaning to make the brand a famous one. Unilever describes itself as ‘a truly multi-local multinational’, and is dedicated to meeting the every needs of people everywhere. With 300 local operating units in some 90 countries and with sales in over 60 more, it caters for consumers around world, in both new and established markets. Unilever has a portfolio of global , regional and local brands. Some such as magnum ice cream and Dove personal wash , have become leaders; others are the top choice for consumers in specific countries.

Unilever’s strength lies in its deep understanding of local culture and markets. Building on a presence that in places stretches back nearly a century , it is closely in tune with local consumers and invests in understanding and meeting their needs. Since consumers vary from country to country in their preferences and habits, unilever adjusts many of its brands to suits local tastes .For instance among its many teas, unilever produces 18 separate brands of black tea specifically tailored for consumption in 18 different countries and it is constantly sharpening the flavours to suit all its local markets. Likewise detergent has been modified to take into account differences in water conditions and laundry habits. Unilever has become very favorite in the consumer products throughout the world. They are beyond the cultural influence of different countries.

They are very famous brand the reason behind this is that they usually mix the corporate culture with the local culture. Their product promotion is very clever .They usually tries to understand the local culture and then they praise the local culture .Their promotion always reflects the local culture .In Bangladesh they usually prepares their advertisement based on the patriotism as all peoples loves their country very much. They advertisements speaks like they are the local company in Bangladesh. A geopolitical boundary does not necessarily mean a single culture: Canada is divided culturally between its French and English heritages although it is politically one country. A successful marketing strategy among the French Canadians may be a certain failure among remaining Canadians. Within most cultures there are many subcultures that can have marketing significance.(gaury p91) The same country and the same religion does not means that same product and same type of promotion will act very nicely in international marketing. People in same country may have different language and culture and thus their choice of product may be different.

Challenges in cross-culture and leadership

In the 2000s multinational companies have been seriously considering behavioral resources and leadership competencies in particular, as a source for competitive advantage and sustainable strategic development, while trying to balance global and local perspectives on effective leadership behavior. Universal standards in this area have not been developed yet, and, taking into consideration the contingent nature of strategy and leadership, probably would not be finalized. However, intensive search for practical solutions in absorbing leadership competencies into corporate strategies in successful multinationals such as Johnson&Johnson, 3M, or Unilever, demands theoretical interpretation of these initiatives. Our study focuses on Unilever, a fast moving international consumer goods company. On the one hand, Unilever has seriously considered behavioural resources for winning in the global markets and developed a competency model, the ‘Leadership for Growth Profile’ (LGP), which has been implemented world-wide. On the other hand, Unilever emphasizes its willingness to operate most effectively in local markets – as a multi-local multinational company.

That is why we aim to outline the role of cultural differences in the process of building leadership competencies in this global corporation. In this article we suggest an integrated theoretical framework of effective leadership in multinational companies, and further develop this framework by testing it through empirical analysis of leadership competencies at Unilever and at its Russian subsidiary. First, we discuss the contextual issues of effective leadership behavior in multinationals. Second, we review practices and policies of building leadership competencies at a large and successful multinational company Unilever. Third, we focus on the Unilever’s developments in the culture-specific Russian environment. To better understand this particular environment we present the results of our empirical findings on culture and leadership in Russia. Fourth, we test culture-contingent framework by interviewing managers of Unilever’s Russian subsidiary and suggest recommendations to multinationals doing business in the emerging markets. This research contributes to the local versus global debate by giving a framework of how a global competency model can be used more effectively in different cultures, based on the critical business success indicators of the cases which were analysed for this research.

Strategic organizational contingencies societal culture, and effective leadership Our interpretation of leadership competencies in a multinational company combines several streams of ideas. Strategy scholars link core competencies to the firm’s success and discuss the impact of culture on its international strategic behavior. International human resource management research explores cross-cultural variations in global employment practices and organizational culture. And those in the field of organizational behavior explore the cultural convergence and divergence in international organizational practices and expand traditional view on leadership to situation-contingent and culture-contingent levels of analysis. We suggest a multidisciplinary approach in developing the theory of effective leadership in multinational company and consider GLOBE integrated theory (House 2004, 17-19) on culture, leadership and organizations. Accordingly, we design the following framework and propose the following propositions. (1) Resource-based view of the firm suggests that multinational companies build competitive advantage by utilizing their tangible and intangible resources, including those directly related to human behavior in the organization (Barney 1991, 1995).

Core competencies – combined skills/behaviors developed through organizational learning, which are valued by customers and are difficult to imitate by competitors – are viewed among the major strategic success factors (Hamel & Prahalad 1990, 1994).

(2) In the top multinational companies the concept of leadership is associated not only with traditional dimensions such as traits and styles, but has also been developed to the level of leadership competencies generated through historic process of organizational learning. It this form leadership is viewed as the important of strategic importance that may influence global performance of multinational company (Hay-McBer 2000).

(3) Multinational companies consider different sorts of international environments but may be more or less sensitive to cultural issues in their subsidiaries depending on their strategic predisposition – from ‘ethnocentric’ to ‘geocentric’ (Porter 1990; Chakravarthy & Perlmutter 1985; Doz & Prahalad 1986; Bartlett & Ghoshal, 2002).

This ‘cultural sensitivity’ impacts the multinational company’s ability to transfer competencies and ethical behaviors beyond national borders (Donaldson 1996; Shenkar 2004).

Predictions based on cultural distance, however, should be made with great caution to avoid simplification when multinational companies’ cultures are directly associated with the culture of their home country.

In particular, we do not suggest looking at the congruence in cultural values between headquarters and foreign subsidiaries with the prediction that high congruence would lead to competitive advantage before we understand ‘strategic configuration’ of a multinational. (4) Multinational companies make adjustments to human resources policies, employee behaviors, and organizational culture while adapting to practices in the countries in which they operate (Adler, Doktor, & Redding 1986; Schneider 1988).

They rely on cross-cultural comparisons to perform these adjustments (Hofstede 1980; Rogovsky & Schuler 1997).

(5) Multinational companies that consider leadership among their core competencies strongly influence leadership behaviors and leadership development in their international operations. (6) Business and societal environments also influence leadership behavior (Dunnette, 1976; Bass, 1981; Yukl, 1998).

There is empirical evidence that attributes and entities that distinguish a given culture from other cultures are predictive of the practices of organizations of that culture, and predictive of the leader attributes and behavior that are most frequently enacted, acceptable and effective in that culture (House et al 2004).

(7) Organizational culture and practices also affect leadership behavior and leadership styles (Schein 1990).

(8)

Leader effectiveness is a function of the interaction between strategic organizational contingences, leadership competencies, and leader attributes and behaviors. Leader attributes and behaviors that meet the requirements of strategic organizational contingencies will result in increased leader effectiveness (House et al 2004).

Since this framework sets the stage for a broad and detailed research that requites combined efforts of many scholars, in this article we concentrate on the exploratory study of major propositions, collect empirical data from Unilever, and discuss the implications of this multidisciplinary approach to multinational companies. In this paper we discussed the relations among behavioral factors that contribute to corporate strategic success in multicultural environment. We relied on the theoretical multidisciplinary framework linking advanced research in strategy and organizational behavior. Our exploratory research confirmed strong relations between cultural attributes and behavioral policies of multinational company in a particular environment. This study connected the fundamental results of a major cross-cultural study (GLOBE) and its practical implications at a leading multinational company. We learned that the effective company creatively adjusts its policies to the environment and that not all instruments for leadership competency that are traditionally considered as universal work successfully in a country-specific situations. This in turn confirmed the contingent nature of leadership competencies.

A framework which takes both business environment and culture into consideration is recommended for organisational middle managers. Key principles for the framework are: (1) focus on competencies which lead to business success in a particular cultural environment; (2) differentiate and add competencies depending on business, functional or cultural needs, even if they may not be a part of the Leadership for Growth Profile; (3) balance between competencies that build international growth (LGP) and competencies that are necessary to achieve operational business success. The other valuable contribution of this study is detailed description of the cultural profile of a transitional country. We could summarize the most critical attributes of Russian culture that managers of multinational companies should take into consideration. The future avenues for research include statistical analysis of quantitative data and the development of a comparative framework that should help differentiating leadership development policies in international subsidiaries of a multinational company. Cultural Factors in Workforce Management

Bangladesh is one of the pioneers in the region for economic liberalization. It has adopted the best policies of South Asia to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

Doing business in Bangladesh is much easier than most of the developing countries. A recent report entitled “Doing Business in 2007: Creating Jobs” published jointly by World Bank and IFC placed Bangladesh in 68th position in terms of ease of doing business among 175 countries (World Bank, 2007).

This places Bangladesh ahead of other countries in the region such as India (88th) and China (128th).

In 2005 total FDI inflow into Bangladesh increased by 84% amounting to US$845 million. This growth is the second highest in the entire South Asia region. According to the World Investment Report 2006,Bangladesh is now ahead of India in terms of the FDI Performance Index being ranked 116 among 200 economies (BOI Handbook, 2007).

Impact of Cultural Factors on HR Practices

Human Resources (HR) are usually considered as one of the most valuable assets in an organization, but only few organizations generate real benefit out of this resource (Pfeffer, 1998).

The resource-based view of the firm poses that superior performance is the result of the proper and timely mix of corporate resources including HR. It follows then that Human Resource Management (HRM) practices may lead to higher firm performance and act as a source of long-lasting competitive advantage because these practices are usually ambiguous, often unique and difficult to imitate (Wright, Duford & Snell, 2001).

However, a growing body of empirical research has found that HRM practices are not always a source of sustained competitive advantage unless they are aligned with cultural and other contextual factors arising from the global operating environment of MNCs (Ahmad & Schroeder, 2003).

Globalization has accelerated the transfer of not only product and services, but also corporate management practices. The transfer of HRM practices occurs mostly from developed countries to developing ones (Aycan, 2005).

MNCs operating in many countries with different socio-economic and cultural orientations face serious challenges in implementing Western HRM practices in the developing countries (Jaeger &Kanungo, 1990).

Effective implementation of HRM practices is largely dependant on the extent to which the practices are perceived to be appropriate by managers and their subordinates (Eveg & Eqile, 1993).

Therefore, a thorough understanding of the cultural and other contextual elements where HRM practices are being implemented is required in order to maximize the outcome. Despite the general applicability of HRM theories, HRM practices carry a significant amount of local flavors. In any particular nation, HRM practices will be rooted in the country‟s historical, political, social and political differences (Tanure & Duarte, 2005).Tayeb (1998) claims that, as opposed to universal aspects, locally meaningful aspects of HRM are based on employees‟ work-related values and attitudes.

These deep rooted values and attitudes have a strong association with the employees‟ occupational,cultural and social backgrounds. In other words, these values are rooted in their societies. Due to the deep anchoring of HRM practices in the historical, political,economic, social and cultural environment of a country, the import or transfer of these practices from developed to the developing countries may produce unexpected results (Tanure and Duarte, 2005).

This can be seen in many East European countries, where despite both ownership and management changes in many big firms as a result of economic iberalization in the 1990s, HR practices remained almost unchanged because the legacy of the previous institutional environment continued to play an influential role in the successful operations of these corporations.

Link between Culture and Salient HR Practices

Salient HRM Practices

A growing body of empirical research has examined the effect of HRM practices on organizational performance (Vlachos, 2008).

The list of HR practices that can affect employees‟ individual, as well as the organizations‟ performance either independently or in bundles is quite long. However, not every HR practice can be a source of sustained competitive advantage (Ahmad & Schroeder, 2003; Cardon & Stevens 2004; Guest 1997).

In order to examine the effect of HR practices on employee and or organizational performance in the Bangladeshi context, we have chosen to examine the key HRM practices as proposed by Pfeffer (1998), Ahmad and Schroeder (2003) and Aycan (2005): recruitment and selection, job security, training and development, decentralization/teamwork, information sharing and compensation policy. A number of studies have been conducted in different settings to test the relationships between the stated HR practices and organizational performance. Many studies have found that significant relationships exist between the stated HR practices and organizational performance (Vlachos, 2008).

Ahmad and Schroeder (2003) conducted a study to generalize the findings of impact of HR practices proposed by Pfeffer (1998) on operations management across countries and industries. Their findings provide overall support for Pfeffer‟s proposed HR practices. Culture and Compensation Policy

Performance-based compensation is one of the most important HR practices that companies use to evaluate and reward employees (Colin & Clark, 2003).

Many studies have found that there is a positive link between performance-based compensation and employees‟ performance (Cardon & Stevens, 2004).Empirical studies on the relationship between performance related pay and company performance have also found a positive relationship (Singh, 2005).

Uen and Chien 2004) identified performance-based compensation and merit-based promotion as ingredients in company‟s incentive systems that encourage employees‟ performance and higher commitment level. In the Bangladeshi context, employees do not resist the fact that differential salaries and benefits are paid to different employees based on subjective decisions of the top management rather than paying salaries and benefits based on a structured compensation policy. Culture and Job Security

In today‟s fiercely competitive world where employees are hired and fired instantly based on a company‟s needs, job security has emerged as one of the most important issues to employees around the world. Job security helps to create an environment of confidence among employees which reinforces their commitment to the company . When companies do provide job security, it can have a positive impact on the companies‟ performance. This relates to the notion that job security both increases an employee’s commitment, and has a significant effect on an employer’s level of motivation as well. In the Bangladeshi context, job security is one of the most important elements for employee motivation. People put considerable effort to make sure that their job is secure.

Culture, and Training and Development

Training and development activities have been identified as crucial to organizational growth and survival in today‟s competitive world (Dee Saa-Davis, 2006).

Training programs increase employee skills, which has a direct impact on employee productivity. In addition, training is an effective way to overcome the factors that decrease employee job performance and satisfaction (Xiao, 1996).

Like job security, training and development requires a certain degree of reciprocity: a company that continuously trains and develops its employees is actually increasing the market value of its employees, which affects employees‟ productivity, commitment and may decrease the motivation to quit the company. Organizational training and development activities vary significantly based on the cultural contexts. Unlike the high performance oriented cultures where training and development are primarily geared towards improving individual or group performance, in collectivist cultures, such activities serve an additional purpose, which is to increase loyalty and commitment to the organization (Aycan, 2005).

Wong et al. (2001) reported that by providing training to their employees, Chinese companies instilled the perception that the companies treated the employees well. This perception, in turn, stimulated the need to pay back the favor by working hard and staying committed to the company. In such contexts, training and development is used as a tool to motivate employees and reward them for their loyalty and commitment . In the Bangladeshi context, providing adequate training not only equips the employees with necessary knowledge and skills to perform their assigned duties but also makes the employees more loyal and committed to the company due to the perception that the company has done them a favor by allowing them to get adequate training. Culture and Selection & Recruitment

In the HRM system, the selection and recruitment process has an important place.Proper selection and recruitment processes can ensure that the right people, with desirable characteristics and knowledge, are in the right place, so that they fit with the culture and climate of the organization (Aycan, 2005).

In addition, identifying the right employees in the first place can decrease the cost of employees‟ training and development. In addition, companies have to attract skillful employees whose values and goals are consistent with the company. Criteria that are used in recruitment and selection process are usually culture-bound (Aycan, 2005) and can widely vary across cultures. Cultural contexts may also determine the preference for external or internal recruitment. In some cultures, internal hiring and promotions are preferred to ensure loyalty and commitment to the company . A study conducted by Bjorkmand and Lu (1999) found that it is extremely difficult for externally recruited employees to get into strong social networks in collectivist cultures and cope with the resentment of and resistances to their appointment when an internal candidate is supported. In the high uncertainty avoidance cultures, organizations prefer internal hiring to maintain the status quo (Aycan, 2005).

In the collectivist cultures, word-of mouth is a common method of announcing job openings where in-group members are usually supported by other group members for the position. Culture and Decentralization & Teamwork

Decentralization and teamwork are critical to organizational competitiveness and innovativeness .Team activities not only improve cooperation and communication among employees, they also create an appropriate work culture .In most contemporary organizations more and more employees are required to work in teams and make joint decisions to meet team and organizational goals (Aycan, 2005).

Ahmad and Schroeder (2003) assert that effective team working requires professional people skills, including a deep understanding of aptitudes, abilities, and personal traits of team members.

Like other HR practices, the cultural context of an organization can significantly affect the level of decentralization and teamwork within the organization. In collectivistic and high power distance cultures, employees are more prone to teamwork and decentralized decision making (Aycan, 2005).

On the other hand, in individualistic and low power distance cultures, employees prefer individual performance rather than group work and they expect individual reward and recognition for their performance. Bangladeshi culture is characterized by collectivism and high power distance which are ideal characteristics for fostering decentralization and teamwork. Therefore, we propose. Bangladesh is a developing country with significant socioeconomic development opportunities. To maximize the outcome from those opportunities, business organizations need to attract, retain and manage their human resources effectively by managing their expectations effectively. Studying HRM practices in Bangladesh and how cultural and contextual issues affect them can benefit MNCs in two different ways.First, it will help to identify and understand the impact of these contextual factors on the Bangladeshi workforce. At the same time, the study may also enable the MNCs HR managers to find out which HR practices lead to better individual as well as firm performance in the Bangladeshi context.

This will help the MNCs‟ top management in implementing management practices in other South Asian countries with a similar cultural orientation. Overall, this is an initial step in identifying and investigating culturally congruent elements of HR practices among MNC employees in the non-Western context of Bangladesh. The most important drawback of this paper is lack of collected data to test the proposed propositions. Future research is suggested to further identify key cultural indicators supporting the eight propositions presented above, which the authors believe are significant culturally relevant elements of MNC HR practices.Furthermore, these indicators are believed to have a significant impact on employee expectations in the non-Western context of Bangladesh. Future qualitative analysis is proposed to identify specific employees‟ cognitive and behavioral outcomes of job satisfaction, commitment and motivation as these are significantly affected by the identified elements of HR practices. Exchange rate factors

The Foreign Exchange Market

Future payments or distributions payable in a foreign currency carry the risk that the foreign currency will depreciate in value before the foreign currency ayment is received and is exchanged into U.S. dollars. While there is a chance of profit from the currency exchange in the event the price of the foreign currency increases, most investors and lenders would give up the possibility of currency exchange profit if they could avoid the risk of currency exchange loss. The foreign exchange market comprises the spot market and the forward or future market. The spot market is for foreign exchange delivered in two days or less. Transactions in the spot market quote rates of exchange prevalent at the time of the transactions. A bank will typically quote a bid and offer rate for the particular currency. The forward market is for foreign exchange to be delivered in three days or more. In quoting the forward rate of currency, a bank will use a rate at which it is willing to buy the currency (bid) and a rate at which it will sell a currency (offer) for delivery, typically one, two, three or six months after the transaction date. Non-Hedging Techniques to Minimize Transactions Exposure

Two obvious ways in which transactions exposure can be minimized, short of using the hedging techniques described below, are transferring exposure and netting transaction exposure. The first of these is premised on transferring the transaction exposure to another company. For example, a U.S. exporter could quote the sales price of its product for sale in Germany in dollars. Then the German importer would face the transaction exposure resulting from uncertainty about the exchange rate. Another simple means of transferring exposure is to price the export in Deutsche Marks but demand immediate payment, in which case the current spot rate will determine the dollar value of the export. A second way in which transaction risk can be minimized is by netting it out. This is especially important for larger companies that do frequent and sizeable amounts of foreign currency ransactions.Unexpected exchange rate charges net out over many different transactions. A receivable of 100 million Deutsche Marks owed to a U.S. company in 45 days is much less risky if the U.S. company in 30 days. The risk is reduced further if the business has only receipts in Deutsche Marks on a continuing basis.must pay a different German supplier 75 million Deutsche Marks. Reducing Short-Term Foreign Currency Risk

For the company that wants to eliminate short-term transaction exposure (exposure of less than one year), a variety of hedging instruments are available at varying costs to the company. Forward Contracts

The most direct method of eliminating transaction exposure is to hedge the risk with a forward exchange contract. For example,suppose a U.S. exporter has sold 50 cases of wine to a Venezuelan company under a sales contract that specifies the payment of 15million bolivares in 60 days. The U.S. exporter can eliminate its transaction exposure by selling 15 million bolivares to its bank at a 60-day forward rate of 750 bolivares per dollar. No matter what happens to the exchange rate over the next month, the company is assured of being able to convert the 15 million bolivares into U.S $20,000. If the U.S. business faced an account payable instead of a receivable, it could eliminate its transaction exposure by buying the bolivares at the forward rate.

However, the transaction exposure is eliminated only if the Venezuelan buyer pays its 15 million bolivares obligation. A default by the Venezuelan buyer would not relieve the U.S. producer of its obligation to deliver 15 million bolivares to the bank in return for U.S.$20,000. The U.S. exporter would have to buy the 15 million bolivares at the spot rate two months later. In principle, no differences exist between a futures market hedge and a forward market hedge. For example, a U.S. business has an account payable for $50,000 Canadian, due on the third Wednesday in September. The company could buy one September Canadian Dollar futures contract. If the value of the Canadian dollar increased, the U.S. dollar value of the company’s account payable would increase, resulting in a reduction in the company’s value. However, the value of the futures contract would increase by an equal amount, leaving the net value of the company unchanged. If the value of the Canadian Dollar decreased, the U.S. dollar value of the payable account would increase, but the value of the futures contract would decrease by an equal amount. Back-to-Back Loans

Multinational corporations can often reduce their respective long-term currency risk exposure by arranging parallel or back-to-back loans. For example, suppose a U.S. company wants to buy into a fertilizer project in Argentina that will repay the investment and earnings in pesos over the next seven years. The U.S. investor is confident of the rate of return in pesos, but wants to avoid the risk the value of the peso in dollars will decline, resulting in a negative return in dollars. If it can identify an Argentine company that wants to make a similarly sized investment in the U.S., it can arrange offsetting loans. The Argentine company will lend the U.S.company pesos and the U.S. Company will lend the Argentine company dollars with which to make their respective investments. The U.S. company will repay the Argentine firm with its peso earnings, and the Argentine company will repay the U.S. firm with its dollar earnings. Currency Swaps/Credit Swaps

Swaps are like packages of forward contracts. Currency swaps can be used to avoid the credit risk associated with a parallel loan. In broad terms, a currency swap is an agreement by two companies to exchange specified amounts of currency now and to reverse the exchange at some point in the future. The lack of credit risk arises from the nature of a currency swap. Default on a currency swap means that the currencies are not exchanged in the future, while default on a parallel loan means that the loan is not repaid. Unlike a parallel loan, default on a currency swap entails no loss of investment or earnings. The only risk in a currency swap is that the companies must exchange the foreign currency in the foreign exchange market at the new exchange rate. Effective legal drafting can minimize significant international transaction risk. However, the risk of currency exposure can be mitigated or even eliminated in its entirety by the techniques and instruments described in this article. How much currency risk exposure remains depends on the instrument selected. Many instruments do not hedge transaction exposure perfectly, but are more accessible to the individual and small to medium size companies. Instruments used to more completely hedge currency exposure, such as put and call options, may contain sizeable transaction costs. Nevertheless, most international businesses prefer the certainty of minimizing exposure, despite the increased transaction costs involved, in lieu of unquantifiable and potentially disastrous foreign exchange risk. Analysis of the Factors that Affect Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction is an important aspect for an organization’s success. A successful organization is the one with satisfied workers. This research report tried to find out the main factors of job satisfaction and whether they have any impact on the job satisfaction of the employee of private companies. Firstly the factors responsible for job satisfaction were identified through a literature review of various articles related to job satisfaction. A focus group discussion among employees and an exploratory research were also conducted. Nine Factors were found. Then to analyze the effect of these nine factors, a quantitative research was done.The employees were selected through convenience sampling. After conducting pretest the main survey was done. The result indicated that four out of nine factors (Coordination and Leave Facility, Reward & Future Opportunities, Vision of the Company, Work Process, and Health & Insurance Policy) have significant influence on Job satisfaction.

The study concluded that an effective organization will make sure that there is a spirit of cooperation along with coordination among employees and sense of commitment towards achieving the goals and satisfaction within the sphere of its influence. In Bangladesh number of private companies hence multinational companies are increasing. But finding a suitable job is still difficult. Open market policy and big market size of this country attracts foreign investors to develop any business here. Employees of private organizations are highly qualified and aware of developing their own careers. Some employees are looking forward to have a secure future career; if the company can provide this opportunity then those employees are being satisfied. As many employees consider the compensation package as a benchmark of being satisfied, most private companies in Bangladesh have put more focus on these issues. Some top level companies like Grameenphone, Unilever Bangladesh, Nestle Bangladesh etc have developed their own culture and creative workplace to satisfy their employees. Spontaneous work environment makes employees motivated and happy. Coordination among internal departments makes the work processes faster, which increases the efficiency of employees. Companies are always trying to develop a performance oriented culture which sometimes reflects the job satisfaction of employees negatively. ‘Excessive pressure to make things done’ becomes a barrier for employees after a certain period which is not desirable by private companies in long run.

Job satisfaction is an emotional response to a job situation. As such it cannot be seen, it can only be inferred. Job satisfaction is often determined by how well outcome meet or exceed expectations. For instance, if organization participants feel that they are working much harder than others in the department but are receiving fewer rewards they will probably have a negative attitudes towards the work, the boss and or coworkers. On the other hand, if they feel they are being treated very well and are being paid equitably, they are likely to have positive attitudes towards the job. In addition, one of the most important areas of the work situation to influence job satisfaction—the work itself—is often overlooked by practitioners when addressing job satisfaction. an accumulating body of evidence indicates that differences in job satisfaction across employees can be traced, in part, to differences in their disposition or temperament .

The study tried to analyze the factors which affects the Job satisfaction of privater company’e employees of Bangladesh. The nine factors which are Coordination and Leave Facility, Reward & Future Opportunities,Vision of the Company, Work Process, Empowerment, Peer Relationship, Health & Insurance Policy, Strategy of the Company and Fair Retirement Policy.

Chapter THREE

Findings, Recommendations and conclusion

How factors affecting MNC’S value Knowledge is ascribed a key role when explaining the existence and the growth of multinational companies (MNCs).

The effective dissemination throughout the MNC organization of valuable knowledge acquired by its local affiliates is seen as an important source of competitive advantage. Knowledge differs in characteristics and so do the available transfer mechanism. As such, it is essential that the MNC employs the mechanism of transfer that suits the specific knowledge characteristics. The use of unsuitable transfer mechanisms may cause loss of knowledge in the process of transmission or may involve unnecessarily high communication costs – both with potentially negative effects on the performance of the MNC.Focusing on internationalization knowledge this large-scale empirical study explores the incidence and the performance implications of fit between knowledge characteristics and transfer mechanisms as used by Danish MNCs.

It is found that a substantial proportion of the observed MNC knowledge transfer transactions may be classified as ‘misfits’ and to some extent do these ‘misfits’ result in impaired performance of the MNCs. Importance of Experiential Knowledge in the Internationalization Process The internationalization process theory distinguishes between objective knowledge and experiential knowledge. Objective knowledge is explicit (e.g. market data, legislation, export technicalities) and can be traded in the market. A critical assumption of the theory is that bjective knowledge is of minor importance in the internationalization process of firms. It is first of all the on-going acquisition of experiential knowledge that determines the gradual commitment in the internationalization process.

Knowledge of the market, the clients, the problems and the pportunities abroad are acquired by operating in the foreign market. It is through interaction with specific clients and other market actors that firms accumulate experiential knowledge. Consequently, the problems and opportunities intrinsic to a certain market and specific customers will primarily be discovered by those who are working in that market, e.g. people in the sales subsidiary or some other front-line unit. The internationalization process theory sees the individuals as holders of knowledge and emphasizes the idiosyncratic nature of experiential knowledge. Referring to Penrose (1959) the internationalization process theorists maintain that “experience itself can never be transmitted, it produces a change frequently a subtle change – in individuals and cannot be separated from them. Furthermore, the possibility of transforming experiential knowledge into objective knowledge,i.e. the process through which tacit skills and knowledge are made explicit, is not ecognized in the theory. Accordingly, the intra-organizational transfer of experiential knowledge from one affiliate to another can only take place through rotation of the individuals who possess the knowledge. But the transfer of knowledge is not only futile; it is also pointless to the extent that the crucial knowledge is market-specific: knowledge about how to do business in foreign market A is of little use in foreign market B. Knowledge Transfer mechanism

In contrast to the positive theories of MNCs the management-oriented MNC literature is dominated by studies of knowledge transfer mechanisms rather than knowledge characteristics and knowledge codification. In a seminal study Keegan (1974) seeded an interest for the knowledge transfer media used by MNC executives. Keegan addressed the question of MNC managers’ information sources in terms of transfer mechanisms. In his study of information sources utilized by headquarters executives in multinational companies Keegan found that written media (documentary sources such as reports and letters) were of much less importance than oral communication, including face-to-face communication. In a more recent study of managers’ use of communication media in 14 multinational companies de Meyer (1991) found that face-to-face communication made up an important part of oral communication, and the emergence of new telecommunication technology did not seem to have changed this. Thus, telephone conversations,tele- and videoconferencing, etc., complements – but does not substitute for – face-to-face communication.

Ghoshal et al. (1994) found that informal networking activities – such as direct contact among managers through joint work in teams, task forces, etc. – were the main determinants of knowledge flows in MNCs. In their influential contribution to the field of multinational management Bartlett/Ghoshal (1989) outline different knowledge transfer mechanisms used by MNCs in their pursuit of ‘transnational strategies’. For a long time theories on the existence and growth of MNCs and on the internationalization process of firms either assumed an almost frictionless intra-organizational knowledge transfer process, or considered the crucial internationalization knowledge to be extremely contextspecific, thereby making the transfer process more or less futile. Hence, the knowledge transfer process was hardly an issue in the early versions of these theories. Since then, IB scholars have inspired by organizational learning literature – gradually adopted a less deterministic and more sophisticated view on the knowledge transfer processes of MNCs: Transfer of knowledge within the multinational organization is neither frictionless or futile and requires a great deal of managerial discretion. Unilever Sustainable Living strategy

In November 2010, we set out the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, committing to a ten year journey towards sustainable growth. What makes our Plan different is that it applies right across the value chain. We are taking responsibility not just for our own direct operations but for our suppliers, distributors and – crucially – for how our consumers use our brands. Underpinning the Plan are around 60 targets. Here we report on our progress in the first year of the Plan. We believe growth and sustainability go hand in hand. The business case

As we implement our Plan we are recognizing that the business case for embedding sustainability into our brands is strong. 1. Consumers want it. A small but growing number of consumers around the world are seeking the assurance that the products they buy are ethically sourced and responsibly made. A more sustainable brand is often a more desirable brand. 2. Retailers want it. Many retailers have sustainability goals of their own and need the support of suppliers like Unilever to implement them. This collaboration is deepening the relationships we have with our customers. 3. It fuels innovation. Sustainability is a fertile area for both product and packaging innovation. It is allowing us to deliver new products with new consumer benefits. 4. It helps develop new markets Over half Unilever’s sales are in developing countries, which often face the greatest sustainability challenges. New products that help people adapt to the changing world will drive growth. 5. It saves money. Managing our operations sustainably reduces energy, minimises packaging and drives out waste. It not only generates cost savings, it can also save the consumer money. 6. It inspires our people. Our vision to create a sustainable, growing business is motivating for our employees and appealing to people who are considering joining Unilever. Our business progress

As a business we cannot choose between growth and sustainability. We need to grow if we are to have the resources to invest in renewable energy, sustainable agriculture and product innovation. The Unilever Sustainable Living Plan is helping drive both growth and profitability. The brands which are building sustainability into their offer all performed well. For example, Lifebuoy, our concentrated liquid detergents and Comfort all grew double digit in 2011. The eco-efficiency programmes in our factories have continued to deliver good levels of savings. Our efforts to reduce the amount of packaging we use have also cut costs. In 2011 Unilever’s underlying sales growth was 6.5%, its market shares improved and its operating margin was broadly stable. We see no conflict between sustainable consumption and profitable growth: they are mutually supportive. Embedding sustainability

Only by embedding sustainability into our business will we succeed in reaching our targets. We are doing this in a number of ways. Our business strategy now includes sustainability at its heart. We are measuring progress. Our brand and functional teams all have sustainability scorecards. These are reviewed quarterly by the Unilever Leadership Executive. We are starting to link progress to reward An increasing number of managers, from the CEO downward, have sustainability goals as part of their compensation. We are building sustainability into innovation. We have a set of tools to evaluate the environmental impacts of new products. We have appointed 65 sustainability champions to cover every key function, category and country across the business. Sustainability events

We share progress on our Unilever Sustainable Living Plan targets at special events ‘One year on’ report presented to external stakeholders Unilever outlined the progress made in the first year of its Sustainable Living Plan to key opinion formers, media and partners at events in the UK, Netherlands, India, US and Brazil. Senior Unilever executives told attendees of the successful strides made towards meeting sustainability targets but also asked for their help in areas where progress has been more challenging. The company is making good progress in a number of areas. For example: 24% of agricultural raw materials are now being sourced sustainably, versus 14% in 2010 Over 90% of Unilever’s leading spreads now contain less than one-third saturated fat Renewable energy now contributes 20% of total energy use

Pureit has given 35 million people access to safe drinking water. Lifebuoy’s hand-washing programme is now ready for expansion. Last year, it reached 48 million people and has plans to protect 1 billion from diarrhoeal diseases by 2015. Progress has proved most difficult where targets are dependent on consumer behavior change, such as reducing showering time and encouraging people to eat foods with lower levels of salt. As part of the update, Unilever also announced it had reached its target of 100% certified sustainable palm oil – covered by Green Palm Certificates – three years ahead of schedule. The company said it recognised the Green Palm scheme is only a step along the road and has now committed to buying all its palm oil from traceable sources by 2020. Read the full external press release on this story.

Events kicked off in London on 24 April with an address by CEO Paul Polman. In his opening presentation, he highlighted the thinking behind the Plan. “Companies can no longer sit on the sidelines waiting for governments to take action on the huge environmental and social issues which face us. We have to see ourselves as part of the solution to these problems. “Sustainable growth will be the only acceptable model of growth in the future, which is why we have put the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan at the heart of our business strategy.” Future Direction

Unilever privacy policy

Unilever takes privacy seriously. The following five principles underpin our approach to respecting your privacy: 1. We value the trust that you place in us by giving us your personal information. We will always use your personal information in a way that is fair and worthy of that trust. 2. You are entitled to clear information about how we use your personal information. We shall always be transparent with you about what information we collect, what we do with it, with whom we share it and whom you should contact if you have any concerns. 3. If you have any concerns about how we use your personal information, we will work with you to promptly resolve those concerns. 4. We will take all reasonable steps to protect your information from misuse and keep it secure. 5. We will comply with all applicable data protection laws and regulations and we will co-operate with data protection authorities. In the absence of data protection legislation, we will act in accordance with generally accepted principles governing data protection. Unilever privacy policy

Unilever is committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring that your personal information is protected. This Privacy Policy explains the types of personal information we collect and how we use, disclose and protect that information. What does this Privacy Policy apply to?

This Privacy Policy applies to personal information collected by the Unilever Group of companies in connection with the services they offer. Find out more about the Unilever Group at http://unilever.com/aboutus/. This includes information collected offline through our Careline and consumer call centres, direct marketing campaigns, sweepstakes and competitions, and online through our websites, branded pages on third party platforms and applications accessed or used through such websites or third party platforms which are operated by or on behalf of the Unilever Group (“Unilever Sites”).

This Privacy Policy is hereby incorporated into and forms part of the terms and conditions of use of the applicable Unilever Site. For information about the Unilever Group company responsible for protecting your personal information, see Your privacy rights and who to contact below. Your consent

Unilever will not collect, use or disclose your personal information without your consent. In most cases, we will ask for your consent explicitly but, in some cases, we may infer consent from your actions and behaviour. By using a Unilever Site, you are consenting to the relevant Unilever Group company collecting, using and disclosing your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. We may ask you to provide additional consent if we need to use your personal information for purposes not covered by this Privacy Policy. You are not obliged to provide such consent but if you decide not to then your participation in certain activities may be restricted. If you provide additional consent, the terms of that consent shall prevail in the event of any conflict with the terms of this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information in this way, please do not use the Unilever Sites or otherwise provide Unilever with personal information. Children

The majority of Unilever Sites are designed and intended for use by adults. Where a Unilever Site is intended for use by a younger audience, we will obtain consent from a parent or guardian before we collect personal information where we feel it is appropriate to do so or where it is required by applicable data protection laws and regulations (the age at which consent is necessary varies from country to country). If you are a child over the age where parental consent is required in your country, you should review the terms of this Privacy Policy with your parent or guardian to make sure you understand and accept them.

If we discover that we have collected information without consent from a parent or guardian where such consent should have been obtained, we will delete that information as soon as possible. Access to certain parts of the Unilever Sites and/or eligibility to receive prizes, samples or other rewards may be limited to users over a certain age. We may use your personal information to carry out age verification checks and enforce any such age restrictions. What information do we collect?

In this Privacy Policy, your “personal information” means information or pieces of information that could allow you to be identified. This typically includes information such as your name, address, screen name, profile picture, email address, and telephone number, but can also include other information such as IP address, shopping habits, preferences and information about your lifestyle or preferences such as your hobbies and interests. We may collect personal information about you from different sources, including: Information you give us directly

Information we collect automatically when you use the Unilever Sites We use cookies and other tools (such as web analytic tools and pixel tags) to automatically collect information about you when you use Unilever Sites, subject to the terms of this Privacy Policy and applicable data protection laws and regulations. The types of information we may collect automatically include: information about the type of browser you use

details of the web pages you have viewed your IP address the hyperlinks you have clicked your user name, profile picture, gender, networks and any other information you choose to share when using Third Party Sites (such as when you use the “Like” functionality on Facebook or the +1 functionality on Google+) the websites you visited before arriving at a Unilever Site

Most internet browsers are initially set up to accept cookies. You can change the settings to block cookies or to alert you when cookies are being sent to your device. If you disable the cookies this may impact your experience on Unilever Sites. Information we collect from other sources

We may receive personal information about you from other sources if you have given permission for that information to be shared. This may include information from commercially available sources, such as public databases and data aggregators, and information from third parties. ation about your lifestyle such as your hobbies and interests publicly available information such as user-generated content, blogs and postings, as permitted by law How do we use your personal information?

We may use your personal information:

To improve our products and your experience on the Unilever Sites. We may use your personal information to:

evaluate the use of the Unilever Sites, products and services analyze the effectiveness of our advertisements, competitions and promotions personalize your website experience, as well as to evaluate (anonymously and in the aggregate) statistics on website activity, such as what time you visited it, whether you’ve visited it before and what site referred you to it make the Unilever Sites easier to use and to better tailor the Unilever Sites and our products to your interests and needs Help speed up your future activities and experience on the Unilever Sites. For example, a site can recognise that you have provided your personal information and will not request the same information a second time collect information about the device you are using to view the Unilever Site, such as your IP address or the type of Internet browser or operating system you are using, and link this to your personal information so as to ensure that each Unilever Site presents the best web experience for you To contact you regarding products and services which may be of interest to you, provided you have given us consent to do so or you have previously requested a product or service from us and the communication is relevant or related to that prior request and made within any timeframes established by applicable laws. We may use your personal information to:

suggest products or services (including those of relevant third parties) which we think may be of interest to you offer you the opportunity to take part in competitions or promotions You can opt out of receiving communications from us at any time. Any direct marketing communications that we send to you will provide you with the information and means necessary to opt out. To provide you with products or services that you request from us. We may use your personal information:

for the purposes of competitions or promotions that you have entered to send you information, products or samples that you have requested to respond to your queries or comments Where we collect personal information for a specific purpose, we will not keep it for longer than is necessary to fulfill that purpose, unless we have to keep it for legitimate business or legal reasons. In order to protect information from accidental or malicious destruction, when we delete information from our services we may not immediately delete residual copies from our servers or remove information from our backup systems. Mobile Message Services

We may make available a service through which you can receive text or other types of messages from Unilever (such as short message service, or SMS, enhanced message service, or EMS, and multimedia message service, or MMS) on your wireless or mobile device (“Mobile Message Service”).

If you subscribe to one of our Mobile Message Services, you agree to receive such messages from Unilever at the address or mobile number you provide for that urpose (unless and until you have elected to opt out of receiving such messages by following the instructions in the Your privacy rights and who to contact section below).

You understand that your wireless carrier’s standard rates apply to these messages, and that you may change your mind at any time by following the instructions in the Your privacy rights and who to contact section below. If fees are charged to your wireless account invoice, you agree that we may collect from you and provide your carrier with your applicable payment information in connection therewith. You represent that you are the owner or authorized user of the wireless device you use to sign up for the Mobile Message Service, and that you are authorized to approve the applicable charges. In addition to meeting certain age restrictions and any other terms and conditions associated with each Mobile Message Service, you may be required to register personal information such as your name, text message, wireless address or mobile phone number. We may also obtain the date, time and content of your messages in the course of your use of the Mobile Message Service. We will use the information we obtain in connection with our Mobile Message Service in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Please note, however, that your wireless carrier and other service providers may also collect data about your wireless device usage, and their practices are governed by their own policies. You acknowledge and agree that the Mobile Message Service is provided via wireless systems which use radios (and other means) to transmit communications over complex networks. We do not guarantee that your use of the Mobile Message Service will be private or secure, and we are not liable to you for any lack of privacy or security you may experience. You are fully responsible for taking precautions and providing security measures best suited for your situation and intended use of the Mobile Message Service. We may also access the content of your wireless and/or mobile phone account with your carrier for the purpose of identifying and resolving technical problems and/or service-related complaints. Who do we share your personal information with?

As a general rule, we do not share your personal information with anyone outside of the Unilever Group. However, we may share your personal information with trusted third parties. We may share your personal information with:

our advertising, marketing and promotional agencies to help us deliver and analyse the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns and promotions third parties required to deliver a product or service to you, such as a delivery or postal service delivering a product that you have ordered law enforcement or government authorities where they have followed due legal process to request us to disclose the information third parties who wish to send you information about their products and services, but only if you have given us consent to do so third party providers of services, such as data processing, to Unilever web analytics tool providers, such as Google or Unica

We may also share your personal information with companies, organisations or individuals outside of the Unilever Group if we believe that disclosure of the information is necessary for legal reasons. We may share your personal information to: enforce applicable terms of use of Unilever Sites conduct investigations into possible breaches of applicable laws detect, prevent and protect against fraud and any technical or security vulnerabilities comply with applicable laws and regulations, co-operate in any legal investigation and meet enforceable governmental requests

If we do share your personal information with a third party, we shall use our best efforts to ensure that they keep your information secure, take all reasonable steps to protect it from misuse and only use it in a manner consistent with this Privacy Policy and applicable data protection laws and regulations. Unilever does not sell personal information, except to an entity to which we divest all or a portion of our business (for example, in connection with our sale of a brand), or otherwise in connection with a merger, consolidation, change in control, reorganization or liquidation of all or a portion of our business. Where do we store your personal information?

The host servers for Unilever Sites in the European Economic Area are located in the Republic of Ireland. The host servers for all other Unilever Sites are located in the United States of America or in the Asia Pacific region (Singapore). Your personal information will be hosted in one of these regions, depending on the origin of the Unilever Site you are using or the Unilever Group company you share information with, and will be transferred and processed within that region in accordance with applicable data protection laws and regulations. Transferring your personal information

We may transfer your personal information to servers located outside the country in which you live or to affiliates or other trusted third parties based in other countries so that they may process personal information on our behalf. By using a Unilever Site or otherwise providing Unilever with personal information, you agree to us doing so in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy and applicable data protection laws and regulations. You should be aware that many countries do not afford the same legal protection to personal information as you might enjoy in your country of origin. While your personal information is in another country, it may be accessed by the courts, law enforcement and national security authorities in that country in accordance with its laws. Subject to such lawful access requests, we promise that anyone processing your personal information outside your country of origin is required to implement measures to protect it and is only entitled to process it in accordance with Unilever’s instructions. Safeguarding your personal information

We take all reasonable precautions to keep your personal information secure and require any third parties that handle or process your personal information for us to do the same. Access to your personal information is restricted to prevent unauthorised access, modification or misuse and is only permitted among our employees and agents on a need-to-know basis. Your privacy rights and who to contact

If you have any questions, comments or concerns about how we handle your personal information, then you may contact us by clicking the Contact Us link on the Unilever Site that directed you to this Privacy Policy. Alternatively, please go to www.unilever.com, select the appropriate country and click on the Contact Us link. Your request will be directed to the appropriate Unilever group company.

You have the right to tell us if you:

don’t want to be contacted in the future by us would like a copy of the personal information which we hold about you would like us to correct, update, or delete your personal information in our records wish to report any misuse of your personal information

To assist us in dealing with your request, please provide your full name and details. Changes to our Privacy Policy

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time by posting the updated version of the Privacy Policy on the Unilever Sites. We will give you reasonable notice of any material change. We encourage you to visit frequently to stay informed about how we use your personal information. Sustainability events

In addition to this Privacy Policy, there may be specific campaigns or promotions which will be governed by additional privacy terms or policies. We encourage you to read these additional terms or policies before participating in any such campaigns or promotions as you will be required to comply with them if you participate. Any additional privacy terms or policies will be made prominently available to you. Conclusion

Multinational companies (MNCs) are not without benefits, which may be to the government, the economy, and the people or even to itself. Cole (1996) stated that the size of multinational organization is enormous; many of them have total sales well in excess of the GND of many of the world’s nations. Some of the benefits of multinational companies are: 1. There is usually huge capital investment in major economic activities 2. The country enjoys varieties of products, services and facilities, brought to their door steps 3. There is creation of more jobs for the populace

4. The nation’s pool of skills are best utilized and put to use effectively and efficiently 5. There is advancement in technology as these companies bring in state-of-the-art-technology for their businesses 6. The demand for training and retraining and advancement in the people’s education becomes absolutely necessary. This will in turn help strengthen the economy of the nation 7. The living standard of the people is boosted

8. Friendliness between and among nations in trade i.e. it strengthen international relation 9. The balance of payments of nations in trade are improved on There is significant injection into the local economy in respect to investment 2. Best utilization of the country’s natural resources

3. They help in strengthening domestic competition

4. They are good source of technological expertise

5. Expansion of market in the host country

There is no company without problems it is facing. Whether an organization is big or small, there will certainly be some sort of problems or negative factor/influence militating against its survival or continuity. Weihrich and Koontz (1994) states that the operation of multinational companies needs to be weighed against the environmental challenges and most of the challenges being faced by multinational companies are: 1. There is usually acute shortage of manpower – people with lack of managerial and technical skills 2. The challenge of unfriendly business environment

3. There is usually the problem of conflicting interest among the three parties – the government, the MNC and the general public 4. There may be huge cost of labour in the host country, at least to get the expatriate managers from home country or somewhere else Conclusively, the above mentioned authors have given all round and omprehensive note on the benefits of MNCs to the host country where they operate and as well highlighted the derivable benefits to the MNCs themselves from the host country. Likewise, in spite of the challenges and the problems being faced by these MNCs, they still continue to survival and waxing stronger.