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By Patricia Sellers
A. G. Lafley, the CEO of Procter and Gamble, has brought a lot of creativity and rigor to P&G's innovation process. During the past 2 years, P&G has raised its new-product hit 5 rate (the percentage of new entries that deliver a return above the cost of capital) from 70% to 90%. That's terrific in an industry where half of new products fail within 12 months, according to market 10 research firm Information Resources. 'In the 18 years that I've followed Procter,' says Deutsche Bank analyst Andrew Shore, 1 have never seen the company this good'.
Organic growth - meaning growth from core 15 businesses, excluding gains from acquisitions - is at the root of P&G's transformation. According to Lafley, organic growth strengthens a company's ability to innovate.
20 Coke, Kraft and Unilever are just a few of the giants that are struggling to innovate and build the brands they already have. According to a recent Boston Consulting Group survey of senior executives, more than two-thirds 25 say innovation is a priority, but 57% are dissatisfied with the returns on their innovation investments.
Lafley has a model for innovating in a big company: ,
30 Jim Stengel, Procter's Chief Marketing Officer, has cut his reliance on focus groups - the conventional method for studying consumers. 'You don't really learn anything insightful,' he says, contending that P&G and 35 its rivals have already met consumers' obvious needs and that today's opportunities lie in meeting needs that consumers may not articulate. So he has urged the marketers to spend lots of time with consumers in their 40 homes, watching the ways they wear their clothes, clean their floors, and asking them about their habits and frustrations.
Procter and Gamble has 7,500 R&D people located in nine countries. In order to collect 45 feedback over this vast area, the company encourages employees (both scientists and marketers) to post problems on an internal website. Lafley evaluates the ideas that have been shared between employees. Each year 50 he presents his findings in half-day 'innovation reviews' for each business unit.
Lafley says that his goal is to get half of P&G's invention from external sources, up from 20% four years ago and about 35% 55 today. Inventors are evenly distributed in the population, and we're as likely to find invention in a garage as in our labs,' he explains.
It's not the P&G way to put out a product 60 without test-marketing it. But consumer testing takes time - a luxury that P&G executives increasingly don't have. Says Susan Arnold, P&G's beauty queen: 'We don't have time to cross all the T's and dot all
65 the I's. This business is trend-based and fashion-based. You have to be intuitive.' By cutting down on test-marketing (but not, mind you, on science), P & G has reduced product launch time from laboratory to roll-out from 70 three years to eighteen months company- wide.
Lafley believes that P&G needs to market not just the product itself but the consumer's experience of the product - how it looks, 75 smells and feels. Three years ago he added a head of design at P&G, a company veteran named Claudia Kotchka, who reports directly to him. Her designers used to labour in anonymity on logos and packaging. But they 80 are now deeply involved in all aspects of product development. For Olay Regenerist, they helped with the formulation and the fragrance too.
In an attempt to encourage growth, some 85 companies offer fat bonuses for innovation or hire stars from outside. Lafley hasn't done either of those things. He doesn't need to revamp pay schemes, he says, noting that managers who fail to share ideas simply do 90 not get promoted. He does motivate the rank and file by giving out modest rewards, such as giving 50 stock options, for creative ideas and by celebrating innovators on P&G's internal website.
From Fortune Magazine
0Find words or phrases in the article which mean the following:
1recruitment of an experienced person
2additional payments for innovation
3customer habits
4the company's intranet
5laboratories
6shorter time for introducing products
We make passive verb forms with the verb to be + the past participle.
The World Wide Web was invented by Tim Berners-Lee.
We often choose a passive structure when we are not interested in who
performs an action or it is not necessary to know.
The Millennium Technology Prize was awarded to Tim Berners-Lee.
If we want to mention who performs the action, we can use by.
Tim Berners-Lee was named as one of the top 20 thinkers of the twentieth century
by Time magazine.
We often use a passive structure to be impersonal or formal (for example, in notices, announcements or reports):
| Г |
| Language review Passives |
It has been agreed that the prototype will be tested next month. ^^ page 156
0Look at these sentences from an article on the inventor of the World Wide Web. Which use passives?
1The inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, has won a prestigious award.
2The 'Father of the Web' was named as the first winner of the Millennium Technology Prize.
3The British scientist was knighted for his pioneering work in 2003.
4In the early 1990s, his computer code was called 'the World Wide Web'.
5The Web has enhanced many people's ability to obtain information central to their lives.
6Just under 80 people from 22 countries were nominated for the prize.
7The Millennium Technology Prize was set up by the Finnish Technology Award Foundation.
8Sir Tim is now based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston.
9He founded the World Wide Web Consortium at MIT in 1994. 10 He was born in London in 1955.
0The sentences below describe stages in the launch of a new drug. Use the verbs in the box to complete the sentences. Then put the stages in a more logical order.
| develop | test | publish | test | grant |
| train | approve | carry out | apply for |
a)The drug................ on animals. f) A licence....................................
b)The drug................ in the labs. g) The results of the trials......................................
c)Market research....................................... h) Approval.................. by the authorities.
d)The drug................ on humans. i) The drug representatives....................................
Tim Berners-Lee, 'Father of the Web'
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e)The trials................. by the Ethics committee.
Use the notes below to describe stages in the launch of a new car. Include passive and active structures. Use words likefirst, next, then andfinally.
1designer-choose
2design - produce
3model-build
4modifications - make
R&D department and engineers
5design - modify
6prototype - build
7new engine-use-or existing engine develop - can be very costly
8new model-test-special roads
9deal with problems - costly if problems serious
10journalists - invite - test-drive model
11reviews-write-by journalists - major newspapers and car magazines
12model-display-famous motor exhibition - Geneva or London Motor Show
013.2 Listen to Eve Jones, an expert on presentations, and answer these questions.
1What does Eve say you need to do to prepare for a presentation?
2What can you do at the beginning of a presentation to attract people's attention?
3What is a typical structure of a presentation?
013.3 Listen to the second part of Eve's talk and complete the sentences below.
1Most people are.................... before a presentation.
2Many people.................... the opening and that helps them calm their nerves.
3Keep good................... with your audience, even when using equipment.
4It is important to develop a........... with your audience to create a good
atmosphere.
5................. can be useful to emphasise important points.
| Listening Presentation techniques |
|
6Avoid......... in case your audience doesn't understand it.
QComment on the following statements. In your opinion are they:
a) essential b) helpful c) unhelpful for a successful presentation?
1Tell a joke at the beginning to relax the atmosphere.
2Speak more slowly than you normally do.
3Smile a lot.
4Involve the audience.
5Invite questions during the presentation.
6Always keep to your plan.
7Move around during your presentation.
8Use gestures to emphasise important points.
9Read out your presentation from a script. 10 Stand up when giving your presentation.
0What other useful techniques do you know for giving a presentation?
| Skills Presenting |
Q 013.4 Listen to a presentation addressed to a company's sales team about the launch of their new chocolate bar. Tick the expressions in the Useful language box that you hear.
Useful language j
Introducing yourself
Good morning, everyone. Hello everyone, welcome to ...
Structuring the presentation
I'm going to divide my talk into four parts. First, I'll give you .... After that,.... Finally,....
Inviting questions
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. I'll be glad to answer any questions (at the end of my talk).
Giving background information
I'll give you some background. Let's start with the background.
Referring to the audience's knowledge
As you know,... As you are aware,...
Changing the topic
Right, let's move on to ... OK, I'll now look at...
Referring to visuals
If you look at the graph ...
Could I draw your attention to the chart?
Concluding
To sum up,... To summarise,...
Ending
Thanks very much. Any questions? Well, that's all I have to say.
Thank you for listening.
_______________________________________
0Prepare a short presentation of three to five minutes. Choose one of the situations below.
Topic
A country you have visited on holiday or done business in
Audience
A group of people who will shortly be working there
Suggestions
way of life transport accommodation food and drink standard of living
customs and traditions
weather
language
people
entertainment
Your company's main competitors
Your job
The board of directors of your company
A group of high school students at a careers evening identifying the competition their strengths and weaknesses how powerful they are in the market
responsibilities and tasks the future
perks and special advantages, e.g. foreign travel
qualifications
career structure
0Now make your presentations in groups. After each presentation rate the following aspects of the presentation fromi to 5 (1 = unacceptable, 2 = fair, 3 = average, 4 = good, 5 = excellent).
The presentation was interesting.
The presentation was clear.
The presentation's beginning made an impact.
The presentation had a logical structure.
The presentation had a summary or conclusion.
TOTAL: 25