Innovation in a Global Environment

On Wednesday, May 11 Bruce Brown, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the global consumer products behemoth Procter & Gamble, spoke at a forum at the Wilson Center hosted by the Program on America and the Global Economy (PAGE).  After introductions from Kent Hughes, PAGE Director, Brown began by providing an overview of the enormous array of products that P&G offers.  Regardless of the brand or product, Brown remarked that from Crest to Tide to Gillette, ‘[i]nnovation is our lifeblood.”

As Brown noted, Procter and Gamble has been in existence for 173 years.  Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, it has expanded from a candle manufacturer into one of the world’s largest companies.  Procter and Gamble (P&G) currently serves 4.2 billion customers through their many brands and products.  Brown stated that the goal was to serve 5 billion by the year 2014.  50 of their brands are referred to as P&G’s ‘leadership brands,’ 23 of which have sales of over $1 billion annually.  P&G currently operates in 26 countries on five continents, with the majority of operations within U.S.borders.  In addition to the U.S.government, P&G also maintains partnerships with the Singapore government and a number of American universities, notably the University of Michigan and Ohio State University.

Brown oversees a very active and vital segment of the P&G universe; the technology, research and development, and innovative arm.  He manages a research and development (R&D) staff of 8,700, one thousand of which hold PhD’s.  Brown stated that it is P&G’s goal to get the percentage of researchers with PhD’s up to 50% in the near future.  As one measure of P&G’s commitment to innovation, Brown pointed to P&G’s 40,000 patents with another 20,000 pending.