| 1494 | Holy Roman Empire, Germany | The German Fugger merchant family establishes its first public company with a capital of 53,385 gulden, the sum being doubled in 1496 when the bishop of Brixen becomes a partner in the company. |
| 1689 | UK | English coffee house proprietor Edward Lloyd opens a coffee house in Tower Street, London, England; frequented by merchants, it develops into a forum for insuring commodities bound for the East and West Indies, and eventually into the most famous insurance house in the world, Lloyd's of London. |
| 1810 | UK | Donkin & Hall establish the world's first cannery in London, England, using tin cans to package food for British naval and miltary forces. |
| 1824 | UK | English Quaker John Cadbury opens a tea and coffee shop in Birmingham, England, the beginnings of the Cadbury confectionery company. |
| 1848 | UK | English stationery company W H Smith and Sons agrees a deal with the London and North Western Railway Company to set up bookstalls at all their stations. This will be the foundation of the profitable W H Smith stationery and bookshop chain. |
| 10 January 1870 | USA | US industrialist John D Rockefeller founds the Standard Oil Company in Ohio; it quickly comes to dominate the US oil industry. |
| 1875 | USA | Henry John Heinz, his brother John, and cousin Frederick form their company in the USA. Heinz ketchup is one of the first products launched. |
| 1899 | France | Louis and Marcel Renault found the French car company Renault Frères. |
| 1903 | Germany | The Krupp metalworking industries are founded in the Ruhr region of Germany. |
| June 1903 | USA | Henry Ford combines with John and Horace Dodge and nine others to establish the Ford Motor Company in Detroit, Michigan, making the city the ‘motor capital’ of the world. |
| 23 April 1904 | USA, Panama | The USA acquires the property of the French Panama Canal Company when the Panama Canal zone is transferred at a meeting in Paris, France. |
| 4 May 1904 | United Kingdom | Henry Royce and Charles Rolls start manufacturing and selling cars under the name Rolls-Royce in Britain. |
| 1905 | United Kingdom | Herbert Austin founds the Austin Motor Company in Britain. |
| 1907 | United Kingdom, Netherlands | The Royal Dutch Shell Oil Company is formed from a merger of Royal Dutch Oil and Britain's Shell Transport and Trading Company. |
| 1907 | USA | A reorganization at Guffey Oil produces the Gulf Oil Company. |
| 14 September 1908 | USA | William C Durant of the Buick Motor Company forms the General Motors Company in Detroit, Michigan, as the basis for establishing a conglomerate of car-building companies. |
| 11 September 1915 | United Kingdom | The first Women's Institute is set up, in Anglesey, Wales. |
| 1916 | United Kingdom | The Cub Scouts are founded by Robert Baden-Powell in Britain. |
| 1924 | | The German firm Leitz introduces the Leica camera, the first commercially produced camera that takes 35-mm film. |
| 1946 | USA | Procter & Gamble introduces Tide, the first commercially available domestic detergent to wash clothes. |
| 17 February 1958 | UK | The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is founded at a public meeting in London, England. Speakers at the meeting include the philosopher Bertrand Russell, the author J B Priestley, the politician Michael Foot, the historian A J P Taylor, and the chairman Canon John Collins. |
| 1965 | Italy | The Benetton clothing company is founded in Italy. Through its chain of franchises, it will attain commercial success worldwide. |
| 1968 | USA | US engineers Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce found Intel Corporation, which begins making integrated circuits for computers. |
| 1975 | USA | Bill Gates, aged 19, and friend Paul Allen Gardiner, found Microsoft. It becomes the biggest seller of computer software in the world and makes Gates a billionaire before he is 30. |
| 1976 | USA | With $1,500, Stephen Jobs and Stephen Wozniak begin making computer prototypes in a California garage – the start of Apple Computers. |
| February 1976 | UK | Frank Chapman opens Loch Rannoch Highland Club in Perthshire, Scotland, the first time-share property development in Britain. |
| 19 September 1978 | UK, Rhodesia | The Bingham Report in Britain reveals that the oil companies British Petroleum and Shell have broken sanctions against Rhodesia and that British ministers concealed knowledge of this. |
| 1979 | Netherlands, Japan | The Dutch company Philips and the Japanese company Sony work collaboratively to develop the compact disc (CD); tiny pits on the plastic are read by laser to reproduce sound or other information. CDs are first marketed in 1982. |
| January 1979 | China | Coca-Cola is marketed for the first time in the People's Republic of China. |
| 23 March 1987 | Japan, UK | The Japanese electronics company Sony introduces the DAT (Digital Audio Tape) recorder in the British market for professional use. |
| 31 October 1988 | UK | British Airways introduces the air miles scheme, offering points towards free flights for specified purchases. |
| 1990 | Japan, UK | The Japanese company Taurus Business Systems markets the first personal videophone in Britain, at a cost of around £1,000 for two. |
