Unilever Bestfoods Robertsons: Corporate Strategy

Unilever Bestfoods Robertsons set itself targets of 8 percent to 12 percent real annual growth in sales and improved profitability. It was apparent that these would not be met by following a "business as usual" strategy. So Unilever Bestfoods Robertson asked Accenture to help it meet these objectives.

Unilever, a global client and major player in South Africa's fast moving consumer goods industry merged, in April 2001 with Bestfoods Roberstons, another significant and fast-moving consumer goods corporation. The merger resulted in a new portfolio of brands as well as a new set of capabilities.

As a result, the South African company wanted to structure its brand portfolio in line with Unilever Bestfoods Robertsons' global "Path to Growth" strategy, which centred on managing fewer, bigger brands in accordance with expected consumer trends.

The specific business challenges to be addressed were:

• Focus on global leading brands and local jewels.
• Identify and prioritise opportunities for growth.
• Build and enhance the necessary capabilities.
• Deliver capabilities in a co-ordinated fashion.

In July 2002, the project team brought the wealth of knowledge and expertise from both sides together. Accenture managed the project in accordance with its international experience, while the client's marketing and finance departments provided the data. Unilever Bestfoods Robertson's board made the decisions based on the analysis and recommendations of the team.

Accenture brought its international experience to bear in using Unilever Bestfood Robertson's HAX strategic positioning methodology to develop a three-stage approach:

1. The external scan/internal scrutiny objectively and comprehensively evaluated the company's brand portfolio by positioning the brands on a common set of axes to determine which were best positioned for profitable growth.
2. The opportunity assessment identified and quantified the value-creating opportunities for the brands selected for growth.
3. Major business activities were planned, specifically focusing on divestitures and opportunity delivery, to enable the co-ordinated management of profitable growth.

To support this, Accenture developed a spreadsheet model that comprehensively aggregated and calculated information from each brand at each stage of the project. This proved an invaluable tool in supporting the implementation of the methodology.

Working to tight deadlines, while ensuring maximum client-buy in and minimum disruption to their business, Accenture wrapped up the project within the scheduled time.

In November 2002, Accenture recommended that the 25 brands could be rationalised into a nine-brand portfolio. There would be an initial drop in sales through divestiture of brands but, coupled with associated growth opportunities, Unilever Bestfoods Robertson would achieve the same projected total sales after three years as the original portfolio.

The sales would occur at a faster rate of growth, suggesting that sales after three years would exceed the original portfolio and would offer a higher quality of earnings.

The restructured portfolio—tightly focused on identified growth brands—is on track to not only deliver, but possibly exceed, the targeted annual growth in sales.