The document traces the history of Kimberly-Clark from its founding in 1872 as a paper mill company to its evolution into a global consumer goods company. Three pivotal events were the invention of Cellucotton wound dressings during WWI, entering the diaper business to compete with Procter & Gamble, and merging with Scott Paper which opened doors for international expansion. These transformed Kimberly-Clark from a paper company into a packaged goods leader with trusted brands like Kleenex and Huggies sold around the world.

2. History & Origin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Early Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Global Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Modern Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Company Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Recent Efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Company DNA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Social Media Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . 16
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3.  Charles Clark initiated his five co-businessmen to buy a paper mill on March
26, 1872
 Charles Clark, John A. Kimberly, Havilah Babcock, Frank Shattuck, and
George Whiting raised $30,000
 The first paper mill was located at Fox River in Neenah, Wisconsin
 Eight years later, it opened a second mill
 It was then incorporated as Kimberly, Clark & Co, with a capitalization of
$400,000
 In 1892, it expanded into bond and ledger paper production, making it the
largest paper company in Fox River
 In 1893, it was making 55 tons of newsprint a week
 It went through a three-year depression after good times in America closed
 In 1895, the company’s profit fell by over 70%
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4.  In 1912, recruiting of organized technical department came up
 Ernst Mahler, an Austrian chemist was recruited in 1914
 Mahler came up with a product called Cellucotton wound dressings
 Kimberly-Clark dealt with Surgeon-General of War Department to supply
Cellucotton during European war
 By 1917, the company was shipping Cellucotton as fast as they could make
them
 The war ended in 1918 which also implicated an end for Cellucotton
 Mahler and Kimberly collaborated with Walter Luecke and came up with
Kotex sanitary napkin
 Women consumers objected the selling of Kotex in stores because of
sensitivity
 Cellucotton Products Company (CPC) was built to avoid Kimberly Clark’s
association with Kotex
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5.  It was then considered an embarrassing product
 Luecke thought of coming up with an advertisement, encouraging retailers
to place Kotex’s box on the counter by the till
 Kotex then sold in singles, via vending machines in ladies rest rooms
 In 1923, Kleenex Cleansing Tissues sold as a cold creamer remover
 Then they renamed it as Kleenex Disposable Handkerchiefs, after a survey
revealed that consumers used it to blow their noses
 Kotex experienced a challenge when Earle Haas developed Tampax tampons
 In 1957, it acquired Schweitzer Inc., a cigarette paper business
 In 1959, it purchased American Envelope Company
 Competitors and consumers’ changing brand preference made it hard for
Kotex and Kleenex to stay in the game, but it managed to give P&G a good
rivalry
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6.  In 1925, the company began selling its products in Canada.
 It formed a UK subsidiary to market Kotex and Kleenex
 In 1955, they signed up a British contract manufacturer to make Cellucotton
under license.
 The company also bought LA Aurora Paper Company in Mexico.
 LA's factories eventually supplied selling operations in Central and South
America.
 In 1957, the British venture was used as a springboard into West Germany.
 In 1959, a ten-year deal was signed with South African Pulp and Paper.
 Invested $200 million for its expansion in Europe, Latin America, Australia,
and the Philippines.
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7.  During the 1970s, 20% of the company’s operating assets were located
outside the US, primarily in Europe and Mexico.
 Kimberly-Clark was far behind P&G and Scott Paper
 The merger with Scott Paper in 1995, opened doors for wider international
expansion
 They also made acquisitions in Switzerland (serving Germany and Austria),
Spain and Portugal.
 In Taiwan the company bought out the Kimberly-Clark and Scott Paper joint
venture partners, and merged to form Kimberly-Clark Taiwan into one of the
country’s biggest consumer goods companies.
 The company’s focus was to expand its presence in emerging markets
particularly Brazil, Russia, India, China, Indonesia, and Turkey
 Today, almost 50% of Kimberly-Clark’s sales are generated outside US but
less than 30% of operating profit
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8.  The turning point of Kimberly-Clark was the appointment of Darwin Smith in
1971
 His vision was to build resources and capabilities to become a fully-pledged
consumer business
 Johnson & Johnson’s Stayfree brand launch became a great challenge to
Kotex
 By 1975, its nearly 60% market share in 1970 had declined to 35%
 It eventually bottomed out at 15% in mid 80s
 It then launched Kimbies as rival to Johnson & Johnson’s Pampers
 Kleenex and Kotex were facing an end
 The company managed to improve Kimbies through cash influx.
 Launched the Kotex Lightdays Panty Liner in 1975.
 By December 1977, Huggies was launched with Kleenex on its front in
Winconsin and Michigan
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9.  In 1983, Huggies achieved fully national distribution with 21% share
 Huggies overtook Pampers that lead the market by 1985
 In 1995, Kimberly-Clark made a union with Scott Paper
 It was then the number two in consumer paper products behind P&G
 By 1999, it was turning over $12 billion a year
 Purchased Ballard Medical Products
 Followed by various acquisition including Safeskin, and a Polish tissue
business
 In November 2004, the company spun off a new subsidiary, Neenah Paper
 The move was to divest its remaining paper and pulp mills businesses
 Smith’s goal of turning the company into a packaged goods business was
achieved
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10.  In 1955, the first major change happened. The re-incorporation of CPC back
into the Kimberly-Clark main hierarchy.
 In 1959, separate divisions were created for Schweitzer cigarette papers,
Newsprint, Canadian operations, Consumer Products, and a small
International Division.
 After the Scott Paper merger, it settled in three divisions: Personal Care,
Consumer Tissue, and Business-to-Business
 By 2004, United States, Canada and Europe were consolidated into a North
Atlantic Group.
 By 2006, Business-to-Business division was split in Professional and
Healthcare groups.
 Professional and Healthcare reflected the increasing size and specialisation
of the healthcare business, and had little in common with Scott Towels and
Kimberly-Clark industrial wipes.
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11. 2004
 Kimberly-Clark had annual sales of over $15billion
 Product innovation like Kotex Lightdays, Huggies Convertibles, etc.
 Huggies brand was extended into bath and body products
 Gained number one position in the US in medical products
2005
 The company sales grew 30% in BRICIT markets
 Acquisition of Microcuff GmbH, boosted Healthcare strategy toward higher
priced products
2006
 Sales increased with another 5%
 Volume growth all came from Personal Care and Healthcare divisions
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12. 2007
 A 9% sales increase was recorded
 In Personal Care Division, a volume increase of 8%$50 million increase in
marketing spend for Huggies
 Growth of 21% in the developing and emerging markets
 China, with sales growth of more than 40%
2008
 BRICIT markets advanced another 30%
 Product innovation like Kleenex Facial Tissue with Lotion
2009
 Personal Care division grew volume by 2%
 Healthcare grew volume by 14%
 International wise, Personal Care products were up by 15%
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13. 2010
 Personal Care division grew volumes by 3%
 Healthcare had a volume increase of 7%
2011
 International businesses were handled by a management group called K-C
International
 Product innovations like Huggies Little Movers Slip-On Diapers
2012
 K-C International sales were up 9%
 Volumes were up in Personal and Health Care
 Exited diaper category in Western and Central Europe
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14.  Both Kimberly-Clark and Scott Paper built their businesses by understanding
paper and the company still has much expertise in the area with Kleenex,
Scott paper towels, Andrex and the like.
 In the world of consumer-packaged goods, every brand is a bond of trust
between brand owner and brand consumer. Kimberly-Clark operates in areas
that both require and engender a very strong bond of trust.
 The company’s product fields, over the decades have built up an institutional
expertise talking to consumers about difficult or embarrassing subjects. This
requires an in-depth body of knowledge on how to do these things well and
to adapt the conversation over time to reflect changing social norms and
differing cultures.
 The company’s brand expertise is useful in almost everything, enabling it to
reach a wider market
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15.  Kimberly-Clark is a good example of how understanding the company’s
history and development can illuminate issues in the business today.
 Kimberly-Clark was built on three events:
 The invention and propagation of Cellucotton
 Selling of the mills and taking on Procter & Gamble in diapers
 The merger with Scott Paper
 These events resulted to various developments:
 Turned a paper company into a packaged goods company
 Helped the packaged goods company develop a dynamic set of new and
growing categories
 Opened doors for the company to venture into growing set of new
countries
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16. Website: www.kimberly-clark.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/kimberly-clark
Facebook: www.facebook.com/KimberlyClarkCorp
Twitter: www.twitter.com/KCCorp
Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/KimberlyClarkComms
Google+: plus.google.com/u/0/100428948660476595716/posts
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