1. What is Procter & Gamble’s business strategy? What is the relationship of collaboration and innovation to that business strategy?
In order to reach out to its worldwide customer base, its employees, and its suppliers, Procter and Gamble have to use a distributed development strategy. The relationship of collaboration and innovation is ensuring that everyone, from the people that work for the company, to include the management, to the suppliers, is involved somehow in their ultimate goal which is provide quality goods for their consumer base. This will also enable them to stay competitive in the market.
2. How is P&G using collaboration systems to execute its business model and business strategy? List and describe the collaboration systems and technologies it is using and the benefits of each.
P & G took a close look at what they needed. They were interested in something that would support their systems that were based primarily on Microsoft systems. They wanted collaboration systems that would be easily adapted to by their employees. They wanted a system that would bring “real-time collaboration services, including calendars, schedules, workflow, virtual meeting sites, instant messaging, and virtual conferencing” (Procter and Gamble Releases, 2008).
Their main system that they adopted, Teamcenter, gave them just that. It was easy to adopt, it was cost effective, and it supported the Microsoft-based IT infrastructure that they operated off of. It also provided them with the form of visual collaboration that they desired, CAD-neutral format. The Teamcenter system gives the user a “customized view” of product information. It lets the user, such as the suppliers and employees, see their work in whatever format suits them, even the CAD-format content such as graphs. It also lets them share this information across the world, bridging geographical and time zone gaps.
The Business plan on Mcdonald’s Business Strategy
, Inc. 11410 N. E. 124th Street #223 Kirkland, Washington 98034 USA O: 425-822-3106 C: 206-257-9839 com Table of Contents Page 3 Page 5 Page 6 Page 9 Page 11 Page 12 Page 16 Page 18 Page 21 Executive Summary Our Business Plan The Market Defined World View Pilot Program (Ethiopia) Projected Market Share Market Strategy Promotion Competition The Bottled Water Industry Product Development - Four Keys ...
3. Why were some collaborative technologies slow to catch on at P&G?
Some of the new technologies that were trying to be introduced were not compatible with the Microsoft infrastructure and IT systems that were already in place. When this occurs, there has to be a work-around. When an employee sees that there is going to be some type of issue with something new that’s being introduced, there’s going to be a certain amount of resistance to it. They are hesitant to stray from a system in place that works.
4. Compare P&G’s old and new processes for writing up and distributing the results of a research experiment.
Procter and Gamble researchers simply used pens and notebooks to annotate their findings. However, they adopted Adobe LifeCycle Reader Extensions and Adobe LifeCycle PDF Format Generator. This allows them to transcribe, read, and process a large amount of data. It also allows them to ensure the security of the recorded information by placing it into .pdf format.
5. Why is Telepresence such a useful collaborative tool for a company like P&G?
Telepresence is a video teleconferencing tool that can save Procter and Gamble money is a few ways. First, this company spans the globe, its products are various. Employees are based worldwide. Before VTC technology came around, employees would have to consume part of the company’s budget to attend meetings. Airfare and hotel rooms are expensive. VTC systems, such as Telepresence, save the company money in travel expenses, and employee quality of life, like time spent with families rather than traveling, is improved.
6. Can you think of other ways P&G could use collaboration to foster innovation?
In their research and development section, as stated before, most of their “great ideas” when it comes to IT ideas are transcribed into notebooks. A lot of the R & D employees are hesitant to take these ideas and transcribe them into electronic format using the IT technologies that are in place. Emphasis should be placed, and the technologies should be reinforced and a standard set in place, on capturing these “great ideas” and gravitating towards something like a knowledge network. All the employees should have access to this knowledge network in order to facilitate a safe, secure area where good ideas can be captured and shared amongst themselves. Middle and upper management should have access also. Great ideas that transpire into something tangible, something real that the company can use should result in some type of rewards system. By allowing the employees to have a say in improving on the products, the employees will be more apt to embrace these new systems rather than resist them.
The Term Paper on Presentation About Procter and Gamble
... By this point, approximately 80 employees worked for Procter & Gamble. During the American Civil War, the company won contracts to supply ... 2003 over rumors forwarded through a company voicemail system in 1995. In 2011 the company successfully sued individual Amway distributors for ... Soft & Dri, and Dry Idea were sold to Dial Corporation.[5] The companies officially merged on October 1, 2005. ...
References
Siemens PLM Software. (2008).
Procter and Gamble Releases a Collaborative
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Microsoft Case Studies. (2009).
Procter and Gamble Company.
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Adobe Systems Incorporated. (2008).
Procter & Gamble. Retrieved from
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Cisco Systems, Inc. (2008).
Procter and Gamble Revolutionizes Collaboration With Cisco
Telepresence. Retrieved from
http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac79/docs/wp/Procter_Gamble_Final.pdf.
Koch, Christopher. (2007).
IT’s Role in Collaboration and Innovation at Procter & Gamble.
Retrieved from http://www.cio.com.
