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    Case Study

    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (A): Taking on the challenges of complexity

    By Thomas W. Malnight, Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    7 pages
    December 2009
    Order this case study
    Reference: IMD-3-2082

    In 2001 the profitability and market share of the Unilever Ice Cream Europe (ICE) business were under pressure. ICE was the leader in its industry, with twice the market share of its nearest competitor, but the company was not capturing the full value of its leadership. Overall profitability and the underlying sales growth figures were both below the Unilever average. Kees van der Graaf, appointed in 2001 to head the Unilever Ice Cream and Frozen Foods business in Europe (ICFE), faced the challenge of fixing the business which meant revolutionizing the company’s position in this market. Kees prepared to bring together his top leaders from across the organization to address the first key challenge which was to identify and address the root causes of the issues facing the business. From this opening in the A-case, the 5 part case and video series aims to bring participants on the two year journey which Unilever Ice Cream undertook to address the challenges of complexity and successfully improve both growth and profitability.

    Learning Objective

    Each step in this case and video series builds on the previous one, introducing new challenges, discussion points and learning. Participants begin in the A-case by exploring the challenges of complexity facing Unilever Ice Cream, and can have useful discussions around the causes of complexity, the impact of complexity on the business and the challenges in reducing complexity. These issues and discussions can be directly related to similar challenges facing their own businesses. As the participants move on in the journey with subsequent cases and video footage, they are able to explore how the company successfully tackled complexity, the leadership and organizational challenges it faced in doing so and how these were overcome.

    Keywords
    Complexity, Simplicity, Strategy, Change, Growth, Profitability, Must-win Battles, Food, General Management
    Settings
    Europe
    Unilever
    2001 -- 2003
    Type
    Field Research
    Copyright
    © 2009
    Available Languages
    English
    Related material
    Video
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    This case study is part of a series
    • Unilever Ice Cream Europe (A): Taking on the challenges of complexity
    • Unilever Ice Cream Europe (A1): Starting conditions (transcript)
    • Unilever Ice Cream Europe (B): The in-home mwb market dive
    • Unilever Ice Cream Europe (C): Winning back at the office
    • Unilever Ice Cream Europe (D): Lessons (transcript)
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    Browse all topics
    This case study is part of a series
    • Unilever Ice Cream Europe (A): Taking on the challenges of complexity
    • Unilever Ice Cream Europe (A1): Starting conditions (transcript)
    • Unilever Ice Cream Europe (B): The in-home mwb market dive
    • Unilever Ice Cream Europe (C): Winning back at the office
    • Unilever Ice Cream Europe (D): Lessons (transcript)
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    All case studies
    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (A): Taking on the challenges of complexity
    By Thomas W. Malnight Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    Case reference: IMD-3-2082 ©2009
    Summary
    In 2001 the profitability and market share of the Unilever Ice Cream Europe (ICE) business were under pressure. ICE was the leader in its industry,...
    Read more
    Reference IMD-3-2082
    Copyright ©2009
    Copyright owner IMD Copyright
    Organization Unilever
    Available Languages English
    Contact

    Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

    Related topics
    Strategy
    Browse all topics
    Related content
    Case Study
    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (A1): Starting conditions (transcript)

    This case and video is an interview with Kees van der Graaf. He speaks about the start of the journey when he first became head of Unilever ICE and...

    Strategy
    By Thomas W. Malnight, Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    Case reference: IMD-3-2083, © 2009
    Read more
    Case Study
    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (B): The in-home mwb market dive

    The B-case and video picks up the story of how Kees van der Graaf’s team started coming together to identify and tackle the key challenges ahead. T...

    Strategy
    By Thomas W. Malnight, Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    Case reference: IMD-3-2084, © 2009
    Read more
    Case Study
    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (C): Winning back at the office

    The C-case and video is an interview with Kees van der Graaf. He speaks about the team’s return to the office following the market dive and how a r...

    Strategy
    By Thomas W. Malnight, Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    Case reference: IMD-3-2085, © 2009
    Read more
    Case Study
    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (D): Lessons (transcript)

    The concluding case summarizes the key learning points from the journey, which can lead to discussions around how these lessons and the approaches ...

    Strategy
    By Thomas W. Malnight, Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    Case reference: IMD-3-2086, © 2009
    Read more
    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (A1): Starting conditions (transcript)
    By Thomas W. Malnight Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    Case reference: IMD-3-2083 ©2009
    Summary
    This case and video is an interview with Kees van der Graaf. He speaks about the start of the journey when he first became head of Unilever ICE and...
    Read more
    Reference IMD-3-2083
    Copyright ©2009
    Copyright owner IMD Copyright
    Organization Unilever
    Available Languages English
    Contact

    Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

    Related topics
    Strategy
    Browse all topics
    Related content
    Case Study
    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (A): Taking on the challenges of complexity

    In 2001 the profitability and market share of the Unilever Ice Cream Europe (ICE) business were under pressure. ICE was the leader in its industry,...

    Strategy
    By Thomas W. Malnight, Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    Case reference: IMD-3-2082, © 2009
    Read more
    Case Study
    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (B): The in-home mwb market dive

    The B-case and video picks up the story of how Kees van der Graaf’s team started coming together to identify and tackle the key challenges ahead. T...

    Strategy
    By Thomas W. Malnight, Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    Case reference: IMD-3-2084, © 2009
    Read more
    Case Study
    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (C): Winning back at the office

    The C-case and video is an interview with Kees van der Graaf. He speaks about the team’s return to the office following the market dive and how a r...

    Strategy
    By Thomas W. Malnight, Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    Case reference: IMD-3-2085, © 2009
    Read more
    Case Study
    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (D): Lessons (transcript)

    The concluding case summarizes the key learning points from the journey, which can lead to discussions around how these lessons and the approaches ...

    Strategy
    By Thomas W. Malnight, Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    Case reference: IMD-3-2086, © 2009
    Read more
    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (B): The in-home mwb market dive
    By Thomas W. Malnight Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    Case reference: IMD-3-2084 ©2009
    Summary
    The B-case and video picks up the story of how Kees van der Graaf’s team started coming together to identify and tackle the key challenges ahead. T...
    Read more
    Reference IMD-3-2084
    Copyright ©2009
    Copyright owner IMD Copyright
    Organization Unilever
    Available Languages English
    Contact

    Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

    Related topics
    Strategy
    Browse all topics
    Related content
    Case Study
    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (A): Taking on the challenges of complexity

    In 2001 the profitability and market share of the Unilever Ice Cream Europe (ICE) business were under pressure. ICE was the leader in its industry,...

    Strategy
    By Thomas W. Malnight, Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    Case reference: IMD-3-2082, © 2009
    Read more
    Case Study
    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (A1): Starting conditions (transcript)

    This case and video is an interview with Kees van der Graaf. He speaks about the start of the journey when he first became head of Unilever ICE and...

    Strategy
    By Thomas W. Malnight, Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    Case reference: IMD-3-2083, © 2009
    Read more
    Case Study
    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (C): Winning back at the office

    The C-case and video is an interview with Kees van der Graaf. He speaks about the team’s return to the office following the market dive and how a r...

    Strategy
    By Thomas W. Malnight, Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    Case reference: IMD-3-2085, © 2009
    Read more
    Case Study
    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (D): Lessons (transcript)

    The concluding case summarizes the key learning points from the journey, which can lead to discussions around how these lessons and the approaches ...

    Strategy
    By Thomas W. Malnight, Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    Case reference: IMD-3-2086, © 2009
    Read more
    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (C): Winning back at the office
    By Thomas W. Malnight Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    Case reference: IMD-3-2085 ©2009
    Summary
    The C-case and video is an interview with Kees van der Graaf. He speaks about the team’s return to the office following the market dive and how a r...
    Read more
    Reference IMD-3-2085
    Copyright ©2009
    Copyright owner IMD Copyright
    Organization Unilever
    Available Languages English
    Contact

    Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

    Related topics
    Strategy
    Browse all topics
    Related content
    Case Study
    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (A): Taking on the challenges of complexity

    In 2001 the profitability and market share of the Unilever Ice Cream Europe (ICE) business were under pressure. ICE was the leader in its industry,...

    Strategy
    By Thomas W. Malnight, Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    Case reference: IMD-3-2082, © 2009
    Read more
    Case Study
    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (A1): Starting conditions (transcript)

    This case and video is an interview with Kees van der Graaf. He speaks about the start of the journey when he first became head of Unilever ICE and...

    Strategy
    By Thomas W. Malnight, Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    Case reference: IMD-3-2083, © 2009
    Read more
    Case Study
    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (B): The in-home mwb market dive

    The B-case and video picks up the story of how Kees van der Graaf’s team started coming together to identify and tackle the key challenges ahead. T...

    Strategy
    By Thomas W. Malnight, Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    Case reference: IMD-3-2084, © 2009
    Read more
    Case Study
    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (D): Lessons (transcript)

    The concluding case summarizes the key learning points from the journey, which can lead to discussions around how these lessons and the approaches ...

    Strategy
    By Thomas W. Malnight, Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    Case reference: IMD-3-2086, © 2009
    Read more
    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (D): Lessons (transcript)
    By Thomas W. Malnight Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    Case reference: IMD-3-2086 ©2009
    Summary
    The concluding case summarizes the key learning points from the journey, which can lead to discussions around how these lessons and the approaches ...
    Read more
    Reference IMD-3-2086
    Copyright ©2009
    Copyright owner IMD Copyright
    Organization Unilever
    Available Languages English
    Contact

    Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

    Related topics
    Strategy
    Browse all topics
    Related content
    Case Study
    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (A): Taking on the challenges of complexity

    In 2001 the profitability and market share of the Unilever Ice Cream Europe (ICE) business were under pressure. ICE was the leader in its industry,...

    Strategy
    By Thomas W. Malnight, Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    Case reference: IMD-3-2082, © 2009
    Read more
    Case Study
    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (A1): Starting conditions (transcript)

    This case and video is an interview with Kees van der Graaf. He speaks about the start of the journey when he first became head of Unilever ICE and...

    Strategy
    By Thomas W. Malnight, Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    Case reference: IMD-3-2083, © 2009
    Read more
    Case Study
    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (B): The in-home mwb market dive

    The B-case and video picks up the story of how Kees van der Graaf’s team started coming together to identify and tackle the key challenges ahead. T...

    Strategy
    By Thomas W. Malnight, Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    Case reference: IMD-3-2084, © 2009
    Read more
    Case Study
    Unilever Ice Cream Europe (C): Winning back at the office

    The C-case and video is an interview with Kees van der Graaf. He speaks about the team’s return to the office following the market dive and how a r...

    Strategy
    By Thomas W. Malnight, Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf
    Case reference: IMD-3-2085, © 2009
    Read more
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