Thinking Smarter Inside the Box
Patrick BarwiseLondon Business SchoolSeán MeehanIMD, Lausanne, Switzerland
Even great companies lose their way. Consider Procter & Gamble. By the late 1990s, P&G was one of the best known, most successful and most admired companies in the world. Yet in the final years of the last century, following a programme of 'innovation, stretch and change', P&G lost 50% of it value, a staggering $70 billion.
Under the ambitious 'Organisation 2005' programme, the company temporarily lost sight of the basics – investing heavily in their big brands – by diverting resources into a myriad...