I. The Company
Monsanto is an agricultural company. It is an American multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation, which applies innovation and technology to help farmers around the world produce more and conserve more. It is one of the world's most important agricultural suppliers, developing key export positions in soybeans and soy meal, sugar, and ethanol, as well as beef, poultry, and pork. i. Location
Monsanto has its headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, in the United States. To experience the needs of their customers, understand the pressures confronting them, and develop innovation tailored to their needs, they have other locations in 64 countries. ii. Background
Monsanto is widely recognized for leading in the dramatic transformation of the agricultural seed and chemical industries to biotechnology-based products. In the 1970s, they began investing in biotechnology. By 1987, they conducted their first trial of plants with biotechnology. The 1990s marked the acceleration into plant biotechnology, which required extensive research and development (R&D) investment. By 2006, Monsanto-developed biotechnology products were being grown in 40 countries around the globe on over 200 million acres. iii. Strategy: The gradual acquisition of small seed companies
This strategy was effective because it provided a delivery vehicle for its newly developed technology. First of all, they needed a market position in supply-side venture. Second of all, they needed to link biology-based research teams, who were doing the biology, with the plant breeders in the seed company organization. Therefore, they started a gradual acquisition of small seed companies. And between 1996 and 1999, they ended up spending more than $6 billon in buying seed companies and closing marking agreements. However, they didn’t become the world’s largest seed company until 2005, when they acquired Seminis, a vegetable seed company, for $1.4