Power of One - Financial lever of cost of goods sold/direct costs

 You can reduce the price you pay for your raw materials and direct labour.

I need to go back to the Unilever example again, and once again I go back to the year 2009 where everyone faced some tough times and tough decisions.

It is here where Unilever went back to basics - fast and flexible - making them increasingly competitive. Winning in the market is about being fast and agile to meet the changing needs of today's customers and consumers. This understanding comes with the foundation that being competitive on cost is vital. Rather then just having a purely cost-based agenda for your supply chain, how about focusing on the changing needs of your customers. Unilever came up with a single strategy for the supply chain - putting customers and consumers at the heart of everything they do. The principal objective were to deliver top-quality products with world-class service at a competitive cost. Here is the hope of that plan:

• supports top-line growth through speeding up the roll-out of global launches
• ensures our products are constantly on the shelf
• increases profits by simplifying our structure and reducing waste
• improves cash flow by reducing stock and providing better payment terms.