Back To Growth Mode | The economy may not be robust, but companies in Central Mass. have been defying trends
One of the primary maxims of business is “Bigger is Better.” That’s only natural because just about every business wants more customers, which leads to more revenue, which leads to more profit, more opportunity and more investment.
But over the past few years, that growth has been elusive for many businesses in the United States as the economy has struggled to gain and sustain momentum after the financial crisis of 2008 led to a recession.
Little wonder then that the Worcester Business Journal put its annual focus on the top-growing companies in Central Massachusetts on a one-year hiatus last year. But it’s back this year, as we highlight 16 private companies and 10 nonprofits in Central Massachusetts that have experienced the largest three-year growth in revenue from 2008 to 2010. And most of them have done so while adding to their payrolls.
Here’s how we put together our lists, which you’ll find on Pages 16 and 17:
• In order to qualify, revenues at both nonprofit and private companies had to have grown from 2008 to 2010, and from 2009 to 2010. We allowed companies to have lower revenues in 2009 than 2008 because of the financial crisis of 2008. In addition, private companies had to have been profitable in at least two of the three years, including 2010.
• The lists of both the private companies and the nonprofits were first ranked by percentage growth from 2008 to 2010. Then, they were ranked again by dollar growth over the same span. Finally, the two scores for each company were added to determine the final rankings, starting with the lowest number. (For example, the top-ranked company in each category received a 1, the next received a 2, etc.) In case of a tie, the higher ranking was awarded to the company with the higher dollar growth.
Some of these companies have appeared on previous Top Growth lists. For instance, our top private company, eClinicalWorks of Westborough, placed eighth in 2009. Our top-growth company in 2009, Wave2 Media Solutions, also of Westborough, ranked 11th this year, with a three-year revenue growth of 120 percent. And a Worcester company, Goodfellas Construction Management, placed ninth on this year’s list after growing its revenue base 102 percent from 2008, when it placed second on the list, to 2010. Goodfellas’ president, Joseph Kupstas, sees his company’s importance in the U.S. economic engine: “The housing services and building markets combined equal almost 20 percent” of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, he said. Things will not improve for the long term “until something is done with the housing crisis and also the lending issues we have. Until people can borrow the money to either purchase or remodel their home, the country will not see growth rates where they need to be,” Kupstas said.
But, especially today, there are companies that help businesses keep their costs down, including Atlas Travel International of Milford, which placed sixth on this year’s list. “Current economic conditions are forcing companies to examine their travel spend more closely than ever before,” said Elaine J. Osgood, Atlas’s CEO and founder.
While there are just 26 organizations on this week’s lists, others in Central Massachusetts are seeing the benefits of growth. If the economy picks up the pace over the next several months, we look forward to the possibility of having more candidates for our 2012 lists.
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