Overall, the late s were profitable, progressive times. In addition to adding some new products of its own—including malted milk, a powdered beverage called Milo, and Eledon, a powdered buttermilk for babies with digestive disorders—the company bought interests in several manufacturing firms.
Among them were butter and cheese companies, as well as Sarotti A. In fact, its U. Factories were also opened in Chile and Mexico in the mids. Profit margins narrowed, prices dropped, and cutthroat competition continued until , when new legislation set minimum prices and conditions of sales. The markets, such as the United States, that were among the first to feel the effects of the Depression were also the first to recover from it.
The Depression continued in Switzerland, however. The company decided to streamline production and close several factories, including its two oldest, in Cham and Vevey. Decentralization efforts begun during the Depression continued to modify the company's structure gradually. More than 20 such companies existed on five continents.
In effect, the firm had become a holding company. In Louis Dapples died, and a new management team, whose members had grown up with the organization, took over. Abegg, vice-chairman of the board; and Maurice Paternot, managing director. Although coffee crystals and liquid extracts had been tried before, none had satisfactorily preserved a coffee taste.
Limited production capacity meant that it was launched without the elaborate marketing tactics usually used for products with such potential. Nestea, a soluble powdered tea, also made a successful debut in the early s. As in the last war, the company was plagued by food shortages and insufficient supplies of raw materials. To wage its own battle against the war, the company decided to split its headquarters at Vevey and transfer part of the management and executive team to an office in Stamford, Connecticut, where it could better supervise distant markets.
Carl Abegg assumed leadership of the board. Heinz Company. Although the company performed well in Sweden, it encountered difficulties in other markets, where the British-Dutch giant Unilever reigned.
The development of freeze-drying in led to Taster's Choice, the first freeze-dried coffee, as well as other instant drinks. The poverty-stricken areas had high rates of illiteracy, and mothers, unable to read and follow the directions, often mixed the product with local polluted water or used an insufficient amount of the expensive formula, unwittingly starving their infants. Maucher also reduced overhead by turning over more authority to operating units and reducing headquarters staff. In addition, he spearheaded a series of major acquisitions.
This was followed in by the acquisition of Hills Brothers Inc. Capital expenditures reached CHF 2. Half was devoted to installation improvements, including data processing and automation, particularly in North America and Europe. The other half was spent expanding plants, primarily in Latin America and the Far East, areas where products were often based on local raw materials, tastes, and habits.
Among the companies purchased were Alco Drumstick, a U. Hills Bros. By early , a joint venture allowed the company to obtain a majority interest in Cokoladovny, a Czechoslovakian chocolate and biscuit producer.
Acquisitions in the mid-to-late s centered around mineral water, ice cream, and pet foods. Added in were the Alpo pet food company in the United States and Warnke ice creams in Germany; the company also gained a majority stake in chocolate maker Goplana S. Still further expansion of the ice cream sector came in with the purchase of Conelsa, the leader in the Spanish market; the chilled dairy products division of Pacific Dunlop in Australia; and Dolce S. The company now had fewer countries and products that it wished to add to its portfolio.
Other reasons for the shift to organic growth included the increasing price of acquisitions and antitrust concerns. Its portfolio included more than 8, brands. The company had set a goal of achieving 4 percent underlying sales growth each year, but failed to meet this target for , largely because of economic downturns in southeast Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe.
It took several years before the character of the Brabeck-Letmathe era of leadership revealed itself. Initially, Brabeck-Letmathe managed the company in a fashion similar to his predecessor, Maucher. The pair, in fact, had agreed on a list of characteristics to remain unaltered during the two reigns of command, but after several years at the helm, Brabeck-Letmathe realized he needed to break the covenant, making one sweeping change in particular. The management of factories, which historically had been divided country by country, was broken into regional divisions.
Maucher was remembered as a wheeler and dealer, executing an ambitious acquisition campaign during his decade-and-a-half in charge. Brabeck-Letmathe, in contrast, waited several years before making a major acquisition, preaching growth through internal means during his first years in office. Rival food conglomerates such as Unilever and Danone focused on narrowing their strategic focus, shedding businesses in an effort to increase their profit margins.
Unilever, for example, shuttered more than of its factories and reduced the number of its brands from 1, to during the first three years of the decade. Growth in this direction promised to be the legacy of Brabeck-Letmathe's tenure. The influence of his leadership was expected to increase as he completed his first decade of stewardship. KG Germany; Belgium ; Perrier Vittel Belgilux S. Belgium ; Alcon-Couvreur S.
Spain ; Alcon-Cusi S. Spain ; Helados y Congelados S. Spain; France; France ; Davigel S. France ; Laboratoires Alcon S. Greece; Italy; Italy ; SO. Accessed July 14, Atrium Innovations.
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