The secret to continued growth and stability for
the past two decades has been Colgate’s ability to
move its brands off shore to Latin America, Europe
and Asia. In the past, Colgate divided the world into
geographic regions: Latin American, Europe, Asia,
and North America. Each region had its own information
systems. As long as the regions did not need
to share resources or information this patchwork
system worked, more or less. This all changed as
global operations became more integrated and senior
management needed to oversee and coordinate these
operations more closely.