Strengthening the Execution of Our Strategy

There are four areas where we are putting additional focus to strengthen the execution of our strategy—supply, environmental sustainability, digital acumen and our employee value equation.

First, we are strengthening our supply chain, which has been ranked number one for the past nine years by customers in the Advantage Survey. We are building on this strong foundation by driving improved capacity planning, greater supply agility, flexibility, data transparency, scale, and resilience all the way up and down the supply chain, inclusive of our retail partners.

We are working with retailers on the totality of the supply chain, end to end, versus simply trying to optimize each piece—extending our combined focus beyond the customer door to what the shopper sees on shelf and online. We are seeking to drive improvements in service, cost and cash by optimizing not only P&G’s cost of goods sold, but by jointly identifying with customers and distributors additional ways to drive losses out of our collective supply chains, as well as new ways to create value.

All of this is driving increased supply assurance, higher on-shelf availability of our products, and a more cost-efficient supply chain. These programs improve the superiority of our offerings for consumers and further strengthen the relationship with our customers.

Second, we are improving the environmental sustainability profile of our brands without compromising performance. Sacrificing performance for environmental sustainability does not delight consumers and does nothing to create a more sustainable business or planet. We are developing offerings that are both superior and sustainable.

Lenor Unstoppables is a good example. The plastic bottle was converted to a cardboard pack that can be recycled through local paper waste streams, delighting consumers with an easy open cap, easy dosing and pouring, and allowing them to experience the scent even when the package is closed. This package contributed to a 40% increase in sales, while driving category growth, reducing costs and helping avoid the equivalent of 2,800 metric tons of plastic in Europe. The team then took superiority to the next level by combining a malodor product upgrade and product aeration with a new cap—further driving irresistible superiority and contributing to more sales and reduced costs.

The third focus area is digital acumen. We are leveraging relevant data and digitization to delight consumers and customers, strengthen innovation processes, streamline the supply chain, increase quality, improve decision making and drive productivity.

For example, in India we are leveraging seamless data, analytics and automation to optimize our supply chain, resulting in 60% fewer touchpoints than a few years ago. We have also moved to an artificial intelligence, machine learning ordering system for our distributors, which is helping us better predict distributor shipments and replenishment. Sales in India have grown over 8% on average over the past three years.

Examples like this have obvious cost benefits, but they are also driving product and package superiority, superior brand communication to consumers, superior retail execution in stores and online, and jobs that enable people to focus on higher-order tasks with greater business impact.

Our fourth focus area is a superior employee value equation for all employees—inclusive of all genders, races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, ages and abilities for all roles to ensure we continue to attract, develop, and retain the broadest pool of talent available to best serve an increasingly diverse set of consumers.

Our Employee Value Equation has four interdependent elements—making an impact, feeling valued and rewarded, growing skills and capabilities and being inspired to serve consumers better than competition—with all four necessary. It is a superior employee value equation for superior employees serving consumers with superior brands.