If S.C. Johnson wasn't "a family company," would that change how you feel about them?

Removed by me because I’m not sure I’m right. I’ll get back to you. :)

Lol, no, because I know who they really are.

I’m curious as to where the data came from, saying that the government runs S.C. Johnson. Is this really what you are implying?

It’s a family company as opposed to a public company. Different from most big companies, which are publicly owned, via stock.

So yeah, public companies tend to be jittery and cowardly to appease the stock market. Whereas a private company can ignore short-term variables. Which can be good or bad.

Full disclosure: My grandmother played for the Johnson Wax ladies softball team circa 1922. For reals.

@laureth, sorry, I mistyped. I didn’t mean to imply government run, I meant to imply that no one in the Johnson family makes the big decisions anymore. I mean, if they wanted to stop making a certain product, I’m guessing they wouldn’t be allowed to. I know a somewhat big family owned business in my state & if they want to create new flavors of their food products or stop making certain flavors, they can & have. No one tells them otherwise. The highest person in the company is the actual mother of the family, no one is above her when it comes to decision making. I was just wondering, when a company becomes as big as S.C. Johnson, does the actual family still have complete control of it?

I buy products based on their suitability, quality and price. I don’t give a rats a$$ about their company so long as they, as a company, refrain from doing bad things to people or the environment.

@jaytkay That seems to be the big misconception, that’s what I thought, that Johnson & Johnson was family owned business, but apparently it has been a publicly traded company since 1943. (see second paragraph, line two) The ticker symbol for Johnson and Johnson is JNJ and it is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. That’s why I removed my first answer, when I went to double check it turned out that I was wrong.

Actually, that little sound bite annoys the hell out of me. WTF do they mean and why is it so important that they would add time to a commercial and pay to say it? I have a disgusting taste left in my mouth from the ‘family values’ campaign- so it actually makes me not want to give them money. I fully admit that’s a knee-jerk reaction with no actual research.

I’m American, we’re allowed to sit on our ass and yammer about things we don’t know about ;)

@gemiwing, I also get that same feeling when I see political ads with the person standing with their family in the front yard with a dog (most likely not their own). I don’t care if they have a loving family, I care about how they think on the issues.

Saying something is a family run company has been a marketing tool for many years. I used it in advertising back in the 80s. It is not particuarlly related to family values but rather attempts to hark back the American ideal of the Mom and Pop business next door. Whether the image is still an effective one is a question.

No. I’m not even sure what that means.

I sort of care. A tiny bit. Not very much though. But there is something to be said for brothers running a business over a bunch of stupid low-common-denominator board directors.

I care more about the fact that S.C. Johnson’s ingredients don’t seem as bad as I thought: http://www.whatsinsidescjohnson.com/ ,

and I also think that they own an amazing building with an incredible interior, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright:
http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbi.cgi/Johnson_Wax_Building.html/cid_johnson_wax_002.html

http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbi.cgi/Johnson_Wax_Building.html/cid_aj1483_b.html

The tag is meant to imply decision making that reflects personal integrity; a company that bears a family name, with a family member as senior management hopefully has a different take on sustainability of the business. It’s certainly true for Ford and Smuckers.

@gemiwing
It’s a marketing thing. They’ve been “a family company” for so long that changing it probably would affect the sales.

Also, what @PandoraBoxx said.

@lillycoyote SC Johnson is not Johnson & Johnson.

http://www.scjohnson.com

http://www.jnj.com/

Common confusion, SC’s wikipedia page notes, “S.C. Johnson should not be confused with the publicly-held pharmaceutical company, Johnson & Johnson, another large manufacturer of consumer packaged goods founded in the same year”

Makes no difference to me. The tag line does not draw me to buy their products. Although I do care about the integrity of a company. If I find they have abused their workers I might avoid their products. If they make everything in America I might prefer to buy from them. But, I admit I do not do too much research regarding this type of thing, it’s more what the media puts in front of my face, company advertising, or other people I know informing me. I care most about how their products work and if they are relatively safe.

I love if the company’s mission and course of conduct is to treat employees fairly and does not cross the line into ridiculous unscrupulous greed. Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream was a company I so respected. When they began their pay structure was amazing, and they really wanted to give back. I don’t know how the company is now. Here’s the thing. I like 31 flavor Jamoca Almond Fudge best, and when I wanted ice cream, I still went for my JAF most of the time, but had I liked the flavors equally I would have purchased Ben and Jerry even if it cost a little more.

@lillycoyote SC Johnsons is not Johnson and Johnson, unless I am missing something.

@JLeslie You are right; I think they may be from the same “family” but they are two different companies.

@janbb I actually think they are totally unrelated. I just noticed that @jaytkay must have posted right before me with some info on it.

@JLeslie Interesting. I always assumed there was some wayback family relationship becasue they both have NJ connections. SC Johnson founded a wonderful sculpture garden here called Grounds for Sculpture which includes, among other sculptures, his replications of Impressionist paintings set into appropriate landscape.

I love their commercial tag…“a family company”. i am still waiting for them to include Made In The USA. but, this may never happen.

@everyone. I got myself confused, not a difficult task. My first answer was right, I shouldn’t have removed it.

Let me help clear things up. I just started working for SC Johnson. Fisk Johnson is the CEO, a fifth generation leader of the company and very involved in business decisions. Johnson and Johnson is a publicly traded company and they are different Johnsons. Being a family company means SCJ can make decisions that are best for the employees and/or society and not best for shareholders. There is great information on the website on what it means to them to be a family company and they mean every word of it. It is a fabulous place to work and I couldn’t be more happy to be working for a family company.

This question has led me to care actually. Especially after @weirdworld10 answer. As I said in my post, I don’t usually go much out of my way to find out info on how things are run, but once I am more aware of these things it makes some difference. Thanks for asking this question.

So lets just get the facts straight on this family company. Is it a family value to molest children? One of the primary owners a “Johnson” family member is alleged to have committed child molestation and with high priced lawyers paid for by profits from the sale of its products (pledge, off, Raid, Zip Lock, etc.) appears to be walking free of it. Read the police report at Frobes.com. If thats not enough, the “family company” defrauded the US government out of nearly $7 million and when an employee turned them in, they destroyed the former employee financially and professionally and then paid all $7 million back in order to avoid criminal charges. If thats not enough, that same “family” company has not paid one single penny of income tax to the State of Wisconsin (its headquarters) in nearly the last 20 years, while Wisconsin makes serious cuts to education speeding. Why not a single penny paid in 20 years? They engage in schemes to transfer profits out of Wisconsin to places that don’t tax the profits like the Cayman Islands or Puerto Rico. Of course the “family” says it is just tax avoidance, but the Wisconsin Tax Appeals Commission says this type of activity is actually Tax Fraud. We all need to know what kind of “family” we are supporting.