Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company. This company designs, manufactures, markets and distributes a large quantity of different toy products in more than 150 countries around the world. From picture frames to Mattel toys (1945-49). The founders of Mattel, Inc were Elliot and Ruth Handler in 1945, where they lived during a rapidly changing post-war period. Handler began by designing lighting fixtures and soon began making furniture, which they sold out of their garage. They expanded their product into making gift items and costume jewelry, which quickly became a $2 million business. To remain competitive, Elliot wanted to move towards a new business approach. Ruth Handler decided to reunite with her old friend, Harold "Matt" Matson, and together they launched Mattel Creations, with Elliot as product designer. Mattel, the name, comes from mixing Matson's last name with Elliot's first name. Matson soon became ill and had to leave the company. With leftovers from making the frames, Elliot began making his first dollhouse furniture. Some of their first toys were the "bird bank" and the "imaginary makeup kit" and these products helped the Handlers break even with their expenses and costs. The first successful product in the toy industry was the "Uke-A-Doodle", a miniature plastic ukulele, soon followed by the plastic piano with raised black keys. early on, and that was that child participation was very important for any quality toy and that children needed to be able to interact with a toy and want to play with it for long periods of time. Furthermore, they had learned that a toy with lasting appeal represented a basis for...... middle of paper...... decisions were made and the company was forced to pay 122 million of dollars to settle the cases following lawsuits filed by shareholders who believed that this was once again misleading information about the company's success. Difficult times took a positive turn when the company focused on hit toys like Harry Potter, SpongeBob SquarePants and Diva Starz. Mattel continued to sell Hot Wheels and Barbies, their all-time bestsellers. Moving on to new generations, Mattel partnered with computer game and toy companies and continued to be a growing company, despite their few obstacles. Eckerd continues to lead the company and has followed bottom-line rather than bottom-line improvement approaches. Mattel continues to grow faster in its international sales than its competitors. The company made history as the world's largest toy manufacturer, seller and distributor..