MANILA, Philippines — With a rich history that goes back to the 1910s, The Clorox Company has been providing households worldwide with products that make everyday life better for more than a hundred years. From its namesake bleach to personal care products, Clorox Southeast Asia general manager Marites Dagdag talks about how the century-old company has been able to adapt to the complexities of modern life through less than traditional corporate methods.
“I’m celebrating my 10th year with Clorox,” smiles Dagdag, who has gained valuable experience from working her way up in different companies before joining the Philippine office of such an impressive global brand.
Discovering her path
With a degree in Business Economics from the University of the Philippines, Dagdag admits that she didn’t really have a clear plan of what she wanted to do early on in her career. Her only concern was to get a decent job that will enable her to contribute to the family. “At that time job seekers walked the streets and I did just that - finally landing a job in a leading local bank. I was offered two career options, but I chose the systems department because it was something I didn’t know much of. It was the ‘unknown’ that attracted me.”
After a few years, Dagdag moved to a Japanese company, which she says, solidified her IT career. However, the demands of her job weren’t a good fit for her responsibility as a new mother then. “My son was barely two years old, but I was spending more hours at work because I can only do programs on site with a mainframe. On an overnight assignment, I heard the church bells ring at 4 am, and realize that I wasn’t cut out for this job,” Dagdag says. Troubled by her condition at work but determined that she had to change to contribute better, Dagdag sought the advice of the Japanese general manager, Takagi, to ask for a transfer. “We were both surprised at my being bold to ask for another career, but he took a chance on me, and that was the beginning of my reinvention,” says Dagdag. The GM transferred her to a sales function.
“At that time Mr. Takagi wanted to revolutionize the way we sell and being involved in that mission, it was exciting job to meet customers and set up systems, leveraging my technical knowledge. When I learned how to sell and convert my cases into cash, that’s when I knew I was in a sweet spot,” she says.
She then moved to more sales and marketing roles that took her to a consumer goods company, to head a business to business (B2B) division of SC Johnson, handling multi-functional groups in marketing, technical, and support services. Eventually, the B2B group was spun off as a separate company, and gave her the experience to lead the ASEAN Cluster as managing director. “On my debut as cluster leader, there was no handbook of how to successfully lead diverse businesses in a multi-cultural setting. Looking back, I will always be thankful for the support of my mentors, colleagues, and my own team. The leadership experience, both positive outcomes and mistakes, taught invaluable lessons you would not encounter in an MBA class,” Dagdag says.
Dagdag
New environment, new challenges
By happenstance, Dagdag was exploring an opportunity to relocate to the United States when she was headhunted to lead Clorox’s operations in the Philippines. That shifted plans quickly and the family decided to come back to the country. Dagdag is proud of the kind of working system that they have established, allowing each member of the team to be objective and results-driven, but also work with ease, leading to better engagement and effectiveness. “Whatever we build on, we make sure we stay true to our mission: to make everyday life better, every day. “
“Clorox is a big company worth with almost $6 billion in revenue globally, but what excites me in the morning is the mission to make everyday lives better every day. It’s a simple but powerful statement. Clorox is more than 100 years old, but we are continually focused on understanding our consumers, their evolving needs and their expectations. Our mission is a reflection of our belief that our products have a meaningful impact on our consumers’ everyday lives,” she says.
She adds, “we have a lot of brands. We started with one product, and our namesake bleach and disinfecting products help kill germs that make people sick. Prestone auto functional fluids safeguards cars and families with car care products that last a lifetime. Burt’s Bees products address consumers’ growing desire for naturally derived products. Glad food bags and wraps keep moms glad and their kitchens full of life. Clorox products touch consumers constantly. So it is our passion to know our consumers better – they inspire us to constantly look for ways to make our brands better.”
The diverse range of categories and countries to manage are both an asset and a welcome challenge for Dagdag. “Any GM’s challenge is how to allocate your time when you’re working across geographies and diverse brands. So you have to be strategy–led, providing the attention each business deserves. We have a good combination of stable and emerging brands that are growing fast. Segmenting them guides our allocation of resources, time and attention.”
“We also strive to make everyday life better in the world where we do business by giving back to our communities. Whether it’s contributing to disaster relief efforts or teaching classes at local schools, Clorox is committed to help restore, enrich and protect our communities. We strive to keep our products sustainable and minimize our environmental footprint by through reduced greenhouse gas emissions, waste-to- landfill, energy and water consumption,” Dagdag says.
When asked what’s a typical day for her is like, Dagdag smiles at the thought because there’s actually no such thing in her case. “I don’t think I have a typical day. It could start as early as 7 am or as late at 9 pm for telcos. Technology has made us more reachable and flexible to work with teams across the globe. You just need to balance, or more accurately, harmonize – your work and personal life.
To be able to do this, Dagdag says she’s fortunate that Clorox provides them with flexibility for alternate work arrangements. “Clorox provides good work-life balance policies so that employees become more productive and engaged, but with guidelines to ensure the quality of outcomes. We have one of the highest scores across a benchmark of high performing companies within the FMCG industry and outside. A study by Wyatt Watson found that companies that have highly engaged employees produce 26 percent higher revenue per employee. When highly engaged employees bring passion to their jobs, they become more productive, contribute more to innovation, and likely to go the extra mile. We create the virtuous cycle of engagement breeding success, employees are proud of it, and sustained growth over time proves it,” Dagdag says.