Alan George Lafley is credited with not just turning around Procter & Gamble, but revitalizing this global leader in consumer packaged goods, based in Cincinnati. He successfully transformed the P&G product portfolio into creating and delivering higher value and improved experience for its customers.
“The only real and sustainable driver of differentiation is innovation. So, in a very practical and real sense, the driver or engine of most business strategies should be innovation.”
Lafley assumed leadership of P&G in two stints as the CEO. His tenure starting in 2000 witnessed phenomenal growth with sales more than doubling in the decade, and market valuation tripling. He could develop two dozen brands in the kitty into billion-dollar businesses, a key milestone in the P&G journey. His management style hinged on two things -focus on innovation and focus on the customer. This according to him paved the way for business growth while reinforcing competitive advantage. He visualized innovation as an enterprise-wide culture, and executed it across departments – including product, marketing, technology and supply chain. According to him, innovation was everyone’s job in the company, not just of R&D.
Serving as the supply officer in US Navy might have kindled and honed his distribution prowess from the start. As we know FMCG business is all about distribution management and controlling the flow. Lafley successfully created and operationalized the ‘Connect and Develop’ strategy which placed emphasis on partnerships and collaboration across the entire business model, thereby optimizing workflow and product flow.
