Procter and Gamble Company
Renee Keith
Principles of Economics I

Procter and Gamble Company, also known as P&G, is recognized as the world’s largest producer and distributor of household and personal products. It provides branded packaged goods to its consumers around the world. P&G’s headquarters is located in Downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and was founded by William Procter and James Gamble in October 31, 1837, 177 years ago. The company's products include foods, beverages, cleaning agents, and personal care products. The company operates through three global business units: Beauty, Health and Well-Being, and Household Care. P&G has 23 brands with annual sales of $1 billion to more than $10 billion, and 14 with sales of $500 million to $1 billion, many of those with billion-dollar potential. Nearly all of the 23 billion-dollar brands and the vast majority of the $500 million to $1 billion brands hold the number one or two position in their category or segment, and they all have significant growth and value creation potential. P&G sells its products in approximately 180 countries primarily through mass merchandisers, grocery stores, membership club stores, and drug stores. The company operates in approximately 80 countries worldwide. In 2008, the national unemployment rate was 5.8%. Since 2009, the national unemployment rate rose to 9.3%, in 2010 to 9.6% and in 2011 to 9.0%. In 2012, we can see the unemployment rate start to drop slowly to 8.1%, in 2013 to 7.4% and in 2014 to 6.2%. In 2008 P&G had 135,000 employees, in 2009 132,000 employees, in 2010 127,000, in 2011 129,000, in 2012 126,000, in 2013 121,000 and in 2014 118,000. We can see a decrease in the number of employees each year for P&G. In 2008, real GDP, Gross Domestic Product, was an average of 14.83 trillion. In 2009, the GDP was 14.42 trillion, lower