Head of P&G an employee of consumers

The title of this year’s ECR Europe conference was “Passion for growth”. During the conference, we learned a few things about Alan G. Lafley-t (60), president and CEO of Procter & Gamble. He had studied history and politics at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris. Later, he had also studied fine arts, film and theatre at the Sorbonne and other universities. After graduation, he joined the US Navy to work in an air base in Japan, and continued his studies at the Harvard Business School. He joined P & G exactly 30 years ago. KISS (Keep It Short and Simple) is his guiding principle in communication. In his lecture, he emphasised that new routes should be found for co-operation between manufacturers and retailers. He pointed out three important changes: prices have become more important, responses have become faster and long-term thinking has become essential. However, consumers will continue to be the boss. At the time of his appointment as CEO in 2000, P & G was having a hard time, but he has succeeded in overcoming difficulties by international restructuring. He begun generating profits and worked out an ambitious acquisition program. Clariol, Wella and Gillette have been the three largest acquisitions so far. In 2005, A. G. Lafley became CEO of the Year in the USA. He briefly outlined their plans for growth at the conference. They intend to improve margins, to consolidate leadership and to focus on major brands as resources. The most important categories in the core business, where P & G is a global market leader, will also be focused on. According to his ideology, the consumer is the boss. This principle is the light tower he has used for orientation throughout his career. They are present in 80 countries and sell their products in 160 countries. One of their strategies for growth is to focus on the 17 biggest markets. Sales in these markets grew by 9 per cent last year. This was far above the 5-7 per cent overall growth achieved by the company.