In 1911, the company started to open factories in other places in the US due to rising demand for its products and its products began to diversify. In 1920s and 1930s, the company sponsored many radio programs that were later known as "soap operas". P&G began its international operation in 1930 by acquisition of a UK's company called Thomas Hadley Co. Thereafter, through its own products diversification and numerous acquisitions, the company gained capabilities to offer consumers with a wider range of consumer products and its size kept growing as its expansion to different nations. By 1980, the company had operated in 27 countries besides America and sales in these countries made up a quarter of the company's $11 billion total sales (Bartlett et al, 2008). In 2005, P&G acquired the UK's prestigious razor producer, Gillette, replacing Unilever as the world's largest consumer products brand. Nowadays, P&G has become a company operating in America, Europe and Asia, with 135,000 employees, more than 300 brands covering cosmetic, home, baby, toiletries, and fragrance industries (Datamonitor, 2010). The annual sale of the company equals to the GDP for some small countries and hence it is even called "P&G Empire".
Facing enormous benefits from its extremely large size and profits, P&G has to deal with strategic challenges inevitably at the same time. First of all, the most outstanding issue exactly results from its size, i.e. issues of "too big". With its dominance in various industries and hundreds of brands, issues on its industry and brand management are prominent for the company to deal with. For instance, a particular strategy designed for one product to increase its sales might somehow cannibalize the company's another product's sales as a result. On the other hand, operations in a number of countries pose significant challenges to maintain its worldwide operation efficiency.
