Supply Chain

In the early 2000s, faced with an alarming gap between its growth goals and what its innovation pipeline was delivering, Procter & Gamble created a "new-growth factory"-a network of novel structures and capabilities to rapidly shepherd new products and even business models from inception to market. The resulting innovations range from a 33-cent razor for customers in emerging economies to Tide Dry Cleaners-establishments with drive-through windows and 24-hour drop-off and pickup. Brown, who is P&G's chief technology officer, and Anthony describe the factory's components and practices: new-business-creation groups, entrepreneurial "guides" to help them, an innovation manual, a disruptive-innovation "college," and more. They also offer six lessons for leaders seeking to set up new-growth factories of their own. Although the factory is still ramping up, its early successes suggest that collective creativity can be managed-and can generate sustainable sources of revenue growth no matter how big a company becomes.

As a new CEO, McDonald faced an extraordinary challenge. Not only was he taking on the mantle of one of the biggest companies in the world, but he also had to succeed a legend, A.G. Lafley, a hero both in Cincinnati and in the corporate world. Lafley resurrected P&G after its last major downturn, inspiring Harvard Business School case studies and a glowing documentary. He electrified a then-demoralized organization and shepherded products such as Swiffer and Febreze to megahit status. Lafley relaunched Olay, a faded skin-care brand, as a high-end product and quickly added more than $1 billion in sales. His crowning move was to buy Gillette for $53.4 billion in 2005, giving P&G a major presence in the men's market for the first time.