Case | HBS Case Collection | June 2004 (Revised July 2005)

Procter & Gamble: Global Business Services

by Thomas J. DeLong, Warren Brackin, Alex Cabanas, Phil Shellhammer and David L. Ager

Abstract

Dave Walker, vice-president of business service opportunities and chairman of the governance team at Procter & Gamble, must decide what to do with P&G's 5,700 employee Global Business Services (GBS) group. GBS brought together internal services such as finance, accounting, employee services, customer logistics, purchasing, and information technology into a single, global organization supporting all P&G business units. Recently, P&G CEO A.G. Lafley questioned whether continued investment in GBS represented the best use of P&G's resources. Walker and the other members of the governance team must decide whether to spin off GBS, outsource GBS services to an outside company, outsource the GBS divisions separately to best-of-breed companies, or keep the group in-house. In making the decision, Walker and the members of the team must consider the impact on the organization of altering the existing relationships between the members of GBS and the other employees at P&G. Teaching Purpose: To consider the issues inherent in any decision to outsource services and the impact of such a change on the company.

Keywords: Business Units; Change Management; Decision Making; Globalized Firms and Management; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Organizational Design;

Format: Print 15 pages EducatorsPurchase

Citation:

DeLong, Thomas J., Warren Brackin, Alex Cabanas, Phil Shellhammer, and David L. Ager. "Procter & Gamble: Global Business Services." Harvard Business School Case 404-124, June 2004. (Revised July 2005.)

About the Author

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Thomas J. DeLong
Baker Foundation Professor of Management Practice
Organizational Behavior

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