“Fast-moving consumer goods” (FMCG), in the jargon of the trade, are a huge business and a big part of life in all parts of the world. Two global leaders in this business are Procter & Gamble, Bob McDonald CEO, and Unilever, Paul Polman, CEO. Fierce rivals, I often hear both companies mentioned as strong corporate cultures and good corporate citizens. Both companies are extraordinarily global in their focus. For these reasons, I’m putting both of them on the list Communities of Leadership list.
P&G ranks 29th on Forbes list of top 2000 global public companies. Its 2009 sales as reported there were $76.78 billion, its profits $13.05 billion, and its market value $184.47 billion. That makes P&G by Forbes’s reckoning the 11th most valuable company in the world.
Unilever ranks 85th on the overall list, with sales of $57.06 billion, profits of $4.83 billion, and market value of $91.33 billion.
Until recently, P&G was led as CEO by A. G. Lafley, now succeeded by Bob McDonald. Lafley recieved a lot of press as a great CEO, so much so that Harvard Business Review published the articles written about him as a special collection. After taking the reigns in 2000, Lafley is credited with turning P&G around from a point of crisis. He changed P&G from an inward-looking and secretive culture, once referred to as “the Kremlin on the Ohio”, into an exemplar of open-innovation culture, built around the company’s “Connect and Develop” programme. P&G’s 2008 online annual report (a multi-media production far superior in my view to most companies’ pdf versions) has great video footage of its top leaders talking about innovation.
Unilever is similarly often mentioned as a corporate leader. For example, Harvard Business School professor Bill George had this to say about Unilever’s CEO. ”Authentic leaders focused on customers are replacing hierarchical leaders that focus on serving short-term shareholders. Typical of these leaders is Unilever CEO Paul Polman, who recently told the Financial Times, ‘I don’t work for the shareholder. I work for consumers and my customers.’” On its website, the company claims leadership for 11 years in the Dow Jones sustainability indexes. Sustainability ventures occupy considerable space in its online presence.
I’m sure the reality may sometimes be different, but the tone both companies set in their public profiles impresses me.
Unilever’s website section “About Us”, begins (today, 8 May 2010) like this:
“Creating a better future every day.”
“We aim to provide people the world over with products that are good for them and good for others.”
Unilever have made “Vitality” a corporate watchword. ”Vitality is at the heart of Unilever. Our mission is to meet everyday needs for nutrition, home hygiene and personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life.”
Unilever’s corporate purpose as they report it states that “to succeed requires the highest standards of corporate behaviour towards our employees, consumers and the societies and world in which we live.”
Their principles as stated are:
- Always working with integrity
- Positive impact
- Continuous commitment
- Setting out aspirations
- Working with others
On its website, P&G says this about its purpose and role in the world:
“Companies like P&G are a force in the world. Our market capitalization is greater than the GDP of many countries, and we serve consumers in more than 180 countries. With this stature comes both responsibility and opportunity. Our responsibility is to be an ethical corporate citizen—but our opportunity is something far greater, and is embodied in our Purpose.”
“Our Purpose: We will provide branded products and services of superior quality that improve the lives of the world’s consumers, now and for generations to come. As a result, consumers will reward us with leadership sales, profits and value creation, allowing our people , our shareholders and the communities in which we live and work to prosper.”
Both companies are seriously international and global. Unilever claims 20 nationalities among its top leadership, and asserts that its products are sold in 170 countries. P&G says their workforce is drawn from 140 countries, and says its brands are sold in 180 countries.
P&G reported that 2009 sales in developing markets now account for 32% of its global sales, up from 29% two years before. Unilever appears to be even stronger in developing markets. It reports that its 2008 sales (2009 not yet published) in Developing and Emerging (D&E) markets amounted to 47% of sales. For Unilever, D&E markets include “all countries in Latin America, Central & Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia, except Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand.”
Because of their truly global footprints, their reputation for leadership, and their announced principles, I look forward to following these two FMCG giants as Communities of Leadership.
The growing list of Interesting Communities of Leadership is athttp://lovingwork.org/interesting-communities-of-leadership
Scott is scott@lovingwork.org and @scottdowns3 on Twitter.
business · community · culture · customers · emerging markets · global · innovation · leadership · people · Procter & Gamble · service · sustainability · Unilever · value · values · vision
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