When Ireland joined the EEC or European Economic Community in 1973 many small dairies began to merge in order to compete with the larger dairy producing companies. Kerry also participated in the mergers with help from the milk suppliers of the County. Kerry acquired the State owned milk processing company along with its creameries. The Group also held a 42.5% stake in the NKMP Company for a total of 1.5 million Euros. At the same time, six of the eight independent Co-ops, which owned the other 42.5% stake, were acquired and became a new subsidiary of the Kerry Co-operative Creameries Ltd, which began trading in 1974. Kerry began as the smallest of six agricultural co-ops, a position that was soon to change.
As Kerry began growing they developed some key values in the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis that are the backbone for the success of the Kerry Group. The major strength of the Kerry Group is procurement. Procurement allows Kerry to use available global resources in specialty ingredients, seasonings, coating systems, sweet ingredients, nutritional systems, and specialty proteins; by doing this they are able to acquire the highest-quality raw materials. Another strength of Kerry is technological development. Through technological development Kerry is able to develop flavors and gain an advantage over the competition. Kerry gains this technological