The Haier Road to Growth

Customers always come first for this Chinese appliance maker — even as it continually reinvents itself and expands around the world.

The Case for the Brand Ideal

Behind many a successful product, there’s a sharply focused intention to improve lives.

New Strategies for Consumer Goods

The industry has already extracted much of the benefit to be had from improving productivity and concentrating on core brands. Meanwhile, its dynamics are changing. What comes next?

Roll-out that seized the market

This article explores the launch of the Procter & Gamble consumer brand Charmin. It was excerpted from a case study prepared by Professor Bodo Schlegelmilch and Assistant Professor Tina Claudia Chini of Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration

How Tide Cleaned up the Competition

Tide detergent was disruptive technology at its best, positioning Procter & Gamble for decades of growth. An excerpt from Rising Tide, a new history of Procter & Gamble from Harvard Business School Press.

To Pay or Not to Pay: Measuring Consumer Willingness to Pay in FMCG Markets

Marketers are naturally interested in how much consumers are willing to pay for their goods, and a number of techniques exist to help them do this. Professors Klaus Wertenbroch and Bernd Skiera examine some ways in which market researchers can establish the level of consumers’ Willingness To Pay (WTP) in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) markets.

Procter and Gamble Europe: Ariel Ultra’s Eurobrand Strategy

It’s a critical time for Procter and Gamble – no fun or games. The company is planning product development through a major pan-European project. It must consider intricacies such as cross-border processes and interaction between strategic and organisational developments. Read why Professor Paul Verdin, Professor Christopher A. Bartlett and co-author Alice De Koning propose a bit of “play time” at this juncture – role-playing time, … [ Read more ]

Reuben Mark

Tired of celebrity execs who ruin companies and flee with stock options? Meet Colgate’s Reuben Mark, who shuns publicity and has a better record than Jack Welch.

Anne M. Mulcahy

Anne M. Mulcahy was appointed president and COO of Xerox Corp. on May 11, 2000

If These Shelves Could Talk

Procter & Gamble is wiring its products to track when items leave the shelves. It’s part of the battle to cut inventory costs and revive earnings.

Article also provides some insight into P&G’s operations and the importance of the supply chain in the consumer products industry. Also discusses collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment, or CPFR

MACH 3: Anatomy of Gillette

Can a consumer product be launched globally in a short time? It can if sufficient resources and time are allocated to planning the effort.