Larry Edmunds makes a face as he throws the latest quarterly earnings of his company onto his desk. When the sales of Edmunds Corrugated Parts & Service Co., based in Virginia, exceeded $10 million some time ago, he was confident that the company was in a good position for consistent growth.
Today, the company still dominates the market and is profitable, although not as much as before, by providing precision machine parts and service to the domestic corrugated box industry. However, it is impossible to ignore the noticeable stagnation in revenues. Over twenty years ago, Larry’s grandfather loaned him money to launch the business and allowed him to use the barn on their Shenandoah Valley farm as his initial factory.
Today, he operates from a factory that covers 50,000 square feet and is situated near I-81, only a few miles away from his former barn. This business has enabled him to achieve an unimaginable goal: earning a satisfactory income while staying close to his extended family and rural origins. Furthermore, it brings him great joy to provide job openings for approximately 100 individuals, including some of his dedicated and committed neighbors. However, many of his initial employees are approaching retirement age.
Larry faced difficulty in replacing skilled workers, a lesson he had learned from previous experience. The younger generation, who were the most talented and promising in their field, tended to leave their hometowns for job opportunities more often than their parents. The ones who stayed lacked the strong work ethic that Larry was accustomed to among his employees. Though there was no immediate competition, Larry observed a slight decline in Edmund’s market share a few years ago. Nevertheless, due to Edmund’s renowned service and reliability, it managed to maintain dominance in the market.
