Born global firms Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Born global firms - Essay Example Considering the long history of Beiersdorf and its presence on international markets, in this part,the expanding strategies of this company in the last 20 years will be examined. In the 1990s, Beiersdorf sales were coming mostly from the Nivea brand, brand that was constantly expanded by the company, starting from skin creams (including those for men), sun care creams, antiwrinkle creams, baby creams, shower products, to deodorant (Jones and Lubinski, 2011). Taking this into account, in 1993 Beiersdorfs has reacquired the rights to the Nivea brand name in the United Kingdom, rights that had been held by an English company since World War II. The company set up in 1994 a joint-venture with a state-owned chemical company in Shanghai called Daily Chemical Factory No. 2 in order to produce its products in the Asian market. Also, in this period, Beiersdorf contracted a 60% longtime joint-venture with Japanese consumer products giant Kao Corp. to market Nivea in Japan. By the end of the 1990s, Beiersdorf had 74 international affiliates and generated almost 70% of its sales outside its origin country - Germany. This multinational continued its policy of opening up to new countries and new product categories (e.g. synergistic expansion) even in 2000s (its presence globally can be seen in Figure no. 4). Synergistic expansion of Beiersdorf consisted of acquisition of the plaster brand Elastoplast in 2001 (which was the market leader in many countries, including the United Kingdom and Ireland). Following the acquisition, Beiersdorf has positioned itself as a global leader in this market. In 2008, Beiersdorf acquired C-Bons, a personal care firm from China and planned other acquisitions to expand further in China. This acquisition was a further initiative in the implementation of the company’s consumer business Strategy, enhancing the company’s business in China and in addition its activities in the growing hair care segment.