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The Impact of Social Performance - Unilever and Its Environmental Responsibility

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The Impact of Social Performance - Unilever and Its Environmental Responsibility
The impact of social performance - Unilever and its environmental responsibility

Unilever is one of the world largest multinational companies, merged by British soapmaker Lever Brothers and Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie in 1929, which is related with lives of over two billion people every day mainly in the area of food and beverage, home care and personal care. The corporate purpose of Unilever indicates that they require "the highest standard of corporate behavior towards everyone we work with, the communities we touch, and the environment on which we have an impact (Purpose & principles 2010)". This corporate purpose highlights the importance of social performances and the interactions with their shareholders.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is increasingly essential in the global environment (Wilburn 2009, 111), especially for large multinational companies who confirm that making contributions to shareholders is the driving force to increase the value of the corporations. Unilever claims that corporate social responsibility is at the heart of its business (Cescau 2007). “We 've always believed in the power of our brands to improve the quality of people’s lives and in doing the right thing. As our business grows, so do our responsibilities (Our vision 2010)” Unilever has made a clear direction about their vision. These years Unilever has focus on building their corporate image with full consideration and improvement of social performance, varying from sustainable development, safety of food, to welfare of labor and other social performance beyond those areas, but there are still some problems existed that need much more improvement to do . The aspect of environment of Unilever will be illustrated amply in this paper to indicate the impact of social performance to the corporation.

Positive elements of performance

In the current trend, Unilever has observed that standards of social responsibility set by customers stimulate the



References: Ahlering,J. 2010. Unilever 's Approach to Dirty Laundry. http://www.justmeans.com/Unilever-s- Approach-Dirty-Laundry/3449.html/(accessed August 24,2010) Article13 2002. “CSR best practice - Ben & Jerry`s” http://www.article13.com/A13_ContentList.asp?strAction=GetPublication&PNID=96/(accessed August 30,2010) Business in the Community 2010. "Unilever – Environmental Leadership at the beginning of the value chain."http://www.bitc.org.uk/resources/case_studies/afe_2734.html/(accessed August 29,2010) Cescau,P. 2007. 2007 INDEVOR Alumni Forum Integrating CSR into Business Strategy, May 25, 2007: Social innovation and sustainable development as drivers of business growth Dizon,C., Y.Duggan, A. Harvey, K. Shahrokhi, A. Strype, S. Syal. 2008. UNILEVER BRASIL’S CORP ORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY PROGRAMS IN GOIÁS, BRAZIL: Unilever Code of Indian tourist resort." http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/media/press-releases/greenpeace- accuses-unilever-of-negligence-over-mercury-poisoning-of-indian-tourist-resort/(accessed August 30,2010) will-clean-up-but-not-come-clean/ (accessed August 30,2010) Jack, L Montevideo, D.S. 2008."Unilever fined for environmental pollution" http://www.rel-uita.org/ companias/unilever/unilever_multada_contaminacion-eng.htm./ (accessed August 31,2010) Our vision. 2010. http://www.unilever.com/aboutus/ourmission/?WT.GNAV=Our_vision(accessed September 1,2010) Protagonist, I =Purpose_&_principles/ (accessed August 30, 2010) Staff Group ility. (accessed August 30,2010) Thompson, S.2007 Treanor, B. 2010. "Environmentalism and Public Virtue" Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 23(1-2): 9-28. Wilburn, K. 2009. "A Model for Partnering with Not-for-Profits to Develop Socially Responsible Businesses in a Global Environment " Journal of Business Ethics 85: 111-120.

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