Amway: The American Way

Introduction

Amway, which is the abbreviation for the “American Way,” is a privately held company that was founded in 1959 by Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel. DeVos, the 259th richest man in the world, stated, “[We] wanted to have a business of our own […] and wanted to give others the chance to be in business for themselves, too.” (Amway, 2013) Amway started with the first environmentally friendly cleaning product in the United States; nevertheless, they evolved to become the world’s largest direct sales business in 2014. Presently, their products focus in four areas: nutrition, beauty cosmetics, bath & body, and home care (Amway, 2013). The direct retailer giant sells all of its products online and also through its independent business owners;

This product became really successful, so Ja-Ri continued expanding itself and purchasing other companies; the growth and change led to having Ja-Ri Corporation’s name change to Amway Corporation. During the 1960s, Amway started expanding to foreign markets; the first ones were in London, Ontario, and Sydney. When it opened its office in Australia, Rich DeVos mentioned, “It was the farthest away, so we said, well, if it will work way over there, then maybe it’ll work elsewhere.” Throughout the 1990s, Amway more than doubled its size; entering the Chinese market influenced the company’s large growth. By 1999, they obtained full ownership of the company Nutrilite, the company for which they started distributing almost 50 years before. (Amway,

The Access Business Group is the distributor, printer, product development, packing and manufacturing company for all of Amway’s products. In order, to maintain its constant growth throughout the years, Alticorp has expanded Amway from having distribution and manufacturing facilities in the U.S.A. to low-cost production countries, for example, India, China and Vietnam. Regarding their food supplement farms, they are organically certified and are located in Brazil, Mexico, and the USA. (Alticor, 2015) The farms are so strictly controlled that trucks are not allowed to go faster than 10 miles per hour, so that chemicals will not fall on the plants. (Gutiérrez, 2015)

Research and development is vital for Amway. They have over 100 patents and over 700 waiting for approval. Since Amway has such a wide variety of products, they have hired more than 900 scientists, engineers, and technicians on a global scale. Furthermore, these people work in one of the company’s 75 research and development laboratories and centers. In addition to this, in order to release a product to the market, Amway spends 15 years studying and improving the product before releasing