Business Level Strategy: Procter and Gamble (Strategies and Recommendations) Analysis

Business Degree Scheme: Procter and Gamble (Strategies and Recommendations)

Executive Summary

Procter and Gamble was founded in the year 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble, who began as candle and soap makers. It is a consumer goods manufacturing company that aims to improve lives and make progress over time. The company’s unique selling proposition is that “our one product is equal to one vaccine towards the improvement of consumers.” It sells products in over 180 countries worldwide and has acquired various brands, including Revlon.

The company offers health care, grooming, beauty, home care and fabric, family and baby care, pet care, and snacks. Some of the company’s products generate annual profits of $1 billion, while others earn around $50 million annually. Procter and Gamble is in the maturity stage, and its potential competitors are Unilever and L’Oreal. The company is facing intense competition from rivals but has captured the attention of thousands of people worldwide.

It operates in countries such as China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, India, Indonesia, etc. Procter and Gamble’s strategies to sustain its goodwill and profitability in the market include the availability of its products, concentration on growth opportunities, developing new products, focusing on the strongest and most profitable markets, and dedicating itself to research and development.

The company’s products include Ariel, Tide, Vicks, Crest Toothpaste, Gillette products, Head and Shoulders shampoo, Olay, Oral-B, Pantene, Always, Bounce, Herbal Essence, Ivory soap, Gain, Whisper, Mr. Clean, Puffs tissues, and Safeguard soaps, among others.

Overview of Offerings and Customer Segments of Procter and Gamble

Procter and Gamble, commonly known as P&G, is an American-based company that operates worldwide and is one of the largest and leading multinational consumer goods and manufacturing companies. It has been offering jobs to millions of people worldwide since 1837 (P&G, 2015). The company deals with multiple types of products, such as hair care products, personal care products, including cosmetics, tissues, odor control products, home care products such as detergent, and much more (P&G, 2014).

The company’s mission is to “make life better every day, with each of our packages equivalent to a vaccine for improvement and enhancement” (P&G, 2014), and it is working hard to achieve this goal. Millions and billions of customers use P&G’s products, which satisfy their needs and demands (P&G, 2014).

The company has several brands that generate profits of more than $1 billion each year (P&G, 2015). Some of its star brands include Ariel, Tide, Vicks, Crest Toothpaste, Gillette products, Head and Shoulders shampoo, Olay, Oral-B, Pantene (P&G, 2014), Always, Bounce, Herbal Essence (Forbes, 2014), Ivory soap, Gain, Whisper, Mr. Clean, Puffs tissues, and Safeguard soaps, which generate billions of dollars in net income annually (P&G, 2014).

Procter & Gamble serves more than 180 countries and 6.5 million clients worldwide (P&G, 2014). It operates in Asia (including Japan, China, Hong Kong, Korea, New Zealand, India, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia, Pakistan, Turkey, and Bangladesh) (P&G, 2015), Latin America, North America, and Western Europe. Its headquarters are in Singapore for the Asian region (Lafley, 2008).

Critical Treatment and Strategies of Procter & Gamble:

One of the most important and efficient strategies of Procter & Gamble is the availability of its products (Global-Operations, n.d.). The company’s products are highly available worldwide and are sold in convenience stores, supermarkets, hotels, motels, retailers, wholesalers, drug stores, and intermediaries (MIT, 2015). The availability of the company’s products gives it an edge and makes it far superior to its rivals such as Unilever (SlideShare, 2015).

Consumers can easily and effortlessly access the products when they need a vaccine to make their life better (Favaro, 2013). The availability and accessibility of specific products make the brand strong and robust (P&G, 2015). This, in turn, makes customer loyalty towards the brand much stronger over time, and targeted clients start trusting the brand. The same is the case with Procter & Gamble (P&G, 2015). The supply chain of the brand is equally strong, as it needs to be, to result in successful chain management (Favaro, 2013).

Similarly, like many other rivals of the brand, Procter & Gamble has a further strategy, which is Research and Development (R&D) (Riley, 2014). The brand spends about $2 billion each year on its R&D section, which contains 8000 employees around the world (Ng, 2015). Despite having 8000 employees in its R&D section, the company somehow failed to originate a further brand successfully (Nisen, 2013).

Hence, it faced complexity regarding the section. One of the professors named Charles Fine suggested the company to have a position on the world as an innovation lab (SlideShare, 2012). Subsequently, they started sourcing innovation through a valued supply chain network as they deal with the client on a one-on-one basis. This makes them rich in the drawbacks as well as the complaints for products (MODE, 2015). This measure resulted in a three times higher innovation success rate than before.

To take advantage of this advice, Procter & Gamble also launched its own website, which motivates and welcomes inventions as well as feedback from targeted clients, shareholders, stakeholders, partners, and the general public for further enhancement of the products (Khosla & Sawhney, 2014).

Another significant strategy being applied by Procter & Gamble as an efficient and effective tool is change management (GCI, 2014). The company observes and takes action to bring up the change and work the opportunity to meet consumer expectations on the very first place (Neff, 2014). As competition is growing faster and faster, the very next minute involves business bodies in the shock of sudden and significant change. Procter & Gamble is a brand that knows excellently about its vision (Tode, 2014). The company takes change management as one of its most important and inevitable modes (Lafley, 2014).

“Cipher cares how much you know, until they know how much you care,” said Theodore Roosevelt (Forbes, 2012). This celebrated statement is being followed by P&G, as it should be, as it focuses and devotes more of its attention to the products that work as stars in its portfolio. Because of this, the entire corporation is enjoying free lunches, such as the US market, the strongest market being targeted by P&G (SlideShare, 2012), and they are continuously treating it as a focal point with jam-packed devotion and dedication in order to make it the strongest (P&G, 2014).

Before completing the scheme, one more point to be mentioned is that Procter & Gamble’s strategy is focusing on improving operations, at least better than its rivals (SlideShare, 2013). This is one of the richest ways to win clients’ trust and loyalty towards the brand (P&G, 2014).

When presenting one more line of attack of Procter & Gamble, it is essential to state that to maintain and retain its brand image, it is all about capturing trust and assurance from the targeted section of the market (Pakistan-Business-Journal, 2015). At the end of the day, all the steps, strategies, planning, developing, and designing starting from scratch are followed by a reason for winning clients’ trust and loyalty because when nothing else seems to be helpful, this maneuver does. It is not a piece of cake to gain one’s trust. It takes abundant effort and plenty of care since one slip can destroy everything.

One more strategy recently introduced by Procter & Gamble is “Connect+Develop.” In this age of advancement, where the whole of existence has become a global village, connection is necessary for any company to thrive in the lively market with its loyal consumers. However, in this social age, in which each and every person is socializing, it has made us a little more aware of our surroundings and circumstances taking place in this village (P&G, 2015).

Bruce Brown, Chief Technology Officer, said, “This strategy has helped us to introduce a number of successful and leading inventions, which has accelerated the growth of Procter & Gamble significantly.” The company is managing to continue this strategy and maintain its thriving innovation rate.

Laura Becker, General Manager, said that they wanted to develop and connect themselves in order to introduce products that have a greater level of innovation, such as Swiffer Dusters, which has broken down the innovations for the market’s use. Furthermore, she also stated that a class of products will be made that changes the marketplace and attracts customers who claim that they require the company’s products as they fulfill their needs as per their wants (P&G, 2012).

Recommendation

• In order to maintain its place in the market, Procter & Gamble should keep an eye on its most profitable brands and products, and even refine them so that no competitor could eliminate the demand for these leading products. For example, Swiffer Dusters, a product introduced by P&G, changed the market trend significantly.
• As market conditions and trends are changing so drastically these days, Procter & Gamble should closely monitor its rivals to introduce and take advantage of opportunities from the changing market trends. If the brand wants to succeed, it should strive to introduce successful innovations that could lead to top positions in the markets, as well as gain the trust of consumers, investors, shareholders, and regulatory bodies.
• A recommendation culture could help Procter & Gamble become a more winning and successful company in the market. A motivated and encouraging culture could be the backbone of the brand’s success.
• Managing change as soon as possible could also be a strong tool behind success. Integrating change in this unpredictable competitive environment can support the achievement of goals, achieve the vision, and create a win-win situation for both the consumers and the company.
• Providing better growth opportunities to employees can also result in employee dedication and sincerity towards work. Employees are the core of any organization and will work diligently and devotedly for their organizations, which will result in better quality work and services for the organization.
• Quality assurance and image building can also prove helpful in capturing the attention of targeted consumers.

Conclusion

Procter & Gamble was founded by William Procter and James Gamble and deals with multiple products such as hair care products, personal care products including cosmetics. Millions and billions of customers use P&G’s products that satisfy their needs and demands. Procter and Gamble serves more than 180 countries and 6.5 million customers across the world. One of the most important and efficient strategies of Procter & Gamble is the availability of its products. Customers can easily and effortlessly get products when they need them. The availability of specific products makes the brand strong and powerful, which in turn creates customer loyalty towards the brand. The supply chain of the brand is equally strong as it needs to be in order to result in successful chain management. The company observes and takes action to bring about change and take advantage of opportunities to meet consumer expectations. The company takes change management as one of its most important and inevitable modes.

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