FMCG: The Power of Fast-Moving Consumer Goods

If you have even the most basic interest in branding, marketing, retailing or just a love of business, you would be advised not to read this book if you have a lot of things calling on your time. It is addictive!

Here is a behemoth of a book, crammed full of information that you just want to read. You wonder if the authors have been locked away in an office for a decade gathering information, such is the detail being presented. In many ways it is overwhelming. Yet it does not feel it is padded out, far from it - it is feared what the draft might have been before an editor’s sharp knife had been wielded.

At first glance, the price of this book might give you sticker shock (and you know this will be discounted through certain online vendors) but it is not unjustified. In short you get a history of 18 of the world’s consumer goods brands - Coke, Colgate-Palmolive, Danone, Dean Foods, Estée Lauder, General Mills, Heinz, Henkel, Kellog, Kimberly-Clark, Kraft, L'Oréal, Mars, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Pepsi, Reckitt Benckiser and Unilever. This is not a U.S.-centric focus either as the performance of the overseas business units is brought into sharp view, showing how many “distant outposts” might lead the way. In addition a number of profiles are given for companies who are strong competitors in their regional markets and it could be interesting in the future to look back at this book and see if they managed to break out of their regions and come to dominate on the world stage.

Make no mistake. This is not just a “boring” series of company profiles. Invest the time in the book and you cannot fail to takeaway a lot of actionable business information that can still be relevant today. You just have to apply the thoughts, processes and actions to your own business. You might not be the next Procter & Gamble but you will be following a great trail and stand to possibly gain a lot in the process.

This book does feel as something that you will consult in the future. Towards the end of the book there was just too much data to parse. One strategy might be to focus on one company at a time. With even one company per week this book is going to last you a long time. Students will also love it and there is so much information here that could be shoe-horned into assignments for years to come (just remember the rules about citation and plagiarism!).

The only concern? What could the authors come up with next? Once you come out with such a great work there is a tremendous danger that anything else will just not be able to compete and be of similar greatness, even though in isolation it still could be great.

FMCG: The Power of Fast-Moving Consumer Goods, by Greg Thain & John Bradley and published by First Edition Design Publishing. ISBN 9781622876488, 596 pages. YYYYY.

Fascinating story of how business has developed over the past few decades such that many consumer goods are dominant, and how this has come about. Looking forward to reading.