Survey

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Do you have any international sales?

While many CEOs report doing some business overseas, and more are planning on it, most of the companies that made the list this year continue to play strictly on the home field. Sixty percent posted sales that were exclusively domestic. That leaves 40% that are transacting at least some business overseas. Few, however, report more than token sales abroad. For almost half the companies with global ambitions, international sales account for less than 5% of revenues.

The reasons for going less-than-global? Too much business right here at home, CEOs tell us. Companies also cite financing problems, currency fluctuations, shipping costs, language barriers, and foreign regulations as obstacles to selling overseas. "There's a lot of red tape," says Stephen Tygh, CEO of Tygh Silicon (#231), in Pleasanton, Calif. "It's a lot easier for me to sell COD to an import/export firm here than to bother with the hassle of selling overseas myself."

PRIVATE LESSONS

Do you have any plans to go public?

When we surveyed Inc. 500 companies in 1986, nearly half regarded a public offering as a viable option for cashing out. But our survey of the latest crop of Inc. 500 applicants revealed that only 23% harbor any plans at all for going public.

"We saw a lot of companies that went public in the '80s get into trouble with Wall Street and try to go private again," notes David C. Lu, CEO of Diamond Flower Electric Instrument (#9), in West Sacramento, Calif. "We're not desperate for cash, and I'm too young to retire, so why go public?"

Those who are bearish on going public cite a reluctance to surrender control, a discomfort with the personal and financial disclosures required, and an unwillingness to spend their time wooing investors and analysts.

Those who find the public markets more attractive point to the dearth of capital available elsewhere, the liquidity offered by the public markets, and the fact that a public offering might free them to (what else?) start more companies.

LOGGED ON

Do you use a PC every day for business? A laptop? A car phone?

The CEOs running this year's Inc. 500 are one plugged-in bunch. Seventy-three percent of those surveyed confess they use a PC every day for business. Although only a third would admit to taking laptops or notebooks on trips, most wouldn't dream of leaving home without a phone. Seventy-four percent say they have car phones. Fifty-eight percent own mobile phones, though they are loath to use them in public. (Only 26% do.)

For all the tele-mastery these entrepreneurs display, none compares with Jack Kent Sr., CEO of Marine Shale Processors (#476), in St. Rose, La., undisputed winner of this year's Great Communicator Award. In addition to the multiline phone in his office and the phone in his car, Kent keeps a phone in his Lear jet, another in his helicopter, and yet another in his pocket. There's a phone, a fax, and a PC on his boat -- it's called The Office.

NOT AT ALL IN THE FAMILY

Do you think of your business as a family business?

A considerable majority (73%) of CEOs responded no. This, despite the fact that nearly half (44%) have relatives working for them. Their responses suggest a distaste more for the image of a family business than for the reality. Ken Wells, who founded Key Construction (#367), in Wichita, with his brother, wanted none of the perceived nepotism that he says clouds a family business and drives away talented outsiders. "Other employees don't feel they have real opportunity in a family business. They see no chance for growth in a company where upper-level positions are a birthright for relatives."

To companies such as Van Mar (#219), in East Brunswick, N.J., there is no tarnish to being family-run. In fact, there are clear advantages, strategic as well as personal. "We literally eat, sleep, and live this business," says Marilyn Schulman, whose husband and two sons share her passion for their lingerie company. "I don't have to worry about it alone."

TIME IS ON THEIR SIDE

Do entrepreneurs work too hard?

CEOs express relief and faint regret that their businesses consume less of their time as time goes by. All have stories to share about how hard and how long and how happily they had worked in the early days. "There were times when I slept on the floor by the phone so as not to miss a call," recalls Ken Ryan, CEO of Airmax (#75), in Bensenville, Ill. Now that his company is "gradually growing up," he's less prone to spending weekends and every night at the office, although he may always, he says, have the feeling that he's never doing enough.

Whereas 66% remember working at least 70 hours a week when they started, only 13% say they are doing so now. The distribution of their labors -- then and now -- follows:

Percentage of CEOs that

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