From Tide laundry detergent to Crest toothpaste, Americans spend roughly $100 on Procter & Gamble products each year.
But in China, where P&G is the number one consumer products company bringing in more than $5 billion in annual sales, the average consumer spends less than $4 a year on P&G products.
The Cincinnati-based company sees tremendous opportunity in China's growing middle class, and has already invested more than $1 billion in its operations there. It's also creating new low-cost products to reach poor, underserved rural communities -- what the company calls the "$2 a day" consumer, based on average income.
P&G now employs about 8,000 people in China and is adding more.
An active member of the U.S. China Business Council, P&G's CEO Robert McDonald often points out that growth overseas actually supports American jobs.
"The simple fact is that success in fast-developing markets like China leads to secure, high-wage jobs here at home," he said in an op-ed in October, estimating one in five of P&G's 40,000 U.S. employees support the company's international business.
Can P&G make money in places where people earn $2 a day?
More than half the amount you spend on Chinese-made goods actually stays in the U.S.
