P&G open to deals with alums
Reunion weekend points out the potential
By Cliff Peale
The Cincinnati Enquirer
With hundreds of former workers gathering in Cincinnati, Procter & Gamble Co. made an aggressive
pitch this weekend for new research, licensing and merger deals.
P&G views those alumni as potential business partners, part of its drive to get up to half of its
innovation from outside the company.
"I want to take this opportunity to say very clearly that we are open for business," chairman and chief
executive A.G. Lafley said to hundreds of alumni Friday night.
It's a dramatic departure from the P&G of the past, often known as "Kremlin on the Ohio" for its
resistance to the outside world. Lafley made the point that even venerable P&G brands such as Tide
and Ivory had their original roots outside P&G.
Intuit Inc. co-founder Scott Cook, who worked at P&G and now is on the board of directors, said that's a
part of the change that Lafley has driven through P&G's global organization in his nearly three years as
CEO. The broadened sources of innovation will help the company maintain its century-old edge in
product superiority, he said.
The external focus was one of the main themes of the weekend, when nearly 400 P&G alums returned
to Cincinnati. The event was part celebration of the company's recovery in the last three years, part
nostalgia and part business opportunity.
Jeff Weedman, vice president of external business development and global licensing, spent much of
the weekend collecting business cards and talking with potential P&G partners. He said P&G would
rather deal with its own alumni.
"They already know who we are and how we operate," Weedman said. "They don't need a magic
decoder ring, so it's much more efficient and productive."
P&G has been aggressively licensing its most valuable brand names, including Olay to a maker of
vitamins, or putting some in joint ventures, for example some of its wrap technology to competitor
Clorox Co.
Lafley also Friday recounted his first days as CEO in June 2000, and said the biggest crisis was not the
fall in the company stock, costing billions of dollars in market value.
"P&G business leaders had retreated to their bunkers, they were lying low, and their heads were down,"
he said.
But he said the recovery is complete.
"The P&G you knew, the P&G you still care about, is back," he said.
E-mail cpeale@enquirer.com