Procter & Gamble’s PUR Purifier of Water: How Global Corporate Philanthropy Builds Shareholder Value
Keywords
social enterprise, nonprofit business models, corporate social responsibility
Abstract
“When are you going to change this Children’s Safe Drinking Water program and make money for your company? Surely Procter & Gamble wants you to profit on the water purification technology—you can’t sustain your program as a non-profit!”
Greg Allgood sighed internally at this question, as it seemed to surface frequently despite the continued and rapid growth of the Children’s Safe Drinking Water (CSDW) program at P&G. Allgood (Director of the CSDW program) was not actually frustrated with the query, as he had an easy answer ready. Rather, he wished that people could more easily see how his team’s non-profit work was adding greater value to the $80 billion dollar company than a for-profit sales model ever could. Procter & Gamble is a data-driven company, and after 24 years as a “Proctoid” he knew this better than anyone. Greg had significant qualitative and some quantitative information to support the idea that, in some cases, a non-profit business model could do much more for the bottom line than could a for-profit model. However, he knew that he needed to do even more to clarify this point for others. As he took a moment to think back on this year’s highlights, he wondered again how to show others more data on this counter-intuitive idea. Before he answered the question, he reflected back on the day he knew that the sachet of PUR water purification powder would save lives and was worth fighting for within the company. He also reflected on where supporting the product had taken him over the last few years.
Original Publication Citation
Jones Christensen, L. & Seagle, C. (2011). P&G and the PuR Purifier of Water: How Corporate Philanthropy Builds Shareholder Value. (Teaching note also available). Sold through GlobaLens at the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Christensen, Lisa Jones and Seagle, Carol, "Procter & Gamble’s PUR Purifier of Water: How Global Corporate Philanthropy Builds Shareholder Value" (2010). Faculty Publications. 9781.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/9781
Document Type
Peer-Reviewed Article
Publication Date
2010
Publisher
GlobaLens at the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan
Language
English
College
Marriott School of Business
Department
Marketing
Copyright Status
©2010 Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. This case is intended to serve as a basis for class discussion, rather than to illustrate the effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form by any means without permission.
Copyright Use Information
http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/