DC Velocity - February 2011

strategicinsight OUTSOURCING

“When you’re working on a project with a family-run business and you know the stakeholders, you don’t have to worry about a changing of the guard or a major reorganization,” he says.

But most important of all, perhaps, is the culture and
attitude that infuses these smaller operations. “When it’s
your name on the side of the truck or the building, you treat
customers just as if you were … welcoming someone into
your home,” explains Mark Richards, who took over
Orange, Calif.-based Associated Warehouses Inc. from his
father. “You’re going to take care of them, treat them as a
guest. The big national companies can try to have that feel-
ing and at some locations they do, but having that across
the board is pretty rare.”
in a different light and may create a negative perception,” he
says. “Some potential customers may think you’re not as
capable or you don’t have the abilities of some of the larger
companies.”
That concern is not unfounded, says Speh. “I think some-
times shippers have this assumption that bigger is better,
that to get sophistication and so forth, you need to go to the
big global players,” he says. “I think they’d really be sur-
prised if they took a close look at some of the family-owned
fairly sizeable 3PLs.”

PERCEPTION PROBLEM

Given all the advantages they cite, you might think these
3PLs would be eager to promote their status as family-
owned businesses. But that’s not necessarily the case. Some
downplay the fact out of concern that potential customers
will hear “family owned” and think “mom and pop.”
There are times when being a family-owned business
works to your advantage, says Carretta of Ultra Logistics,
particularly if the potential customer is itself a family-
owned business. “But other times, a family business is seen

CARVING OUT A NICHE

To survive in the modern marketplace, family-owned businesses cannot rely solely on a folksy culture, say those at some of the leading players. They must supplement their traditional customer focus with the kind of business discipline, technology, and information services typically associated with corporate enterprises. For example, Ultra Logistics has developed proprietary technology solutions, including a transportation management system, a spot bidding tool, and carrier monitoring programs, that it makes available to customers.

But developing and maintaining these types of systems isn’t cheap. Not only are the solutions themselves expensive, says Speh, but companies also have to hire specialists to

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