Finch says the company is talking about expansion through either acquisitions or startups in resource hotbeds such as Africa, China and Russia, as it follows its customers' march around the world. Such geographical spread presents a challenge for a company that prides itself on being a cohesive business with small-town values.
Finch says the company is knit together by a culture that emphasizes decentralized decision making, as well as employee profit sharing and a partnership between the family and senior managers. In its store division, with about 2, employees, potentially 50 per cent of profit is set aside for employees, with a large chunk going to a group registered retirement savings plan, which substitutes for a pension plan.
Employees cannot get their profit-sharing money out of the group plan until they retire or leave the company. The plan is structured so that the employees' group RRSP gets 15 per cent of store-division profit, but workers also gain access to 35 per cent of profit at a store level, a third of which goes to the RRSP.
One result is that Kal Tire practices an open-book management policy, with each store posting its profit-and-loss numbers monthly so workers can track potential profit-sharing amounts at the end of the year. In addition, the company operates not as a classic corporation but as a partnership between the Foord family and top managers, who are invited to acquire ownership. While the Foords still have control, the management team is a large minority shareholder.
Tom Foord, a small town boy from Saskatchewan who opened a service station in Vernon in the early s, has also been able to move control into the second generation. He attracted Mr. Finch, an engineer, into the business 29 years ago. Five years ago, the son-in-law became president.
As he turns 64 this month, Mr. Finch is moving to the chairman's role, while his brother-in-law, Robert Foord, shifts into the president's chair. A son-in-law of Mr. Finch and his wife Jean is also employed in the business. Across Canada, our retail stores have become a beacon for drivers in need of everything from flat repairs and new winter tires to alignments and custom wheels.
Why do we have so many loyal customers? Because drivers know they can count on us for genuine service and the best selection of trusted brands. From our humble beginnings in with our founder, Tom Foord, opening a single service station in Vernon, BC, Kal Tire has grown to include retail and commercial stores from British Columbia to Ontario, warehouses across Canada, and 10 retread manufacturing plants.
Around the world, we employ more than 6, team members. Wherever we have a store, site or facility, we have teams that care just as much about helping customers get in the right tires as we do about driving positive change in our communities.
If you have issues with the flexiti link you can click directly here or copy paste it directly in a new tab:. So he created an executive partnership. What will Kal Tire look like in 10 or so years? Reached on his wobbly legs the day after a four-hour mountain bike ride, Robert Foord offers an answer at once predictable and intriguing: The company will stay private and it will stay in Vernon.
Advertisement Its domestic and international footprint will likely be larger. I could see us in some service-related industry that may not have anything to do with tires. But Kal Tire founder Tom Foord developed a culture of collaborative decision-making that enabled the company and the Foord family to avoid infighting, Bentall says.
Finch, now chairman, refers to a Kal Tire employment policy applying to all positions that stipulates a job goes to the best-equipped person. It has stores as far east as Quebec and as far north as the Yukon and Northwest Territories.
Last year, it finished a new corporate office in Vernon. Almost people work there. Robert Foord, who became president in , is the youngest of five siblings.
Tom Foord died last year aged Magazine Current Issue Past Issues. Connect with us. Advertise Subscribe Contact Us. By Tire Review Staff. Great empires deserve great capitals.
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