Proctor & Gamble Co. (P&G) – the world’s largest consumer company is planning on a major strategic shift in product management. Lafley (who was rehired as CEO since last year) decided to  cut up more than 100 brands from the company’s enormous profile in order to focus on the 70-80 brands that take up majority percentage of revenues.

The company’s goal for this decision is “simplify operations to improve results”. Lafley suggested that consumers in the present days want simpler and more convenient lifestyles, meaning then would want rapid choices without distraction, especially when they purchase online or in bulk. However, P&G is gambling with the assumption that consumers are overwhelmed and confused by many options provided to them, but what if that’s not the case? As an online shopper, I believe the whole purpose of this business was actually to offer more choices to buyers, and buyers do enjoy navigating and selecting between options. This leads me to thinking, while the practice of value proposition in thinking about consumers’ perspectives is useful, it may lead a company in the wrong path if we assume wrongly about consumers’ opinions.

I think this move will definitely lead to a short-run loss for the company as they’re losing income from smaller brands and would not have had enough time to establish new improvements for the bigger brands. With the reduction of so many brands, I wonder what will happen to P&G Brand Power; will it status remain as #1 largest consumer products company? Deciding what and how many to produce is one of the biggest questions in Operation Sector, and I hope P&G had consider all of these mentioned risks before implementation this action.