Proctor and Gamble Success, Failures, Key Players and Projected Outcomes Essay

Answer 1   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Just like any other ordinary multinational company in the market, Proctor & Gamble has been able to use innovation as one of their tools in order to achieve market competitiveness. By knowing the tastes and preferences of their target market, Proctor & Gamble has been utilizing every single opportunity available to improve their market sales and profitability. At the end of the day, the entire company will benefit from the innovative actions of the management of Proctor & Gamble. Through the aid of advanced technology available in the production line, Proctor & Gamble was able to produce Tide, Crest, Pampers etc in a more efficient manner (Bruner, 2001). The eagerness of the members of the top management to pursue innovative processes in the operational line of the company will be later on become part of the core traits of the entire organization, thus, boosting employees morale, efficiency and productivity. With this success of Proctor & Gamble in penetrating their target market through the aid of innovation, there would be no doubt that this company will eventually enjoy impressive growth for the next coming periods. In order to prepare the company from the said growth, Proctor & Gamble increased the volume of their fiscal budget and sales making the shares to the company to rise (Businessweek.com, 2001). This increase in the shares of stocks of Proctor & Gamble means that investors wanted to invest or invest more on the stocks of the latter. On the other hand, one failure that could be considered on the part of the management of the said company would be the resignation of their CEO, Durk Jager, in 2000 as well as the failing profitability of the company during the fourth quarter of the same year (Businessweek.com, 2000). Durk Jager made a lot of contributions in P&G for he is the one who made initial steps in innovating the products and production line of the company as well as credited for his successful marketing strategies that made P&G become one of the leading multinational companies in the country. Profitability on the fourth quarter during that time was the consequence of the tight market competition that exists in the industry. Answer 2   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One of the factors that made a major impact on the company’s success and failures would be their leaders or the top level management. These members of the top management team of P&G serves to be the â€Å"asset† of the entire organization for the former exhibit impressive skills and talents in handling the operation of the company as well as in predicting the behavior of their target market to gain comparative advantage over their competitors. With these superb managerial skills of the top managers of P&G, the said company was able to overcome their obstacles such as the declining profitability during the late period of 2000. Furthermore, another factor that can be raised here is the various economic factors such as competition, stability of the finance sector of the company and the economic stability of the country in terms of trading with other countries since it affects the international operation of P&G. Like for instance, the rapid fluctuation of exchange rates in the financial market could threaten the return on investment of the foreign investors in the country causing major draw back in the condition of the stocks of multinational firms such as P&G. It is also included here in the list of economic factors that affects the success and failure of the P&G would be the labor market. Proctor & Gamble employs around 130,000 workers in United States alone and any distortion in the labor market, like increase in the wage rate of the workers, could affect the performance of the company in terms of financial stability and production continuity. Answer 3   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After the resignation of Jager in 2000, another persona was born in order to assume the position of CEO in Proctor & Gamble and he is none other than A.G. Lafley. Lafley used to run a U.S. Navy retail store before he assumed the position of CEO in P&G (Martin, 2008). In order to boost the profitability of P&G which was negatively affected by tight market competition, Lafley decided to know more regarding the behavior of the consumers to anticipate their current needs and preferences which Jager seems to overlook when he was in the position of the CEO. From knowing more on the consumption behavior of their target market plus the innovation of their products, Lafley was able to regain the lost profits of the company as well as the sales and market shares in the industry. In short, the problem regarding the lowering down of P&G’s profit boils down to the saturation of consumers on the old reliable products of the company. What the consumers want to see, as Lafley discovered, is the innovation on the product line of the company, what is new and what the improvements are. Lafley was able to answer these questions and execute the necessary actions to remedy the failing market status of P&G. True enough, P&G now ranked on the 10th place of the worlds top multinational companies in terms of profitability and this is a manifestation of the good leadership and at the same time critical thinking of Lafley regarding the finding of ways to suffice the needs and preferences of their target consumers. References Bruner, G. F. (2001). The Tao of Innovation. Retrieved January 29, 2008, from http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=66774845&sid=1&Fmt=4&clientid=11123&RQT=309&VName=PQD Businessweek.com (2001). Lehman Upgrades Proctor & Gamble. Retrieved January 29, 2008, from http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/dec2001/pi20011212_0523.htm?chan=search Businessweek.com (2000). Why the Tide Turned Against P&G. Retrieved January 29, 2008, from http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/eemi/emi0609b.html?chan=search Martin, R. L. (2008). P&G: Using the Past to Invent the Future. Retrieved January 30, 2008, from http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jan2008/id20080122_229434.htm?chan=search