As we have reported before (see, for example, 1 and 2), P&G — the pioneer of product management and the world’s leading consumer products company — is having a tough go of it now. So, where is it headed now?
Here’s the February 2013 assessment of Fortune’s Jennifer Reingold and Doris Burke:
“The past several years have been a struggle, as the company’s vaunted innovation machine clanged to a halt, recession-battered consumers abandoned P&G’s premium-priced products for cheaper alternatives, and efforts to build market share in the developing world were stymied by newly nimble rivals such as Unilever. By its low point in June 2012, P&G was losing share in two-thirds of its markets. A sense of vulnerability and insecurity crept into the ranks of longtime employees and alumni, who wondered whether the company had lost its edge. Many questioned CEO Bob McDonald’s fitness for the job.
“Now there are signs that the company is emerging from its funk with a shift driven by a $10 billion cost-cutting plan and a promise to create, in McDonald’s words, a ‘culture of productivity.’ In June 2012, he unveiled what he calls 40/20/10, which is narrowing P&G’s focus to its 40 biggest category/country combinations (such as laundry in China), its 20 largest innovations, and its 10 most lucrative developing markets. The company vows that blockbuster new products are imminent.”
Click the chart to read more of the Fortune and P&G’s efforts to move forward.
