Durk I. Jager, former chairman, president and chief executive officer of Procter & Gamble, passed away on Sunday, April 3 at the age of 78, according to Procter & Gamble’s official website.

Durk, the first CEO of Procter & Gamble born outside the U.S. (he’s a Dutchman who settled in Kiawah, South Carolina), has worked at the company for nearly 30 years, mostly in Cincinnati spend outside.

Durk joined the company in 1970 as a Brand Assistant for Procter & Gamble Netherlands. After 12 years, he was transferred to Japan as advertising manager, later promoted to general manager.

P&G’s business in Japan has grown from seven brands to 25 national or test market products in just six years.

He was named Chief Operating Officer of Procter & Gamble in 1995, and Chief Executive Officer of Procter & Gamble in 1999.

During the turbulent transition from the 20th century to the 21st century, sales of most of P&G’s 18 top brands fell, while more concentrated competitors like Kimberly-Clark and Colgate-Palmolive continued to eat away at P&G market share. At the same time, big retailers have greater negotiating power and keep pushing down product prices.

Under the crisis, Durk was ordered to take the helm in a critical situation. As a result, he only worked for one year and five months, becoming the shortest-term CEO in P&G history.

At the beginning of his tenure, Durk proposed a strategy of “making larger-scale changes” and launched a “2005 restructuring plan”, hoping to help P&G out of the slump of the 1990s. The core content is: by launching new products, closing factories, and laying off jobs to sort out the company’s business and boost profits, however, this has caused P&G’s profits to plummet.

The direction is certainly correct, but the implementation of the change measures is too radical.

He set too high a target — Durk had set an annual sales growth target of 7% to 9%, which led to three profit warnings in three months — and lost his confidence in the company. Main product focus.

Under pressure from employees, cadres and shareholders, Durk’s business declined instead of rising. After 17 months, Durk announced his resignation and was succeeded by Lafley.

The eulogy on Procter & Gamble’s website reads: “Durk once said ‘global thinking will make us better professionally’, remembering our former CEO’s entrepreneurial spirit and courageous leadership.