Introduction
Procter & Gamble was formed in the 18th century by William Procter and James Gamble. William was a candle maker while James was a soap maker. These two immigrants from the United Kingdom put together their resources and formed the company. P&G experienced a lot of growth in 19th century as it was the supplier of soap and candles during the civil war. This was also a major opportunity for marketing their products as the soldiers had developed brand loyalty to P&G by the time the war came to an end; they therefore carried this to their families and did a lot of mouth to mouth marketing for P & G. P&G later ventured into soap manufacturing focussing on quality yet at affordable prices. The company then built more and more factories to meet the ever growing demand for their products. New products were later introduced that led to the company’s growth to the current giant that it is today.
Procter and gamble Co. (P&G) is one of the largest consumer good companies in not only Canada but also North America and the entire world. In the year 2010, Procter and Gamble was among the four largest and most successful corporations in the world. P& G is in fact s successful that as of Feb 2010, only Microsoft, Wal-Mart and Exxon mobile were larger than it in terms of market capitalization (CNN Fortune ranking 2007).
P&G is also ranked as one of the highest spending corporations in the advertising industry. Nielsen Company revealed that P&G topped its list of highest spenders on advertising with an expenditure of 2.67 Billion in 2007(The Nielsen Company Issues Top Ten U.S. Lists For 2007 2007). P&G has also been named the advertiser of the year in 2008 by the Cannes International Advertising festival (Cannes 2007)
Operations
Being a large company, P&G has organised its operations into several business segments in order to optimise operations and ease logistic processes. The company has interests in Beauty care, Household care and health care. It is under these three main arms that it operates its business around the world. Under beauty care, beauty and grooming products are managed. Baby care, family care, fabric and home care products on the other hand are under household products. The health and well being unit deals with products in health care, beverages and snacks. These units ensure devolved operations and easier market control. It also ensures that the executives have a narrower area of jurisdiction, giving them more room for innovations and improvement
Management and staff
In order to run such a successful business, P&G has invested in its people and values its employees. It has even been voted one of Canada’s top one hundred employees by media-corp. Toronto star has also named it as one of the top employers (Reasons for Selection 2009).
It is headed by a thirteen member board of directors led by a president. It is under the board’s leadership that P&G has grown to be the huge success it is today.
Procter & Gamble brands
According to 2008 Annual report, about twenty three of Procter and Gamble’s brands bring in revenues of more than one billion dollars. The brands that bring in this much i.e. the billion dollar brands include Whisper, Wella ,Vicks, Tide ,TAG, SWASH ,Secret, Pringles ,Prilosec, Pantene, Pampers ,Olay Oral B ,Nice ‘n Easy, Ivory ,Spice, Old Head &, Shoulders, Gillette ,Gain, Fusion ,Duracell ,DownyLenor, Crest, Braun ,Bounty and Ariel. All these are assorted products from fabric softeners, shaving razors and creams to personal care products like tooth brushes. These are however not the only brands by P&G; there are more which bring in lower revenues but most of them above the 500 million dollar mark.
Strategy, Goals & Progress
P&G has always maintained that they strive to ensure that they impact positively on society in social and environmental sustainability. The Purpose, Values and Principles of P&G have sustainability at their core and this led to the development of strategies that drive this agendum. The five strategies employed and their goals are quoted below according to Strategy, Goals & Progress (2010):
- “Delight the consumer with sustainable innovations that improve the environmental profile of our products” (Strategy, Goals & Progress 2010)
The goal of this strategy is to enhance environmental conservation by developing innovative products that are environmentally sound. P&G intend to market 50$ billion in these.
- “Improve the environmental profile of P&G’s own operations” (Strategy, Goals & Progress 2010)
The goal here is to reduce the harmful emissions per unit production by 50 % by the end of the decade.
- “Improve children’s lives through P&G’s social responsibility programs” (Strategy, Goals & Progress 2010).
The goal here is to generally improve the lives of children worldwide and help them access clean water.
- “Shape the future by working transparently with our stakeholders to enable continued freedom to innovate in a responsible way” (Strategy, Goals & Progress 2010).
- “Engage and equip all P&Gers to build Sustainability thinking and practices into their everyday work” (Strategy, Goals & Progress 2010).
In terms of business survival, P&G as stated earlier puts a lot of resources in advertising. This gives them a competitive edge over their competitors by enabling customers to have knowledge of their products. In addition to this, they create an interaction with customers and develop good innovative products without compromising on quality. Innovation is also an integral part of P&G; a strategy that they insist helps them ensure sustainable innovations.
Most of P&G’s products are global brands and are recognisable almost everywhere around the world. They have set up manufacturing centres in Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia.
Quality assurance
Quality assurance is very dear to the staff of P&G. According to Product Development Lessons from Proctor & Gamble (2007), an article from the economist is quoted stating that “Many people at P&G do not use the word “consumer”. Nor might they ask if a customer or shopper would buy a putative product. They are more like to ask: Would she buy it?… Women have long accounted for four fifths of P&G’s customers” (Product Development Lessons from Proctor & Gamble 2007) This is to show that P&G has their main consumers at heart and will go to great lengths to ensure that the consumer is satisfied.
Corporate social responsibility
P&G have done a lot as social responsibility. They have done this through the above mentioned strategies involved in getting clean water to children around the world and encouraging environmental conservation by reducing harmful emissions.
Conclusion
Procter and Gamble is an old Company that has grown over the years into a huge business due to the high innovation standards and interaction with its consumers. P&G has also embraced variety for its consumers by providing products that compete against each other to ensure that the highest market share is their for the taking. It is therefore a company worth borrowing a leaf from by anyone with the intent of growing a successful business. Corporate social responsibility is also an integral part of P&G with an emphasis on children and the environment.
Reference list
Cannes 2007. Web.
CNN Fortune ranking 2007. Web.
Product Development Lessons from Proctor & Gamble 2007. Web.
Reasons for Selection 2009. Canada’s Top 100 Employers Competition. Web.
Strategy, Goals & Progress 2010. Web.
Tables of progress 2010. Web.
The Nielsen Company Issues Top Ten U.S. Lists For 2007. Web.