Xerox

Our strategic intent is to help people find better ways to do great work--by constantly leading in document technologies, products and services that improve our customers' work processes and business results. Chester Carlson invents a method of transferring images from one piece of paper to another using static electricity, a process dubbed xerography. Haloid enters into an agreement with Battelle Memorial Institute to produce a photocopying machine based on xerography. Haloid expands into Europe through the creation of Rank Xerox, a joint venture with the Rank Organisation Plc, a British film company. Introduction of the Xerox 914, the first automatic, plain-paper copier, proves to be a huge success. Company is renamed Xerox Corporation, and its stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Xerox joins with Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. in creating the 50-50 joint venture Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. Xerox begins touting itself as The Document Company and increases emphasis on digital products. Xerox buys out its European partner in Rank Xerox, which is subsequently renamed Xerox Limited. Xerox acquires Tektronix, Inc.'s color printing and imaging unit; as red ink begins to flow, massive restructuring is launched. Xerox sells half of its stake in Fuji Xerox to Fuji Photo Film for more than $1.3 billion; manufacturing outsourcing relationship with Flextronics International Ltd. begins. Xerox Corporation, though virtually synonymous with photocopying, makes printers, scanners, fax machines, multifunction devices, and digital printing and publishing systems in addition to its flagship black-and-white and color copiers. The firm's related services operations encompass consulting, imaging, content management, and document outsourcing services. Increasingly expanding beyond its black-and-white offerings, Xerox now derives more then 20 percent of its revenues from color printers, copiers, digital presses, and related services and supplies. Approximately 45 percent of revenues are generated by the company's numerous overseas offices, subsidiaries, and joint ventures. Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd., a joint venture with Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd., 25 percent owned by Xerox and 75 percent by Fuji, develops, manufactures, and distributes document processing products in Japan and the Pacific Rim (including Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, China, and Hong Kong). Xerox can trace its roots to 1906, when a photography-paper business named The Haloid Company was established in Rochester, New York. Its neighbor, Eastman Kodak Company, ignored the company, and Haloid managed to build a business on the fringe of the photography market. In 1912 control of the company was sold for $50,000 to Rochester businessman Gilbert E. Mosher, who became president but left the day-to-day running of the company to its founders. Mosher kept Haloid profitable and opened sales offices in Chicago, Boston, and New York City. To broaden the company's market share, Haloid's board decided to develop a better paper. It took several years, but when Haloid Record finally came out in 1933 it was so successful that it saved the company from the worst of the Great Depression. By 1934 Haloid's sales were approaching $1 million. In 1935 Joseph R. Wilson, the son of one of the founders, decided that Haloid should buy the Rectigraph Company, a photocopying machine manufacturer that used Haloid's paper. To help pay for the acquisition, Haloid went public in 1936, and selling Rectigraphs became an important part of Haloid's business. In 1936 Haloid's 120 employees went on strike for benefits and higher wages. When Mosher proved intransigent, Wilson stepped in and offered concessions. Tension and resentment between labor and management persisted until World War II. During the war the Armed Forces needed high-quality photographic paper for reconnaissance, and business boomed. When the war ended Haloid faced st