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It was by chance that 36-year old William Procter, a candle maker, and James Gamble, a 34-year old, soap maker, married into the same family. Both men were immigrants from the British Isles. Mr. Gamble's family came from Ireland in 1819 to escape that country's economic depression. By 1833, he did well enough financially, as a soap maker, to marry Elizabeth Ann Norris, the daughter of Cincinnati candle Alexander Norris. Just the year before, William Procter came to the US, after a fire in his newly opened woolens shop in London left him penniless. He decided to settle in Cincinnati, where he began a second career as a candle maker, making, selling and delivering candle from a shop he rented on Cincinnati's Main Street. Within month of his soon-to-become business partner's wedding, Mr. Procter married Olive, another Norris.

Both, Procter and Gamble, were reluctant to try a new business venture on October, 31, 1837. In 1837, the US. was in first financial depression. Despite unhappy economic prospects, the joint venture made enough sense that the two men each contributed $3,596.12 to form there candle and soap making partnership. By 1848 the partners business already was paying early dividends; 'P&G, corporate archives show the company was earning an annual profit of $26,000.

Having realized the importance of its trademark, P&G in 1875 took steps to protect its emblem. The trademark eventually was registered with US. Patent office, when federal legislation in the 1880's enabled businesses to have legal protection against violations of trademarks. In the early 1930's, the trademark was redesigned by Cincinnati's sculptor Ernest Bruce Haswell, who designed the moon-and-star trademark.

By 1989, P&G was experiencing growing pains to finance capital expenditures for additional plants, new equipment, and new product development, a new funding sources were needed. The answer was incorporation. In 1830, "The Procter and Gamble Company" was organized under the laws of New Jersey. The newly incorporated company was headed by William Alexander Proctor, president, and James Norris Gamble, as vice president. From the very beginning Proctor and Gamble built their business with an eye toward the future. Before signing their partnership contract, they bought land near the Miami-Erie canal, close to the Cincinnati city limits. They knew that they would need a good site for a soap and candle factory. This simple example illustrates one of P&G most distinguished characteristics: a belief in careful planing for long-term growth, no matter what the specific problem or crisis.

Edwin Artzt, who known in the halls of P&G headquarters as the "Wrecking Ball," proved that this company keeps it's tradition of careful planing for a long-term growth. In July 1993 CEO Edwin Artzt announced that the 156-year old manufacturer of everything from detergents to disposable diapers would eliminate 13.000 jobs and close 30 of it's147 manufacturing plants over next three years.

Artzt may lack popularity on his home run. But he is winning points from Wall Street for attempting to save the 29 billion company from problems like those which Sears and GM experiencing now. P&G still has a whole brunch of top-selling, high-profile brands like Tide and Charmin-- and it's potential for growth overseas remains high. Artzt's announcement, however, reflects how corporate missteps, from a failure to price products wisely to a productivity for hanging on to outdated brands, can face company with the problems on highly competitive market. Says Chris Hoyt, former P&G sales manager: "Today, Procter is reaching to the situations; 10 years ago, it was planning and controlling them."

Earnings were flat for the nine-month period ended in March, and because of the job reductions, the company expects to report a $2.5 billion decrease in fiscal 1993 earnings. However, company itself worries about drops in crucial categories like disposable diapers. As Artzt told to a group of analysts: "We want to take our company apart brick by brick and put it back together again." To future protect it's franchise, the company will have to pay more attention to competitors-- some P&G brands have been hurt by consumers fondness for cheaper, private-label merchandise.

If the company has been losing market share, it has also been losing people. More than a dozen key executives have jumped ship since Artzt became a CEO three years ago. P&G recently sued one defector, former VP Neil De Feo to prevent him from working for Clorox Co. However, despite all its problems, many Wall Street analysts are supporting the company's decision to down size. Says analyst Andrew Shore: "P&G is one of the most visionary consumer-products companies in the US, if not the world."

Artzt predicts that in three years, the restructuring will result in "fewer layers of management and simplified approach to running the business." However, to many P&G employees, that may sound like CEO-speak for just another strike of the Wrecking Ball.

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