Many companies consider what they might do if faced with an ethical dilemma and how they might recover from some disaster, but only a few companies ever have to face doing so in the way Johnson & Johnson did with the Tylenol crisis in 1982. Johnson & Johnson weathered that crisis in a way now emulated by other companies. The issue of ethics had been important to the company before this, and it had originally marketed Tylenol in what it called an "ethical marketing program" directly to doctors before deciding that the product could also reasonably be sold over the counter to the consumer, beginning in 1975. Johnson & Johnson remains a major company not just in the United States but worldwide. Johnson & Johnson today is number 51 on the list of the Fortune 500 companies, with annual sales in 1999 of 27.47 million and an annual sales growth of 16.1 percent. The company currently employs about 93,100 people, with an annual growth in work force of 2.9 percent. Johnson & Johnson is one of the world's largest and most diversified health care products manufacturers, and the company operates in three sectors: 1) consumer products, such as Tylenol and Motrin, Reach toothbrushes, and Band-Aid bandages; 2) professional products, such as ACUVUE contact lenses, surgical instruments, and joint replacements; and 3) pharmaceuticals, including Ergamisol cancer treatment and Ortho-Novum oral contraceptives. The company expands its product line through acquisitions, of which it has made more than 30 in the last decade. The company also forms partnerships with smaller firms which have some new technology, while Johnson & Johnson is a powerhouse in marketing (Hoover's Online). Johnson & Johnson has structured its business on a stated Credo that promotes ethical business practices, and the company and its Credo were put to the test in 1982 when a series of poisonings of the consumer product Tylenol on drugstore shelves forced the company to make a ...