What Went Wrong With These 7 Most Admired Companies?

Bangalore: Many companies today that have made big names in the market, they were started with minimum fund with less workmanship. There are many big companies across the worlds that were started as small companies. For instance, Infosys, it was started with just 10, 000 and with just 4 people in the beginning.

Meanwhile, there are many other well known companies that went unrecognized even after their incredible contributions in their respective fields after a certain period of time.

Here are 7 companies that were most admired back in 1982 but fell from its grace by 2013, compiled by CNN Money.

Eastman Kodak

Eastman Kodak was one of the most admired companies in the world. It came into the lime light when it launched its rallying cry to recover from its struggling business. But, however in the middle of 1983, the company faced a 73 percent decline in its earnings.

In 1975, Kodak invented digital camera but at the same time was not willing to release its technology in the film industry. Finally after 74 long years in 2009, Kodak lost its market.

SmithKline Beckman

Smith, Kline & French was a pharmaceutical company, which is now part of GlaxoSmithKline. Back in 1983, pharmaceutical companies’ merging and transforming became the latest trend. SmithKline Beckman was one of the companies that would later get mushed with GlaxoSmithKline in 2000.

Rockwell International

Rockwell International is an American manufacturing company that produces and sells aircraft, the space industry, both defense-oriented and commercial electronics, automotive and truck components, printing presses, valves and meters, and industrial automation. Ultimately it was an incarnation of series of companies that was founded by Willard Rockwell.

Rockwell International faced an extreme difficulty after Boeing, a cheapest aircraft company in the world, bought Rockwell’s Aerospace and Defense businesses in 1996. But in 2001, the two companies dissolved completely into one.

McDonnell Douglas

Basically, McDonnell and Douglas are two companies that merged in 1967. Till these two companies came together, they were responsible for manufacturing fighter planes, and it was McDonnell and Douglas who built fighter jets for WWII. After they merged in 1967, McDonnell Douglas was one of the largest aircraft makers in the world and they concentrated more on commercial planes rather than the fighter jets which was their previous interest.

Western Electric

Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company founded in 1869. The company served as AT&T's manufacturing arm for more than a century.   In 1881, the company was purchased by the American Bell Telephone Company. After that, the company started building everything from telegraphs to some of the earliest sound systems.

In fact in 1926, Western Electric manufactured a first ever telephone that was a combination of a handset, a transmitter and a receiver.

Gillette

Gillette came into existence, when King Gillette and Emery Nickerson formed a company. The company was based on the design they previously co-designed, that was a safety razor. Gillette was the first company to introduce razors with disposable blade.

Even after King Gillette had lost his money in the stock market crash, the company maintained its strength. Gillette continued to serve as the largest consumer products company in the country. However, in 2005, P&G bought Gillette for $57 billion.

Wang Laboratories

Founded in 1951, Wang Laboratories was a computer company that was founded by Dr. An Wang and Dr. G. Y. Chu. During 1980s, the company had annual revenue of 3 billion and employed over 33,000 people.

In the year 1992, Wang Laboratories filed a complaint for protecting them against bankruptcy. But soon after the recovery, the company changed its name to Wang Global.