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Why values are vital.
What does it mean to have ‘values’ as a business? A company’s values are key qualities that serve as the basic construct for its every function and interaction. Values are the backbone of the company’s culture and its business aspirations, to its day-to-day customer care and whether or not its employees are given the space … Continue reading Why values are vital
The post Why values are vital appeared first on Catapult Print.
What does it mean to have ‘values’ as a business?
A company’s values are key qualities that serve as the basic construct for its every function and interaction. Values are the backbone of the company’s culture and its business aspirations, to its day-to-day customer care and whether or not its employees are given the space and the tools they need to grow.
Values are at the heart of every business, and at Catapult we hold our commitment to our customers, integrity, quality and our family values of respect and community spirit, as central to all that we do.
We’ve been in business now just over 12 months and we are consistently going back and reaffirming our vision and values to ensure we stay on track. It goes back to that fundamental question: why did we set up Catapult Print? We truly wanted to redefine the printing industry in the USA, which means we have to be the very best at what we do. To continually strive to improve and to question and interrogate ourselves to push us that little bit further each and every time. Having a vision though is the easy part, it’s the delivery of that vision that needs real commitment.
In order to make our vision a reality, we aimed to establish a company culture that would filter throughout Catapult, most importantly to the customer. To achieve this, we critiqued all of our experiences within the industry and realized that several key attributes were inherent in these successes. From this starting point, we established five pillars for success that include: quality, service, lead times, price and innovation.
We are committed to each, put simply, they’ve become the lifeblood of our business. As we move into year two, we’re evolving but our philosophy and values are still intrinsically linked to these five pillars and they’re what set us apart from the rest: average printers that don’t have the same level of focus when it comes to quality and service.
We know how to be successful and thrive – it comes from being able to deliver for people. Our customers, our staff and our supply chain. For us, it’s not all about profitability, it’s about what’s best for the customer. We base our decision making on how we can support our client best as oppose to worrying about associated costs or time.
If you’re solely focused on cost and EBITDAR at a senior level, it cascades down across the entire business. Every decision has a cost implication at the heart of it, this mentality translates as a very dictatorial culture to customers, so things like leveraging charges as part of a rush fee or break in charge. This mentality astounds us, surely manufacturers that supply Walmart for example aren’t turning to them and saying; ‘We can do it, but it’s gonna cost you!’ Why should it be this way in print?
We believe in supporting our clients and becoming true partners that can support their businesses, helping them grow and thrive. We’re there to help them react and deliver, to be agile enough to respond to whatever it is that’s thrown at them. Our value system and culture from top to bottom means this is exactly what we’re able to do, time and again.
Running a family operation
We are a family business, and like many family businesses out there we place particular importance on our values and culture.
That is to say, the values that we hold within our family play a part in how we conceptualize success, and impacts what we expect from all of our team members when it comes to customer care.
According to professional services firm PwC, family businesses take a specific attitude when it comes to their futures, in that the management feels a particular responsibility for stewarding the business according to the family’s values, and are uniquely motivated to create future success for generations to come. In this way, protecting the family values as they are passed on from generation to generation helps to shore up the sustainability of the business’s culture.
PwC notes that in The Netherlands, some 40% of the country’s employment is through companies that are family-run, as there are about 180,000 family businesses operating there. These businesses do not just create jobs, but in times of crisis they create a resistant financial and social buffer, since the family values, beliefs and ambitions held by these businesses form an essential bedrock and a driving force for sustainable value creation.
In the US, family businesses play an even larger role. Defined as businesses operated by two or more family members, with majority ownership held within the family, these businesses employ 60% of the U.S. workforce and create 78% of all new jobs. Altogether, family-owned businesses generate 64% of the gross domestic product (GDP).
In the figures, released last year as part of a report by business mentorship network SCORE, it was revealed that in the US 74% of family-owned businesses said they had strong values and positive company culture. If this is true, then it’s no surprise that many of America’s biggest and most successful brands are family-owned and run, and are a testament to what is possible when family values (and personal values) are integral to the business.
Catapult CEO Mark Cook and his sons Lewis and Ashley, who serve as managing partners, are committed to maintaining Catapult’s high standards. Despite their roles evolving since the company’s inception, they’re still at the coal face of the day to day, stewarding the business to ensure the values established on day one are still delivered against today.
This, combined with a commitment to remain at the forefront of technological advances and develop the business in accordance with market needs and trends to ensure a superior product, is laying the groundwork for Catapult’s ongoing success, so that our values create added value for all of our clients for years to come.
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The post Why values are vital appeared first on Catapult Print.