Client Profile: CMC Rescue, Inc.
CMC Rescue became 92 percent employee owned in 2011. Jim came to the realization that employee ownership could realistically be the only way to assure continuation of CMC with its current operations and employees…
Employee Ownership and International Diplomacy: Meeting with a Representative of a Thai Worker Cooperative
Jittra Cotshadet coordinates the Try Arm Worker Collective in Thailand which manufactures ladies’ lower undergarments. She described the trials her collective faces in the current Thai political climate…
Client Profile: n-Link Corporation
n-Link Founder Sandra Green explains that in the early days she wasn’t exactly certain what employee ownership entailed but knew intrinsically that it was a good thing for the company and the employees.
Principled Entrepreneurship and Shared Leadership: The Case of TEOCO (The Employee Owned Company)
The case describes a unique corporate culture that motivates employees to achieve the organization objectives. It also discusses the company development strategy, the concept of shared leadership and how their recent partnership with a major private equity firm may have changed TEOCO’s culture and its business model…
Client Profile: Flexpak Corporation
Flexpak Corporation, has been a leader in providing thermoforming and packaging services to its clients for many years. The employee-owned company, founded in 1974 by Donald Bond is headquartered a few minutes from downtown Phoenix, Ariz.
Creating a High-Performing Workplace
Beyster Institute Senior Consultant Martin Staubus is teaching a course entitled ‘Management 269: Creating a High-Performing Workplace.’ In this interview, Professor Staubus describes the course’s five themes.
Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) (A, B)
At the start, Dr. Beyster made the decision that SAIC would be employee owned and that ownership would be based on merit and contribution to the company, not tenure. Using employee ownership as a selling point to prospective hires, Dr. Beyster was able to recruit talented employees and build a successful organizational culture. However, changes made after Dr. Beyster stepped down would have implications for SAIC’s company culture…
Mid-Missouri Energy: Ethanol from Corn
Mid-Missouri Energy is a farmer-owned cooperative created to take advantage of the growing interest in ethanol as an automotive fuel.
Employee-owned Company Marks 100-year Milestone
The way the McElhanney Group is organized has helped foster a positive, profitable culture. Forty per cent of the key staff, around 320 staff members, own 100 per cent of the shares. Mr. Newcomb says this drives the success of the company collectively.
Namaste Solar
Should a fast-growing, employee-owned solar electric company accept a buyout offer from a private equity investor? Could it do so without sacrificing its distinctive, high-involvement culture? Namaste Solar, a 55-person firm based in Boulder, Colorado, designed and installed solar electric systems for residential, commercial, non-profit and government customers. In 2008, the company had been growing … Read More
Maui Divers of Hawaii
Maui Divers established its employee ownership plan in 1997. Maui Divers store managers/employee owners embrace the business as their own. Although the final decision belongs to the company management team, store managers excel in increasing sales and they continuously come up with business plans in order to make the business better.
Client Profile: Coast Citrus Distributors
At Coast Citrus, the employees are eligible to participate in the ESOP after completing 500 hours and/or three months of service. Currently the company is 70 percent employee owned.
Employee Ownership: A Topic for the Entrepreneurship Curriculum
This Teaching module shows four areas in the entrepreneurship curriculum where teaching about employee ownership can 1) put a needed spotlight on this widespread and useful practice and 2) add conceptual value and rich examples for the course topics being taught…
John Lewis Partnership
The John Lewis Partnership (JLP) is one of the UK’s most profitable retailers – sales grew by 6.3% and pre-tax profit by 18.7% in the year to 27 January 2008. Its success owes much to the co-ownership principles of its founder, John Spedan Lewis, who handed over control and ownership in two trust settlements in the last century.
Five Key Errors in Designing Equity Compensation Plans in Closely Held Companies
I have had dozens of conversations with business owners who want to share equity with some or all employees over the past several years.
A Closer Look at Business Education: Employee Ownership
This Closer Look scans the current landscape of employee ownership teaching in graduate business programs, and shares the perspectives of a leading academic and veteran practitioner about the salient lessons of this model of business.
L. S. Starrett Company
Should Wachovia Bank and Trust lend the ESOP of Starrett the money to purchase shares? The required tasks involve a standard credit analysis and the valuation of Starrett’s shares.
Ohio’s Oldest ESOP: Alloy Engineering’s Success Story
Extending ownership to all employees, involving all in managing the business and tying the compensation to profits brought a renaissance to Alloy Engineering twenty years ago.
The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Equity Compensation
The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Equity Compensation is a comprehensive overview of employee ownership practices and practicalities.
Insuring the Future: Foundation Secure, Co-Founder Focuses On Giving Back
Oswald Trippe & Co. will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year, but longevity isn’t what cofounder and chief executive officer Gary Trippe lists as his top accomplishment.
Honorable Mention: The Anti-FEMA
As government officials dawdled, Richard Zuschlag didn’t miss a beat. He sent his medics into flood-ravaged New Orleans, where they rescued more than 7,000 people.
The Ultimate Employee Buy-in
Sell the company to your employees? It’s a great idea–both for you and for the business you’re leaving behind.
Transitioning Ownership in the Private Company: The ESOP Solution
Using a leveraged ESOP to buy out a departing or retiring business owner is a strategy with considerable benefits for all involved.
Davey Tree Stands Tall with Employee Ownership
Over 25 years, The Davey Tree Expert Company’s employee owners built a good small company into one of the premier companies in its industry, with an entrepreneurial zest for new products and acquisitions. The company’s development would have pleased its inventive founder and provably surprised the family members who sold it to hesitant employees in 1979.
Conscious Growth: Why South Mountain Co. Pursues Deliberate Rather Than Maximum Growth
Is it true that small businesses are just big businesses that haven’t succeeded yet? John Abrams’ company pursues conscious growth not maximum growth.