Mars: A Well-Regulated Militia 183
ties in 150 locations around the world and that its products
are sold in more than 180 countries.
Mars’s legacy of aggressive instincts for international
expansion was evident when Mars became one of the first
Western candy companies to enter Eastern European markets
after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. That same year,
Mars was knocking on the doors of Russia and former Soviet
Bloc countries with twenty-three tons of Snickers, Milky Way,
Mars, and Raider (Twix) bars and was opening offices in War-
saw, Prague, and Moscow. Mars believed that the first com-
pany in after the fall of the Soviet Union would win the hearts,
minds, and taste buds of those former Soviet Bloc consumers.
The only substantial local competition ...