In the meantime, we will continue to serve the customers of each business. Further building on our commercial progress, innovative product lines and high quality service possessions. In addition, in our packaging business, we will be pursuing specific actions to accelerate growth and improve margins consistent with our stated goal of achieving industry meeting profitability. The strategic steps we have announced today reflect the strong commitment of our management team and of our board of directors to create value for our shareholders, having returned $4 billion over the past decade. It also reflects our confidence and the strength of each of these businesses and in our ability to continue to create value for our shareholders by profitably growing our packaging businesses.
I will now turn the call over to Bob Beckler. Bob?
Robert Beckler, EVP and President, Packaging, MeadWestvaco Corporation
Thank you, John. I just like to begin by reinforcing how excited we are in bringing forth this unique opportunity to maximize value for shareholders. It is a decision we are confident will catalyze even greater momentum in growth and profitability of two great businesses as they stand on their own.
Let me just take a few moments to outline why we are so confident in the value the separation of MWV Packaging and Specialty Chemicals will create.
First, our packaging business today is on strong footing with a very bright future. We are delivering strong top and bottom line growth enabled by five key elements. First, our highly focused market participation strategies in food, beverage, home and garden, healthcare, beauty, and premium coordinated packaging. Second, innovation, strengthening our mix, profitability, and competitiveness around the world. Third, disciplined operational focus to get the most out of our world class asset intensity. Fourth, our growing global market reach. Fifth, a talented team with a strong sense of excitement and the urgency for maximizing value through all avenues, pricing, mix, volume, cost, and productivity.
In the future, as a focused packaging company, MWV will be able to accelerate this momentum and drive further value for shareholders. In addition to the five key elements underlying our performance, with today’s announcement, we intend to accelerate our packaging strategy in a number of areas and I would just like to site three examples here.
First, there is tremendous upside in food and beverage, being driven by global market dynamics where our customers require increased quality and a broader range of performance capabilities in packaging forward. In food, for example, this is driving a shift in the forms of packaging for pleasure, healthier, and more convenient products. In beverage, customers around the world are recognizing and moving some multi-pack formats to distinguish their products through better graphics, more customization, and greater flexibility for innovation. In all of these areas, we will be increasing our leverage of our strong material science capabilities along with their packaging insights to capture maximum value in the shifting markets.
Second, in home health and beauty, the dispensing systems market is one of the most attractive parts of the packaging landscape and our business has significant upside as it realizes its full market potential. We have seen significant progress this year as the team has driven strong growth in high margin areas based on the performing business lines and executed well in improving its cost structure and margins while continuing to drive great quality, service, and innovation for our customers around the world.
We see continued opportunities as we drive additional efficiency and sustain growth through exciting new innovation and targeted investments in attractive areas like fragrance, healthcare dispensing and other product lines around the world. Third, we will continue gaining increased leverage from recent productivity and growth investments that range from expanded platforms for corrugated packaging in Brazil and India through our domestic mill system. These investments are on track and the productivity and capacity [inaudible] ahead of us are our controllable.
