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

2

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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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 4

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 5

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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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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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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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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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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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

divisions11

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%12

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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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 market14

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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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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