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Norman Rosinski
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Welcome to the BEST Of the North Bay issue of NorthBay biz magazine. Inside, we reveal the 2011 winners of our annual readers poll, and you’ll get a glimpse of why these companies were voted the Best in the North Bay. This year our readers’ response was the second largest in the 22 years we’ve been conducting this poll. There were more than 2,350 ballots cast, which translated to more than 42,000 votes in the 39 different categories. There were more than 1,500 companies and individuals who garnered votes, which underscores the depth and quality of the companies doing business in the North Bay. Given the extent of the competition, the winners are justifiably proud to have emerged as the Best in their category. Often, the vote totals were close; that’s why, several years ago, we began awarding Gold Medals to the companies that finished second.

This year, the awards night party will take place May 19 at the Santa Rosa Golf  & Country Club. The evening wouldn’t be possible without the support of all our fine sponsors: Earthtone Construction, Marin Sonoma Mosquito and Vector Control District, Bank of the West, Clover Stornetta Farms, Discovery Office Systems, Oakland International On-Airport Parking, River Rock Casino, Cellular World, Frank Howard Allen Realtors, Lexus of Marin, Marizco Landscape Management, Massage Envy and Trope Group. I’d like to thank them all, in advance, for their help making it a night to remember.

Pouring their award-winning wines that night will be 10 of Wine Country’s finest: J Vineyards & Winery, Kosta Browne Winery, St. Francis Winery & Vineyards, Rodney Strong Vineyards, Mazzocco Winery, Gloria Ferrer Caves & Vineyards, Dutcher Crossing Winery, Armida Winery, Geyser Peak Winery, Markham Vineyards, Jordan Vineyard & Winery, La Crema Winery, Dutton Estate Winery and Heitz Wine Cellars. The food complementing the award-winning wine promises to be a feast in its presentation, quality and variety, thanks to the fine staff of Santa Rosa Golf & Country Club.

Congratulations to all the winning companies, thanks to our staff for all they do (every day) and a special thanks to all our NorthBay biz readers, who took the time to vote for the BEST Of the North Bay. We’re looking forward to another outstanding, memorable event.

The vast majority of companies winning an award this year are, by definition, “small businesses.” While there are differing definitions of what constitutes a small business, according to the Office of Advocacy, “a small business is an independent business having fewer than 500 employees.” The U.S. Small Business Administration always designates one week in April as National Small Business Week. So it’s appropriate to extol the virtues of these “small” companies. Small Business Week celebrates all entrepreneurs and encourages others who dream of starting their own business to take those first steps.

Here’s a partial list from the SBA of just how important small business is to our national economy. Small businesses:

• Represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms;

• Employ half of all private sector employees;

• Pay more than 45 percent of total U.S. private payroll;

• Have generated 60 to 80 percent of net new jobs annually over the past decade;

• Create more than 50 percent of non-farm private gross domestic product (GDP);

• Produce 13 to 14 times more patents per employee than large firms;

• Are employers of 41 percent of high-tech workers;

• Are 53 percent home-based and 3 percent franchises; and

• Comprise 97 percent of all exporters and produce 28.6 percent of export value.

As I mentioned earlier, there are several definitions of what constitutes a small business, and which definition applies varies with circumstance. One of the strictest defines a small business as any firm with less than 20 employees, so it’s really interesting to note that these tiny firms spend 45 percent more per employee than larger firms to comply with federal environmental regulations and 67 percent more per employee on tax compliance than their larger counterparts.

When it comes to startups and closures, on a 10-year average, 671,800 new companies are formed each year, as opposed to 544,800 that close their doors. When it comes to job creation, small companies really shine. In the most recent year with complete data (2005), firms with fewer than 500 employees created nearly 2 million net new jobs, whereas firms with more than 500 employees shed almost 1 million net jobs. And the latest research indicates that two-thirds of new employer establishments survive at least two years, while 44 percent survive at least four years. Major factors in a business’ survivability include an ample supply of capital, being large enough to have employees, the owner’s education level and the owner’s reason for starting the business in the first place.

And as small businesses grow, they’re fueling the growth of new services, including human resources outsourcing, payroll and accounting services as well as technical assistance firms, to mention just a few. Which means all this small business proliferation is actually helping spawn other new businesses to help support the enterprises.

So, congratulations to all the small business entrepreneurs who make it happen day-in and day-out.

And congratulations, once again, to all the winners of the 2011 NorthBay biz BEST Of the North Bay Readers Poll.

That’s it for now. Enjoy the magazine.

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