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Milestone Environmental Contracting Inc.: Employee Ownership as a Next Step for a Fast-Growing Environmental Remediation Company

Lorin Busaan, Simon Pek | April, 2023

This teaching case study explores employee ownership at Milestone Environmental Contracting Inc. Milestone has long seen its employees as crucial to achieving its ambitious vision of becoming the general contractor of choice for governments, consultants, and engineers in an increasingly in-demand field in Canada. Recently, grounded in a desire to ensure that growth is more … Read More

The Carris Companies: Doing the Next Right Thing 

Cecile G. Betit | July, 2008

Presented in this case is the Carris Companies’ movement towards 100% employee shared ownership and governance with an emphasis on and investment in education; focus on ‘quality of life’; economic, educational and social accessibility provided by the company for its employees, many of whom are unskilled at the time of initial employment; encouragement of employee wellness; employee involvement in corporate decision-making and philanthropy; companies’ increased efforts to reduce waste and energy use and the overall positive effects on the companies’ profitability… 

A Positive Movement Forward: Carris Companies Employee-Governance 

Cecile G. Betit | January, 2007

This chapter presents William (Bill) H. Carris’s distinctive organizational design for a positive and practical model of 100% employee-governance in the movement toward 100% employee-ownership of the Carris Companies, a manufacturer of wood, plastic, and metal reels in six United States locations and one in Mexico… 

Working Toward Transparency and Accountability: Carris Companies Governance 

Cecile G. Betit | October, 2002

This conceptual paper based on a case examines some of the devastating impacts of the recent spate of corporate wrongdoing, noting the widespread interconnectivity and interrelationships these demonstrate; revisits the roots of capitalism and the underpinnings of corporate citizenship; and explores the efforts of the Carris Companies as they implemented their plan for 100% employee ownership and governance, working toward full transparency and accountability in their decision-making. 

Carris Companies’ Practice of Employee Governance 

Cecile G. Betit | June, 2002

Distinguishing the Carris Companies’ transition to 100% employee ownership was its more unusual movement towards 100% employee governance. This paper examines the Carris Companies’ practice of governance and the process used to prepare stakeholder citizens for their changing roles and relationships. 

Starbucks Coffee Company 

Alison Stanley, Paul A. Argenti | January, 2002

This case traces the origins of Starbucks and its rapid growth through joint partnerships and diversified products, and its rapid expansion of retail cafes. A profile of Starbuck’s financial contributions to community development and literacy projects, and its efforts to promote progressive workplace conditions is presented. Despite this, criticisms of pushing out local businesses, homogenization … Read More

Sportasia LTD.: A Community Company

Alan Coad | January, 2002

Evident in the case are important themes such as the transformational leadership of its senior management, the effective use of human resource strategies to control organisational growth, and the adoption of values similar to Charles Handy’s ‘Citizen Corporation’. 

The Carris Companies: Making 100% Employee Governance the Practice—Shifting Stakeholder and Citizen Rights and Responsibilities to the Employees 

Cecile G. Betit | January, 2002

Following a brief description of the methodology employed within this chapter, background information is provided on the Carris Companies. Changing stakeholder relationships highlighted in the segment on employee ownership provide a foundation for understanding the transitional process within the Carris Companies and, specifically, the practice of governance.  

Carris Companies Experience: Corporate Values in Practice 

Cecile G. Betit | January, 2001

Organizational leadership sets the standard for ethical conduct in the workplace. Christianity’s “Golden Rule” was used by William H. (Bill) Carris, owner of the Carris Financial Corporation (CFC), as the central ethical principle in his Long Term Plan (UP), describing the transition to 100% employee-ownership and governance… 

Carris Corporation: Incentive Plan Program 

Cecile G. Betit, Jay Rao | January, 1998

For several years, William H. (Bill) Carris (President and CEO) looked for ways to bring employees into the business. From the beginning Michael (Mike) Curran (Vice-President and COO) had been not in favor of implementing short-term incentives at that time. But having worked with Bill for 20 years, Mike knew when Bill’s mind was set on proceeding… 

McKay Nursery Company (A, B) 

Kathleen A. Meyer, Laura Pochop, Stephanie Weiss | December, 1996

McKay Nursery Co., founded in 1897 in Waterloo, WI, had a longstanding history of commitment to employees. The close-knit organization was a pioneer in the agricultural industry of several employee-friendly policies. But in the early 1980s, as McKay’s owners grew older and senior management neared retirement, the next generation of managers feared for the future of the profitable, debt-free company…