Leafing through the latest issue of Momentum magazine ("smart living by bike") made me think of Jim Pattison.
I know, the connection isn't obvious. The magazine has transformed from a gritty local newsletter into a snappy international magazine, now available on newsstands across North America, with the latest issue featuring a record-breaking 132 pages. It's harnessed all the tools of big publishers – stylish women on the cover, trade show tie-ins, and endless gear reviews – while staying true to its editorial purpose. Publishers Mia Kohout and Tania Lo are rolling high on urban biking trends, but what impresses me most is the way they've reached out into bigger markets rather than staying at home honing their chops on local customers or looking for someone to come along and buy them out.
That's often been the fallback for B.C.'s brightest new economy prospects: get just enough traction to attract an acquisition. Then comes the dream lifestyle: time and money to actually ski in the morning and sail in the afternoon, with a little golf thrown in if the weather's good, maybe even enough to buy a house on the west side! There are other upsides.
Acquiring companies have been known to bring in new money and new international connections – all good for the local economy. Sometimes they even create new jobs right here in Vancouver – if they can find people who can afford our housing prices. And the seasoned owners usually stick around for and join an angel investor club.
But more often the juicy head-office jobs disappear and key corporate functions get shipped off somewhere else.
Along with the hollowing out of the company's high end go odds of that company being a major donor to our hospitals, universities and cultural organizations.
You could spot this trend in BIV's recently published Top 100 High-Tech Companies list. Only two of the 10 biggest high-tech employers on the list are based in B.C. – Telus (No. 1) and MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates (No. 9).
Most of the other companies are out-of-town parents of once-promising B.C. companies like A.L.I. Technologies (McKesson Medical Imaging), Distinctive Software (Electronic Arts) and Crystal Decisions (SAP).
That's what made me think of Jim Pattison. More than any other B.C.-based business owner outside the mining industry, he has set a pattern for thinking big, being an acquisitor rather than a seller. The Jim Pattison Group's annual revenue now tops $7.3 billion.
I was glad to see that Brian Canfield, chairman of the board of Telus, Dave Ritchie of Ritchie Bros. and the late Milton Wong are being celebrated next week at Junior Achievement's gala for the BC Business Hall of Fame. All three, and the companies they have been involved with, set their sights higher than a quick buyout. They chose to go big rather than go home.
Of course, lots of new companies, especially in high tech, had to sell after their balance sheets were pummelled and investors disappeared in recent years. But in the interests of a healthy head office local economy, we should be cheering on those, like Pattison, who have the wherewithal to keep growing rather than selling. Arran and Ratana Stephens have turned down countless offers to sell off Richmond-based Nature's Path Organic Foods, the largest organic cereal manufacturer in North America.
No doubt Chip Wilson has had many offers en route to his spectacular run with Lululemon Athletica. Coming along this path is HootSuite Media co-founder and CEO Ryan Holmes, who has pledged to build a $1-billion-plus company here in Vancouver.
These are companies setting the example for a local economy that grows by stepping out rather than by being stepped on.
