Incorporated: 1880 as Kimberly & Clark Company
NAIC: 313230 Nonwoven Fabric Mills; 322121 Paper (Except
SIC: 2297 Nonwoven Fabrics; 2621 Paper Mills; 2676 Sanitary Paper Products; 3841 Surgical & Medical Instruments
Over 130 years since its founding, Kimberly-Clark Corporation is one of the world's leading producers of tissue, personal care products, and health care products. The company sells its products in 150 countries and maintains manufacturing operations in 41 countries. In addition to its market leaders in tissues and feminine-, child-, and incontinence-care products (which include the brands Huggies, Kotex, Depend, Kleenex), Kimberly-Clark is also a major producer of premium business, correspondence and technical papers. The company is also the market leader in health care products such as facemasks, surgical gowns, and sterilization wrap, and, with its 1999 acquisition of Safeskin, Kimberly-Clark is currently the number one producer of examination gloves in the United States.
Kimberly, Clark & Company was founded in Neenah, Wisconsin, in 1872 as a partnership of four men: John A. Kimberly, Charles B. Clark, Frank C. Shattuck, and Kimberly's cousin, Havilah Babcock. The company began the first paper mill in Wisconsin. Its initial product was newsprint made from linen and cotton rags. Within six years, the company expanded by acquiring a majority interest in the nearby Atlas paper mill, which converted ground pulpwood into manila wrapping paper. The business was incorporated in 1880 as Kimberly & Clark Company, with John Kimberly as president. In 1889, the company constructed a large pulp- and paper-making complex on the Fox River. The community that grew up around the factory was named Kimberly, in honor of John Kimberly.
Among the company's early innovations was the paper used for rotogravure, a procedure for printing photographs with a rotary press. In 1914, researchers working with bagasse, a pulp by-product of processed sugar cane, produced creped cellulose wadding, or tissue. During World War I, this product, called cellucotton, was used to treat wounds in place of scarce surgical cottons. At that time field nurses also discovered that cellucotton worked well as a disposable feminine napkin. The company later recognized the commercial potential of this application and, in 1920, introduced its Kotex feminine napkin.
In 1924, the company introduced another disposable tissue product, Kleenex, to replace the face towels then used for removing cold cream. A survey showed, however, that consumers preferred to use Kleenex as a disposable handkerchief, prompting the company to alter its marketing strategy entirely. Nationwide advertisements promoting Kleenex for its current use began in 1930, and sales doubled within a year. Uncomfortable marketing such personal-care items as feminine napkins, Kimberly & Clark had created a separate sales company, International Cellucotton Products, which it contracted to manufacture Kotex and Kleenex.
During the 1920s the company built a Canadian pulp mill and power plant called Spruce Falls Power and Paper Company in Kapuskasing, Ontario. In 1925 the company formed what would become Canadian Cellucotton Products Limited, for marketing cellucotton products internationally. The following year Kimberly & Clark, in partnership with the New York Times Company, added a newsprint mill to the Spruce Falls complex and expanded its pulping capacity.
The company was reorganized and reincorporated in 1928 as Kimberly-Clark Corporation. That same year, as shares of Kimberly-Clark were being traded on the New York and Chicago stock exchanges for the first time, John Kimberly died. He was 90 years old and still president at the time of his death.
In the 1930s, Kimberly-Clark concentrated on marketing its new products. During World War II, the company devoted many of its resources to the war effort. The company also contracted Margaret Buell, creator of the cartoon strip "Little Lulu," to promote Kleenex. Buell and Little Lulu continued to promote Kleenex for Kimberly-Clark into the 1960s.
After the war, Kimberly-Clark initiated a growth program to handle revived consumer product demand. Facilities were built or acquired in Balfour, North Carolina, and Memphis, Tennessee, in 1946, and in Fullerton, California, and New Milford, Connecticut, in the late 1950s. Pulp production at Terrace Bay, Ontario, was launched in 1948, and in 1949 the company, along with a group of investors and newspaper publishers, began the large Coosa River Newsprint Company in Coosa Pines, Alabama. Kimberly-Clark acquired the Michigan-based Munising Paper Company in 1952, Neenah Paper Company in 1956, Peter J. Schweitzer, Inc.--which had mills in France and the United States--in 1957, and the American Envelope Company in 1959. International Cellucotton Products Company formally merged with its parent company in 1955, as did Coosa River Newsprint Company in 1962.
Throughout the 1960s the tampon, first manufactured by Tampax, gained favor among women and ate into Kotex's market share. Kimberly-Clark turned its attention to new products. In 1968 the company introduced Kimbies, a disposable diaper with tape closures. Initial sales were strong despite competition from Procter & Gamble's Pampers. While Kimberly-Clark tended to its diverse operations, however, it failed to keep up with early disposable diaper improvements and market innovations. As a result of continued poor sales and leakage problems, Kimbies were withdrawn from the market in the mid-1970s. Competition in the infant-care product industry caused Kimberly-Clark to reevaluate the balance between its consumer products and lumber and paper products divisions.
Darwin E. Smith, who was elected president of Kimberly-Clark in 1971, took on Procter & Gamble's challenge. Smith decided that to compete properly in consumer product markets Kimberly-Clark had to prune its coated-paper business. Within one year of taking control of the company, Smith initiated changes that included the sale or closure of six paper mills and the sale of more than 300,000 acres of prime northern California land. With cash reserves of more than $250 million, primarily from the land sale, Smith then inaugurated an aggressive research campaign. He assembled a talented research and development team by hiring specialists away from competitors. The company's advertising budget was increased substantially, and plans were made for the construction of additional production facilities.
Marketing was central to Smith's strategy for growth, as Kimberly-Clark emphasized its commitment to consumer products. Research and development efforts enlarged the company's technological base from traditional cellulose fiber-forming technologies to lightweight nonwovens utilizing synthetic fabrics.
A new premium-priced diaper in an hourglass shape with refastenable tapes was introduced in 1978 under the name Huggies. By 1984, Huggies had captured 50 percent of the higher quality disposable diaper market. The sudden popularity of the product caught Kimberly-Clark by surprise, and it was forced to expand production to meet consumer demand.
Facial tissue and feminine-care products were also part of Kimberly-Clark's growing consumer product operations. In 1984, it was estimated that the company's Kleenex brand held 50 percent of the tissue market. A chemically-treated virucidal tissue called Avert was test-marketed that same year, but the higher price and limited utility of the product prevented it from gaining widespread popularity. Aimed at health care institutions and at companies as a product to reduce absenteeism, Avert never really got off the ground, and in 1987 Kimberly-Clark decided not to mass market the product.
The 1980, toxic shock syndrome scare caused a slump in tampon sales. Kimberly-Clark began an aggressive advertising campaign on television for Depend incontinence products in the early 1980s. At the time, incontinence products were as unmentionable as feminine-care products had been some 60 years earlier. The promotion resulted in Depend gaining a profitable share of the incontinence products market, and it quickly became the best-selling retail incontinence brand in the United States. In an effort to broaden its position in therapeutic and health care products, Kimberly-Clark acquired Spenco Medical Corporation in Waco, Texas, that same year.
Although sales from primary growth operations--personal-care products--were increasing, approximately 25 percent of Kimberly-Clark's sales continued to come from the pulp, newsprint, and paper businesses. The company further diversified its operations in 1984 by converting its regularly scheduled executive air-shuttle service into a regional commercial airline.
The company's foray into aviation was initiated by the purchase of a six-seat plane in 1948 to shuttle executives between company headquarters in Wisconsin and Kimberly-Clark factories around the country. With six planes in 1969, Smith, then an executive vice-president for finance, suggested that company air travel be converted from a "cost center into a profit center" by offering corporate aircraft maintenance services. K-C Aviation, as the subsidiary was called, later remodeled three DC-9s and in June 1984 initiated flight service between Appleton and Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Boston; and Dallas, Texas. The fledgling airline, operated under the name Midwest Express, got off to a rocky start with a 1985 crash in Milwaukee, planes flying 80 percent empty, and large operating losses. By 1989, however, the operation was in the black, with planes at 66 percent capacity; a $120 million expansion increased the number of destinations to 15 cities and the airline boasted a fleet of 11 DC-9s.
In 1985, stating that the state had a bad climate for business, Smith relocated Kimberly-Clark's headquarters from Wisconsin to Texas. Just before this move Kimberly-Clark was sued by Procter & Gamble, who claimed that Kimberly-Clark had unlawfully infringed on its patented disposable diaper waistband material. Huggies had increased its market share to 31 percent, upsetting Procter & Gamble's Pampers. After nearly two years of litigation, a federal grand jury ruled against Procter & Gamble. Kimberly-Clark enjoyed further successes in its ongoing diaper rivalry with Procter & Gamble later in the decade when it introduced the extremely popular Huggies Pull-Ups disposable training pants in 1989. This product extension helped Kimberly-Clark trim Procter & Gamble's market share lead, as well as propel Huggies into the number one position in the disposable diaper market.
Starting in the late 1980s, Kimberly-Clark began another diversification program--this time geographically, targeting Europe--although the company's largest international growth would come in the early and mid-1990s. To keep the company growing at a healthy pace, Smith began to increase Kimberly-Clark's presence in Europe in 1988. From that year to 1992, the company invested nearly $1 billion in European plants. Although revenues from its European operations increased steadily, the huge investments (totaling $700 million in 1993 alone) and restructuring charges that went along with them began to affect the company's profits. Net income of $435.2 million in 1991 fell to $150.1 million in 1992 before recovering slightly to $231 million in 1993.
Meanwhile, the company further reduced its commodity papers operation in 1991 when it sold Spruce Falls Power and Paper. The following year, Smith, the architect of Kimberly-Clark's restructuring and diversification efforts since 1972, retired as chairman and was succeeded by Wayne R. Sanders. The new chairman had worked his way up the ranks and had spearheaded the risky endeavor of developing Huggies Pull-Ups. The year 1992 also saw the introduction of Huggies Ultra Trim diapers.
Under Sanders's leadership, it appeared as if the company would divest itself completely of its commodity papers roots. Kimberly-Clark announced in late 1994 that it would explore the sale of its North American pulp and newsprint operations. The following year, however, the company decided not to sell because pulp and newsprint prices rose so high it no longer made economic sense to do so. Kimberly-Clark did divest its cigarette papers business in mid-1995 by spinning it off into a company called Schweitzer-Maudit International Inc. after shareholders initiated a proxy fight in 1994, concerned about the potential costs of liability lawsuits against tobacco, which were then beginning to gain strength.
In 1995 Sanders engineered the deal that would usher in a new era for the company: the merger of Kimberly-Clark with the Scott Paper Co. The deal was the logical culmination of Kimberly-Clark's international expansion, since Scott was globally strong and held the number one position in tissue in Europe. The $9.4 billion deal led to a 1995 charge of $1.4 billion for Kimberly-Clark to consolidate the merger, which led to the layoff of 6,000 workers and the sale of several plants. To pass antitrust muster, Kimberly-Clark had to sell the Scotties facial tissue operation, two of four tissue plants in the United States, and its Baby Fresh, Wash-a-Bye Baby, and Kid Fresh brands (which it sold to Procter & Gamble).
The merger with Scott solidified Kimberly-Clark's position as the number two player in the paper products industry and nearly doubled the company's revenues. The merger also marked a change in direction for the company from a focus on low-margin paper and pulp production to higher-profit consumer products. Realizing that its entry into the "diaper wars" with Proctor & Gamble would require streamlined operations, Kimberly-Clark began to divest itself of its pulp and paper manufacturing business in late 1996. The company shut down mills in Alabama, Canada, and Spain. By the end of 1997, pulp production fell to 30 percent of the company's worldwide consumption, down from 80 percent at the beginning of that year.
The company also began to expand its line of professional health care products. In 1997, Kimberly-Clark acquired Tecnol Medical Products, manufacturer of half of all surgical masks used in U.S. hospitals. In 1998, the company restructured its tissue business to consolidate manufacturing operations. The restructuring resulted in the closure of mills, including those in Maine and Wisconsin, and the loss of some 5,000 jobs. In 1999, Kimberly-Clark further divested its pulp business when it sold its Southeast Timberlands, which supplied wood to many of its defunct pulp mills.
In 1999, the company expanded its tissue operations in Europe with its acquisition of the Swiss Company Attisholz. The acquisition nearly tripled Kimberly-Clark's tissue sales in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. That year, Kimberly-Clark continued its foray into medical and health care products by purchasing Ballard Medical Products, adding such products as respiratory suction catheters, defibrillator pads, and foam-dispensed soap to its line. That acquisition was followed later that year by the purchase of Safeskin, which gave the company the leading spot in the production of disposable surgical gloves.
The turn of the century saw the company continuing its rapid expansion through acquisitions. In 2000, the company grew its Asian markets when it acquired the Taiwanese company S-K Corporation and the Taiwan Scott Paper. In 2001, Kimberly-Clark bought the Italian company Linostar, the second largest diaper manufacturer in Italy. In 2000, the company achieved sales of nearly $14 billion. The annual report for that year reported that in coming years the company would focus on product innovation, strategic acquisitions, and geographic expansion, especially introducing Kimberly-Clark products into countries where they were not currently sold.
Principal Subsidiaries
Avent, Inc.; Ballard Medical Products; Colombiana Kimberly Colpapel S.A. (Colombia; 69%); Hakle-Kimberly Switzerland; Hakle-Kimberly Deutschland; Hogla-Kimberly (Hadera, Israel; 50.1%); Housing Horizons, LLC; Kimberly-Clark Argentina S.A.; Kimberly-Clark a.s. (Czech Republic); Kimberly-Clark Austria Holdings Pty. Ltd.; Kimberly-Clark B.V. (Netherlands); Kimberly-Clark CBG Hygenic Products company Limited (China); Kimberly-Clark Canada Inc.; Kimberly-Clark Central American Holdings (Panama; 81%); Kimberly-Clark de Centro America, S.A. (El Salvador, 81%); Kimberly-Clark Chile (60%); Kimberly-Clark do Brasil Limitada; Kimberly-Clark Ecuador S.A. (69%); Kimberly-Clark Holding Ltd. (United Kingdom); Kimberly-Clark (Hong Kong) Limited; Kimberly-Clark International, S.A. (Panama); Kimberly-Clark Japan Limited; Kimberly-Clark Kenko Industria e Comércio Ltda. (Brazil); Kimberly-Clark Lda. (Portugal); Kimberly-Clark Luxembourg S.A.R.L.; Kimberly-Clark Malaysia Sendirian Berhad; Kimberly-Clark N.V. (Belgium); Kimberly-Clark ooo, (Russia); Kimberly-Clark Paper (Guangzhou) Company Ltd. (China); Kimberly-Clark Paper (Shanghai) Company Ltd. (China); Kimberly-Clark Paraguay, S.A. (92%); Kimberly-Clark Personal Hygienic Products Co., Ltd. (China); Kimberly-Clark Personal Hygienic Products (Nanjinng) Co., Ltd. (China); Kimberly-Clark Peru, S.A. (33%); Kimberly-Clark Philippines Inc. (87%); Kimberly-Clark Poland Sp. z.o.o.; Kimberly-Clark Printing Technology, Inc.; Kimberly-Clark Products (Malaysia) Sdn., Bhd.; Kimberly-Clark Pudumjee Limited (India; 51%); Kimberly-Clark Puerto Rico, Inc. (Delaware); Kimberly-Clark S.L. (Spain); Kimberly-Clark--SID, S.A. (Dominican Republic; 80%); Kimberly-Clark Singapore Pte. Ltd.; Kimberly-Clark S.N.C. (France); Kimberly-Clark Southern Africa (Holdings) (Pty) Ltd. (South Africa; 50% plus one share); Kimberly-Clark S.p.A. (Italy); Kimberly-Clark Technical Paper, Inc.; Kimberly-Clark Thailand Limited; Kimberly-Clark Tissue Company (Pennsylvania); Kimberly-Clark Ukraine LLC; Kimberly-Clark Uruguay, S.A.; Kimberly-Clark Venezuela, C.A. (69%); Kimberly-Clark Vietnam Co., Ltd.; Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc. (Delaware); KIMNICA, S.A. (Nicaragua; 81%); Ovisan Turkey (50.1%); Papeles Absorbentes, S.A. (Guatemala 75%); P.T. Kimberly-Lever Indonesia (50% plus one share); S-K Corporation (Taiwan); Safeskin Corporation (Florida); Scott Paper Company de Costa Rica, S.A. (81%); Scott Paper Company--Honduras, S.A. de C.V. (81%); Scott S.A. (France); Taiwan Scott Paper Corporation; Tecnol, Inc.; YuHan-Kimberly, Limited (South Korea, 70%).
Principal Operating Units
Tissue; Personal Care; Health Care.
Principal Competitors
Georgia-Pacific Corporation; Playtex; Proctor & Gamble.
Further Reading
Benady, David, "Kimberly-Clark Brings in US Chief," Marketing Week, July 23, 1998, p. 9.
Byrne, Harlan S., "Keeping the Faith," Barron's, December 16, 1996, p. 15.
------, "Paper Profits," Barron's, January 10, 2000, p. 20.
------, "Strength Ahead?," Barron's, July 28, 1997, p. 13.
Byrne, John A., and Weber, Joseph, "The Shredder: Did CEO Dunlap Save Scott Paper--Or Just Pretty It Up?," Business Week, January 15, 1996, pp. 56-61.
Cheverton, Richard E., The Maverick Way: Profiting from the Power of the Corporate Misfit, La Palma, CA: Waypoint Books, 2000.
Cody, Harold M., "Consolidation Produces Giants Hoping for Better Performance," Pulp & Paper, November 2000, pp. 37-44.
Collins, Glenn, "Kimberly-Clark Plans Split of Stock and Sale of 3 Mills, Stronger Position Sought against P.& G.," The New York Times, February 26, 1997, p. C2.
Forest, Stephanie Anderson, and Heidi Dawley, "Pulp Fiction at Kimberly-Clark," Business Week, February 23, 1998, p. 90.
Forest, Stephanie Anderson, and Maremont, Mark, "Kimberly-Clark's European Paper Chase," Business Week, March 16, 1992, pp. 94, 96.
Frankovich £ Mike, "Early Intervention," Security Management, April 2000, pp. 22-24.
Freeman, Laurie, "Kimberly Holds Its Own Against Giants," Advertising Age, November 19, 1984.
Glowacki, Jeremy J., "Kimberly-Clark Corp.: Accelerates Global Expansion with Scott Merger," Pulp & Paper, December 1995, pp. 34-35.
Goldstein, Alan, "Learning a New Set of Rules: How Kimberly-Clark Adapted When E-Business Era Arrived," Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, January 10, 2001.
"Gulfstream Buying Kimberly-Clark Aviation Unit," The New York Times, July 25, 1998, p. B3.
Hackney, Holt, "Kimberly-Clark: No Escaping a Messy Diaper (Business)," Financial World, April 27, 1993, p. 16.
Ingham, John N., ed., "Kimberly, John Alfred," in Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders, Vol. II, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1983.
Kaplan -Leiseron, Eva, "The Maverick Way Profiting From the Power of the Corporate Misfit," Training & Development, January 2001, p. 66.
"K-C Announces Global Restructuring," Pulp & Paper, January 1998, p. 23.
"K-C O pts for Recycled, to Shut Mobile Mill," Pulp & Paper, July 1998, p. 23.
"K-C Takes Cool Approach to its Newest Operating Room Apparel," Health Industry Today, December 1998, pp. 4-5.
"Kimberly-Clark Acquires Tecnol," The Wall Street Journal, December 19, 1997, p. B2.
"Kimberly-Clark Awards Options," The New York Times, October 23, 1997, p. C26.
"Kimberly-Clark Corp.," The New York Times, April 1, 1997, p. C4.
"Kimberly-Clark Has Plans to Restructure Operations in Europe," The Wall Street Journal, July 7, 2000, p. A6.
"Kimberly-Clark is Selling 460,000 Acres of Timberland," The New York Times, June 11, 1999, p. C4.
"Kimberly-Clark Kicks in with Restructuring Plan," PPI, January 1998, p. 9.
"Kimberly-Clark Plans to Increase Prices 5% for Huggies Diapers," The Wall Street Journal, April 16, 1998, p. A4.
"Kimberly-Clark Revises Structure," The New York Times, December 11, 1998, p. C2.
"Kimberly-Clark Selling Southeast Timber," Pulp & Paper, March 1999, p. 25.
"Kimberly-Clark Snatches Attisholz's Tissue Unit," PPI, June 1999, p. 15.
"Kimberly-Clark Suit Alleges Infringement of Its Diaper Patents," The Wall Street Journal, March 21, 2000, p. B8.
"Kimberly-Clark to Acquire Tecnol for 19 Times, Earnings," Weekly Corporate Growth Report, September 15, 1997.
"Kimberly-Clark to Buy Italian Diaper Manufacturer," The New York Times, January 25, 2001, p. C4.
"Kimberly-Clark to Close Pulp Mill and Cut 450 Jobs," The New York Times, May 6, 1998, p. C3.
"Kimberly-Clark to Sell Lines," The Wall Street Journal, May 19, 1999, p. C27.
"Kimberly-Clark Will Cut Staff 15% in Europe," Wall Street Journal, January 29, 1996, p. B2.
"Kimberly-Clark--Down the Pan?," Marketing Week, April 9, 1998, p. 3.
"Kimberly-Clark's Deal for Ballard Expands Industry Acquisition Trend," Health Industry Today, February 1999, pp. 1, 4.
"Kruger Agrees to Buy Kimberly-Clark Unit for $256.8 Million," The Wall Street Journal, March 5, 1997, p. B2.
Lenzner, Robert, "The Battle of the Bottoms," Forbes, March 24, 1997, pp. 98-103.
Lieber, Ronald B., "Storytelling: A New Way to Get Close to Your Customer," Fortune, February 3, 1997, pp. 102-108.
Murray, Matt, "Kimberly-Clark To Take Charge of $1.4 Billion," Wall Street Journal, December 14, 1995, pp. A3, A8.
Narisetti, Raju, "For Sanders, Getting Scott Is Only the Start," Wall Street Journal, December 5, 1995, pp. B1, B12.
Neff, Jack, "Kimberly-Clark Finally Reaps Boon from Scott," Advertising Age, November 8, 1999, p. 24.
Nelson, Emily, "Kimberly-Clark Posts 7.8% Drop in Net, Lowers Forecast for the Rest of the Year," The Wall Street Journal, April 24, 2001, p. B8.
Parker-Pope, Tara, "Contrite, Kimberly-Clark's CEO Promises to Mop Up," The Wall Street Journal, June 1, 1998, p. B1.
Pearson, John, "Reforms are Bearing Fruit," Business Week, July 8, 1996, p. 86.
"Purchase of Added 5% Stake in Australian Venture is Set," The Wall Street Journal, May 8, 2001, p. A14.
Richards, Amanda, "Unite and Conquer," Marketing, September 18, 1997, pp. 24-25.
Sheridan, John H., "Going for Growth," Industry Week, June 9, 1997, pp. 32-44.
Spector, Robert, Shared Values: A History of Kimberly-Clark, Lyme, CT: Greenwich Publishing Group, Incorporated, 1997.
Star, Marlene Givant, "Proxy Fight at Kimberly-Clark: Investors Request Tobacco Spin-Off," Pensions & Investments, March 6, 1995, pp. 2, 41.
"The Kimberly-Clark Corp to Purchase the Safeskin Corp for 3.19 Times, Revenue," Weekly Corporate Growth Report, November 29, 1999.
Useem, Jerry, "Most Admired: Conquering Vertical Limits," Fortune, February 19, 2001, pp. 84-96.
"Wayne R. Sanders," Business Week, January 8, 2001, p. 69.
— Carol I. Keeley; Updates: David E. Salamie, Lisa Whipple
