Realism or retreat: Unilever weighs the future of purpose

Research methodology The case was prepared entirely from public secondary sources. These include company regulatory filings submitted to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Unilever corporate communications and reporting by established business and trade publications. No primary research was conducted, no interviews were held, and no confidential information was used. No information was disguised. Because the case relies only on public sources and does not draw on privileged access to the protagonists, it does not require a signed protagonist release. All factual claims are attributed in the narrative, and quotations are limited to statements already in the public record. Case overview/synopsis For more than a decade, Unilever was regarded as a leader in purpose led business, built on the Sustainable Living Plan launched under chief executive Paul Polman. In April 2024, under new chief executive Hein Schumacher and amid investor pressure, the company scaled back several environmental and social commitments, including its headline plastics and living wage targets, and narrowed its agenda to four priorities. Schumacher framed the change as realism. Less than a year later he stepped down by mutual agreement, and the former chief financial officer, Fernando Fernandez, took charge and sharpened the reset toward a simpler, more focused portfolio. By 2026, the reset met a condition it had not anticipated, as India, Unilever’s second largest market, converted recycled content from ambition into binding law just as the parent company loosened its voluntary targets, leaving Fernandez to set commitments for the next reporting cycle. The case places students at that decision and asks whether a firm’s social and environmental commitments are a defensive strategic asset that protects value in difficult markets, or discretionary spending to be trimmed when returns are demanded. It gives students the evidence to weigh moral capital, the influence of successive chief executives on resource allocation and the role of sustainability in overcoming the liability of foreignness in emerging markets. The case is suited to marketing strategy, corporate social responsibility, strategic management and international business courses. Complexity academic level The case suits upper level undergraduate and master’s students, including MBA students, in marketing strategy, corporate social responsibility and business ethics, strategic management and international business. It works in seated, hybrid and online modalities and fits either a single 90-minute session or an asynchronous discussion. The case has not yet been classroom tested, and authors will report testing results in future revisions.