A Brief History of Costa Rica

Global Business Services (GBS) of Costa Rica began operations in late 1999 and today provides a variety of 28 services to approximately 63,000 P&G employees in 22 nations located throughout the Americas, from Canada to Argentina. It is important to note that prior to P&G’s presence in the country, the San Jose Service Center literally began as a Greenfield operation consisting of a small sales office with a staff of 13 employees.

The Procter and Gamble – Costa Rica partnership has proven to be a healthy one. Approximately five years after the start of operations, government and public opinion has identified P&G as one of Costa Rica’s key foreign investors. P&G is ranked among the top three companies where Costa Ricans wish to work and is among the top ten most responsible corporate citizens. In both these cases, P&G was compared against local and foreign companies with a long tradition of doing business in the country.

During the 2003/2004 fiscal year, P&G successfully transitioned approximately 50% of its employees to its new partners (HP, JLL, and IBM). The transitions were very well perceived by local authorities and GBS employees. We have been able to promote the concept of an "integrated site environment" among GBS and the strategic partners that allows us to ensure ongoing delivery of an optimum, efficient, well managed site and "sense of community" for the benefit of all the employees and employers of San Jose Service Center.