Latest news with #consumerbrands
Forbes
27-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
P&G's CIO Seth Cohen Shares A Blueprint For Leading With Technology
Procter & Gamble's Cincinnati headquarters Procter & Gamble, the 188-year-old consumer goods powerhouse based in Cincinnati, boasts $84 billion in annual revenue with popular brands ranging from Pampers and Gillette to Tide and Bounty. Seth Cohen is the company's Chief Information Officer. He is a former global CIO roles at PepsiCo and Reckitt Benckiser, and, as such, brought decades of perspective on how to drive digital transformation at scale to P&G. Cohen described his role as CIO as both strategic and deeply collaborative. He oversees infrastructure, security, data analytics and commercial capabilities, but emphasized that his real responsibility lies in aligning the entire matrixed organization around a coherent technology strategy. "P&G is a highly matrixed organization, and that complexity initially felt daunting," he said. "But it works! It enables us to drive coordinated strategies across categories, regions and functions." Understanding P&G's Consumer-First Focus While P&G is widely recognized for its consumer brands, Cohen emphasized that what sets the company apart is its obsession with understanding and anticipating consumer needs. "There's a maniacal focus on understanding the wants and needs of the consumer," he explained. This consumer orientation fuels what P&G calls its "vectors of superiority," ensuring that its products meet expectations at every turn. Cohen and team work with the broader enterprise to translate these consumer insights into digital capabilities. He was candid about the hard work involved in building digital capabilities, however. "Unlike what we see in the press or YouTube videos, you don't just snap your fingers and digital capabilities appear," he noted. P&G starts with the business capability, not the technology, and then works backward to identify what tech is needed to enable it. Foundational systems like ERP and salesforce automation must be solid before layering on advanced tools. The Power of a Unified Data Layer and AI Factory A core enabler of P&G's digital transformation is what Cohen calls the company's "AI factory," a platform that democratizes access to data and AI capabilities. Freeing data out of systems of record into a common data repository is critical, he explained. This data lake fuels the AI factory, where algorithms and generative AI models can be scaled across use cases. "It's not a bunch of one-off answers,' Cohen underscored. 'It's a platform.' The result is a flywheel effect: new use cases build on past ones, rapidly accelerating capability development. Upskilling for the AI Era Cohen acknowledged that tools alone don't drive transformation; people do. After years of outsourcing, P&G is reinvesting in internal talent. "We want to own and control capabilities like data science and cloud engineering," he said. The company is upskilling both IT and business teams, partnering with institutions like Harvard Business School to raise digital fluency. "A digitally reluctant organization makes it hard to introduce new capabilities,' he added. 'We're changing that." Despite concerns that AI may eliminate jobs, Cohen is optimistic. "I don't think AI replaces the human,' he noted. 'It helps the human be much more productive." Comparing it to the advent of spreadsheets, he predicted that embracing AI will become table stakes. "If you're not experimenting with AI, you're falling behind." Building a Future-Ready Supply Chain A company the size of P&G has a complex global supply chain, and recent years have wreaked havoc on many companies' supply chain efficiency. Cohen highlighted efforts to enhance P&G's supply chain resilience. One example in Brazil leveraged AI to fix out-of-stock issues by analyzing demand signals, weather and holidays. "We [decreased] out-of-stock [items] by 15 percentage points," he said, calling it a massive win in an industry where one or two points is the norm. Supply innovations that have been spurred include Pampers Club, a consumer loyalty app that enables P&G to trace individual diapers through the supply chain. By linking consumer scans to manufacturing and distribution data, P&G can diagnose product issues at the microsecond level. "We know what store it came from, how long it took to get there and even what time it hit the glue gun," Cohen said. Another example involves AI-powered insights for retail execution, helping store managers benchmark against peers and optimize shelf layouts in real time. Foreseeing a Future with Agentic AI and Quantum Optimization Given P&G's progress relative to AI, Cohen is excited about continued advancement toward reasoning models and agentic AI, systems that can interact conversationally and automate complex workflows. "Why should you need a dashboard when you can talk to your data?" he asked. But realizing that vision requires building corporate-specific vocabularies and managing identity for AI agents. To remain abreast of innovations and their potential application to P&G, Cohen relies on a rotating technology advisory board of 20-25 experts who explore emerging tech and recommend strategic bets. "I walk into those meetings and feel humbled,' he said. 'They know more than I do.' This team educates Cohen and others on the art-of-the-possible. As P&G continues to evolve, Cohen's blend of vision, execution and humility offers a blueprint for digital leadership in the AI age. Peter High is President of Metis Strategy, a business and IT advisory firm. He has written three bestselling books, including his latest Getting to Nimble. He also moderates the Technovation podcast series and speaks at conferences around the world. Follow him on Twitter @PeterAHigh.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How Heineken tapped into China's beer market
Western consumer brands in China have long been coming to terms with the prospect of lower growth in the world's second-largest economy. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
This High-Yield Dividend Stock Could Deliver in a Downturn
General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) is a global producer and distributor of well-known packaged food brands. Its wide-ranging product lineup includes cereals, yogurt, soups, meal kits, snack and nutrition bars, ice cream, frozen pizzas, pet food, and more. Although founded in 1866, the company didn't fully pivot to consumer foods until 1995. Today, it's among the largest food manufacturers, with a market value exceeding $29 billion. The company's consistent investment in advertising and product development has helped it reach more than 95% of U.S. households and lead in several food categories. General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) has shown resilience during economic downturns. For example, in 2010, it posted record results, including increased net sales, higher gross margins, growth in operating profit across segments, and strong cash flow. A key factor in its stability is its reliable dividend. General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) has maintained consistent dividend payments for an impressive 126 consecutive years, even during some of the most difficult economic periods. This dividend stability comes from its stable cash position. In the first nine months of FY25, the company generated an operating cash flow of $2.3 billion, and it returned $1 billion to shareholders through dividends. On top of that, General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) has a dividend yield of 4.5%, which analysts and investors view as particularly appealing within the packaged food industry. While we acknowledge the potential of GIS as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some deeply undervalued dividend stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for a deeply undervalued dividend stock that is more promising than GIS but that trades at 10 times its earnings and grows its earnings at double digit rates annually, check out our report about the . READ MORE: and Disclosure. None.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
This High-Yield Dividend Stock Could Deliver in a Downturn
General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) is a global producer and distributor of well-known packaged food brands. Its wide-ranging product lineup includes cereals, yogurt, soups, meal kits, snack and nutrition bars, ice cream, frozen pizzas, pet food, and more. Although founded in 1866, the company didn't fully pivot to consumer foods until 1995. Today, it's among the largest food manufacturers, with a market value exceeding $29 billion. The company's consistent investment in advertising and product development has helped it reach more than 95% of U.S. households and lead in several food categories. General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) has shown resilience during economic downturns. For example, in 2010, it posted record results, including increased net sales, higher gross margins, growth in operating profit across segments, and strong cash flow. A key factor in its stability is its reliable dividend. General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) has maintained consistent dividend payments for an impressive 126 consecutive years, even during some of the most difficult economic periods. This dividend stability comes from its stable cash position. In the first nine months of FY25, the company generated an operating cash flow of $2.3 billion, and it returned $1 billion to shareholders through dividends. On top of that, General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) has a dividend yield of 4.5%, which analysts and investors view as particularly appealing within the packaged food industry. While we acknowledge the potential of GIS as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some deeply undervalued dividend stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for a deeply undervalued dividend stock that is more promising than GIS but that trades at 10 times its earnings and grows its earnings at double digit rates annually, check out our report about the . READ MORE: and Disclosure. None. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Fast Company
23-05-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
How long can brands like Walmart really ‘eat the tariffs'?
Branded is a weekly column devoted to the intersection of marketing, business, design, and culture. Earnings season has an important new element this quarter: President Donald Trump. Wall Street is hungry for clarity from big consumer brands about the impact tariffs may have on prices—and thus inflation. But Trump has been making it clear what his administration believes companies should do to the prices they charge shoppers: nothing. 'EAT THE TARIFFS,' he berated Walmart recently, after the big-box giant indicated during an earnings call that price increases might be in the offing. 'Given the magnitude of the tariffs,' CEO Doug McMillon said, 'we aren't able to absorb all the pressure, given the reality of narrow retail margins.' Trump's blunt rejoinder on social media waved that away, insisting Walmart need 'not charge valued customers ANYTHING' extra in response to the tariffs, adding: 'I'll be watching, and so will your customers!!!' (Walmart reported quarterly revenue of about $165 billion, up 2.5% over the same quarter last year.) Trump has also attacked toymaker Mattel for suggesting it could move production to dodge tariff costs, as well as Amazon for reportedly considering a plan to spell out tariff cost increases to consumers. The message seems to be getting through. This week another big-box giant, Home Depot, reported earnings—and made it clear that it claims to have no tariff-driven price increases planned. 'We don't see broad-based price increases for our customers at all going forward,' CEO Billy Bastek said in an earnings call. Target also reported earnings, and while its CEO acknowledged tariff pressure, he called price hikes 'the very last resort.' Even Walmart has since sounded a somewhat conciliatory note: 'We have always worked to keep our prices as low as possible and we won't stop,' the company said in a statement this week. 'We'll keep prices as low as we can for as long as we can, given the reality of small retail margins.' It's unclear how long presidential jawboning can stave off retail price increases, but the apparent effort is remarkable. In the last election, Democratic candidate Kamala Harris was slammed by critics who dubiously characterized her proposal to crack down on 'price gouging' as essentially government price control. Attempting to publicly micromanage companies considering tariff-related price rises doesn't have the force of law, but it certainly seems like government marketplace meddling, aimed squarely at controlling prices. Public companies in particular are left to thread the needle of serving shareholders by maximizing earnings and keeping investors informed of risks—while avoiding hostile publicity from the White House. Polling data suggests consumers expect further inflation, so maybe at this point of Trump's pressure campaign, it is just about who (companies or government policy) gets blamed for the trade war's inevitable impact on costs. That said, any attempt at actually staving off tariff-sparked price increases with loud rhetoric seems doomed: A poll from insurer Allianz found that 54% of U.S. companies say they will have to raise prices to cope with tariffs. Not even Trump can bully a majority of American businesses to 'eat the tariffs.' And in fact, Home Depot's high-profile distancing from tariff price increases had some caveats. Some toolmakers have already raised prices, and Home Depot's CEO noted that one way it might avoid hikes is with less inventory: 'There are items that we have that could potentially be impacted from a tariff that, candidly, we won't have going forward.' Of course, there is nothing surprising or unexpected about tariffs driving up prices or narrowing consumer choice. It's exactly what most economic assessments said would happen, what companies large and small have anticipated —and indeed what many of the big-box giants' leaders reportedly warned Trump would happen earlier this year. Even Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent now admits that prices are going to rise. Ultimately, these businesses will take the steps they need to, and consumers will muddle through the consequences. But perhaps, if the Trump administration's pressure campaign works, all that will happen with as little talk of tariffs as possible.
