Reference no: EM13506806

Analyze the Case Study, and develop the conclusions, recommendations, and implications in a one to one and half page APA formatted paper.

(Case Study)

Case Study:Can P&G Turn the Tide?

It's typical day. You wake up and brush your teeth with Crest toothpaste, bathe with Zest soap, wash your hair with Head &Shoulders shampoo, and apply Cover Girl makeup. You then begin your household chores, washing clothes with Tide, putting fresh Luvs diapers on the baby, and cleaning the kitchen floor with our Swiffer dust mop. Taking a break, you sip your SunnyD as you pour yourself some Folgers coffee and munch on a few Pringles. If this sounds like you, then consider yourself a living advertisement for Procter & Gamble (P&G), the 170-year-oldcompany whose products you've been using.

 

As you might imagine, a company that's been around this long has made more than a few changes in its day. Some have been in response to fundamental changes in society, such as in the 1920s, when the advent of electric light bulbs pushed P&G out of the candle business. Others have been aimed at proactively improving business operations, such as in 1919, when the company sought to stabilize uneven sales cycles by eliminating wholesalers and selling directly to retail stores, a move that would revolutionize the grocery business.

 

Perhaps more than anything, P&G has always been responsive to the ever-changing demands of consumers. Parents seeking modern conveniences in the 1960s, for example, found P&G on the scene with Pampers, the first disposable diaper.

 

Times may be different today, but P&G faces the same kinds of challenge to keep it at the top of challenges to keep it at the top of the consumer products business. For example, although new products are the lifeblood of the company, P&G hasn't developed many successful new brands of its own recently (the Swiffer dust mop was the only one in the last 15 years!). Meeting the problem head on, former CEO Alan G."A.G." Lafley was buying brands - Clairol in 2001 and Wella in 2003, among them. In 2002, P&G also entered into an agreement with Clorox to produce Glad food wraps and plastic food-storage containers. In a move to save money while also allowing the company to do what it does best - market products - Lafley has decided to outsource some business functions, including manufacturing of bar soap ( including Ivory, the company's oldest surviving brand). Another change has come in the form of marketing P&G brands more creatively. No longer just a toothpaste, for example, the Crest name now also appears on the company's Spinbrush electric toothbrush, and its line of tooth-whitening products.

 

Acknowledging that the culture at P&G has been resistant to adopting new ideas - "insular," some have complained - Lafley went out of his way to ensure that these fundamental changes will keep P&G vital for at least another 170 years. The key to his approach rests on building "understanding and commitment" among his personnel. With this in mind, he regularly spends Monday mornings in the office with a dozen other top corporate officers working on the week's game plan. To ensure that everyone gets the message, communication barriers - literally, walls on the eleventh floor of corporate headquarters - have been broken down and offices have been moved so that people now sit directly alongside those with whom they most often have to work.

 

One of his colleagues referred to Lafley as "an excellent listener... a sponge." From what he hears, Lafley patiently reshapes everything the company does. And with profits rising even in today's turbulent economy, it's clear that P&G has become " new and improved" from his efforts.