Quest Worldwide has been working with Unilever for two decades, undertaking hundreds of significant assignments around the world. Unilever is a €40 billion multinational operating in 150 countries and Quest has supported Unilever in many of those countries, working for leadership teams at all levels: in operating companies, business groups, sales and marketing units, category teams, innovation centres, laboratories, regions, divisions and corporate. Quest’s work at Unilever spans the whole range of Quest’s services across Strategy Implementation, People Engagement and Operational Excellence and Quest has regularly developed new techniques and applications in partnership with Unilever leaders.
How Quest Worldwide helped Unilever to achieve organisation effectiveness in Indonesia
Growth for Unilever in the world’s fourth most populous nation had been dampened by political and economic upheaval. Quest Worldwide was asked to help design an overall Organisation Effectiveness programme embracing a range of challenges including strategy, change management, managing through business processes, forward-looking behaviours, simplification and total competitiveness in the market place. Strategy into Action (SIA) was first launched in 2000 and a Balanced Business Plan (BBP) created for the Board at company level and then cascaded down into 11 divisions, all generating plans strongly aligned to the Board’s vision, goals and objectives. A holistic assessment of progress made can be seen in the Unilever Business Excellence Results – 73% increase overall in two years. Similar improvements have been seen in employee opinion surveys.
»Click here to download this case study
How Quest Worldwide helped Unilever embrace Strategy Into Action
As a giant global corporation, Unilever must adapt its strategy and organisation to match changes in the global marketplace. In 2005, Unilever’s CEO felt that much stronger alignment was needed across the group. With a structure incorporating many autonomously run business groups, this was a real challenge. Unilever appointed Quest Worldwide to work with a central team to plan and design a way to bring all the business operations together under one strategy and one process for deploying that strategy across thousands of line managers around the world. This strategic alignment was achieved using Quest’s Strategy Into Action™ approach. As CEO, Patrick Cescau explained, “The rigour and structure of the Strategy Into Action process is an important contributor to our competitiveness”.
 |
Quest Worldwide won a prestigious MCA Gold Award in 2007 in recognition of this project undertaken with Unilever |
»Click here to download this case study
How Quest Worldwide helped Unilever Cosmetics shape and implement a strategy which would pave the way to future success
Unilever Cosmetics International (UCI) markets prestige fragrances for eight designer houses including Calvin Klein. In a tough economic and competitive climate, the Board decided a reappraisal of strategy was needed. Quest Worldwide undertook a six month assignment entitled ‘Mobilizing for Success’ which provided rigour and discipline to the process. The approach taken by Quest enabled UCI to develop a balanced business strategy and, critically, to engage business leaders, build momentum for change and create confidence in the organisation’s future.
Please note: UCI was acquired by Coty Inc. in Summer 2005