Business Strategy and Outlook
| Erin Lash |It wasn’t long ago that Procter & Gamble was dogged by lackluster sales growth. However, after posting its 20th consecutive quarter of at least mid-single-digit organic revenue growth, these concerns are a distant memory. While we acknowledge the firm has been a beneficiary of the pandemic (with a mix that caters to consumers' penchant for cleaning and disinfecting fare), we attribute these marks to the strategic course P&G embarked on about nine years ago (rightsizing its category and geographic reach by shedding around 100 brands to ensure resources were being effectively allocated to the highest-return opportunities, while maintaining a stringent focus on costs). As a part of this playbook, P&G also adopted a more holistic approach to brand investing (consisting of how a product performs, the packaging, brand messaging, execution in stores and online, and the value a product offers for its retail partners and end consumers) that we think should support its wide moat long term.