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The Scoop
Introducing some familiar names
What would the world be like without Procter & Gamble? Simply put, there'd be no Ivory soap, no Olay, no Pampers, no Tide detergent, no Crest toothpaste -- we'd be bereft of many of the brands that have earned our love and loyalty over the years. And for Procter & Gamble, loyalty is what it's all about: of the company's nearly 300 brands, 22 produce over $1 billion per year in revenue. P&G is a company that thrives on loyal customers and strives to put out products that merit that devotion in 180 countries the world over. It is ranked No. 25 on the 2006 Fortune 500, No. 12 on the Financial Times 500 and is indexed in both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Procter & Gamble is a $68-billion-a-year company, but it is 25 percent owned by its former and current employees. Even workers in the manufacturing plants often own hundreds of thousands of dollars in company stock, thanks to a lucrative profit-sharing plan. What does the company get for this generosity? It ensures that top-of-the line employees (who could possibly make more in base salary elsewhere) will remain with the company for their entire careers.
But times are a-changin', and Americans' allegiance to brands has begun to erode, replaced more and more these days by a desire to get more bang for the buck. To keep its prices competitive and to meet its ambitious goals for sales, P&G has undergone some "streamlining" of its operations and overhauled its corporate management structure, which helped boost sales that were flagging in the early 2000s. Such moves have helped the company stay at the top of its game -- but even more prominent was the com ...