Lead the Way- Winners of the 2008 Small Business Best Practice Awards

A Company’s success is determined less by what they do and more by how they do it. If a business provides the greatest product or service under the sun, but the business isn’t committed to quality in all operational areas, success will remain elusive. Right here in the tri-state area, companies are experiencing double digit growth and growing employee ranks. So while there is no question we’re in tough times, there are many companies that are not just surviving, but thriving. Six such companies were honored at the annual Small Business Awards on September 17th for developing innovative best practices that resulted in growth.

The 2008 Best Practice Award winners have each developed a unique practice that has generated quantifiable results in the area of Green Business, Human Resources & Leadership, Mergers & Acquisitions, Sales & Marketing, or Technology. Here they share these practices with NY Report readers. The good news is there’s no patent on good ideas, so feel free to adopt some of these practices in your own business.

Green Business - Design & Source Productions, Inc.

Backstory

Founded in 1997, Manhattan-based Design & Source Productions provides finished secondary and promotional packaging for a wide range of clients including Liz Claiborne and Starbucks. The company founder and president Laura Tufariello became aware that product packaging accounts for approximately 50% of waste in this country. With this statistic in mind, she launched Chameleon Packaging, the environmental division of Design & Source. Some of Chameleon’s products include TerraSkin, a tree-free, mineral-based paper; Double G, a leather-like material made from recycled plastic bags collected from the streets of India; Pulp, packaging created from bamboo or recycled paper; bamboo, a more rapidly renewable than wood; and bioplastics, plasticlike material that is made from corn, potatoes, and other organics rather than petroleum.

While keeping her company environmentally-minded was always a priority for Tufariello, being green was not always a priority for her clients. But when global warming and other environmental issues began to gain mainstream attention, Design & Source jumped at the opportunity to educate clients on the possibilities of sustainable packaging and make contacts with potential new partners. The company strives to create sustainable packaging options that meet its clients’ budgets.

Best Practice

In order to convince clients to go green, the employees at Design & Source knew they would have to walk the walk. Just one example of the team’s commitment to the green movement is the fact that their office is run on 100% wind power, provided by Con Ed Solutions green power program. To better understand green business practices, Tufariello joined the Sustainable Packaging Coalition and Businesses for Social Responsibility. “We wanted to give our customers correct information,” says Tufariello. “We are very active in these organizations and as a side benefit, it has been excellent networking.”

Tufariello and Design & Source’s environmental director Nicole Smith use what they learn to educate others on green business practices. In addition to giving numerous presentations to companies across the country, they spend months out of the year travelling to exhibit and speak at conferences on sustainability and the green movement. Design & Source has participated in events including All Things Organic, The Sustainable Packaging Forum and Design Workshop, Wal-Mart Sustainable Packaging Forum, and Good & Green Marketing Conference.

Tufariello also is a professor of a sustainable packaging course at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). She says the position has added significantly to her reputation as an expert in the industry. Tufariello was asked to take the position after a former intern – a packaging major from FIT - raved about her experience at Design & Source to administrators in her department.

One judge noted, “The packaging industry is a tricky business to make green and I was extremely impressed by how Design & Source has succeeded in their efforts. Their packages are innovative, green, and exciting. They demonstrate how one can be edgy and green and you don’t have to give up style for environmental advancements.”

Results

For years, the company’s research and development of environmentally-friendly packaging alternatives and educational efforts on sustainability garnered little result. But in 2007, these investments turned into revenue generation. Last year, Chameleon partnered with Burt’s Bees, Target, and the Museum of Modern Art for new projects. Largely as a result in the surge of business to the Chameleon division, Design & Source’s 2007 revenue increased by 30% to $2.86 million.  - D.M.

Human Resources - BackUp My Info! (tie)

Backstory