Food Company Danone

In 1919, Isaac Carasso created a simple food with a simple aim to improve health: mixing ferments and fresh milk, he made a yogurt that he affectionately named ‘Danone’ after his son, Daniel Carasso. He was inspired by the immunologist Elie Metchnikoff’s research at the Institut Pasteur into the role of ferments in gut and overall health.

The yogurt was packaged in porcelain pots, which Carasso hand-delivered as a health food to pharmacies across the city.

One decade later, Daniel joined the family business and successfully expanded Danone across France. In the late 1930s, with Europe once again on the brink of war, he decided to move to the United States and he established the company as ‘Dannon’ there.

In 1951, Daniel Carasso returned to Paris to manage the family's businesses in France and Spain, and the American business was sold to Beatrice Foods in 1959; it was repurchased by Danone in 1981.

In Europe in 1967, Danone merged with Gervais, the leading fresh cheese producer in France, and became Gervais Danone. In 1973, the company merged with bottle maker BSN.

Back date to 1966, the French glass manufacturers, Glaces de Boussois and Verrerie Souchon Neuvesel, merged to form Boussois Souchon Neuvesel, or BSN. Initially, Danone was involved in several industries such as beer, frozen food and biscuits.

In 1973, BSN merged with Gervais Danone, a French food and beverage group specialized in dairy and pasta products, becoming the largest food and beverage group in France.

The company changed in 1999 their corporation name from “BSN” to “Groupe Danone” (since 2009, just DANONE) and from 2000 on, they sold all their beer companies and, later they also left some activities like sauces and cereals in order to focus on more healthy production.

In the early 1990s, Danone made international growth a major priority by penetrating new markets in locations such as China and Eastern Europe by acquiring well known brands in their respective countries such as China’s ‘Amoy’, a producer of soy sauces and frozen foods.
Food Company Danone

History of Renault S.A: French multinational automobile manufacturer

In February 1899 Renault was created by The Renault brothers (Louis, Marcel and Fernand) assisted by two friends (Thomas Evert and Julian Wyer). Louis Renault was born in Paris on February 12, 1877.

Following preparatory studies at Ecole Monge, Louis failed the entrance exam for the elite national engineering school, Ecole Centrale. He seized the opportunity to indulge in his passion for machines.

In the autumn of 1898, upon his return from military service, he built his first little car or Renault Voiturette, equipped with an original “direct drive” transmission system. The system of chains and belts that earlier builders had used to transfer energy to the wheels was replaced by a gearbox and differential, directly linked to the rear axle by a crankshaft and two universal joints. It was an elegant solution, typical of Louis Renault.

Renault Voiturette was the first ever produced automobile. It was designed by Louis Renault and manufactured between 1898 and 1903. The name was used for five different models.

On December 24, 1898, at a Christmas party in Montmartre, Louis demonstrated the advantages of this motorcar by driving up steep Rue Lepic. The vehicle performed so convincingly that his friends immediately pledged funds to the venture, placing orders for twelve copies of the Voiturette.

He and his brothers Fernand and Marcel then built a series of small cars and formed the automobile firm Renault Frères (“Renault Brothers”). Renault vehicles attracted much attention by winning numerous road races until Marcel was killed during a Paris-Madrid run in 1903.

Renault’s victories in many automobile races across Europe were its best advertisement. Seeing this, the Renault brothers did not hesitate to quickly expand their commercial network, both in the domestic market (where Renault had more than 100 commercial agents only five years after its establishment) and abroad.

From 1905, the young factory received an order for 205 taxis and adopted mass production techniques.

The first commercial agents were established in London and Milan as early as 1900. Shortly afterwards, more agents were added in Chicago, New York, Vienna, Buenos Aires, and Berlin.

At the end of World War II, the company was nationalized (largely caused by the alleged collaboration with the Nazi enemy). Louis Renault died in prison in October 1944; he had been accused of collaborating with the Nazi occupation. His company was nationalized a few months later.

From 1945, the Renault brothers company implemented new production sites and modernized its plans. Between 1950 and 1975 Renault failed to conquer the American market. However, the international expansion of Renault was launched.

Renault is privatized again in the 1990s in order to revive its brand after the disastrous decade of 1980.
History of Renault S.A: French multinational automobile manufacturer

History of Maersk

From a modest beginning in steam shipping in 1904, Maersk has grown into Denmark’s largest company, a dominant regional player in the North Sea oil and gas industry and the owner of the world’s largest container shipping fleet.

Maersk was established as a privately run shipping business (Svendborg Steamship Company) when 28 year old Arnold Peter Moller together with his father, Captain Peter Maersk Moller, bought a secondhand steamer of 2,200 tons dead weight.

In 1928, the first liner service under the name Maersk Line on the trans-Pacific route from the Far East to the United States. Maersk Line purchased its first container vessel in 1973.

Maersk entered the offshore support market in 1967 as the first Scandinavian shipping company and within a decade became a world leading operator of large offshore support vessels.

Later the offshore services were separated out to a separate business entity in 1974 with the new division named Maersk Supply Service.

In 1975 and 1976 the company bought nine fast container vessels for its transpacific line, the largest investment in the company’s history.

In 1965 Arnold Maersk McKinney Moller, son of Arnold Peter Moller, assumed the eldership of Maersk.
History of Maersk

History of Adidas

For over 90 years adidas had been part of the world of sports on every level, delivering state of the art sports footwear, apparel and accessories.

Adidas was founded in 1948 and registered as a company in August 1949.

It all began in 1920, when German shoemaker Adolf ‘Adi’ Dassler and his brother Rudolf made their shoes in Herzogenaurach, a small village in the south of Germany.

Using the few basic materials available after World War I, Rudolf began making slippers with soles made from old tires.

In July 1924 Adi and his brother founded Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik or Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory and prospered.

Adi converted the slippers into gymnastics shoes and soccer with nail on studs or cleats. The purpose is to provide every athlete with the best possible equipment.

Headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany it was a global leader in the sporting, goods industry, offering its products in almost every country of the world: Europe accounted for 50% North America for 30%, Asia for 17% and Latin America for 3% of total sales.

By 1978 Adidas was producing 45 million pairs of shoes per year. Adi’s son, Horst, formed another sports division in France, Adidas France, which competed directly against Adidas (Germany) and eventually it became more influential through sports sponsorship with International Federation of Football Association (FIFA) and Cola-Cola.

In 1989, the Dassler family withdrew from the company, and the enterprise was transformed into a corporation.

In attempt to branch out into new areas, in 1997, adidas acquired Salomon Group, and the company’s name changed to adidas-Salomon AG.

In May 2005, Adidas sold their partner company Salomon Group to Amer Sports of Finland. In August 2005, the company buying the British company Reebok.

With the revenue 14.5 billion euros in 2013, Adidas is currently second only to Nike in global sales.
History of Adidas

Airbus Company in history

Airbus Industry GIE was established in 1970 as a European collaborative venture for the development and production for large civil aircraft and from its inception had to find a way to compete against the US industry to gain a part of the market.

It was established as a French-German consortium later joined by Spanish and UK firms.

The four Airbus partner companies had operations in France, Germany, Spain and the UK, with each partner company having work-share responsibilities that reflected their particular areas of expertise.

The first Airbus transport, a wide-body twin engine jet called the A300, entered service in 1974. A complete family of Airbus models followed, competing head to head with McDonnell Douglas and Boeing. 

Within ten years of its inception, Airbus captured a strong foothold in the market for large passenger jets, having 256 orders from 32 countries.

This encouraged the consortium partners to turn their loose alliance into a more structured federation and to conceive a long term vision to develop a complete family of large aircraft, ranging from 100-seat to 400-seat passenger jets.

In 2000, in response to the new bigger Boeing, Airbus became bigger as well. Three Airbus partners – Aerospatiale Matra of France, Daimler Chrysler Aerospace of Germany and Construcciones Aerospatiale of Spain – merged to form a single integrated firm, European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS).

In 2010, Airbus achieved a 50.7% share of the global market.
Airbus Company in history