Amway Corporation

The pioneer of multilevel marketing (MLM), Amway Corporation manufactures and sells its own products as well as brand name products from other companies through a network of three million independent distributors worldwide. Unlike many other MLM firms, Amway offered a broad selection of items, ranging from cleaning products, cosmetics, and vitamins to travel services, discount car purchases, and catalog merchandise. The company's manufacturing facilities include a 3.5-million-square-foot production plant in Ada, Michigan, as well as plants in California, South Korea, and China. Amway products were delivered to distributors in the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean region through 12 Amway Service Centers. The company recorded explosive growth during the 1990s, increasing its revenue volume from $1 billion in 1990 to $7 billion in 1997, largely through international expansion. In 1999 the company formed a new company named Quixtar to sell consumer products at volume discounts through distributors via the Internet.