Here is a take
This heightened brand skirmish is a signal Unilever and P&G’s joust may have come to the knockout stage. For some time now, media attention has been focussed on a sideshow: a legal battle between HUL and P&G playing out in Chennai and Kolkata. Whatever be their eventual outcome, much of this shadow boxing may remain just a mere footnote in P&G’s latest battle with Unilever. The real story is about strategic intent; and more importantly, about capabilities to compete aggressively in emerging markets like India.
For ten long years, under AG Lafley’s leadership, P&G has quietly reworked its globalisation game plan. Today, it is perhaps much better prepared to win in emerging markets. Soon after taking over in July last year, the new CEO Bob McDonald articulated the company’s new purpose: Focus on winning consumers in emerging markets. “We are serving 3.5 billion people today I am confident we can reach at least another one billion or more in the decade ahead,” McDonald said. “If, over time, we increase per capita consumption [of P&G products] in both China and India to the rate we see in Mexico, it would generate an incremental USD 40 billion in annual sales,” he told the Financial Times.
