Jkhaveityourway

Jared Manhertz

MGT 491

Individual Case

Danaher Corporation was started by two brothers, Steven and Mitchell Rales, who grew up in Bethesda, Maryland. At first it wasn’t even called Danaher but was the Equity Group Holdings. This was in 1980 where the first investment vehicle was formed. The name came from a fly-fishing locale in western Montana. After the brothers had control over a real estate investment trust called DMG and sold the company’s real estate holdings is when the company was experiencing change and new direction. Danaher became the acquisition vehicle which was newly tailored at the time. Skip forward a few years and the company’s main focus was on cutting costs and paying the debt that was accumulated. By 1986, the company was listed as Fortune 500 Company with revenues of $456 million. After the two brothers resigned from being the President and CEO, in 1990, George M. Sherman was appointed to take over.

Well qualified for the positon, Sherman did not waste anytime moving forward. The company expanded and by 2000 had 51 operating companies. Danaher moved into water quality instruments, temperature and pressure sensors for food, pharmaceutical management, and other businesses. Under Sherman’s leadership Danaher’s sales increased from $750 million to $3.8 billion. It emerged “from midcap company status to become the premier large cap industrial company.” Currently the CEO of the corporation is Larry Culp.

The operating segments are Environmental, Dental, Industrial technologies, Life Sciences & Diagnostics, and Test & Measurement. Each of these segments are similar simply because these businesses are designed to improve quality of life around the world. As for performance between 1986 and 2010, Danaher’s revenue grew from $296 million to $13.2 billion. A business journalist even said the corporation “probably the best-run conglomerate in America.” One reason for successful performance is due to earning revenue outside from the U.S. DBS...