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Case Study

Unilever Ice Cream Europe (A1): Starting conditions (transcript)

By Thomas W. Malnight, Tracey S. Keys and Kees Van der Graaf

2 pages

December 2009

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Reference: IMD-3-2083

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 the complex challenges he saw lying ahead.

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

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)

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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