Nestle has a long history of mergers and acquisitions dating back to 1905 when it merged with Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company. By the 1980s, through numerous additional mergers and acquisitions, Nestle had become the 25th largest international company outside the US with operations in 75 countries and 282 plants across 56 countries, employing over 140,000 people worldwide. Nestle has grappled with determining the appropriate balance between standardized versus localized marketing strategies and centralized versus decentralized decision making across its diverse global operations.