no means finished yet when it comes to
private businesses make today have an
pure and natural ingredients,” said Susan
impact—not
Senecal, A&W’s CEO. The challenge with
organizations, but on the future of our
innovation, she says, is that a lot of
country,” Deloitte researchers concluded
businesses will brainstorm big ideas but
in a report summarizing their findings.
they don’t commit the time or the people
Well-run businesses make larger positive
to make it happen. “If you don’t resource
contributions in multiple ways, producing
that properly . . . then the brainstorming
more jobs, more stability, higher tax
doesn’t ever really land.”
revenues—rising tides, rising boats and
only
on
their
own
all that. Each
of
these
businesses
number
death. The world is changing too fast and
among the ranks of Deloitte’s Best
Any CEO can recite some version of “our
the business climate is getting more and
Managed private companies in Canada.
employees
more competitive—to stand still is to fall
The list recognizes private businesses
resource . . . ” but what emerges over and
behind
disappear,
with revenue over $15 million. For years,
over again from the Best Managed
services
the list has stood for excellence in
firms—the
Canadian management, but this year the
successful—is just how determined and
team at Deloitte decided to try to prove it.
dedicated they are to investing in their
The good news is that not all innovation
They looked back at the entire list of all
employees and treating them like they
has to come from a lab or be rooted in
1,000
are truly valued.
groundbreaking technology. Mr. Lube
awarded Best Managed status in the 25
claims to have invented the quick lube
years of its existence and compared their
At Halifax-based Maritime Travel, the
industry in Edmonton in 1976. But lately
performance
company operates under the motto
the company has expanded into the tire
businesses.
and
according
to
inevitably professional
consultant firm Deloitte.
business—changes,
rotation,
businesses
to
that
have
average
been
Canadian
our
firms
most
that
important
are
more
“faster, easier, better,” says president
storage,
repair and snow tires.
are
Gary Gaudry. “Everything we do is based The numbers are striking. Just five per
on making things faster, easier and better
cent of companies that have won a Best
for our staff,” he said.
How to find and keep talent like the Best Managed Companies do
Managed award have gone out of business, compared to an estimated 72
“We want them to spend as much time
“We do same-day service,” says CEO
per cent of average Canadian firms in a
with the customer and selling, and we
Stuart Suls. That’s a big deal, especially
comparable period of time. More than a
don’t want them to get bogged down in
in eastern Canada when the first snowfall
third (34 per cent) of the top firms have
processes,” he says. The tool to do that is
triggers a mad rush to dealers, and long
been acquired, about 30 times the
an internally developed system they call
waits to have the all-seasons replaced.
average, and 3.4 per cent have gone
Sales Desk, which automates accounting
“We have radically changed the entire tire
public compared to less than one per
systems information inputs. It has been in
industry.”
cent of average Canadian businesses.
place since 2004, but is constantly being
At Rocky Mountaineer, staff suggested
Deloitte contends that identifying the
that to avoid long early-morning check-in
management behaviours, strategies and
A couple of years ago, Maritime also
lines at the train station, they could swing
philosophies
private
introduced a monthly best practices
by hotels the night before to check in
business
have
dashboard. It’s not about comparing
those travellers who’d already arrived in
far-reaching ramifications. The Canadian
sales results but reminding staff of the
town. “Some stuff just comes down to
economy
actions that drive results, says Gaudry.
day-to-day jobs, encouraging people to
enterprise. Only a few thousand of
think about: ‘How can I do things more
Canada’s businesses are publicly traded,
Once staff are shown how to be more
effectively?’ ”
updated based on suggestions from staff.
that
underlie
success is
could
dominated
by
private
Steve
and private firms generate roughly 70 per
productive, and because they want to be
Sammut. “That is really the innovation we
cent of all corporate profits. A strong,
better,
try to encourage, and it goes a long way.”
successful
adjustments on their own, he adds. “It just
says
president
vigorously
private with
sector,
independent,
beating often
At the iconic Canadian burger chain A&W
family-owned businesses, is vital to the
the past few years, the innovation story
growth of the economy as a whole and
has been about introducing hormone-
the vitality of the nation itself.
and antibiotic-free ingredients. “We’re by
“[T]he decisions that leaders of our
MBE BUSINESS MAGAZINE JUNE 2018
W W W. M B E F O RYO U. C O M
they’ll
usually
make
the
happens.”
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