Gaule: Give a brief description of the purpose of your innovation and the key areas for P&G.

Herkströter: P&G decided about 10 years ago that, in order to meet its growth objectives, the only way would be to "connect and develop" beyond the type of collaboration that already took place with P&G’s suppliers. So, the key purpose of this approach is to grow the company’s sales beyond what is possible using internal resources. The company periodically makes strategic decisions on…