A comprehensive background of Henkel containing its History and Origins, Early Evolution, Modern Business, Global Expansion, Company Structure, Recent Efforts and Company DNA. As one of the chapters of the book FMCG: The Power of Fast-Moving Consumer Goods by authors Greg Thain and John Bradley. For more details on their success story and that of other leading FMCG companies, check www.fmcgbook.com or Amazon http://amzn.to/1jRyd20.
3. Founded at Aachen, Germany on 1876 by Friedrich Karl Henkel
Launched as Germany’s very first branded detergent
“Henkel’s Thee”, Germany’s first branded tea
The tea was dropped in 1913, although at its high point it had
generated more than 10% of the total sales
In 1897, he created a potassium-based fertilizer, which he branded as
Martellin, and sold to growers of tobacco, wine-grapes and hops, all
products which conformed to the agenda of 19th-century hard-working
Germans sustainability
Henkel’s Bleich-Soda, Henkel’s Thee and Martellin were the products
of Henkel
His three top sellers, Henkel’s Bleich-Soda, Henkel’s Thee and Martellin,
plus industrial water-glass, topped one million marks, driven principally
by an annual sale of ten million packs of Henkel’s Bleich-Soda
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4. Fritz decided to combine elements of its two principal ingredients –
perborate and silicate.
They came up with Persil, which was launched on 6th June 1907 as
the world’s first self-acting detergent
Fritz had to increase his workforce by 50% and scoured the world for
automated packing machinery to produce 4700 tonnes
Henkel built dedicated production facilities that would make him
Europe’s largest producer of glycerine
By 1912, Henkel was churning out nearly 50,000 tons of product a year
Persil contributed a massive 40% on it five years after its launch.
Glue was deemed most at risk, so Henkel laboratories, in 1900s and
began experimenting with making adhesives out of water-glass.
The company launched Sil (No Per), a concentrated detergent and
bleach product after government controls the supply of fats.
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5. A new advertising campaign for Persil featured what would become
an iconic German image for the brand, Die Weisse Dame (the White
Lady)
The company set about developing specifically targeted products,
launching Henkel-Kleister-trocken (dry paste) in 1928 followed by
Mala, a cold water-soluble glue
Perwoll and lasil were the new synthetic detergents launched in 1949
In 1950, the company launched a new generation of synthetic resin-based
adhesives that signaled the start of a very innovative decade
for the adhesives product range
Launched Pril dishwashing liquid in 1951, Fa soap in 1954, Dixan in 1957
(formulated for the new drum-style washing machines) and Persil 59 in
1959, the company’s first heavy-duty synthetic detergent.
The company then focused on new promotional styles and expansion.
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6. Henkel’s remorselessly efficient march to global giant-hood began
early when it opened an Austrian sales office in 1886
The first foreign subsidiary was set up in Switzerland
By the end of the 1920s, the company was exporting to almost all
European countries as well as Australia and South America
The export trade grew during the early 1930s, business was sufficiently
large for manufacturing subsidiaries to be set up in Norway, the
Netherlands and Belgium and by 1937 Henkel owned production
facilities in twelve European countries
As early as 1951, the company was sufficiently back on its feet to
open its first overseas subsidiary in South Africa
There was an exclusive trading partner in Japan, the start of a
prolonged series of joint ventures in that country culminating in an
agreement to market Henkel products with the Japanese Lion Corp.
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7. In 1955, Henkel Brazil SA was founded
In 1959, they found Henkel Mexicana SA
By 1971, offices were opened in London, Montreal, Athens and Hong
Kong, followed by Lagos and Bangkok a year later
In 1977, Henkel bought General Mills Chemicals Inc., which had
substantial operations in the US, Ireland, Brazil and Japan
By 1995, Henkel had 17 companies in Central and Eastern Europe
By 2011, 68% of company employees were located outside Western
Europe, 55% in emerging markets. Henkel’s European region was still
the largest, turning over around €8.5 billion
North America, with sales of €2.7 billion, then Asia-Pacific at €2.3 billion
each, Latin America at just over a billion euros with Africa and Middle
East not far behind at €930 million. With 85% of its sales coming from
outside Germany
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8. Jost Henkel and his brother, Dr. Konrad Henkel, successfully propelled
the business out of the post-war chaos, added a new stability and
finally launched the company into a new expansionist phase that
would create a global enterprise
By 1962, Camay and Fairy were being produced under contract
Henkel set up an ecology department in its Düsseldorf laboratories,
focused on finding fully biodegradable surfactants and a
replacement for phosphates
Henkel continued to grow its adhesives business virtually unhindered
and in 1969 it made the crucial leap of combining an adhesive
innovation with its well-honed consumer marketing skills to create Pritt
the world’s first glue stick in Europe
Henkel had also gained a foothold in the cosmetics and toiletries
sectors particularly since the launch of Creme 21, a hand cream
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9. In 1971, it merged these various elements to create one focused
business unit, while still adding to its ever-expanding ranges of
household cleaners and detergents
In 1974, the company took another major step buying a significant
shareholding in the Clorox Company
Clorox produced and marketed some of Henkel’s brands in the US,
Canada and Puerto Rico in return for access to Henkel’s formidable
research and development expertise
Henkel was now also expanding rapidly overseas: in Australia,
Guatemala, Venezuela, Indonesia and Jamaica
In 1980, Henkel America brought into automotive supply industry and
acquiring a maker of adhesives for household and schools sectors
In West Germany, the company re-launched Persil, with Sasil, as a low-phosphate
brand.
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10. By 1987, Henkel acquired a minority stake in the US Loctite
Corporation, America’s leading sealants and adhesives firm
In 1988, the Wall Street Journal described their approach as ‘a blend
of America’s short-term interest on profit and West Germany’s long-term
emphasis on the future’.
Henkel published new corporate guidelines which placed
environmental protection
In 1995, Henkel bought Schwarzkopf cosmetics and personal care
Henkel launched a hostile bid for the 65% of Loctite
In 1997, acquired the Los Angeles DEP Corporation, that gave the
company a foothold in the US hair care market.
Came a 50:50 partnership with Dial Corporation to develop new
laundry detergent products sold under Dial’s Purex brand
70% of Henkel revenues were coming from outside Germany
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11. As early as 1919, Fritz Henkel and his three children appointed an
eight-strong management committee to run the day-to-day business
Henkel was no personal fiefdom like William Lever’s Lever Brothers.
Today the company is structured along product sector rather than
geographical lines.
There are three distinct branded product sectors: Adhesives, Laundry
& Home Care and Beauty Care
Their main brands Persil, Purex and Dixan, Laundry and Home Care
account for slightly over a quarter of sales.
Then comes Beauty Care, growing quickly, with brands like
Schwarzkopf, Dial and Syoss
They established their fourth division, Henkel Technologies in 2001.
HT deals in adhesives and sealants for products such as cars, books,
computers, aircraft, cell phones, shoes and refrigerators
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12. Henkel is run by a triumvirate at the corporate level.
The Management Board whose responsible for the day-to-day running
of the company
The Shareholders’ Committee who meets regularly with the
Management Board to discuss strategic direction
The Supervisory Board, a sixteen-member with equal numbers of
shareholder and employee representatives who advise and monitor
the Management Board in its stewardship of the company.
The family’s continuing possession of around 80% of the voting shares,
creates a structure that balances the needs and inputs of all the key
stakeholder groups
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13. 2004
The big event of the year was a transformation of Henkel’s position in
North America
The largest Dial was whose Purex brand greatly increased Henkel’s
share of the US detergents market
Henkel exchanged its 29% stake in Clorox for Clorox’s household
cleaners and insecticides brands in North America and South Korea
Henkel’s total share of US sales increased from 12% in 2003 to a
forecast 25% in 2005
Henkel become global number three in Laundry and Home Care
behind P&G and Unilever, number one in Germany and number two
in Europe
In cosmetics/toiletries, Henkel was number one in Germany, number
four in Europe and number eight worldwide
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14. 14
In adhesives, Henkel remained a clear global number one
The acquisitions added 13% to annual sales, reaching €10.6 billion
The Laundry and Home Care category was juiced up the second half-year
with the launches of Bref Power cleaner and Persil Megaperls
with ShortWash
The sales of cosmetics/toiletries inched ahead by just under 2%,
keeping pace with market growth.
The main progress coming from Diadermine, a high-performance skin
care range that apparently guarantees a visibly younger-looking skin
Henkel Technologies focused on providing bespoke products to
individual customers
Overall, the company’s product range was protected by over 7,600
patents with a further 5,200 pending
15. 2005
Double-digit sales increase of 13% took sales to within a whisker of €12
billion
Henkel gained share in a sluggish European market
The Consumer and Craftsmen Adhesives business grew organically by
5%, again largely due to big increases in Eastern Europe.
The success of the company resulted in planning to extend to Asia,
Latin America and the Middle East led by new lines such as Pritt Easy
Start adhesive tape
Henkel set itself two future goals: to increase the share of business
from emerging markets to 30% by 2008 and to increase the share of
business from innovation in any three-year period from 25% up to 30%
Henkel declared 2006 to be its “Year of Innovation” and expecting all
employees to chip in with ideas
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16. 2006
The Year of Innovation - 67,000 ideas submitted, more than one for
every employee and 20% next-stage approved – it was such as
success that the scheme was extended to a three-year program and
a Henkel Innovation Trophy was instigated for an open innovation
program.
Innovation was at the heart of a much-improved sales performance.
Reported sales only increased by 6.4%, in 2006 there was a neutral
effect from acquisitions and disposals, organic growth had risen to a
very healthy 6%.
The expansion of the Shanghai research facility to cover all four
product groups and the transition of Henkel’s cellular biology research
company to work on skin research with the brief of developing an
alternative to animal testing
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17. 17
2007
Sales only advanced by 2.6% to just over €13 billion
The targeted growth regions of Eastern Europe, Africa, the Middle
East, Latin America and Asia (except Japan) collectively posted an
organic sales increase of over 15%
Henkel had 52 production sites around the world, the largest still in its
Düsseldorf home
Henkel’s future goal was to become the clear innovation leader for
each category in which it competed
2008
Sales increased by 8% to over €14 billion sales
The acquisition of National Starch’s Adhesives and Electronic Materials
businesses for €3.7 billion
The company sales increased from 26% in 2004 to 37%
18. Henkel enjoyed the number-one positions in over 100 country product
categories
The year also saw the development of a new three strategic priorities:
Achieve full business potential
Focus more on customers
Strengthen the global team
Increased profitability in the mass categories of heavy-duty laundry
and hand dishwashing products while drive growth in the profitable
specialty categories
Increased sales of the top three brands (Schwarzkopf, Persil and
Loctite) twice as fast as company average
A reduction in the number of production sites in mature markets
Concentrate on strategic suppliers and on procurement from low-wage
countries
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19. 2009
The Organic sales were down over 6%.
In the second half-year, Henkel’s organic sales almost matched the
slowdown level of 2008, pushing total performance for the year down
by 3.5%
The organic sales in laundry and home care grew by 2.9%,
cosmetics/toiletries were doing even better growing by 3.5%
Henkel was gaining market share in its consumer categories primarily
because of the very strong innovation program
The sales from new products in Laundry and Home Care and
cosmetics/toiletries launched in the previous three years had now
reached over 40%
Overall top-line sales for the year hit just over €13.5 billion, a decline of
3.9% when currency movements and acquisitions/disposals occurred.
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20. 2010
Henkel bounced back in spectacular style, growing top-line sales by
11% to over €15 billion, underpinned by a 7% organic growth without
currency effects and acquisitions/disposals
All three sectors grew, albeit at differing levels Laundry and Home
Care by 1.5% in a shrinking market, cosmetics/toiletries by 4.8%; and
Adhesive Technologies by nearly 12% and all three improved their
market share
Company sales had again grown by double digits in the targeted
emerging markets growth region more than 19% for the top line and
over 12% organically
The overall company growth was in fact more than totally due to a
volume growth of 8.5% net prices had declined by 1.5%
Henkel’s largest revenue rise in the Western Europe since 2007
20
21. 2011
The change to a more sedate top-line increase by over 3.4%, due to
more currency movements as underlying organic growth had
declined slightly to a still impressive plus 5.9%
Company’s top ten brands now made up a good 42% of sales, given
these heavily branded and highly recognizable products’ better
margins, had powered a double-digit increase in company earnings
Cosmetics/toiletries moved up to a 43% innovation rate, with R&D
R & D investment had settled at a slightly lower level of 2.5% of sales,
reflecting the shift in emphasis to open innovation, with
developments underway reflecting the continued focus on not just
the growth but also sustainability
The company launched a new sustainability strategy; it resolved to
triple value created relative to ecological footprint by 2030
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22. 2012
Sales increased by 6%, a performance all the divisions contributed to
equally as all gained global market share. The organic sales growth
of more than 3.8% was mostly driven by price increases
Henkel again was successful in passing along input cost increases, an
ability fuelled by its consistently very high innovation rate
Gained double-digit figures in Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa,
India and China. Overall, emerging markets accounted for 43% of
global sales and increased by 9%, 7.8% of which was organic growth
Henkel’s strategy contained four strategic imperatives
Out-perform
Globalise
Simplify
Inspire
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23. Green Innovator
Henkel stands alone as a global player who has been, is and will
remain completely committed to an innovation program that
constantly seeks to reduce the ecological impact of its products.
Careful Competitor
One thing that stands out in Henkel’s history is that it has no desire
to be absolutely everywhere just for the sake of it.
A German owned and ran as it is, it was Euro-centric at heart,
dominant in large German markets and a key player in the rest of
Europe
Henkel has substantial businesses in both branded consumer goods
and industrial supplies
Henkel’s inbuilt strategic advantage is huge: it has now been
measuring all its core competences against this agenda for decades
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24. Henkel now has a $20 billion turnover, almost equally between its
industrially biased, Adhesive Technologies and the highly branded
home and personal care businesses.
The company mission statement hails it as ‘A global leader in brands
and technologies’.
It defines its values as follows:
• We put our customers at the centre of what we do
• We value, challenge and reward our people
• We drive excellent sustainable financial performance
• We are committed to leadership in sustainability
• We build our future on our family business foundation
Leadership in sustainability value indeed sustain both continued
growth and continued success for Henkel
It had enough platforms, particularly in Adhesive Technologies and
cosmetics/toiletries to benefit from the continued rise of emerging
markets
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