This week The Grocer welcomes its latest big-name guest editor. Amanda Sourry comes on board on Wednesday, taking a deserved breather from her job as UK & Ireland chairman of Unilever, one of the world’s true FMCG giants.
Amanda’s arrival coincides with our latest annual Green Issue - aptly so, with Unilever at the forefront of industry efforts to combine growth with sustainability. The company’s sustainable living plan, launched in November 2010, covers global issues including sustainable palm oil, cutting water usage in the supply chain and saving lives in developing countries by encouraging people to use soap products. Unilever has also shown it can excel in a tough economic environment. Indeed, the company’s Q2 results - released at the end of July - were its best for five years.
On the other hand, Unilever hasn’t been immune to the cost pressures facing everyone in the sector. Amanda was in the headlines recently as she helped implement a restructure that saw more than 300 jobs go at plants in Wales, alongside more welcome plans for a major expansion of Unilever’s research centre at its Port Sunlight HQ.
As well as benefiting from her input on the week’s big stories, we’ll be subjecting Amanda to the usual grilling we give all our guest editors. That means we want your questions - send them via email to ian.quinn@thegrocer.co.uk or tweet us @TheGrocer.
We’ll be asking if the company’s sustainable living plan is really as impressive as it sounds, or whether Unilever is chasing an impossible dream. There will also be tough questions about the recent job losses - and how Amanda plans to further develop the UK business in such a difficult market.
Make sure you get involved.
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