TOSHIBA

A diversified manufacturer and marketer of advanced electronic and electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and materials, power systems, industrial and social infrastructure systems, and household appliances.

Toshiba was founded by the merging of two companies in 1939.

One, Tanaka Seizosho (Tanaka Engineering Works), was Japan's first manufacturer of telegraph equipment and was established by Hisashige Tanaka in 1875. In 1904, its name was changed to Shibaura Seisakusho (Shibaura Engineering Works). Through the first part of the 20th century Shibaura Engineering Works became a major manufacturer of heavy electrical machinery as Japan modernized during the Meiji Era and became a world industrial power.

The second company, Hakunetsusha, was established in 1890 and was Japan's first producer of incandescent electric lamps. It diversified into the manufacture of other consumer products and in 1899 was renamed Tokyo Denki (Tokyo Electric).

The merger in 1939 of Shibaura Seisakusho and Tokyo Denki created a new company called Tokyo Shibaura Denki (Tokyo Shibaura Electric). It was soon nicknamed Toshiba, but it was not until 1978 that the company was officially renamed Toshiba Corporation.

Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

ASUS

Producer of motherboards, graphics cards, sound cards, optical disc drives, PDAs, computer monitors, laptops, servers, networking products, mobile phones, computer cases, computer components, and computer cooling systems.

TH Tung, Ted Hsu, Wayne Hsieh, and MT Liao founded ASUS on 2 April 1990 in Taipei, Taiwan — all four founders worked as computer engineers for Acer.

The company explains the name ASUS as originating from Pegasus, the winged horse of Greek mythology.The new organization used only the last four letters of the word in order to give the resulting name a high position in alphabetical listings.

Headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan.

HYUNDAI

World’s fourth largest automaker in terms of units sold and one of the Big Asian Four (with Toyota, Honda and Nissan).

Hyundai means "modernity" in Korean.

Chung Ju-Yung founded the Hyundai Engineering and Construction Company in 1947. Hyundai Motor Company was later established in 1967.

Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea.

LIPTON

One of the world's best-known and best-selling brands of both hot leaf and ready-to-drink tea. It is currently owned by Unilever.

Lipton was created in 1890 by Sir Thomas Lipton in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. His enterprise soon flourished and he established a chain of grocers, first across Glasgow, the rest of Scotland, until finally he had stores throughout Britain.

LIMOUSINE

It is not a brand of car but a type of car. It is a luxury vehicle sedan or saloon car, especially one with a lengthened wheelbase or driven by a chauffeur. The chassis of a limousine may have been extended by the manufacturer or by an independent coach builder.

The first automobile limousine, built in 1902, was designed so the driver sat outside under a covered compartment.

The first “stretch limousine” was created in Fort Smith, Arkansas around 1928 by a coach company named Armbruster.

The word limousine is derived from the name of the French region Limousin, because this covered compartment physically resembled the cloak hood worn by the shepherds there.

VOLKSWAGEN

An automobile manufacturer and mobility organisation and is the pioneer brand within the Volkswagen Group, which contains the car brands Audi AG, Bentley Motors Limited, Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S., Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A, SEAT, Škoda Auto and heavy goods vehicle manufacturer Scania AB.

In the early 1930s German auto industry was still largely composed of luxury models, and the average German rarely could afford something more than a motorcycle. Seeking a potential new market, some auto industries begun independent projects of a "Volks Auto" (people's automobile)

In 1933, with many of the above projects still in development or early stages of production, Adolf Hitler declared his intentions for a state-sponsored "Volkswagen" program. Despite heavy lobbing in favor of one of the existing projects, Hitler choose to sponsor an all new, state owned factory. The engineer chosen for the task was Ferdinand Porsche.

On 28 May 1937, the Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Deutschen Volkswagens mbH was established by the Deutsche Arbeitsfront. It was later renamed "Volkswagenwerk GmbH" on 16 September 1938.

Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, in which it is pronounced. Its current tagline or slogan is Das Auto (in English The Car).

Headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany.

COLGATE PALMOLIVE

An American diversified multinational corporation focused on the production, distribution and provision of household, health care and personal products, such as soaps, detergents, and oral hygiene products (including toothpaste and toothbrushes).

In 1806, William Colgate, himself a soap and candle maker, opened up a starch, soap, and candle factory on Dutch Street in New York City under the name of "William Colgate & Company". In the 1840s, the firm began selling individual bars in uniform weights. In 1857, William Colgate died and the company was reorganized as "Colgate & Company" under the management of Samuel Colgate, his son.

In 1873, the firm introduced its first toothpaste, an aromatic toothpaste sold in jars. His company sold the first toothpaste in a tube, Colgate Ribbon Dental Cream, in 1896. By 1908 they initiated mass selling of toothpaste in tubes.

In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the "B.J. Johnson Company" was making a soap entirely of palm and olive oil, the formula of which was developed by B.J. Johnson in 1898. The soap was popular enough to rename their company after it - "Palmolive". A Kansas-based soap manufacturer known as the "Peet Brothers" merged with Palmolive to become Palmolive-Peet. In 1928, Palmolive-Peet bought the Colgate Company to create the Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Company. In 1953 "Peet" was dropped from the title, leaving only "Colgate-Palmolive Company", the current name.

The company's corporate offices are on Park Avenue in New York City, US.

HARPIC

Harpic is the brand name of a toilet bowl cleaner launched in England in the 1920s and now marketed by Reckitt Benckiser. The toilet cleaning products marketed under the brand name include liquids, tablets, wipes, brush systems, toilet bowl and cistern blocks.

The original toilet cleaner was invented by Mr Harry Pickup, who was based in Roscoe Street, Scarborough, in North Yorkshire.

REEBOK

Reebok International Limited is a British producer of athletic footwear, apparel, and accessories and is currently a subsidiary of Adidas AG.

Reebok was founded in 1895, in Bolton, Lancashire, by Joseph William Foster under a company called J.W. Foster and Sons Limited. In 1958, two of the founder's grandsons Jeffrey and Joseph left the family business and started a rival company in 1960 that came to be known as Reebok.
The name comes from Afrikaans/Dutch spelling of rhebok, a type of African antelope or gazelle. The company's founders, Joe and Jeff Foster, found the name in a dictionary won in a race by Joe Foster as a boy; the dictionary was a South African edition, hence the spelling.

Headquartered in Bolton, Engand, UK.

NOKIA

Engaged in the manufacturing of mobile devices and in converging Internet and communications industries.

Nokia's history starts in 1865 when mining engineer Fredrik Idestam established a groundwood pulp mill on the banks of the Tammerkoski rapids in the town of Tampere, in southwestern Finland, and started manufacturing paper.In 1868, Idestam built a second mill near the town of Nokia, fifteen kilometres west of Tampere by the Nokianvirta river, which had better resources for hydropower production.In 1871, Idestam, with the help of his close friend statesman Leo Mechelin, renamed and transformed his firm into a share company, thereby founding the Nokia Company, the name it is still known by today.The name of the town, Nokia, originated from the river which flowed through the town.

Headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki.