Tom / Published on January 22, 2013
We’ve all heard of huge multi-national companies such as Apple, Tesco and Dell. They are some of the biggest brands in the world have become household names. In fact, it seems strange to think now that there was ever a time when iPods or Tesco supermarkets didn’t exist.
But these companies haven’t always been the multimillion-pound high street giants we know today. While some companies, such as Selfridges and John Lewis, have been selling their wares for around a century, these other brands are fairly new in the grand scheme of things. What is more, they were not always so successful, as they came from very humble beginnings.
Apple
The popularity of the apple brand has exploded over the past few years and its products are generally seen as the cool alternative to standard PCs and laptops.
The first computer created by the company was the Apple 1 personal computer kit, which was effectively no more than a motherboard and was hand-built by Wozniak. The Apple 2 was then launched in 1977 and by the end of the decade, the brand had a production line and a team of computer designers.
The turning point for Apple was the creation and launch of the Macintosh in 1984. It was hailed as a “masterpiece” and this is where things turned around for the company. Although Apple’s success declined in the 90s due to the phenomenal advent of Windows, over the past few years it has returned to popularity.
Tesco
Tesco has not always been the supermarket giant we know today. Although it is currently the third largest retailer in the world, it started off life as a group of market stalls, founded by Jack Cohen in 1919. The first Tesco store opened in Middlesex in 1929 and by 1939, Cohen had more than 100 outlets up and down the country.
Tesco originally specialised in food and drink and its motto was “pile it high and sell it cheap”. The brand has now diversified and sells clothing, electronics, telecoms, financial services, CDs, DVDs, music downloads, internet services and software.
In the first half of 2011, Tesco profits reached £1.9 billion – pretty good for a market stall…
Dell
Dell is currently the third largest PC vendor in the world and employs more than 103,300 people globally. But this hasn’t always been the case and the company started life off as PCs Limited, a firm established by Michael Dell in his dorm room at the University of Texas while he was still a student. He sold IBM PC-compatible computers built from stock components and dropped out of school to focus on his endeavours.
Dell launched its first computer of its own design in 1985 and the company changed its name to Dell Computer Company in 1988. After this there was no stopping the firm and to this day it is continually acquiring new firms and expanding its global brand.
It just goes to how that even the smallest of companies can go on to achieve very big things.
