Keep staff happy and watch turnover drop and sales rise. Businesses that create this happy or get-well culture find that going above and beyond the call of duty is viewed as a condition of membership. When people really enjoy what they are doing and know they are being viewed and treated as important human beings, they generally deal with customers and other stakeholders in precisely the same way they are being treated by the company. Here are some examples of companies, driven by clearly articulated corporate values statements, that have great operating cultures that we believe are inextricably linked to company performance. Chairman and CEO Frank J. Belatti has built an exceptional organization that has resulted in one of the great corporate turnarounds of the past decade.
Great things happen.
It started, however, with Belatti putting the right people in the right positions and giving them the flexibility and autonomy to get things done in the tough, competitive, fast-food restaurant industry. There is a great slugout in the metro market by music retailers that demonstrates the potency of internal commitment as it manifests in external service. Among the locals, the nod goes to Marietta-based Ken Stanton Music. Guitar Center is the nation's leading retailer of guitars, amplifiers, percussion instruments, keyboards and professional audio and recording equipment. The company presently operates 83 stores in 44 major markets and four stores in secondary markets across the United States.