Tupperware Brands Corporation (Tupperware Brands) is a global direct-to-consumer company engaged in the manufacture and sale of Tupperware products and cosmetics and personal care products. Ever since it was created by Earl Tupper in 1948, Tupperware's products have been a staple of the American home. In 2005, Tupperware started its expansion by increasing the diversity of its products. Tupperware Brands has expanded to almost 100 countries around the world under its eight brands -Tupperware, Armand Dupree, Avroy Shlain, Beauticontrol, Fuller, NaturCare, Nutrimetics and Nuvo. Tupperware Brands Corporation is the leading global marketer of innovative, premium products across multiple brands utilizing a relationship-based selling method through an independent sales force of 2.9 million. The sales process at Tupperware involves having existing sales people work to recruit new members to expand its direct sales network. (Tupperware Brands Corporation)
Tupperware Brands has been named to Fortune magazine’s 2015 World’s Most Admired Companies list for the eighth consecutive year. The company is ranked on the annual list in the Home Equipment, Furnishings category. Tupperware Brands ranked first within the industry in the category for global competitiveness.
“Tupperware Brands’ global mission is to empower women around the world, enable their financial independence and change their lives through opportunity, support and relationships,” said Rick Goings, Chairman and CEO of Tupperware Brands. “The strength of our mission and our people propels us as a company to continue our success. Global competitiveness is one of the priorities of the business, along with the other categories the list is derived from, and we are honored to be ranked on the World’s Most Admired Companies list for the eighth year in a row." (Tupperware Brands Ranked as One of the Most Admired Companies in the World by Fortune Magazine, 2015)
The company ranked second in innovation and use of corporate assets in its industry. Other criteria contributing to the ranking includes social responsibility, people management, quality of products/services, and quality of management, financial soundness and long-term investment value.
Background
In 2000, Tupperware, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, remained one of the world's leading manufacturers and sellers of plastic food serving, storage, and preparation products. Tupperware was one of the most well recognized brand names in the world. Tupperware's core product line included food storage containers to preserve food freshness through the well-known Tupperware seals. The company also had an established line of children's educational toys, serving products and gifts. New product development continued to be an important part of the company's growth strategy. The line of products expanded over the years into kitchen, home storage and organizing uses. This included products such as Modular Mates, Fridge Stackables, OneTouch canisters, the Rock N'Serve line, Meals in Minutes line, Legacy Serving line, and the TupperMagic line, as well as the Expressions line, the Luxuria line, Ultra Plus and OvenWorks, Salad Spinner, E-Series ergonomic knives, Multi Organizer water filters, mixers, blenders, flower vases, ComfortClean Squeegees, and BagKeepers. The development of Tupperware's new products differed in various markets, due to dissimilarities in cultures, life-styles and needs. Tupperware positioned its products at the upper end of the market by incorporating innovative designs and higher quality plastics in its products. In general, the company avoided product categories where it felt it could not differentiate itself and command a premium price.

History
Tupperware has literally been a household word for generations. But long before Tupperware became an integral part of the classic suburban lifestyle in the 1950's, Earl Tupper was a self-educated engineer working for a Du Pont chemical plant. With the beginning of WWII, industrial materials for home products became scarce, and Tupper began to experiment with a refining process to make use of Du Pont's leftover polyethylene plastic. When refined, this plastic became the basis for Tupper's revolutionary kitchen product. Tupper's very first product was a simple tumbler. But looking at a paint can in a hardware store one day, he conceived of inverting the lid seal and producing it in flexible plastic. So the famous "burp" seal was born. In 1958, Tupper sold the company to Rexall Drug, which became Dart Industries in 1969. Dart Industries spun off Tupperware in 1986, along with several other divisions.
Tupperware became a separately traded, publicly owned company in May 1996 through a tax-free spin-off and share distribution from Premark. In 1999, company sales totaled over $1.0 billion through a sales force of about 1 million spread throughout more than 100 countries worldwide. Tupperware's global reach was reflected in the numbers -- nearly 86% of revenues were generated outside the U.S. Focusing more on updating product designs, management invested in a major public relations campaign in the U.S., which resulted in about 300 impressions per month (in magazines, television shows, etc.) in 1999. Strategic alliances with Whirlpool, Proctor & Gamble, and the International Chef's Forum enabled Tupperware to promote the brand and spark interest in products.
Until Earl Tupper introduced his Tupper Plastic products in 1945, kitchen containers were either glass jars or ceramic crocks. Many homemakers were familiar with the use of Mason jars for preserving fruits and vegetables. Tupper's airtight seal made polyethylene Tupper containers functionally superior to conventional containers. But plastics had been seen very little outside of industrial applications. As a result, few homeowners knew the advantages of the material or even how to open the Tupper containers, and they sold poorly. Watching his products languish on the shelves of hardware stores, Tupper realized that the product had to be brought directly into the homes of users in order to convince the public. Tupper's first direct sales person was Brownie Wise, who conceived the idea for the "Tupperware party" to do just that. Tupperware parties brought awareness of these new plastic products into suburban neighborhoods. For decades, Tupperware sales flourished, utilizing "Tupperware party" to conduct sales in a group environment, using the opportunity to demonstrate product features and educate the consumer.
Probably the biggest obstacle for Tupperware to overcome is the simple fact that it's a retailer of plastic storage and personal-care products, and investors have a difficult time trying to assess where growth is going to come from. First and foremost, Tupperware is focusing its efforts on emerging markets. Emerging markets of all forms offer Tupperware growth that it simply can't get in more established and saturated markets. In addition, emerging markets are often untouchable to the slowdowns seen in more established markets, giving Tupperware the ability to grow strongly even when U.S. growth is weak. According to Tupperware CEO Rick Goings, emerging markets make up 60% of Tupperware's total sales, which leaves the company multiple avenues for achieving growth. In the Asia-Pacific region and South America, Tupperware recorded gains of 9% and 16%, respectively, in year-over-year total sales. (Financial Information)
Second, it's all about marketing and pricing. There are few companies out there with as long and successful a history of word-of-mouth advertising than Tupperware. Its products, which are priced to appeal to cost-conscious consumers, are sold through a network of enthusiastic sales representatives known for throwing parties to get neighbors and family members excited about the product.
What makes Tupperware truly stand out from the crowd is its shareholder-first philosophy, which has been marked by steady share repurchases and huge dividend increases in the past couple of years. Since 2007, Tupperware has repurchased 15.5 million shares of its stock for $828 million. That works out to $53.42 per share. In short, Tupperware's cash usage has been divvied out wisely, and it recently boosted its open-market purchase authorization to $2 billion from $1.2 billion through 2017. (Tupperware Brands Corp.)
Tupperware's dividend growth in the past three years has been beyond exceptional. Improving on its longtime position of returning approximately one-third of profits to shareholders, Tupperware has bumped that figure up to 50% of its diluted EPS. That bump created the most phenomenal dividend boost that we witnessed in the first quarter, with Tupperware ramping its quarterly dividend up to $0.62 from $0.36. (2014 SEC Form 10-K Filing)
Tupperware Brands are a publicly traded company. By selling stock they are spreading the risk off the initial owner to all of the people who buy the stock and then have a piece of ownership interest. This strategy is used to raise capital by selling ownership for capital instead of having to borrow the money and take on more debt. They have a debt to equity ratio of 3.43 which is total liabilities/shareholders equity. This is a pretty high number showing they have an above average amount of debt. This is not always a bad thing and I believe it is not for Tupperware brands. I believe in this case it is a sign of the company being aggressive. They increased their long term debt by roughly 200 million dollars in the last two years. Even with that added debt 2013 was their best net income year in the last five years. 2014 was in in line with the other four years in the last five. While adding this debt they have shown success to their stockholders by having a dividend yield of a whopping 4.9 which is roughly four times higher than the industry average.
Things like that convince me that the company isn’t concerned about short term quick fixes and gearing up to be stronger in the extended future. Short term fixes and having a bland brand are often concerns about public owned companies. Tupperware brands show it is clearly looking to the future and is clearly a unique brand trying not to be conventional. This is obvious when a company can use a direct selling method while being publicly traded. Their vision statement mentions empowerment, integrity, responsibility, innovation, collaboration, and celebration. Tupperware has a clear vision of who they are and how they want to present themselves to the world. The fact that they are publicly owned while keeping their unique voice, showing term positive results, and willing to invest in the future of their company to help it grow and become more of a success are all factors that make me agree with their financing strategies. While without context some of their financing strategies would make me nervous in other cases. In this case it is hard to argue against their plan when they have had a net income of 193 million dollars and above the last five years while still looking to the future.

Works Cited
(n.d.). Retrieved August 2015, from Tupperware Brands Corporation: https://www.tupperwarebrands.com/index
2014 SEC Form 10-K Filing. (n.d.). Retrieved August 2015, from Tupperware Brands: http://ir.tupperwarebrands.com/files/doc_financials/annual%202014/2104-10K-Filing-(1)_v001_v4e4oy.pdf
Financial Information. (n.d.). Retrieved August 2015, from Tupperware Brands: http://ir.tupperwarebrands.com/financial-information/key-ratios/default.aspx
Tupperware Brands Corp. (n.d.). Retrieved August 2015, from The Wall Street Journal: http://quotes.wsj.com/TUP/financials
Tupperware Brands Ranked as One of the Most Admired Companies in the World by Fortune Magazine. (2015, February 23). Retrieved August 2015, from Business Wire: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150223005143/en/Tupperware-Brands-Ranked-Admired-Companies-World-Fortune#.VdM7yPNViGN