Microeconomic study

PROCTER & GAMBLE
DESCRIPTION OF A CORPORATE SUCCESS ECOLE DE COMMERCE SOLVAY
DES EN GESTION
Daelemans Anneliese - Dekoninck Eric - Deschamps Dominique - Stevens Antoine Microeconomics - March 2002
1. Introduction. 3
2. Presentation of the company .4
Core values and basic principles of the Company .4
3. Historical Overview .5
3.1. The success story of William Procter & James Gamble .5 3.2. Recent developments .6
4. Business Relationship.7
4.1. Retailers and Suppliers-What's Supply Chain Management?.8 4.2. Consumers and the Consumer Dialogue.9
5. Distinctive Capabilities. 10
5.1. Architecture .10 5.1.1. Internal Architecture .10 5.1.2. External architecture .12 5.2. Innovation .13 5.2.1. Making Connections .14 5.2.2. Core Competencies. 14 5.3. Reputation.15 5.3.1. Positioning: .16 5.3.2. Branding :.16
6. Market and Strategic Group. 18
6.1. Companies.19 6.1.1. Procter & Gamble. 19 6.1.2. Henkel.20 a. Corporate Goals.20 b. Regional Perspective :.21 6.1.3. Colgate Palmolive. 22 6.1.4. UniLever.23 a. Corporate Goals.23 b. Regional Perspective .23 6.1.5. Global Competitors overview.23 6.2. Global market presence .24
7. Future Strategy. 25
7.1. Internet.25 7.2. Organisation 2005 .26 7.3. Supply chain management.27
8. Conclusion. 29
Bibliography . 30
Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 1. INTRODUCTION
What are the origins of industrial success? If you ask this to managers of successful companies, they may explain you that success depends on producing the right product at the
right price at the right time, on an accurate knowledge of the market, on the motivation of
the employee, … However John Kay, author of the book "Foundations of Corporate
Success"thinks there are no recipe, and no generic strategies for corporate success, "If there
were their general adoption would eliminate competitive advantage which might be derived. The foundations of
corporate success are unique to each successful companies."
J. Kay emphasizes "the successful firm is one which creates a distinctive character in their relationship between its various employees, customers, investors, and which operates in an environment which maximizes the nature of these relationships". Some people judge success by the analysis of the firm's sales, its market share, and its value on the stock market. Performances may also be assessed by reference to rate of return. J. Kay considers that these are aspects of success nevertheless the key measure of corporate success is added value, which is not just a way of looking at the financial consequences of a firm's activities. Added value is created by the success in putting these relationships together, so it is the quality and distinctiveness of the contracts that promote added value. With the support of the course "Microeconomics" from Mss Anne Drumaux & Mr Gaëtan Nicodème and based on the theory about foundations of corporate success we've considered the Procter & Gamble Company. We have discerned the key points of the company that distinguish it from its competitors and analyzed how the company uses them to create added value. We have chosen this company for many reasons. Procter & Gamble is a diversified consumer products company with a strong global presence. Established in 1837, Procter & Gamble markets more than 250 brands to nearly five billion consumers in 140 countries. Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, P&G has on-the-ground operations in over 70 countries and employs 106,000 people worldwide. In 2001, Net Sales were about $39,244 millions and Net earnings were $2,922 millions. What are the origins of the success of Procter & Gamble Company? This report wraps up what we've highlighted as of the sources of this success, the Purpose of the Company being, for sure, one of the key foundation. We will provide products and services of superior quality and value that improve the lives of the world's consumers. As a result, consumers will reward us with leadership sales, profit and value creation, allowing our people, our shareholders, and the communities in which we live and work to prosper. Procter & Gamble Purpose 1 KAY J., Foundations of Corporate Success, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1993. Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 2. PRESENTATION OF THE COMPANY

Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G) is one of the largest manufacturers of household products focusing on five main categories: laundry and cleaning (detergents, bleaches), paper goods (toilet paper, feminine products), beauty care (cosmetics, shampoos), food and beverages (coffee, snacks), and health care (toothpaste, medicine). Core values and basic principles of the Company
P&G believes that to develop an organisation that is committed to winning and responsive to a world beyond commercial ambition, needs to promote a working environment where corporate values are inseparable from individual ones. They believe that doing what's right for the business with integrity will lead to mutual success for both the company and the individual. • PEOPLE: attract and recruit the finest people in
the world, build the organisation from within, promoting and rewarding people without regard to any difference unrelated to performance. • LEADERSHIP: everybody is a leader in his area
of responsibility, with a deep commitment to deliver leadership results.
• OWNERSHIP: acceptance of personal
accountability to meet the business needs, improve systems and help others to improve effectiveness. Everybody acts as an owner.
• INTEGRITY: always try to do the right thing: to be honest and straightforward with
each other. Operate within the letter and spirit of law.
• PASSION FOR WINNING: to be the best at doing what matters most.
Dissatisfaction with the statu quo and desire to improve and win in the market place.
• TRUST: Respect towards colleagues, customers, consumers and treat them as we want
to be treated. Confidence in each other's capabilities and intentions. 2 P&G's Core Values and Principles. Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002

3. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

3.1. The success story of William Procter & James Gamble3
Neither William Procter nor James Gamble ever intended to start business in Cincinnati. Although the city was a busy centre of commerce and industry in the early nineteenth century, both immigrates were headed farther west. Despite their intentions, William Procter established himself as a candle maker, while James Gamble apprenticed himself to a soap maker. The two might never have met had they not had married sisters, whose father convinced his new sons-in-laws to become business partners. These days were a difficult time to start business: the nation was gripped by financial panic. Yet, Procter and Gamble launched their new enterprise. On April 12, 1837, William Procter and James Gamble start making and selling their soap and candles together. The formal partnership agreement is signed on October 31, 1837. Their calm in the midst of that economic storm reflected their forward-looking approach to the business. In the 1850s, for example, despite rumours of an impending civil war in the US, they built a new plant to sustain their growing business. In 1859, twenty-two years after the partnership was formed, P&G sales already reached $ 1 million. After running the Company as a Partnership for 53 years, the partners incorporated to raise additional capital for expansion. By 1890, P&G was selling more than 30 different types of soap, including Ivory. Fuelled by innovative advertising, consumer demand for P&G soaps continued to grow. To meet this increasing demand, the Company began expanding its operations outside Cincinnati, with a plant in Kansas City, and even outside the U.S. with a plant in Ontario, Canada in 1915. Innovative new products were rolled out one after another- Ivory Flakes, Chipso, Dreft and Crisco. Perhaps most important, these innovations were being driven by more than research and development for its own sake. They were based on in-depth understanding of consumer needs and they were marketed through equally innovative techniques, such as radio ‘soap operas', product sampling and promotional premiums. 3 History of Procter & Gamble Company. www.pg.com Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 In 1930, P&G established the first overseas subsidiary with the purchase of Thomas Hedley & Sons Co., Ltd., in England, followed by the acquisition of the Philippine Manufacturing Company-the Company's first operations in the Far East. In 1946, P&G introduced Tide, its most important new product since Ivory. This product was so successful that it helped fund the Company's rapid growth not just into new product lines, but also into new markets around the world. P&G made its mark in several new businesses. Crest, the first fluoride toothpaste rose to market leadership. The Company's pulp-making technology contributed to its growth in the toilet tissue and paper towel businesses. P&G invented the diaper category with the introduction of Pampers in 1961. The Company also strengthened its existing businesses, expanding into new food and beverage categories (acquisition of Folgers coffee in 1963). Convinced that its success in new geographic markets required on-the-ground operations in these countries, P&G began building start-up businesses, first in Mexico, then in Europe and Japan. In 1980, P&G was poised for the most dramatic period of growth in its history. First, the Company emerged as an important new player in health care through the acquisition of Norwich Eaton Pharmaceuticals in 1982, Richardson-Vicks in 1985-and in cosmetics and fragrances-with the acquisitions of Noxell, Max Factor and Ellen Betrix in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. These acquisitions also fuelled the Companies globalisation plans. Richardson-Vicks and Max Factor, in particular expanded P&G's international presence. Leveraging its new global strengths, the Company established a world-wide research and development network, with research hubs in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Latin America, and achieved leadership positions for Pampers, Always/Whisper, Pantene pro-V, Tide, Ariel, Crest, Vicks. In 1991, P&G opened its first operation in Eastern Europe with the acquisition of Rakona in Czechoslovakia. New businesses in Eastern European countries: Hungary, Poland and Russia follow throughout the year. 3.2. Recent developments

Today, Procter & Gamble is a truly global corporation. P&G is a recognised leader in the
development, manufacturing and marketing of superior Fabric & home Care, Baby Care,
and Food & Beverages products. Since 1980, the Company has quadrupled the number of
consumers it can serve with it's more than 250 brands: about 5 billion people around the
world. P&G now has operations in more than 70 countries and its products are sold in
over 140 countries, making P&G one of the biggest and most successful consumer goods
companies in the world. Net sales amounted in 2001 $ 39,2 billion. P&G is thus a major
force for economic growth and well being around the world by employing more than
106.000 people.
Nevertheless, the Company always keeps its eyes on the future: P&G growth goals include:
doubling unit volume in ten years, achieving share growth in the majority of its categories
and delivering total shareholder return that ranks P&G over time among the top third of its
peer group. And most importantly, P&G's goal is to continue to provide products of
superior quality and value to the world's consumers.
Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 4. BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP

"As the purpose of business is to put together a set of relationships that maximize the added value" the external relations have to be studied deeply since depending on their effectiveness, the relations between a company and its partners can be a source of profits or a source of loss. At P&G, they believes also that external relations are becoming more and more important, that's why P&G's experts have been working together to develop a strategy that's permit to turn external relations into a new source of competitive advantage The different entities involved in P&G's business are mainly suppliers, retailers, competitors and finally, consumers. Governments, Regulatory, trade associations, … are an other group of entities. HOwever we will limit ourselves in this paper to the main already defined. These main entities can be split down in three groups that are suppliers and retailers, competitors and consumers. Nowadays, since business is getting more complex, the relations with suppliers and retailers – the first group- are more than just some commercial relations, which are called by Kay as "spot contracts", they can be considered as real partners, and together, they try to build a long term relationship, mentioned by Kay a "relational contract". The Supply Chain Management was developed to allow the companies to make run their proper chain smoothly. Later the company and the retailers were integrated within the same Supply Chain Management. We will develop this aspect of Supply Chain Management and Efficient Consumer Response within the next section. As it will be developed in the section concerning P&G 's markets, whatever the market (Fabric & Home Care, Healthy & Beauty Care products, Baby Care, Feminine Care, Tissue & Towel products, Food & Beverage products) there are not many of strategic competitors - the second group-, we can say P&G experiences an oligopoly in each of them. Competitors are not the same in each market, but whatever the market, the majors stay predominant. The consumers – the third group- are definitely the most important aspect for P&G 's business in all sectors. Why? Simply because the consumers edict what they prefer, and affirm this by their purchases. This is the reason why they say e know that at the end of the day the consumers are our boss. They are the judge of our products and our services. Their support ensures our success and their input helps to drive our innovation. If we fail to delight consumers they will shop around…" Thus, consumers have two major roles in P&G's business, first, they buy goods, making P&G profitable, and then, they edict what they want by means of Consumer Dialogue. 4 Kay 5 2005 External Relations 6 Consumer Business Dialogue. E. Jonnaert- Amcham Conference- 6 February 2001 Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 4.1. Retailers and Suppliers-What's Supply Chain Management?

"Supply Chain Management is the combination of art and science that goes into improving the way your
company finds the raw components it needs to make a product service, manufactures that product or service
and delivers it to customers"
The supply chain management software can be considered as a software that helps people to
plan the supply chain and a software that helps the people to execute the supply chain steps
themselves.
With the advent of B2B, companies can theoretically connect their supply chain of customer
and supplier together in a single network that optimizes costs and opportunities for everyone
involved. This is the reason why B2B has grown so much within the last years; the idea that
everyone involved in the business will be connected. Therefore an increasing collaboration
(as a relational/ long term contract) between all the parties would exist and there will be a
way to avoid some problems (i.e. problem of sharing information) between companies that
work together. These situations can be compared to The Prisoner's Dilemma, and are well
known within the Theory of Games.
The revolution of Supply Chain Management has begun several years ago, it will still take
some time to be in place and effective, but some industries, most notably consumer-
packaged goods have alreen
they began sueginning of the eighties.
Now they are again re-inventing the Supply Chain Management by using the internet as a
single platform of management. They have created with other major investorspany
and a website: www.transora.com. The aim of this website is to create a "single point of
connectivity" that will provide integrated services for suppliers, manufactures and retailers.
Furthermore, the use of web-order will permit to increase the speed ad the efficiency in
processing customer orders.
For many reasons as explained in this section, the Supply Chain Management is really something these kind of companies need to work with: Fred Kempkes of Unilever and Esteban Garriga of HenkelIn today's fast-moving retail environment, it is increasingly clear to material suppliers, manufacturers and retailers that greater collaboration in the planning process is required to meet the expectations of consumers" 7 The ABC of Supply Chain Management, Christopher Koch, 22 January 2002, www.cio.com 8 Another pioneer was Cisco, its solution is based through its intranet. See: The ABC of Supply Chain Management, Christopher Koch, 22 January 2002, www.cio.com 9 Wal-Mart is one of the major retailer in US. 10 Other investors are i.e.: Coca-Cola, Kraft, Unilever,… The investors are mostly other consumer good companies. See www.transora.com 11 Unilever and Henkel are the major competitors of P&G on the Fabric & Home Care market in Germany, France and Spain. This kind of situations (few competitors) occurs on all the P&G's markets, with other major competitors. So we can extend this affirmation to all the P&G's markets. 12 Efficient Consumer Response Europe Project on Collaborative Planning Project Brief. [Online]. http://www.ecrnet.org/ Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 At P&G, they have understood the importance of an issue such as developing relational contracts. With or without Supply Chain Management, used when appropriate, they consider the "Mutual Interdependency" as a main principle within the company, between all the employees, but furthermore, between all the parties who contribute to fulfilling the corporate purposes. 4.2. Consumers and the Consumer Dialogue

At a UNICE
" In some ways we are a diverse group. However, I think that there are three premises that we all share:

• without consumers there is no market • understanding your customers and their priorities is vital to stay in the market • finding solutions in increasingly complex and global markets is not getting easier…" As said at this conference of UNICE, producing industries need to understand their clients, the consumers. And to fulfill this need, they consider the final consumers more than the buyer of the produced goods, they consider them as a real partner in a kind of external relationship. Therefore, they invest a lot in consumer dialogue, by doing i.e. consumer tests, 24/7 customer service lines, sponsoring of consumer research on preferences in the present and the future,… The reason is due to open market situation wherein the consumers can shop around, compare prices, levels of services and quality. Then, the competition is increased, and a deep understanding of the consumers is needed to stay on the market. Another part of this consumer dialogue is the will to work with stakeholders to find solutions concerning consumers affairs. This is the case in the European Union where P&G tries to be recognized as a real partner facing the Authorities, because P&G states having consumer expertise. For example, their proposal for helping the European Commission in the realization of the European Market of Commercial Communications in a report edited in March 1997 Both aspects of this consumer dialogue are the means with which P&G wants to know its customers, and to create a competitive advantage by means of external relations. The second role of the consumers, consumer = buyer, will be analyzed in another section and will be linked to the Strategy and Positioning of P&G. 13 UNICE is the European employers federation 14 The Involvement of citizens and business in the internal market. 15 Communication Commerciales, March 1997, Number 6, pg10 Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 5. DISTINCTIVE CAPABILITIES

"The firm is defined by its contracts and relationships'. Added value is created by its success in putting these contracts and relationships together." Generally speaking, we can distinguish four sources of competitive advantage: innovation, reputation, architecture and strategic assets. The first three sources will be described in this part. As regards the strategic assets, we consider them not pertinent in the P&G case. Although the Company benefits from large scale advantages, it cannot be considered as a natural monopoly, since P&G has strategic competitors in the same sector (e.g. Unilever, Henkel,…). 5.1. Architecture

5.1.1 Internal
Internal architecture can be described as a structure of relational contracts between the firm and its employees and among the members themselves. Competitive advantages may arise from structures that are so distinctive that others find them hard to reproduce or simply may not wish to reproduce. Such cultures are powerful weapons as the continued success of Procter and Gamble illustrates. The first impression of P&G can be one of a huge, bureaucratic, multi-national corporation, but in fact it can better be considered as a collection of smaller interconnected companies, where every company has its own well defined role. Procter and Gamble approaches businesses from 4 different perspectives: "Think globally; Act locally; Minimise costs and Be Smart"

4 major pillars execute these commitments:
• Think Globally → 4 Global Business Units (GBU) → Baby, Feminine & Family Care,
Fabric & Home Care, Food and Beverage, Health & Beauty Care.
• Act Locally → 7 Market Development Organisations (MDO) → North America,
Asia/ India/ Australia, North East Asia, Greater China, Central-Eastern Europe / Middle East / Africa, Western Europe, Latin America.
• Minimise Administrative Costs → 3 Global Business Services (GBS) → GBS Americas
(Costa Rica), GBS Asia (Manila), GBS Europe, Middle East & Africa (Newcastle).
• Be the Best → 10 Corporate Functions (CF) → Customer Business Development,
External Relations, Finance & Accountancy; Human Resources, Information Technology: Legal, Marketing; Consumer & Market Knowledge, Product Supply; Research & Development. 16 John Kay. Foundations of Corporate Success. 17 Business Approach – www.pg.com Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002

• GBU: Create strong brand equities, robust strategies and ongoing innovation in product
and marketing to build major global brands.
• MDO: Interface with customers to ensure marketing plans fully capitalise on local
understanding, to seek synergy across programs to leverage Corporate scale, and to develop strong programs that change the game in our favour at point of purchase.
• GBS: Bring together transactional activities such as accounting and order management in
a single organisation to provide services to all P&G Units at best-in-class quality, cost and speed.
• CF: Ensure that the functional capability integrated into the rest of the company remains
on the cutting edge of the industry.
Every employee fits into one of these four organisations as a part of a business team. They
have a specific area of responsibility, which is driven by the function they represent.
P&G developed this organizational structure because they consider that it makes it easy for
innovation to flow across the enterprise as well as around the world to learn directly from
consumers as early as possible; and to profitably commercialize the best ideas and
innovations quickly. Global Business Units (GBUs) transfer product innovations across
categories and geographic markets. Market Development Organizations (MDOs) get
initiatives to local markets faster, more creatively, at low cost. Global Business Services
(GBS) and Corporate Functions organizations leverage the size to deliver better-quality
services internally at significantly lower cost to the Company.
This complex internal structure is without doubt one of the most significant
distinctive capacities of P&G.
18 Internal Structure Figure as presented in P&G sustainability report. Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 5.1.2 External
External architecture is found where firms share knowledge, or establish fast response times, on the basis of a series of relational contracts between or among them. In the shadow of the complex internal structure, P&G also bases on a well-build external architecture, which is a part of its ‘Go-to-Market Capability'. P&G's sales organizations have already been reorganized around customers, rather than being based on geographies. Consumer's loyalty to brands and stores is key to long-term success and retailers and manufacturers must work together. The two key focus areas for P&G in working together with retailers are to build consumer loyalty, driving efficiency and differentiation. As regards efficiency, much progress has been made, nevertheless differentiation remains a major opportunity for P&G to work with retailers to help them differentiate their consumer offering from their competitors. Category management can help retailers differentiate their assortment, pricing and merchandising based on their overall strategy and the role that each category plays in delivering that strategy. P&G is developing principles for doing business with multi-national customers, which are consistent with the way the company does business with local customers. Elements of these include moving towards a set of European pricing and terms, finding a balance between Europe-wide visions for brand line-ups, pricing and logistics and local market needs and also finding the balance between range standardization for business efficiency, and allowing customers to differentiate their offering to consumers. In Western Europe, P&G has close to 40 teams working with major customers and in specific business channels such as e-commerce. They focus on three things: understanding the customer's individual needs better, creating demand together by understanding the consumer and shopper better and then working to optimize the fulfillment for the demand that has been created through tailored logistics work with individual customers. This strategy consists of three basic principles: 1. Retail globalisation/Consolidation : Consolidation is a good issue for P&G, reasons are : - Global retailers want strong brands - Fewer touch points-easier to marshal resources - Faster growth and lower cost - More joint scale to leverage - Faster implementation/Speed - Mutual dependency-fosters co-operation 2. Retailer Partnerships P&G is aligned with strategic customers and delivers capabilities and intellectual capital to drive joint growth. 3. Supply Chain efficiency • Traditional ‘silo' supply chains • Supply Chain Management. 19 2005 External Relationships. Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 5.2. Innovation
Procter and Gamble is distinctive when it comes to innovation. Products are marketed in
nearly 50 categories – from laundry products and toothpaste to diapers and bone disease
therapies. The breadth of the business creates opportunities to connect technology across
categories.
Sales were $ 39.2 billion, down slightly from last year, but up 2% excluding the effects of
unfavourable exchange rates. Innovation is the primary driver of P&G growth. The
Company intends to be the innovation leader in both developed and developing markets. As
a result, P&G innovation focuses on both existing and entirely new products:
→ Setting new performance standards in existing categories: e.g. Tide and Ariel compact detergents (remove stains and sanitise laundry while protecting the original fabric colours). → Creating entirely new categories and benefits: e.g. Febreze (an odour eliminating fabric spray). In 2000, for example P&G had five of the top new U.S. consumer products, as reported in the information Resources, Inc. (IRI) annual study. P&G holds more than 24,000 active patents worldwide, and on average, receives about 3,800 more patents each year. This makes P&G among the world's largest holders of patents, putting it on a par with Intel, Lucent and Microsoft. To realise al this, P&G invests 4% of worldwide sales in research and development ahead of most of its global competitors. The Company disposes of a world class, global research and development organisation, with over 7500 scientists working in 22 research centres in 12 countries around the world (including 1250 Ph.D. scientists). Some European R&D figures as an example 6 R&D Centres : Strombeek-bever (Fabric & Home Care), Newcastle (Fabric &
Home Care), Rusham Park (Health & Beaty Care products), Rome (Fabric & Home
Care), Pescara (Baby & Feminine Care), Schalbach ( Baby & Feminine Care, Tissue &
Towel Products, Food & Beverage Products)
European R&D Budget : $ 320 million
R&D population : 2040 Nationalities : 50
Number of PhDs : 200 Universities involved : 200
Importantly, P&G innovation doesn't stop with products. The Company strives to innovate in every part of the business - with new business models, such as Reflect.com, new organisation models, such as the Global Business Services shared-service organisation, and the new approaches to consumer and customer marketing. 20 Facts about P&G. Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002
Innovation P&G style has four key characteristics:
• A deep understanding of consumers. • An ability to make technology transfer across categories. • An ability to make connections between what is needed with what is possible. • Deep-seated technical mastery. 5.2.1 Making
Connections
connecting sciences started when candles provided the technology base for better making soap. That brought them fundamental expertise in fats and oils and that led to the creating of vegetable oil products. Crushing seeds to produce oil gave them expertise in plant fibres, which led to insights into paper and absorbent products like diapers, feminine protection and paper towels. The sciences of fats and oils is also a fundamental base for surfactants, the technology used to produce detergents. Making detergents gave them experience with hard water and calcium. Expertise in calcium gave them an understanding of how to strengthen teeth, which led to strengthening bone. And that brought to effective drugs for osteoporosis. 5.2.2 Core
P&G has more than 200 proprietary technologies in the market today, organised into core world-class competencies. A century of technology developments in fats and oils is the basis for innovation in many product categories including food, personal cleansing and fabric and home care products. Olean, the non-caloric fat substitute, is an example of how this competency is translated into product innovations. P&G is the largest producer and user of perfumes, applied in products ranging from Tide, Pantene and Downy to Hugo Boss fragrances. 21 The figure presented is presented in the Sustainability – Report. Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 5.3. Reputation
‘William Procter's and James Gamble's most significant contribution was not hog fat
soap, lamp oils or candles, for these would eventually become obsolete; their primary
contribution was something that can never become obsolete: a highly adaptable
organisation with a spiritual inheritance of deeply ingrained core values, transferred
to generation after generation of P&G people.' (John E. Pepper – Chairman of P&G)
We consider a Company's reputation as a very rich source of competitive advantages. Nevertheless, statistics have shown that the respond at the question, what comes into the mind of the consumers when the name ‘Procter and Gamble' is mentioned, are ambiguous. Overall, 70% of the UK's Public say they are ‘very' (40%) or ‘somewhat' (25%) familiar with Procter and Gamble. The name is thus rather known, but people show difficulties to associate this name with specific brands. People even often sum up brands of competitive Companies. What is then the real power of P&G? The answer to this question is without doubt its rich systems of all known brands. P&G's more than 250 brands include Pampers, Tide, Ariel, Always, Whisper, Pantene, Bounty, Pringles, Dodot, Dash, Lines, Bold, Mr. Proper, Tampax, Folgers, Charmin, Downy, Lenor, Iams, Olay, Crest, Vicks and Actonel. In a more scientific way, research shows that corporate reputations are built on stakeholder perceptions about 6 key dimensions: Good feeling about th
e nd respect the
h company
Trust the company a
y great deal
Stands behind pr
ucts/serv ces
Offers high qualit
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Dev lops inno
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that are good va
Has a clear vi
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Is well-managed
W rkplace
Looks like a good company t
Looks like it w
ke it ould have
ould hav good
Record of pr
ofitability
Looks like a low
o risk inve
A company w
y ith strong
prosp cts for future grow
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its competitors
Supports good causes
ly responsi
Maintains high stan
eats people
Has a broad range of business
Provides product
ides product or service
s that make
22 P&G Reputation's Study Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 These principles have been applied to Procter and Gamble in the ‘Procter and Gamble Global Reputation Study', that was carried out in September 2000 among 10 countries by an independent group. Therefore a clear distinction must be made between the reputation of the Company and these of its products, particularly through its brands. Finally, we must not forget that this advantage is strongly aligned to the above-explained company's architecture and sense for innovation. 5.3.1 Positioning:
As stated in P&G's purpose, the strategy of P&G is straight-forward, they want the consumers to think P&G is an innovation leading company that can improve their lives. Concerning the innovation, the global R&D budget is equal to 4,75% of their sales. They have more than 27,000 patents and this amount is increased by 3,000 each year. In 1999, P&G filed the third-most patent applications in the world. This continual innovation, accompanied by an important marketing, builds leading world-class brands. For example, the Fabric & Home Care market: Tide has had more than 70 significant innovations since its creation in 1946, but it is still sold. It is what Jeffrey D. Weedmane declares: "But it's the combination of innovation, and our ability to communicate the benefits of that innovation, which has driven our success. That is what sets P&G apart." 5.3.2 Branding
A brand is all of the promises and perceptions that an organization wants its customers to feel about its product and service offerings. This definition has remained static for years but what is changing is how companies go about the business of brand-building. The majority of business leaders look to practices of packaged goods companies like P&G as the model of brand-building. They are generally product-focused. Responsibility usually resides with marketing managers who pull advertising, consumer and sales promotion levers to convince customers their product is best. Key to this view are brand awareness and product distribution. The idea is that if you tell your customers often enough and loud enough about your product attributes, they'll believe it and if it's available on store shelves, they'll buy. Customers' needs under this model are assumed to be relatively homogeneous and static. The occasional product extension or attribute is added to keep your product on top of the heap. 23 Jeffrey D. Weedman, VP-Global Licensing Procter & Gamble, "Building Brand Equity", National industries for the blind, October 16, 2000 Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 In fact, brand is just as much of an asset as an organization's people, equipment or capital and developing that asset requires just as much care, attention and investment over time as any other asset if its value is expected to prove out and grow over time. This makes branding a strategic imperative that goes far beyond only marketing activities. And finally, the Brand-Customer Relationship is the face of the business strategy. With product branding, the product or service is synonymous with the brand. It strives to build trust in the brand by allowing the consumer to fit product perceptions and brand image into one. When you think "laundry detergent" in Belgium you think Ariel, Dash, Bonux, Dreft,… but the average consumer isn't aware that all of them are made by P&G. Product branding allows the ability to have a wider array of products and services that may have no connection to one another under one umbrella, and less fear of failure. It also allows an organization more opportunity to control shelf space or a place in the consumer's mind. What product branding doesn't allow are economies of scale, endorsements and instant credibility. This latter point is especially true for new brands, where there's a need to start The classical tools P&G used to create brands are: 1. They have to provide benefits, 2. They have to have competitive pricing, 3. They have to provide quality and safety. Furthermore, they try to build a relationship of trust and enrich this relationship with
emotional content.
Here is an example:
Everybody in the world knows the history of Lucy, that wanted to wear her tee-shirt to go
John's party. She was in love with him, and she wanted to wear her more fashionable
clothes. Unfortunately it was dirty, but Mum's Tide was there. She went to the party with her
clean tee-shirt and became John's girlfriend.
This small history relates a particular case, but there are a lot of different small movies that
are on the medias. The marketing is done so that each target person (=potential consumer)
can recognize himself or have feeling with the actors of the history.
That's the relationship of trust.


Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 6. MARKET AND STRATEGIC GROUP

Each company needs to identify the market where it will be successful to use their distinctive capacities. The principal activity of a company can be positioned on three different levels : - The market that is related to the needs of the current and potential consumers. - The industry that corresponds to the products. - The strategic group which encloses the principal competitors of the firm. As shown before, Procter & Gamble acts in different industries, such as Baby, Feminine & Family Care; Fabric & Home Care; Food and Beverage and Health & Beauty Care. Due to the number of industries, it would be impossible to overview all of them in this paper. This is the reason why we focused on the Fabric Care segment in Europe. The Fabric Care market is dominated by a few firms. The term few has to be seen in the economic sense of closely interdependent firms whose economic decisions are always conditioned by recognition of their competitors' most likely market response. Each firm knows that any changes in its product quality, price, output or advertising policy may prompt a reaction from its rivals. Moreover, each firm may react if the market behavior of other firms changes. As we have learned, oligopolistic market structure can often be traced to some form of barrier to entry, such as economies of scale, legal restrictions, brand names built up by years of advertising, or control over an essential resource. Corresponding to the Fabric Care industry we can define 3 strategic competitors which are Unilever, Henkel and Colgate – Palmolive. The market for washing powders is dominated by these four international groups, which compete at an European and a world-wide level. The market is very concentrated, since these four companies produce 94% of sales while the rest is now almost completely composed of own brands. As we can see in table 1, market shares have been quite stable for the last ten years with P&G the market leader with 38% of sales in 1997, followed by Lever (23%), Henkel (21%) and Colgate Palmolive (12%). Own brands' market share increased at the end of the eighties, but since then they have not increased, and their market share has even decreased slightly. Also at the end of the nineties, small independent brands have disappeared from the shelves. The main reason for this appears to be the high level of advertising of branded goods, and the strong brand allegiance that this creates. In addition, the major producers produce brands for each segment of the market and this makes it difficult for new firms/products to find a niche in which to make a profit. Also recently introduced washing tablets are well protected by patents, and this makes it difficult for other firms (e.g. producing own brands) to produce their own versions of this product. Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 Producers
Mains Brands
Market Shares 1990
Ariel, Vizir, Bonus 35.5% 36.7% 38.% 37.6% 27% 23.3% 22.5% 22.9% Le Chat, super croix 18.5% 21.4% 20.6% 21.3% 11% 12.3% 12.8% 12.2% Palmolive
Own brands
Table 1 : Overall Market Shares distribution for laundry in Europe 6.1 Companies.

As the structure of the market is oligopolistic, we will present in the next chapter a
description of the 3 strategic competitors of P&G in Europe. A brief history of the
company, last financial results and some strategic goals will be exposed in order to better
understand what is the economic challenge P&G, Henkel, Unilever and Colgate-
Palmolive have to face to everyday.
6.1.1 Procter & Gamble.
Distinctive capabilities have been already shown in precedent section, but as a result of the structure of a company, most important thing is to perform better. Corresponding to financial results shown in the table below, 2001 is not the best year for P&G. What we know so far, is that P&G is again on the right track and is predicting for the next quarter, results better than expected. Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 Table 2 : Financial Results of P&G's – Annual Report 2001 6.1.2 Henkel.
Henkel was formed in 1876 as a German company with an initial focus on the development and sale of a "universal detergent". They have grown to be a world leading consumer products and specialty chemicals manufacturer that markets its products in over 140 markets (Fabric Care in 115).
Their portfolio includes consumer products (laundry & home care, cosmetics & toiletries),
products for industrial and trade applications (adhesives, chemicals and surface treatments)
and service systems.
Henkel is publicly traded, but controlled by the Henkel family. In 1997, the family agreed to
hold 50% of the ordinary shares, plus one, through 2016.
Henkel's mission : "We are ready to meet the economic and ecological challenges of the
21st century. We assure Henkel's position as a top international company. This goal
guides our actions. Through applied chemistry and expert service, we make people's
lives easier, safer and better. We are dedicated to helping our customers improve their
own performance and meet their requirements. We manage change and are proud of our
achievements".
a. Corporate Goals
Their goals are as follows: • Grow beauty care business to be in global top 5 (currently #11). • Become leader in F&HC Europe (Currently #2) and develop other geographies (primarily NA and Asia Pacific). Plans to increase North America sales to 30% (vs. 17% today) and Asia to 15% (vs. 11% today). • Exploit and further develop world leading position in Adhesive and Hygiene/Surface Technologies (specific Adhesive plans to grow 4-6% annually - twice the annual market growth rate). Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 Table 3 : Financial Results - Henkel Company b. Regional Perspective :
Although Henkel operates in over 140 markets, Europe represents 64% of total sales and 87% of profits. Here is their global business breakdown. Sales – M Euros
BT Profit –
Balance of Europe Table 4 : Global Business - Henkel Company This table clearly communicates the over dependence on Europe sales and particularly profits (which is even more dramatic for Laundry and Home – 90% Sales in Europe. Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 6.1.3 Colgate
Palmolive.
Colgate – Palmolive (C-P) is a $9.1 bil. global company serving people in more than 200 countries with consumer products "that make lives healthier and more enjoyable". C-P focuses on five core businesses- Oral Care, Personal Care, Household Surface Care, Fabric Care and Pet Nutrition. Since its inception in 1806, Colgate-Palmolive has adopted a proactive strategy throughout its history. It is constantly on the lookout for better ways to meet customer needs and opportunities for global expansion. This has resulted in the sales of a wide assortment of household products to customers. Not only does it enhances the quality of their lives but also proves to be profitable for the company. Today Colgate-Palmolive Company ranks among the top few leading multinational companies in the consumer products industry. Despite the highly competitive environment of the industry, Colgate has consistently maintained positive growth in terms of sales and market shares. However, the company's global dimension can also make it susceptible to sales loss due to potential economic instability in specific regions of the world. Besides profitability, Colgate is also mindful of the environmental impact of its worldwide production activities and has made great strides in making its products more environmental friendly. As a truly responsible corporate citizen, Colgate is also committed in making a positive impact in the community by sponsoring various worthy causes and events. Colgate is following a tightly defined strategy to increase market leadership positions in key categories, such as toothpaste, tooth-brushes, bar and liquid soap, deodorants/antiperspirants, dishwashing detergents, household cleaners, fabric softeners and pet food. This leadership strategy involves understanding consumer needs and meeting them with innovative new products, effective advertising and an efficient customer supply chain. The corporate strategy of Colgate-Palmolive Company is four-pronged and focuses on the following areas: -Core categories
-Operating efficiencies
-High margin new products
-Innovative approaches to improving advertising effectiveness
Financial Results
Operating Profit ($MM) Profit Margin - B.T. (%) Net Income ($MM) Profit Margin - A.T. (%)
Table 5 : Financial Results – Colgate – Palmolive Company Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 6.1.4 UniLever
The Unilever Group was formed by the 1930 merger of Margarine Unie, a Dutch margarine company, originating in the 1870's, and Lever Brothers, a British soap company founded in 1888. The early beginnings of the company are still evident today as Unilever continues to be the amalgamation of two separate companies – Foods based in the Netherlands and Home & Personal Care based in the UK. Over the last 5 years Unilever has gone through a transformational series of restructurings, divestitures and acquisitions to become much more focused on foods, while dramatically improving their focus on core ("leading") brands and improved efficiency. Topline financial results by business unit follow: UL's mission is, "To meet the everyday needs of people everywhere - to anticipate the aspirations of our customers and to respond creatively and competitively with branded products and services which raise the quality of life". Financial Results (*Average For Period)
Operating Profit Before Exceptions (€ MM) Operating Margin Before Exceptions - % Exceptions (€ MM) Operating Margin After Exceptions - %
Table 6 : Fincancial Results - Unilever Company a. Corporate Goals.
• Sales Growth – 5.8% through CY 2004 (last five years was 4.8%) • Margin Improvement – Increase to 16% or more by 2004 (vs. 11.9% in 2000) • Brand Focus – Reduce total number of brands to less than 400 from a base of 1,600 • A successful integration of the CY 2000 foods businesses. Overall, Unilever is clearly focusing on becoming more globally directed, but the change is happening slowly. They have defined themselves as a "multi-local multinational" and profit management continues to be more focused on countries/regions vs. global divisions. b. Regional Perspective
UL is present in 196 markets globally, 190 in Fabric Care. Europe and North America are UL's most important regions with a global breakdown as follows: Sales – M Euros
BT Profit - M Euros
Africa & Middle . Table 7 : Regional Perspectives - Unilever Company Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 6.1.5 Global Competitors overview.
Key Competitors
Turnover Net Earnings
Overview (1999)
Colgate-Palmolive Table 8 : Global Competitive Overview in 1999 Global market presence
Globally, Procter & Gamble, UniLever and Henkel are the three majors competitors. The presence in the market in another good way to view the competition. 1. The next table provides the global market presence for P&G, Unilever (UL) and Henkel both Corporately and for Fabric Care. These two companies represent most important competitors to P&G around the world. MDO/Region
Corporate Presence
Fabric Care Presence
Central & Eastern Europe Middle East & Africa Asia, Australia & India Table 9 : Global Market Presence Overview in 1999 2. P&G and Unilever have a very similar market presence, in number of markets, both Corporately (P&G 194 versus Unilever 196), and for Fabric Care (P&G 180 versus Unilever 190). Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 7. FUTURE STRATEGY

Future strategies are by nature confidential, especially in a competitive environment, so P&G is not publishing much about it. However, P&G can be expected to remain an innovation and marketing based company. The objectives, as defined in the 2001 annual report are : • The successful execution of Organization 2005 restructuring program, including cost improvement and brand divestitures (cf. later) • Achieve volume growth and pricing plans for product categories and geographical markets in which the Company has chosen to focus • Maintain key customer relationships • Growth in significant developing markets such as China, Korea, Mexico, the Southern Cone of Latin America and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe This part will concentrate on three topics: - The internet (for marketing and online sales) - The Organisation 2005 restructuring program - The evolution foreseen in supply chain management 7. 1. Internet
Procter & Gamble ‘s success has been highly based on marketing. It is therefore logical for
this company to explore new ways of doing marketing. Internet is a recent opportunity not
only to advertise but as well to sell products. P&G is more concentrating on the marketing
capabilities of the Internet than onits selling potentiality. There are 2 main reasons, if not to
disregard, at least not to invest munch in direct sales on the Net.
The first one is channel conflict: Major retailers are doing it. P&G is not willing to develop
e-commerce sites that would have to compete with the likes of their major business partner.
Not only would it eventually spoil their long term relationship but additionally, those
retailers have an advantage P&G doesn't have. Band-width can be increasing, physical
delivery still needs to take place. And for that, retailers can do economy of scope much more
than P&G.
Even though P&G has a wide diversity of product, from soap to pet food, they do not sell
all the items that can be found on a shopping list. This gives retailers a big advantage in term
of economy of scope for the delivery.
Furthermore, their marketing strategy is highly based on a variety of brands. Final consumers
do not know P&G as a company but as many different brands, with no relation between
them. Unlike P&G, Virgin uses only one brand for all its products. It would then seems
normal to order different products on line by going to one single Virgin e-commerce site.
Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 But someone willing to buy some diapers might surf to the Pampers web-site (depending on the level of urgency) but is unlikely to think about pg.com. So P&G would have to separately deliver diapers, which is pretty inefficient. P&G has therefore no competitive advantage for direct sales on the Net. However, P&G has a completely different attitude when it comes to Business to Business relations. As one of the world's largest purchasers of chemicals and other commodities, P&G is trying to build a standard platform for business-to-business procurement. It is associated with the Grocery Manufacturers of America to form an online business to business marketplace for the consumer packaged-goods industry (Transora, cf before) . Unlike online direct sales to consumers, online marketing is not to neglect. However, in 1997 P&G spent over $3 billion on advertising, of which only $3 million was spent on Web-based media . One of the main reasons to care about the Internet is that it has become the first medium to reduce television viewership. Since Web surfers have shown little interest in online serials, a company like P&G can be anxious to find "how to sell soap without soap operas". The disadvantage of the internet from a marketing point of view is that web surfer can kick you out of their sight at will, at any time. Another part of the problem relates to bandwidth issues, which make the Web best suited to text, still images or simple animation rather than full-motion video and stereo sound. Today most Web sites offer information or facts rather than emotional content like stories. A major advantage of the internet is that it enables dialogue with consumers and even among them. Consumers can have more of a relationship with the brands. And this relationship can be seen not only as part of the brand, but also as a channel for consumer feed back. Once contact is established, internet also allows very good targeting for marketing. For example, Pampers has created a Web site called "The Pampers Parenting Institute." The goal of this Web site, in combination with the brand's TV presence, is to help focus on parenting solutions, not simply diaper effectiveness. The brand is trying to create an online community of Pampers parents. This includes personalised e-mail program, which generates twice-monthly e-mail letters geared to both the sex and age of the child. The site also includes a whole series of frequently asked new parent questions, with threaded discussion and live chat. 7.2. Organisation 2005

Among P&G distinctive capabilities, there is maybe the flexibility of the architecture of the
company. P&G is currently restructuring itself (Organisation 2005). Organisation 2005
restructuring program is meant to reduce costs, rationalise manufacturing capacity and
address under-performing businesses. The company considers these actions as « critical to
delivering on the Company 's long-term goals to consistently grow earnings and earnings per
share at double-digit rates »
24 ABC of Supply Chain Management
Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 Total separations under the program are expected to be approximately 24,600, all that in order to keep dividends growing while the company is consistently making profit and expecting/hoping to grow… P&G aims to create operating units that contain the multi-discipline resources and clear lines of responsibility allowing to achieve rapid decision-making and, hopefully to build its brands better. The intention is also to capitalise on the scale and scope of the Company. A good example of (past, current and future) economy of scope is to go to customers as one Company through Customer Business Development, the creation of Product Supply, and R&D's Technology Council. The benefits of product line focus, combined with economy of scope is considered by P&G as a source of its future competitive advantage . Therefore, the architecture of the company is modified in that direction, attempting to become an additional competitive advantage. 7.3. Supply chain management

As explained before, supply chain management aim to optimise the all supply chain, In
other term , to eliminate information retention and coordination problems. "If you owned
the entire Supply Chain, what would you do differently?"
The supply chain in most industries is like a big card game. The players don't want to show
their cards because they don't trust anyone else with the information. But if they showed
their hands they could all benefit. Suppliers wouldn't have to guess how much raw materials
to order, and manufacturers wouldn't have to order more than they need from suppliers to
make sure they have enough on hand if demand for their products unexpectedly goes up.
And retailers would have fewer empty shelves if they shared the information they had about
sales of a manufacturer's product in all their stores with the manufacturer.
Procter & Gamble has already put supply chain management in practice with Wal-Mart. Before these two companies started collaborating back in the '80s, retailers shared very little information with manufacturers. But then the two companies built a software system that hooked P&G up to Wal-Mart's distribution centers. When P&G's products run low at the distribution centers, the system sends an automatic alert to P&G to ship more products. In some cases, the system goes all the way to the individual Wal-Mart store. It lets P&G monitor the shelves through real-time satellite link-ups that send messages to the factory whenever a P&G item swoops past a scanner at the register. With this kind of minute-to-minute information, P&G knows when to make, ship and display more products at the Wal-Mart stores. No need to keep products piled up in warehouses awaiting Wal-Mart's call. Invoicing and payments happen automatically too. The system saves P&G a lot of time, reduce inventory and lower order-processing costs. Therefore, P&G can afford to give Wal-Mart "low, everyday prices" without putting itself out of business. Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 This win-win scenario allows a lower final price. In the end supply chains are competing, not only companies. Supply chain management requires long term relationship and trust. So it does not allow reducing the price of each item by putting suppliers in competition for each order. But the idea is that the long term relation advantages, including the opportunity to optimise the all chain, should be more significant. Supply chain automation is difficult because its complexity extends beyond a company's walls. People will need to change the way they work and so will the people from each supplier that are part of the network of the company. Only the largest and most powerful manufacturers can force such radical changes down suppliers' throats. But the size of P&G allows it to do it. The company is willing to generalize it with their retailers and suppliers. Additionally for this automation to be possible, there is a need to standardize the information exchange. This is what P&G is trying to achieve with Transora, using the internet network. Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 8. CONCLUSION.

This working paper has highlighted the distinctive capabilities and strategies which led to competitive advantages for the Procter & Gamble company. The aim of our research was to discover if the fore-mentioned issues are the basis of Corporate Success as defined by John Kay. The first distinctive capability on which we focused was its Architecture, that can be summarized as flexible and designed to allow economy of scale and scope whenever possible. Even though this is already an advantage, P&G is still trying to improve it, aiming to also get the benefits of product line focus. (Organisation 2005), Another distinctive capability is innovation. P&G is creating new products, new markets (Swiffer, Febreze, .) while still improving older products (Tide,…) The use of these distinctive capabilities lead the company to a diversification of its activity, often using their expertise in one area to develop a new product in another one, which is already an economy of scope. The quality of their products, helped by massive marketing gave several of their products the rank of market leader. The big sales and diversity of products gave P&G an additional competitive advantage: the ability to make economy of scale and scope. Their massive marketing strategy is based on a multitude of brands; This allows them to occupy various market segments (it probably wouldn't be profitable to sell Bonux and Hugo Boss under the same brand), even in the same market (Bonux/Ariel). In fact, the company managed to build its reputation not only as a company (among the suppliers and retailers), but also by ways of its all well known market leading brands that P&G managed to create. The reputations of these leader brands are competitive advantages in each of their specific market, while other lower cost brands can be used in order to fulfill as much of each market as possible. P&G has shown its ability to get competitive advantages from its distinctive capabilities and strategy. The Company also managed to identify the new distinctive capabilities which have been obtained during their growth (opportunities of economy of scope and scale, expertise in some technical areas, …) and turned them into good use. In most of their markets, only a few significant competitors did survive… We can therefore conclude that P&G is, and will probably remain a "Corporate Success" Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 BIBLIOGRAPHY


Web sites

- www.pg.com
- www.transora.com
- www.cio.com - www.unilever.com - www.colgate.com - www.henkel.com - www.finance.yahoo.com - www.businessweek.com - www.fortune.com - www.sustainability-index.com - www.pgcareers.com
P&G Internal Library
- P&G Annual Reports 2001
- P&G : Purpose, Core Values and Principles - P&G : Company Presentation 2000-2001 - P&G : Fact Sheet about Procter & Gamble - P&G's Go-to-Market Advantage – Steve David : CIO and B2B Officer (15 June 2000) - P&G : New Brand for a New Economy - P&G : Sustainability report 2001 - P&G : Innovation 2000 presentation - P&G : Competitive Intelligence Intranet - P&G : 2005 External Relations - The Procter and Gamble Global Reputation Study - (29 September 2000) Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002 BIBLIOGRAPHY II


Articles and books
- Dorfman, Brad "‘P&G Western Europe head sees improvement, slowly". In : Reuters13 July
2001. - Kay, J., "Foundations of Corporate Success," Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1993. - Koch, Christopher ‘"The ABCs of Supply Chain Management", 22 January 2002. - Levy, Joe "Find the Audience" 2 January 2002. - Pepper, John E. "Creating our Future : the evolution of Procter & Gamble". 20 August 1998. - Singer, Steven "Make business savvy-IT people", 5 October 1998. - Weedman, Jeffrey D. "Building Brand equity". 16 October 2000. - Tomkins, Richard. "trijd tussen fabrikanten en detailhandelaars gaat verder" De Standaard. 23 juni 2000. - Heinz Zourek (La Direction Générale pour le Marché Intérieur et les Services Financiers)."Une approche en faveur des consommateurs ?" Mars 1997. - Dale Buss "Procter & Gamble Faces the Future", April 2000. - Laurent Poinsignon, "Utilisation de l'Internet dans une stratégie de marque". Maîtrise Marketing et Communication de Marque 1998/1999. Université de Paris IV – Sorbonne. - Bruno Giussani, "la mystérieuse histoire du @, symbole méconnu". Feb 2002. - Henkel Financial Report 2000,1999 - Unilever Fincancial Report 2000,1999,1998 - Colgate – Palmolive Financial Report 2000,1999,1998 Microeconomics – Gr 7- 2002

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