想发英文paper的同学可以参考下（转） (2008-04-03 02:56:34)
标签：杂谈 分类：生活及学术常识
查double blind无意发现的一篇文章，想发英文paper的同学可以参考下。
原文来自：http://tranquilflame./blog/
要写文章就要查文献。读不同的文献有不同的读法。下面是从MITBBS摘录的一段内容，比较有价值。
最重要的自己总结概括这篇文献到底说了什么，否则就是白读，读的时候好像什么都明白，一合上就什么都不知道，这是读文献的大忌，既浪费时间，最重要的是，没有养成良好的习惯，导致以后不愿意读文献。
1、每次读完文献（不管是细读还是粗读），合上文献后，想想看，文章最重要的take home message是什么，如果不知道，就从abstract， conclusion里找，并且从discuss里最好确认一下。这样一来，一篇文章就过关了。take home message其实都不会很多， 基本上是一些concepts，如果你发现你需要记得很多，那往往是没有读到重点。
呵呵，我觉得读一篇reaearch paper，可以先看abstract，然后看看introduction和
conclusion，然后再从文章中寻找自己感兴趣的部分，浏览一下就可以了，不需要精读，这样的效率比较高。很多文章其实从introduction就可以看出作者对某个领域的以往的研究成果的综述，作者在该部分进行的参考文献引用往往也值得引起注意，对于一篇好的paper它引用的参考文献往往是业界大牛的成果，值得加入自己的参考文献数据库。
2、扩充知识面的读法，重点读introduction，看人家提出的问题，以及目前的进展。类似的文章，每天读一两篇，一个月内就基本上对这个领域的某个方向有个大概的了解。读好的review（综述）也行，但这样人容易懒惰。
这种方法很好。如果都能找到相关mini-track的顶级期刊、会议的paper，看他们的
introduction和conclusion就差不多了。文章的数量其实不用特别多，20-30篇也够了。
3、为了写文章的读法，读文章的时候，尤其是看discussion的时候，看到好的英文句型，最好有意识的记一下，看一下作者是谁，哪篇文章，哪个期刊，这样以后照猫画虎写的时候，效率
高些。比自己在那里半天琢磨出一个句子强的多。当然，读的多，写的多，你需要记得句型就越少。
这个方法我也在用。顶级刊物、会议的paper更值得学习。对于EE的，自然是transactions of IEEE和一些IEEE会议的文章，对于CS或者MIS的看看communications of the ACM、Inｆｒｏｍation systems research等刊物，以及ICIS、夏威夷系统工程会议、AMCIS这些会议的文章会有很大好处，可以学习到非常老练的语言表达和句式，用到自己的paper里面。文章是写得越多越顺手。
有意识的去总结和记亿，就不容易忘记。下面是我对英文paper写作的一点经验。
1、写英文paper文献阅读量很重要，而且要合理搭配，要仔细看看大牛的文章。我自己的第一篇英文会议paper，5000字左右，写上去的参考文献有36篇英文期刊、会议文章和相关英文书籍。其实背后的文献阅读量（中文+英文）总共有3倍左右，都是自己检索的，其中多数文章都是按照上面的方法浏览的，只是侧重于看看人家有什么idea，对相关领域的趋势是怎么分析，顺便也学学语言，只有少数20多篇文章是仔细精读的。
2、尽量找优秀期刊的文章或者大牛作者的文章。通过阅读优秀paper（是否优秀，要看所在期刊的影响因子），检索其参考文献中对自己有价值的文章是搜集参考文献的一条捷径。
3、好paper不厌改。我的paper，最开始的版本号是1.0，最终提交版本的是6.6版。其中5.0以前的版本不堪入目，写得实在很烂。跟老板讨论了许多次以后，6.0版开始有了质的飞跃。现在看来，最后的文章和前面版本的文章是大相径庭的。
4、做好时间计划。好的会议截稿非常早。例如今年6月在纽约召开的美国控制系统大会，截稿日期是去年的9月初。一般会议的截稿deadline集中在年初1-3月，还有年底9-11月。想参加明年的许多会议，就需要提前半年-1年做好充分准备。
5、我写paper的经验：很多都是靠老板指导的。老板真的超好人，多次指导我修正idea，帮我不厌其烦地修改了许多次paper，从逻辑结构到文章层次，从句法到措辞，都有悉心指导。下面有3条非常好的tips，供参考：
科研论文尽量不用第1和第2人称； 为表示客观，尽量用被动语态； 摘要不能出现对论文评价的语句；
6、几个关于会议、期刊审稿、投稿的术语：
single-blind review：单盲法审稿，即作者不知道自己文章的审稿人是谁，但审稿人可以知道作者的身份。比较客观，AMCIS就是这样审稿的。
double-blind review：双盲法审稿，凡是涉及作者的名字、单位的地方等在审稿时会自动隐藏，即审稿人不知道作者身份，反之亦然。ACM的许多顶级大会、ICIS都是采用这样的审稿方法，更加客观。
camera ready paper：In desktop publishing, camera-ready refers to the final state of a publication before it is printed. Historically, the term has meant that the copy is ready to be photographed and turned into plates for offset printing. Increasingly, however, it is possible to print directly from the electronic version, either by sending it to a high-resolution laser printer or to a special device that can generate plates directly from electronic elements rather than from photographs. In these cases, therefore, camera-ready means merely that the document is ready to be printed. 就是这么回事。accept后经过修改的paper，按照出版物要求做完处理就成了camera ready paper，可以进行出版物印刷。
7、衡量会议质量看什么：
acceptance rate：是衡量一个会议级别的最重要的指标。一般录用率10%左右或者更少的是顶级会议，10-20%左右的是很好的会议，30%左右的是较好的会议，40%以上就是一般的会议了，50%以上的会议就价值一般了。举例：ACM SIGMETRICS 2006大会由密歇根大学举办，一共提交了320多篇paper，最后只有52篇被accepted。ACM SIGMETRICS 2007是由CMU举办，可惜审稿期太长，有4个月，截稿期限也早，最后我也没投成。（也好在没投，当时的paper肯定会是rejection）
program committee：学术性质很强。看看都是些什么大学的professor，有没有相关领域的牛人。
第二篇：pg-paper 宝洁全英文介绍
From Dog Food to Body Wash 1
Procter and Gamble: From Dog Food to Body Wash Laura Buckner, Landon Heidenreich, & Jennifer Simpson
Busa-308
10 May 2007
Table of Contents
I. Company Description II. Business Mission III. Marketing Objective IV. Situation Analysis a. Industry Analysis b. SWOT Analysis V. Marketing Strategy a. Target Market Strategy b. Marketing Mix
1. Product
2. Place/Distribution
3. Promotion
4. Price VI. Implementation, Evaluation and Control
a. Marketing Research b. Organizational Structure and Plan c. Financial Projections d. Summary
From Dog Food to Body Wash 2 3 4 5 6 6 10 13 13 15 15 16 17 19 19 19 19 20 21
From Dog Food to Body Wash 3
I. Company Description
William Procter and James Gamble, in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded Procter and Gamble in 1837. They started the business by making and selling their own soap and candles. On October 31, 1837, they formalized their relationship by signing a partnership agreement. The partnership flourished under the two founders and family members
became involved in the business. In 1879, James Norris Gamble, a son of James Gamble, and Harley Procter, a son of William Procter, created a white soap equal to other high quality soaps in the marketplace, which they named Ivory. This product became a huge success for the company and remains one of their most recognized products. Procter and Gamble slowly started releasing different types of products such as laundry detergent, diapers and toothpaste. They have continued to be innovators in household products throughout the decades and today, Procter and Gamble has nearly 300 brands in over 160 countries. They are constantly researching and developing new products that range from Personal and Beauty, House and Home, Health and Wellness, Baby and family, to Pet Care and Nutrition. They are committed to helping consumers with health, hygiene, and convenience. The company is broken into three different segments: Health and Beauty, Household care, and Gillette. Their products are sold through merchandisers, grocery stores, clubs, and drug stores.
Their main headquarters remains in Cincinnati, Ohio but they have operation
offices in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. The company employs
approximately 138,000 people. P&G value their employees and treat them with respect. They were the first company to have a profit sharing program awarding their employees
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for meeting goals. They ensure that their employees understand and utilize the company’s values and principles in their work for the company.
II. Business Mission
Procter and Gamble is one of the most admired companies in the world. They take pride in their products, values and principles and involvement in the world. Their mission statement or purpose reflects this pride. Their purpose, as stated on their webpage, pg.com, is that “we will provide branded products and services of superior quality and value that improve the lives of the world's consumers. As a result, consumers will reward us with leadership sales, profit, and value creation, allowing our people, our shareholders, and the communities in which we live and work to prosper” (Purpose pg.com). Procter and Gamble’s quality products are the result of their massive investment in research and development. They are continually improving existing
products and brands while creating new products. They understand what their consumer wants and have the technology to develop the products that will meet these wants. Additionally, Procter and Gamble view their employees as the most important asset of the company and encourage them to have the same values and principles as the company. All employees of Procter and Gamble are considered leaders and encouraged to take responsibility to do the best that they can while meeting business needs, bettering the system and helping those around them (Values pg.com). They try to do what is right in all situations. Honesty is valued in the workplace and employees expect fellow employees to be honest in the workplace. They are encouraged to be skeptical of the operating norm and to offer suggestions that will improve the workplace. From these employees’ values, the principles of the company can be seen. Procter and Gamble
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shows respect for all individuals who deal with their company and treat them honestly. Leaders of P&G understand that the success of the company is dependent upon them developing policies that are right for the company. They define objectives for the
company and focus on meeting these goals. The company not only is internally focused but also it concentrates on relationships with consumers and suppliers (Principles
pg.com). Procter and Gamble learns from both their success and failures to achieve their mission. Overall, they try to make the company the best it can be while upholding their beliefs.
Beyond just making the best products, Procter and Gamble tries to improve the communities that they touch around the world. The company believes they have a social responsibility to these communities. On the basic level, they provide products that improve the lives of their consumers in terms of health and convenience. By treating their employees fairly they contribute to their social and financial well-being. On the global level, they give aid to philanthropic programs such as Humanitarian and Disaster Relief. Procter and Gamble also produces products that are safe to the environment in both production and in their use. They strive to better the quality of life for everyone both now and in the future.
III. Marketing Objective
Procter and Gamble’s main marketing objective is to go beyond providing what the consumer wants but more specifically know what the consumer wants before they do and create a need for it. The world today is constantly changing and Procter and Gamble focuses on understanding these changes and creating new products or upgrading an existing brand that meet the shifting needs of consumers. They aspire to transform
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“culture into a consumable item” (Marketing pg.com). The role of the consumer has revolutionized over the past few decades. Their values have changed and Procter and Gamble works to understand these changes and build their brands and products to symbolize these values.
Procter and Gamble’s marketing department meet their objectives by having their employees focus on a single brand rather than developing marketing strategies that could fit any brand the company produces. These employees have a larger role than just creating a marketing plan for their brand. They gain knowledge of their brand by working with the research and development, manufacturing, sales, production, and
distribution of their brand. This background provides them a better understanding of the brand, which they are marketing. By using this brand knowledge and understanding the consumer at an in depth level, the marketing employees combine this information into a marketing plan. Each brand becomes “their baby” and marketing employees nurture it to see the success of that brand through meeting the needs of their consumers.
IV. Situation Analysis
Industry Analysis
Trends
As stated in the Yahoo Finance webpage, Procter and Gamble’s main industry in which they compete is Personal Products (PG industry ). The industry focuses on selling products that meet the needs of everyday consumers in areas such as personal hygiene, beauty and health, pet care and other household products. A major issue within this industry is the contaminated pet food. Many companies have been forced to recall their pet food products because of the dangerous and harmful threat it
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poses to animals. Consumers want a product that they know will be safe for their pets. These customers of the personal products industry have begun to look elsewhere for their pet food products taking revenue away from the leading companies in this industry such as P&G. These companies must regain the trust of these customers by putting a product on the market that is safe for all pets and take all measures to ensure that the
contaminated pet food is off the market.
Another growing trend in the personal products industry is for companies to make environmentally safe products. More and more consumers are becoming aware of the impact, which everyday personal products have on the environment. Global warming and our actions in slowing it down has become headline news. Companies must find ways to produce products that are safe for the environment while continuing to be of high quality and of similar prices to past products. Consumers are becoming more inclined to buy a product that is safe for their family and is safe for nature even if it means they have to pay a little bit more for it. To stay competitive, companies such as Procter and Gamble must continue spending money in their R&D department to create safe and
environmentally friendly products.
Competitors
Procter and Gamble’s three main competitors are Johnson and Johnson,
Kimberly-Clark, and Unilever. These companies match or come close to matching the revenue of P&G. There are differences among the products sold between the companies but they all have similar product ideas.
Johnson and Johnson has the highest net income of these companies. The primary revenue generator for the company is their health care products. They have a strong
From Dog Food to Body Wash 8
brand association with their Band Aid and Neosporin products. Furthermore, Johnson and Johnson focuses on providing products to doctors, nurses and patients that need and use these health care products. Johnson and Johnson, as a company, strives to meet the need of their customers while providing a fair profit to their suppliers and distributors (jnj.com). They also take responsibility to give back to the community that they live in. Through their quality products, commitment to their customers and giving back to the community, Johnson and Johnson is a tough company with which to compete.
The Kimberly-Clark company dominates the health and hygiene markets. Some of their larger brands range from Kleenex to Depend Diapers. According to their website kimberly-clark.com, they hold the number one and number two shares in their markets in over 80 countries (kimberly-clark.com). They base much of their innovation off their customers’ preferences and wants. Their three concerns with being successful are quality, service and fair dealing.
Unilever is a food, home, and personal care company. Their products vary from Vaseline to Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream. They focus on constantly enhancing and
developing products that better the lives of their customers. Unilever makes everyday products for people that want to use a safe and healthy product.
Customer Profile
Procter and Gamble is constantly looking for new ways to meet the needs of their customers. These customers range from men and women to cats and dogs. P&G has a couple different ways they research to meet their consumers’ needs: qualitative and
quantitative. P&G conducts their qualitative research by having focus group discussions, in-home visits in-context visits, and in-store interviews. This allows P&G to interact
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personally with their consumers to get their opinions and facts on how their products are helping or not helping them. Their quantitative research includes habits and practices, blind tests, concept aided usage and quality monitoring. The quantitative research is used to see habitual data and use this for new ideas relating to how consumers use these
products in their homes and outside of their homes. Quantitative research involves larger groups and statistical data analysis. These types of researches help the company in many different ways. It can help management and improve the way they make decisions, it make it easier to trace problems, and helps the company to focus on new, different ways to maintain their existing customers.
Innovations
Procter and Gamble is constantly trying to find ways to improve their products related to personal and beauty, house and home, health and wellness, pet nutrition and care. These are the company’s primary product lines and they are continually researching and developing new ideas to improve the products.
Procter and Gamble has focused a lot of research on their personal and beauty line. They have researched different types of hair and skin, and have developed products to fit theses types. P&G’s hair product line deals with the different lengths, treatments, problems and disorders of hair. They develop products such as shampoos and
conditioners and styling products to fit the needs of the different hair types. Procter and Gamble conducts similar research on skin structure, identifying the different types of layers and the genetics of skin. This research provides insight into different skin
problems including what effect the sun has on the aging of skin. They have developed
From Dog Food to Body Wash 10
many different lotions, moisturizers and oils to help take care of the skin throughout a lifetime.
Proctor and Gamble has discovered several innovations for their house and home products. A lot of research was invested in combining laundry detergent with bleach to provide consumers a single product for the laundry room. This was a difficult task
because of the composition of bleach and its effects on clothes. They eventually found a way to make bleach safe for fabrics and stable when mixed with detergent (pg.com). The research that was conducted to find a way to mix the two was expensive but now the mixture of bleach in laundry detergent is affordable for everyone. Another major
innovation in the house and home product line was the improvement of the paper towel, which involved a change in the papermaking process (pgcom). The “absorbent capacity, strength, flexibility, softness, and thickness of structured tissues, and towels make usage more convenient, faster, and comfortable” (pg.com). These developments have set P&G above their competitors in the house and home product lines.
Procter and Gamble has also invested heavily in research for their other product lines that has resulted in many improved products. They have developed different formulas related to toothpaste particularly Crest. In addition, they have developed leak proof diapers for their baby care line, Pampers. In their pet nutrition and care line, Iams and Eukanuba, they are providing healthy food products for animals.
SWOT Analysis
The SWOT analysis gives an overview of Proctor and Gamble internal strengths and weaknesses and the external opportunities and threats. According to Marketline Business Information Centre, P&G’s SWOT analysis is summed up with the following:
From Dog Food to Body Wash 11
Strengths
? Procter and Gamble has gained a leading market position with most of its
businesses. They are the global market leader in the beauty segment. They are also leaders in the oral care and fabric care segments. Their brands amongst these segments have become leading names. This leading market position provides the company a competitive edge and stable financial growth.
? The company has a diversified and innovative product portfolio. They have over 300 brands that spans across 40 product markets. They have succeeded in becoming a world leader in brand creation and brand building. Their product portfolio is one of the largest with trusted, quality brands. Furthermore, Procter and Gamble focuses on product innovation. They conduct more than 10,000 research studies a year and work together with 4 million consumers all over the world. With their diverse and innovative product portfolio, they protect
themselves from demand fluctuations amongst their product lines and gain customer loyalty and revenue growth.
? Procter and Gamble has posted strong finances in the recent years. They have had strong revenue growth across all of their key segments. In addition, their revenue growth and profit margins has been higher than the industry’s average. Their positive financial statements have also strengthened the company’s market position
Weaknesses
? Procter and Gamble has quality control problems with some of their products. They have placed recalls on certain products such as cosmetics made in China and
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the Swiffer Sweep&Vac. If they have continual recalls, it could tarnish their brand image leading to lower customer loyalty.
? The company has seen decreased revenues in their Northeast Asia market. This market has such high profit potential and this current trend puts Procter and Gamble at a disadvantage with their competitors.
Opportunities
? One of the greatest opportunities for any company is the developing markets of developing countries. These countries have market potential that is expected to increase in the next few years. Currently, Procter and Gamble only offers products in 10 of their top 25 product categories in most of the developing countries. They have an opportunity to expand their market shares in these developing countries.
? The demographic trends across the world are moving in a direction to help boost Procter and Gamble’s sales. The aging baby boomers of the US are becoming more beauty focused and using more beauty and anti-aging products. The
cosmetic segment of P&G could benefit from this trend. Additionally, there is an increased demand for pet food all over the world. More and more households are owning pets and often times more than just one. Procter and Gamble’s Iams brand of pet food can become a major segment for the company aiming to meet this increased demand.
Threats
? The markets that Proctor and Gamble compete in are filled with other large, well-established companies such as Colgate-Palmolive and Unilever. These companies
From Dog Food to Body Wash 13
produce products that are just as effective as P&G products. Procter and Gamble must constantly compete with these companies in almost all of their markets. ? Rising energy prices are affecting all business and Procter and Gamble is no exception. The company’s costs of energy and raw material has gone up
significantly in the past year and will continue to increase as the price of gasoline, natural gas and diesel fuel escalates. This increase will affect the company’s profits.
? The economic slowdown in both the US and Eurozone will greatly strain Procter and Gamble. These two markets are extremely important to the company’s revenues. With rising interest rates in the US and increased inflation in the
Eurozone, people are tighter with their money which could lead to decreased sales for P&G.
? New regulations on health and beauty products could become a problem for Procter and Gamble. More and more consumer protection groups are pressuring for healthier products with less harmful chemicals in them. The US food and drug administration is forcing companies to meet higher quality control
regulations on their products. This could slow down the launching of new
products for P&G and force the company to spend more on R&D of new products that meet the regulations’ standards.
V. Marketing Strategy
Target Market Strategy
Being that Proctor and Gamble has such large diverse product lines, their target market is more than just one defined market. Because of this, Proctor and Gamble has
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gone to great lengths to recover data to determine their target market with some
individual products. For example Proctor and Gamble uses the internet to test how their products will do in their target markets. One product they use for this is the Crest
Whitestrips and Premium Whitestrips. From online surveys, P&G found that 80 percent of the potential buyers were woman between the ages of 35-54 (Lamb, Hair, and
McDaniel, 2007). This information further helped them narrow down to a specific buyer with one product. Also, Proctor and Gamble went as far as video taping consumers at home, basically their own reality TV, to learn about the consumers and to reveal more about what the surveys didn’t show.
As for the products sold at Proctor and Gamble, the target market seems to point to stay-at-home parents, more specifically mothers with children. With so many cleaning products, feminine hygiene, personal and beauty care, baby and family, and pet nutrition and care products, Proctor and Gamble naturally targets those who own homes. These individual are the ones that are most likely to use and need the P&G products.
Proctor and Gamble uses this motherly target market in the set up of their website, pg.com, basing pictures, captions and arrangement around the female attraction. The website has a feminine touch to it with colors that would be seen in your mom’s kitchen. Not to mention that almost all the pictures on the website are of females, most looking around the age of 30. P&G brands use the same target markets as the P&G website in their TV commercials, magazine ads and other advertisements (pg.com). Proctor and Gamble is targeting the homeowners market. Most of their products are used for home purposes. P&G use target marketing, but their products are so well known and used that not very much target marketing is needed, due to brand recognition.
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While not as big as the homeowner market, Procter and Gamble also offers business-to-business selling. According to their pgbrands.com website, P&G is committed to boosting other businesses’ sales, increasing their efficiencies, and
improving these businesses profitability through their B2B resource (pgbrands.com). P&G sells cleaning and laundry products, snacks, and coffee and beverages to other businesses. P&G has built a strong brand name recognition for their products and know that employees and customers of these businesses will feel more comfortable with these goods because they use the same products at home. Business-to-Business selling is another target market for Procter and Gamble.
Marketing Mix
Products
Procter and Gamble has very diverse product segments that can be broken into seven parts. These segments consists of health and beauty care, household and fabric care, baby and family care, pet health, snacks and coffees, blades and razors and finally Duracell (Marketline Business Information Centre). The segments can be broken down even farther into the products line within each one. To gain a more in-depth look at one of these segments, we will look at P&G’s body washes and soaps under their personal and beauty segment. Soaps were the first products the company sold in 1837. They had up to 50 different types of soaps (History pg.com) but today they have just a few main soap product lines. Ivory brand soap was the first of their current main product lines. It has been around for 125 years and continues to be a trusted name in soap for the whole family. They have expanded their products from just a classic bar of soap to body wash and dish soap (Ivory.com). They boast about a product that is mild and pure for all who
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use it. Olay is another brand under P&G’s body washes and soaps. All of these products are targeted towards women’s beauty needs. Their products are focused on creating beauty both on the inside and outside (Discover Olay olay.com). The line started in the 1950’s and continues to be a leader in women’s beauty products. These products range from anti-aging creams and face washes to sunless tanners. Their aim is to have every woman “love the skin they’re in” (olay.com). A different brand is P&G’s Noxzema line. Their products help produce healthy, glowing skin for every different type of person and lifestyle. They take into account the varied types of skin and produce products that meet the specific needs to each consumer which range from deep cleaning face pads to anti-blemish astringent (noxzemza.com). They help their customers find the line that right for them to have a healthy glow. A further brand of P&G’s soaps is their Camay brand. Camay was created when there was a demand for perfumed beauty soaps in 1926 (History pg.com). This soap continues today to be enhanced with French perfume. It leaves the skin moist while leaving a sensual feeling after use (Camay pg.com). One more important brand of the P&G family of soaps is the Zest Brand. Their products consist of different scents of bars of soap and body washes. These scents rejuvenate the consumer while the soaps and washes create a clean-lather that leaves the skin
moisturized (Zest.com). Zest goes beyond normal soaps to create a unique product for their customers.
Place/Distribution
. Procter and Gamble’s main headquarters are located in Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio. The Iams brand’s offices are located in Dayton while the rest of P&G’s general offices are in Cincinnati. In the United States, the company operates 39 manufacturing
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facilities in 23 different states (Marketline Business Information Centre). Furthermore, P&G runs 107 other manufacturing facilities in 42 countries in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. These facilities produce all of the P&G brands and products including their body washes and soaps. The products then are transported to different types of stores for sale. P&G products can be found in mass merchandise stores such as Costco or Sam’s
Club. These products can also be found in local grocery stores and drug stores. Promotion
Proctor and Gamble has their own promotion slogan while each of their brands has their own unique marketing plan geared toward their target market. P&G’s soap and body washes segment is no different. Each brand directly targets their products towards a specific group. Ivory focuses on the family. They have “been bringing timeless values like good clean fun to American families” for 125 years (Ivory.com). They view families as the key consumers of their products. Ivory has used the idea of a family product to continue building their line of products throughout the decades. Their website has a family oriented feel to it. They have soap project instructions for kids on their website further strengthening the idea of Ivory being a family product (Pure Fun ivory.com). They promote their products to the family unit to connect the purity and mildness of their products to the values within this group. Olay products are marketed toward women, particularly women in their 30s and older. They offer products that help women have healthier, younger looking skin. Their website also is geared towards their target market. It has a sexy look to it with options of a free consultation with members of the Olay team or helping find a local dermatologist (olay.com). Olay draws on the idea that all women are beautiful and their products will only enhance that beauty (olay.com). The Noxzema
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brand is along the same line of products as Olay but it is targeted towards teenagers and
young adults. These consumers are looking for a product that will help them have clear,
healthy skin. Noxzema researches the needs of these consumers and what exactly their
skin problems and types are. They have come up with products that will fit each
individual’s needs and lifestyles. These products have a hip cool look to them appealing
to Noxzema’s target market. Their website, noxzema.com, has a chic look to it with
trendy graphics and animation. The website has quizzes such as “how toxic is your skin” to help find the correct products to improve the look of the customer’s skin (Skin Smarts
noxzema.com). Noxzema advertises the idea that “Beauty’s Never looked so Smart”
through the use of their products (Noxzema.com). Zest’s main products are soaps and
body washes. They target these products to men and women who are always on the go
and want a soap or body wash that is easy to use and gets them clean. These products
meet these needs by lathering well in all types of water including hard and soft water to
allow for a “better clean” (zest.com). Their website reflects this idea of ease by having a
simple layout. They have the different types of soaps and body washes, a FAQ section
and a way to contact the company (zest.com). This simplicity appeals to their consumers
allowing them to find exactly what they need. The website still has a popular look to it
but is more straightforward than some of their other P&G body washes and soap brands. Procter and Gamble brands each have their unique promotion plan to attract the
consumers within their target market. But each of these brands and their promotional
plan falls under P&G’s values and principles. P&G wants all their brands and products to
better the customers by “touching lives, improving life” (pg.com).
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Price
Due to Procter and Gamble’s large array of products, the prices of these products are varied. We could not find any information on the exact prices of some of the P&G brands of soaps and body washes. But based upon where the products are sold, the prices can be considered to be of the lower end. By selling the products in stores such as
Walgreens and Albertsons, the brands are aiming to sell to everyone. Their prices would be reasonable so that everyone could afford their products. P&G products are not up-scaled, top of the line in their product categories but are rather a product that will meet the needs of those consumers in P&G’s target markets at a price that the consumer would be willing to spend on the product.
VI. Implementation, Evaluation, and Control
Market Research
Market research is a key part of the Procter and Gamble marketing system. The results of market research play a vital role in management decision-making relating to products offered, price and advertising. P&G created their market research department in 1924 (Marketline Business Information Centre). They wanted to understand the consumers’ preferences and habits to create better products. Soon after the launch of P&G’s market research, they introduced Camay after seeing the rise in popularity of scented soaps (Marketline Business Information).
Organizational Structure and Plan
Procter and Gamble’s organizational structure is based off of their four pillars: Global Business Units, Market Development Organizations, Global Business Services, and Corporate functions. They want to “build major global brands with robust business
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strategies, build local understanding as a foundation for marketing campaigns, business technology and services that drives business success, and maintain our place as a leader of our industries” (pg.com). They want to think globally and act locally to operate efficiently and strive at what they do best (pg.com). With this structure they “get to the market faster” (pg.com).
Procter and Gamble is looking for a new plan and new ways to build their
company. In 2001 P&G announced that they were looking for a way to improve their competitiveness and growth. They cut back on a lot of jobs, reduced overhead costs, reduced manufacturing costs, thereby expecting to save from these actions.
According to Ellen Byron’s article “Paired up: Merger challenge: Unite toothbrush, toothpaste; P&G and Gillette find creating synergy can be harder than it looks”, Procter and Gamble has recently joined with Oral-B to combine “the world’s no. 1 toothbrush and the world’s no. 2 toothpaste” (Bryon, 2007). This is turning out to be a little bit more difficult than both companies thought. The structures of both organizations are complete opposites. But they are trying to work together to find a good fit for both products in the one company. They decided to “combine Oral-B and Crest products under a new line it had recently launched “Pro-Health”…the company hoped that adding Oral-B toothbrushes to the line would give the campaign an extra push” (Bryon, 2007). Financial Projections
This is a look at the revenue and net income over the past couple years for Procter and Gamble. They have increased both revenue and net income over the past couple years, so they are on a positive growth mode. ()
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Summary
Procter and Gamble is one of the most admired companies today. They are always coming out with new and improved products to keep a competitive edge over their competitors. P&G takes pride in the products the produce and work hard to ensure that their products are of the highest quality. They research intensely to determine their target markets and what types of products would best fit their needs. P&G promotes these products then to those who most fit their target market by appealing to the lifestyles that the consumer lives and understanding what the consumer’s values and morals are. P&G has a long standing reputation of having a family of products that are of excellence standing and continues to be a leader in household goods. They must continue to be aware of the environment around them. Rising gas prices and new regulations will
impact the company and P&G must work ensure that they continue to put forth a quality product. P&G has many loyal customers and has to continue to meet their needs while attracting new customers to remain on top of their industry.
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References
Bryon, Ellen “Paired up: Merger challenge: Unite toothbrush, toothpaste; P&G and
Gillette find creating synergy can be harder than it looks”. (2007, April 24). Wall Street Journal, p. A1.
Lamb, C., Hair, J., & McDaniel, C. (2007). Marketing, 9e. Mason, OH: Thomson South-
Western.
(2007, March 23). Marketline Business Information Centre: the Procter & Gamble
company. Retrieved May 9, 2007, Web site: http://puma.clunet.edu:2180
/companies/company