Mergers & Acquisitions

Say hello to an old friend: Pfizer Inc. knocked out some competition in the OTC pharmaceutical market when it acquired Wyeth's consumer healthcare brands last year.

It's a similar story every year for this highly regulated, highly scrutinized industry. The trend continues toward innovating nicotine products, with British American Tobacco leading the way.

Big headlines rocked the food industry in 2010 and 2011. Two leading companies are going through amicable breakups while others remain focused on executing improvement initiatives for future growth.

Beauty isn't everything. But don't tell that to this group of companies, who are making steady sales gains with innovative health and beauty products and business strategies.

The companies on this list have to be masters of rapid innovation. Find out which toy companies stayed on the "hot" list in 2010 and which ones lost the popularity contest.

Overall, the economy still wasn't looking pretty in 2010, but it wasn't completely ugly either. Most of the consumer goods companies on CGT's Top 100 list made modest sales gains. A few leapfrogged the competition. Yet, many others were still fighting an uphill battle.

The acquisition of DemandTec is expected to extend IBM's Smarter Commerce initiative by adding cloud-based price, promotion and other merchandising and marketing analytics. At the same time, the deal is in line with a trend across many industries wherein the lines between merchandising, marketing, commerce and supply chain are blurring.

Irene Rosenfeld will lead the global snacks company as Chairman and CEO. Meanwhile, a CEO and Chairman have been named for the North American grocery company.