Johnson & Johnson began as a small family business, founded by three brothers. They started with an innovative, somewhat radical idea that medical products used to treat wounds and injuries should all be sterile. When creating this company, the Johnson brothers did not imagine the success they would experience. Through generations of new innovations and product creations, Johnson & Johnson has succeeded in shaping the American economy and exerting influence far greater than it ever imagined. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayJohnson & Johnson began when one of three brothers, Robert Wood Johnson, heard a speech by Joseph Lister, a proponent of antisepsis production. Lister believed that ready-to-use surgical dressings would be much safer and sterile than the products used on site by doctors and nurses of the time. James Wood Johnson, Edward Mead Johnson, and Robert Wood Johnson took this idea and put it into production, releasing their first ready-made surgical dressings in 1886. The company was officially incorporated in 1886 and took off from there. Since their incorporation in 1886, Johnson & Johnson has become the largest and most influential healthcare company. Starting with a small headquarters based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Johnson & Johnson expanded to Canada in 1919 and to England in 1924. In the 1940s and 1960s, Johnson & Johnson continued to experience a tremendous international growth, from countries like Zimbabwe to Portugal and Spain. In the 1980s, they began merging and acquiring new companies to aid their rapid expansion. In addition to trying to make a profit, Johnson & Johnson has made countless efforts to conduct business ethically, influencing society in positive ways. The first example of these efforts was the creation of their disaster relief program in 1906, which sent volunteers and trains full of medical supplies to San Francisco hours after the great earthquake and fire in order to help provide assistance to victims and survivors. Additionally, in 1982, Johnson & Johnson received widespread praise for its extraordinary handling of the Tylenol murder situation in Chicago. After a few bottles of Extra Strength Tylenol were tampered with and laced with potassium cyanide in Chicago, seven people died from consuming the pills. Although it was widely believed to be a chance event, concentrated in Chicago, Johnson & Johnson chose to withdraw all drugs. of their capsules off the shelves and issued a nationwide recall on all of their Tylenol products. Rather than worry about having to recall 31 million bottles, valued at $100 million, Tylenol chose the ethical route, protecting the safety of the American people. Although their shares fell from 38% to 5% during the crisis, the media praise they received for their handling of the situation helped them rebound within a year. This is an astonishing recovery, as many companies would have gone bankrupt following this incident. By placing ethics ahead of profit, Johnson & Johnson's mission is to maintain an environmentally responsible company. They have significantly reduced their water, energy and waste consumption. They recently changed the type of packaging they use in their plastic bottles due to harmful chemicals discovered during the process..