2009 Consumer Goods Registry: Packaged Goods

Procter & Gamble

P&G saw the end of an era this year when A.G. Lafley stepped down from his post as chief executive officer after a decade of service during which he refocused P&G on consumer-driven innovation and consistent, reliable sustainable growth. In his place, Robert A. McDonald, formerly chief operating officer, will guide P&G through the decade ahead as president and chief executive officer. In terms of business improvements, P&G showed no signs of slowed spending throughout the recession. In fact, the packaged goods giant struck several new deals in 2008/2009 to maintain market leadership, including a global enterprise agreement with SAP AG to help create a scalable, standardized global IT landscape. More recently, P&G teamed with i2 Technologies Inc. to support the physical distribution of its North American operations as well as Accenture to transform its global Web technology infrastructure and on-line digital capabilities. 

Unilever Group

With 400 brands spanning the food, home and personal care industries, Unilever understands that a unified view of master data is critical to quickly address changing business needs while maintaining strong local market performance. That's why the company implemented SAP AG's NetWeaver Master Data Management component to support five countries in the Asia/AMET region in 2008. "Our success as a company depends on good information and keeping things simple," said Chris Turner, chief technology officer, Unilever, in a May 2008 press release. Like P&G, Unilever has taken several more steps to improve global operations despite a recession. In April 2009, Unilever tapped IBM to transform and operate its human resources processes across 19 Latin American countries. The company also appointed former Nestlé executive Pier Luigi Sigismondi to the post of chief supply chain officer.

Henkel began an information technology (IT) sourcing program in fall 2008 to both reduce IT running costs and increase service delivery quality. A professional RFP approach led Henkel to sign IT outsourcing agreements with Accenture, IBM and Unisys, covering the fields of application development and maintenance, data center services and end-user computing. "We are delighted to have reached a solution with our new providers that is based on state-of-the-art technologies and work methods and allows us to satisfy the demands of our IT users even more efficiently and cost-effectively," says Henkel Chief Information Officer Dr. Peter Wroblowski. In 2009, Henkel received numerous accolades for its efforts toward social responsibility. For one, Wal-Mart awarded Henkel the "Wal-Mart Sustainability Award" for making a substantial contribution to Wal-Mart's sustainability strategy. To better focus on its core adhesives businesses, Henkel sold its do-it-yourself line of tapes, office and houseware products under the Duck, Painter's Mate Green and Easy Liner brands in June 2009.