{"id":47202,"date":"2021-08-26T19:56:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-26T23:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=47202"},"modified":"2021-08-30T14:54:56","modified_gmt":"2021-08-30T18:54:56","slug":"pg-gillette-acquisition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/","title":{"rendered":"The P&G\/Gillette Acquisition: A Strategic Fit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Why was the P&G\/Gillette acquisition so successful? How did P&G add value to Gillette?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The P&G\/Gillette acquisition was successful because of the synergy between the companies. Gillette had a reputable product with a strong brand that was growing faster than other alternative products<\/a> in the market, while P&G had the marketing capital and distribution channels to expand Gillette\u2019s market. P&G was able to add value to Gillette because its core capabilities were perfect for pushing the Gillette brand further in the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about the lessons on synergy from the P&G\/Gillette acquisition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The P&G\/Gillette Acquisition<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, when brands don\u2019t have the proper capabilities to be successful, they think that the easiest way to add capability is to acquire another company. They notice other, acquirable companies that have capabilities they want, and they know that building capabilities in house is difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though mergers between two big corporations are increasingly popular for this reason, most end up being unsuccessful\u2014the profits of the two brands together aren\u2019t as high as the profits that each one made before because they don\u2019t work well together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, mergers can<\/em> be successful. When considering mergers, P&G looks for four qualities:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. The acquisition is growing faster than the average company in its market.<\/li>
  2. The acquisitions is structured to make profit\u2014it has good margins that generate steady cash. <\/li>
  3. The acquisition fits into larger company-wide strategies. <\/li>
  4. P&G can add value to the company, using its significant capabilities to push the brand further. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    In 2007, P&G decided that Gilette had all of these qualities, and it acquired the company, which was already large. But P&G was able to make it bigger and make the acquisition beneficial for all involved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The P&G\/Gillette acquisition was successful because P&G figured out arenas to play in and how to win in them. They focused on the Fusion razor launch, winning in the men\u2019s shaving arena, and expanded their arenas to men\u2019s general care (deodorant and shampoo), as well as women\u2019s hair removal. Finally, they expanded to India. To deliver on these goals, they needed specific capabilities. <\/em><\/strong>They had researchers spend two weeks in India, engaging with consumers to find out what they wanted in a razor. In India, consumers often don\u2019t shave with hot running water, so Gillette created a razor that could meet these challenges and deliver a good outcome.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    P&G and Gillette reinforced <\/em>each other. P&G used their company-wide capabilities to improve Gillette\u2019s model and distribution, and Gillette helped P&G by using those capabilities to succeed. <\/strong>Some companies would not have had as much use for P&G\u2019s capabilities, but Gillette did, and the P&G\/Gillette acquisition worked.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Usually, in an acquisition environment, companies talk a lot about synergy <\/em>between each other. What P&G realized was that strategy <\/em>is much more important. If an acquisition can fit into their strategy, they\u2019ll figure out how to create synergy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Why was the P&G\/Gillette acquisition so successful? How did P&G add value to Gillette? The P&G\/Gillette acquisition was successful because of the synergy between the companies. Gillette had a reputable product with a strong brand that was growing faster than other alternative products in the market, while P&G had the marketing capital and distribution channels to expand Gillette\u2019s market. P&G was able to add value to Gillette because its core capabilities were perfect for pushing the Gillette brand further in the market. Read more about the lessons on synergy from the P&G\/Gillette acquisition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":47204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,104],"tags":[472],"class_list":["post-47202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-marketing","tag-playing-to-win","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nThe P&G\/Gillette Acquisition: A Strategic Fit - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why did the P&G\/Gillette acquisition succeed? Discover how the synergy between the capabilities of P&G and those of Gillette ensured success.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The P&G\/Gillette Acquisition: A Strategic Fit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why did the P&G\/Gillette acquisition succeed? Discover how the synergy between the capabilities of P&G and those of Gillette ensured success.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-26T23:56:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-30T18:54:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/PG-Procter-and-Gamble.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"522\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joseph Adebisi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joseph Adebisi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Joseph Adebisi\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d8daf45671a09e8745a7a9f50a03b2a0\"},\"headline\":\"The P&G\/Gillette Acquisition: A Strategic Fit\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-26T23:56:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-30T18:54:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/\"},\"wordCount\":544,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/PG-Procter-and-Gamble.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Playing to Win\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business\",\"Marketing\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/\",\"name\":\"The P&G\/Gillette Acquisition: A Strategic Fit - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/PG-Procter-and-Gamble.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-26T23:56:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-30T18:54:56+00:00\",\"description\":\"Why did the P&G\/Gillette acquisition succeed? Discover how the synergy between the capabilities of P&G and those of Gillette ensured success.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/PG-Procter-and-Gamble.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/PG-Procter-and-Gamble.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":522,\"caption\":\"P&G Case Study: Strategic Choice Cascade in Practice\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The P&G\/Gillette Acquisition: A Strategic Fit\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d8daf45671a09e8745a7a9f50a03b2a0\",\"name\":\"Joseph Adebisi\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG_20200519_184908_765-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG_20200519_184908_765-scaled.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Joseph Adebisi\"},\"description\":\"Joseph has had a lifelong obsession with reading and acquiring new knowledge. He reads and writes for a living, and reads some more when he is supposedly taking a break from work. The first literature he read as a kid were Shakespeare's plays. Not surprisingly, he barely understood any of it. His favorite fiction authors are Tom Clancy, Ted Bell, and John Grisham. His preferred non-fiction genres are history, philosophy, business & economics, and instructional guides.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/joseph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The P&G\/Gillette Acquisition: A Strategic Fit - Shortform Books","description":"Why did the P&G\/Gillette acquisition succeed? Discover how the synergy between the capabilities of P&G and those of Gillette ensured success.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The P&G\/Gillette Acquisition: A Strategic Fit","og_description":"Why did the P&G\/Gillette acquisition succeed? Discover how the synergy between the capabilities of P&G and those of Gillette ensured success.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2021-08-26T23:56:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-08-30T18:54:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":522,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/PG-Procter-and-Gamble.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Joseph Adebisi","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Joseph Adebisi","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/"},"author":{"name":"Joseph Adebisi","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d8daf45671a09e8745a7a9f50a03b2a0"},"headline":"The P&G\/Gillette Acquisition: A Strategic Fit","datePublished":"2021-08-26T23:56:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-30T18:54:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/"},"wordCount":544,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/PG-Procter-and-Gamble.png","keywords":["Playing to Win"],"articleSection":["Business","Marketing"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/","name":"The P&G\/Gillette Acquisition: A Strategic Fit - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/PG-Procter-and-Gamble.png","datePublished":"2021-08-26T23:56:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-30T18:54:56+00:00","description":"Why did the P&G\/Gillette acquisition succeed? Discover how the synergy between the capabilities of P&G and those of Gillette ensured success.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/PG-Procter-and-Gamble.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/PG-Procter-and-Gamble.png","width":1200,"height":522,"caption":"P&G Case Study: Strategic Choice Cascade in Practice"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/pg-gillette-acquisition\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The P&G\/Gillette Acquisition: A Strategic Fit"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d8daf45671a09e8745a7a9f50a03b2a0","name":"Joseph Adebisi","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG_20200519_184908_765-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG_20200519_184908_765-scaled.jpg","caption":"Joseph Adebisi"},"description":"Joseph has had a lifelong obsession with reading and acquiring new knowledge. He reads and writes for a living, and reads some more when he is supposedly taking a break from work. The first literature he read as a kid were Shakespeare's plays. Not surprisingly, he barely understood any of it. His favorite fiction authors are Tom Clancy, Ted Bell, and John Grisham. His preferred non-fiction genres are history, philosophy, business & economics, and instructional guides.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/joseph\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/PG-Procter-and-Gamble.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47202"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47446,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47202\/revisions\/47446"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}