We’ve made it to our second special edition on family owned businesses in Clark County! This issue is a little different than the first Family Owned Businesses edition we printed in February, however, as this one focuses on the winners and finalists of the Vancouver Business Journal’s first FamilyOwned Business Awards.
For our 2019 Family Owned Business Awards, our panel selected winners in five different categories: Overall Excellence, Community Involvement, Charitable Contributions & Involvement, Employee Engagement and Philanthropy. It was definitely a challenge to pick finalists out of the many submissions, and then even harder to pick winners from the finalists. All of the finalists for these awards exemplify these different categories in one way or another.
The Vancouver Business Journal’s Family Owned Business Awards recognizes Southwest Washington companies demonstrating excellence in family involvement, business success, commitment to employees, customers and community.
Winners were chosen out of 17 finalists who were chosen by a panel of people from the business community.
Criteria to be considered for the awards included:
- Business is at least 51% owned by the family
- Business has multiple generations involved in the operations of the company and/or has established longevity in the business
- Business has been operating for at least five years
- Business is based in Southwest Washington
As you’ll see in this special edition, the winners we finally chose were Corwin Beverage Company (Overall Excellence), Legacy 6 (Philanthropy), On Line Support (Employee Engagement), Spoiled Spa & Salon (Community Involvement), and Dick Hannah Dealerships and Big Al’s (tie for Charitable Contributions & Involvement). These winners and numerous other family owned businesses in the area were celebrated last night at our first Family Owned Business Awards event at Heathen Estates.
Many of Clark County’s family owned businesses have multiple generations involved in the business, while others might simply be a company started by a husband-and-wife team, a mother-and-son team, etc. These family companies often grow the business while serving their communities in any way they can.
Here are a few quick facts about family owned businesses, according to the Conway Center for Family Business, www.familybusinesscenter.com:
- Family businesses account for 64% of U.S. gross domestic product, generate 62% of the country’s employment and account for 78% of all new job creation.
- Studies have shown about 35% of Fortune 500 companies are family controlled and represent the full spectrum of American companies from small business to major corporations.
- More than 30% of all family owned businesses make the transition in second generation. Twelve percent will still be viable into the third generation, with only 3% of all family businesses operating at a fourth generation level and beyond.
- The tenure of leadership in Family Enterprise is four to five times longer than their counterparts.
- The largest family owned business in the U.S. is Walmart Inc., with $499.4 billion in net sales and 2.2 million employees worldwide in 2016.
- To see more facts and statistics on family owned businesses in the U.S., visit https://www.familybusinesscenter.com/resources/familybusiness-facts/.
We would love to continue to feature the different family owned businesses in the Clark County area in future issues of the VBJ. Anyone who has suggestions on family owned businesses that we should feature, please email Jyorke@vbjusa.com.
