Unilever Overseas. The anatomy of a multinational, 1895-1965

Notes:

Winner of the Wadsworth Prize for Business History, 1978. Scholarly history. Not commissioned but based on unrestricted access to Unilever archives. Complementary to the scholarly commissioned history of Charles Wilson, dealing with the history of the overseas activities of Unilever in certain countries and their affects on those countries - Australia, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, 'Black Africa', Congo - in all 11 manufacturing companies and two vegetable oil plantations [Lever's Pacific Plantations Ltd and Huileries du Congo Belge]. The author writes that 'this book highlights the theoretical issues at the heart of the current debate about the role of multinationals in the world economy and examines in detail the particular strengths of Unilever in world markets. After a general description of Unilever as a whole ... examines such questions as why Lever Brothers and, after 1929, Unilever decided to set up overseas manufacturing subsidiaries; why they chose certain countries in which to do this; how their enterprises evolved and how profitable they proved; how they were affected by decolonisation and what effects these subsidiaries had on their host countries. From the evidence presented the general conclusion suggested is that a company which, like Unilever, makes consumer goods for local consumption overseas, does not "exploit" less developed countries, but, on balance, rather helps their economic development'. Much about function and activities of United Africa Co Ltd