Company Background

In 1991, Jeff Lebesch and Kim Jordan launched New Belgium Brewing in the basement of their home. Today, thanks to many delightful brews and some excellent management practices, the $60-million company is the eleventh- largest brewery (and the third-largest craft brewery) in the nation. Based in Colorado, New Belgium is managed by 225 enthusiastic employee owners who brew, taste, package, market and sell about a dozen specialty beers to restaurants, taverns and other outlets throughout the western U.S.

Business Challenges

In recent years, the beer market has been relatively flat. The craft market, however, grew 9% in 2005. Other challenges include lousy weather, smoking bans and stiffer drunk driving laws. (Not that the latter is a bad thing; NBB advocates responsible drinking.) Still, the brewery has enjoyed enviable growth, posting double - and even triple-digit annual growth rates.

Company Background

In 1989, university student Brian Scudamore bought a used pickup truck and started a junk-removal service. Today that service, 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, is the world’s largest junk-removal franchiser, with more than 200 locations covering 48 of the top 50 metro areas in North America. The organization has scooped many national and international business awards for its fast growth, corporate culture and management practices. Recently, it twice topped Watson Wyatt’s list of the “Best Companies to Work for” in British Columbia. Vancouver-based 1-800-GOT-JUNK? has more than 1,050 junk haulers who drive 455 trucks and post annual system-wide revenue of $70 million.

Business Challenges

The primary challenge is managing hyper-growth. Hiring dozens of people while trying to maintain system efficiencies hasn’t been easy. And with the Olympics coming to Vancouver in 2010, the task of finding commercial space has been tough. Despite the hurdles, however, the company has consistently reached its targets for revenue and employee and franchisee satisfaction.

Company Background

Stellar Asia Pacific and its global network of affiliates deliver contact-management and business-process solutions to some of the world’s most-admired companies. With more than 6,000 employees in 19 offices, Stellar handles 300+ million contacts and 100 million transactions every year. Its services include sales generation, customer care, tech support, surveying and the processing of payables, receivables and applications. Based in Australia, the company was founded on open-book principles in 1998.

Company Background

Founded in 1942, Springfield Spring Corp., an award-winning minority-owned business, makes precision-engineered springs, stampings and assemblies for clients in many industries, including aerospace, automotive, electronics and medical devices. With 42 associates in two plants (total manufacturing space: 23,000 square feet) the $7-million, New England-based company has been playing its own Great Game since 2003.

Company Background

Meadows Regional Medical Center is a not-for-profit community hospital located in Vidalia, Georgia – a rural part of the state about two hours west of Savannah. CEO Alan Kent first introduced the practice of The Great Game of Business to the 400 employees of Meadows back in 2003. In the 11 years since, the organization has thrived and grown like crazy in an era where most healthcare facilities have been forced to cut staff and services as they try and compete in the modern healthcare market.

Business Challenges

Before they began playing the GGOB, Meadows Regional was chugging along nicely: the hospi-tal was profitable and employees were happy. Then, the figurative wheels came off in 2003. Triggered by a doubling of their own health insurance and worker’s compensation insurance premiums, coupled with stagnant revenues, the organization posted an annual net income loss of some $2.8 million. But rather than lay off employees – and put patient safety and satisfaction at risk – Kent empowered his doctors, nurses, technicians and administrative staff to come up with the solutions to drive their growth forward.

Company Background

Woodward Printing Services (WPS) – a division of Woodward Communications – is a full-service, progressive printing company that specializes in high-quality web and sheet-fed printing, mailing and delivery. To date, WPS is the only one of Woodward’s six divisions to have opened their books, but their early success has sparked Tom Woodward, great-grandson of the company’s founder and current president and CEO, to think about expanding it throughout the company. “From my seat, the Great Game of Business fits nicely into our participative culture and family atmosphere, which dates back 100 years,” says Woodward.

Business Challenges

Commercial printing is an extremely competitive business with razor-thin margins, which means any job has the potential to turn into a loss if any mistakes are made. And, despite being a 60% employee-owned company, they needed to get more efficient. Case in point: while WPS generated about 12% of Woodward’s revenues, it represented less than 4.5% of its profits. “It was somewhat embarrassing that we didn’t have a good handle on profita-bility,” says Marty Ploessl, WPS’ operations manager. “We needed to find a way to help employees understand more clearly how what they do impacts the bottom line.”

Company Background

Federal Companies, based in Illinois, is a $30-million provider of warehousing and logistics solutions. Since 2003, its 290 employees have been playing The Great Game to strengthen their 16 profit centers, enhance their ownership culture and become a market leader in the Midwest.

Company Background

The Booksource got its start in 1974 when Sandy Jaffe bought a company called Paperback Supply, a local book wholesaler in St. Louis, MO. Jaffe subsequently made many changes to the business, expanding through several acquisitions and changing its name in 1987. Today, the business operates four divisions, including two binderies, and is one of the leading providers of books to school districts across the country. Some of the biggest changes came after the company began playing the Great Game of Business three years ago under the guidance of Gary Jaffe, the company’s COO, and Kim Hart, PHR, Vice President of Human Resources.

Business Challenges

While the Jaffes operated Booksource with an open culture, they recognized that they needed a more structured approach to engaging their employees – many of whom do not have college edu-cations – and teaching them financial awareness about concepts like budgeting and cash position. “We were doing some open book things like putting up company-wide scoreboards, but that was just sharing the results of what had already happened,” says Gary Jaffe. “We needed to start forecasting so that we could see what would happen next.”

Company Background

Turbonetics is a business based in Simi Valley, California which designs, engineers and manufactures turbochargers it got its start 34 years ago to meet the burgeoning demand for performance automobiles. The company once worked with the California Highway Patrol, for example, to outfit its vehicles. The business has since diversified into other markets like industrial and military by specializing in delivering custom-built forced-induction solutions. Hit hard by the recession, the company credits starting the Great Game of Business in 2010 for helping spark its recent turnaround.

Business Challenges

When the recession hit, the automotive industry flat-lined – which slashed the company’s revenues by 27% in 2009. “The industrial markets were being cut in half and even our customers were going out of business at the time,” says President Brad Lewis. With reve-nue down, cash became short, which made it difficult for the company to service its debt. Turbonetics’ bank even suggested that the company go looking for another lender. In re-sponse, the company began a work-share program and mandatory pay cuts at all levels to help to cut costs and reduce its cash needs moving forward.

Company Background

Skeleton Key is a technology consulting and custom software development firm based in St. Louis, MO, with additional satellite offices in Columbia, Joplin and Nixa, MO. Founded in 2004 by Mark Richman and Oliver Block, the company embraced the idea of financial transparency early on. But it wasn't until 2009, when they began implementing other elements of The Great Game of Business such as identifying critical numbers and creating accurate forecasting through the High Involvement Planning process, that the company became financially sustainable.

Business Challenges

When Richman and Block opened their business and hired their first employees, they of-fered to share the company financials with anyone who was interested. “No one ever took us up on the offer,” says Block. “But the truth was we weren’t financially literate ourselves.” Compounding the problem was that the more the company tried to expand, the more money it seemed to lose. The business had become stagnant. Not only had Richman and Block taken close to 100% pay cuts to make ends meet, the morale of their associates was at near rock-bottom.