The 2015 Private Business Growth Award Presented by The Canadian Chamber of Commerce and Grant Thornton LLP SUBMISSION FORM The Private Business Growth Award is looking for companies with growth strategies that encompass a broad range of activities across their business: innovation, market development, development of people and culture, strategic leadership and improvements in financial measures. Please complete all of the information requested in the Submission Form and upload the completed form during the submission process on the website at privatebusinessgrowthaward.com The submission must be typewritten in at least a 12-point font and shall not exceed 10 single-sided pages. Extra pages of attachments, media clippings, etc. may be submitted but will be included in the 10-page limit. No videos or products will be accepted. Application materials will not be returned. Incomplete or late applications will automatically be disqualified. Complete submissions must be received by 11:59 pm on July 10, 2015 Please visit the website at PrivateBusinessGrowthAward.com to review the rules and regulations, or email any questions to GrowthAward@ca.gt.com The Private Business Growth Award Application package – page 2 of 4 COMPANY INFORMATION Company name Click here to enter text. Street address 1 Click here to enter text. Street address 2 Click here to enter text. City Click here to enter text. Province Click here to enter text. Postal Code Click here to enter text. Award contact information Name Click here to enter text. Title Click here to enter text. Email Click here to enter text. Phone Click here to enter text. Number of offices (across Canada and around the world) Click here to enter text. Number of employees (total from all locations) Click here to enter text. General description of business (max. 250 words) This text may be used in advertising materials related to the promotion of the Growth Award. Click here to enter text – max 250 words. Please describe the ownership structure, including names of majority shareholders Click here to enter text. Please indicate who are the company’s closest business advisers (name, title, company) Click here to enter text. ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS Is the company privately owned? Yes ☐ No ☐ Is the company Canadian-owned? Yes ☐ No ☐ Has the company been in operation for at least three years? Yes ☐ No ☐ Did annual revenue in the last fiscal year exceed $5 million CDN? Yes ☐ No ☐ The Private Business Growth Award Application package – page 3 of 4 JUDGING CRITERIA Submissions will be evaluated in each of the selection criteria. Nominees do not have to satisfy each of the selection criteria to be considered, although the winning business must demonstrate that it has achieved growth across a number of the selection criteria. Nominees that satisfy more selection criteria may receive a higher overall score from the judges. Answers below can be written in essay format. A) Please describe how your company has grown through innovation (product and service development; improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of internal processes) Dynamic companies are always asking how they can do things better, and in order to accomplish this, they must be innovative. This category might include industry leadership in research, development of industry-leading or industry-changing practices or products, or developing a completely new approach to an old problem in a way that shows “out of the box” thinking. This also includes industry-leading new products and services, or re-thinking or re-defining the product or service mix. This may even include companies that radically overhaul their product offerings or scale back to focus on a few core products as part of an overall growth strategy. This category also includes things such as simplifying complex processes, facilitating easier communications or enabling faster decision-making. Click here to enter text. B) Please describe how your company has grown through market development (go-to-market strategy, expansion into new domestic or international markets) Having a well-defined and focused strategy for going to market with products and services is critical to business success. This category includes the success achieved in expanding the business into new markets, either domestically or internationally, and/or expanding into new product or business lines. Dynamic businesses are also innovative in how they facilitate expansion, using such means as joint ventures and strategic partnerships to achieve their growth goals. Click here to enter text. C) Please describe how your company has grown through people and culture (helping employees learn and develop as a critical part of overall growth) Dynamic, growth-oriented companies seek out ways to help employees learn and develop, whether it’s direct, job-related training, or innovative programs to engage employees and help them achieve higher performance while maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Dynamic businesses often introduce initiatives designed to improve the overall culture within the company in a way that underscores the relationship between individual performance and overall, long-term corporate success. Click here to enter text. D) Please describe how your company has grown through strategic leadership (leadership team, strategic direction, succession planning, stakeholder relations, community involvement) Please describe the strengths of the leadership team and their contribution to the growth of the business, as well as any changes or innovations in setting the strategic direction for the business. If there is a longer-term succession plan in place to ensure the continuity of the business, please describe. In addition, every company has a variety of stakeholder groups that they must deal with in order to achieve success, including clients, vendors, the local community, regulators, and more. Examples might range from The Private Business Growth Award Application package – page 4 of 4 Government Relations initiatives to strengthen relationships with key decision-makers to re-organizing the sales team to ensure clients/customers are better served. Please also include a description of how you are enriching the community in which you work and live through charitable initiatives, as well as any industry involvement. Click here to enter text. E) Improvements in financial measures Holistic growth is growth beyond the top line—it encompasses all areas of the business. However, this is not to say financial measures aren’t important, too. This recognizes pure financial growth in terms of revenue and/or profit improvement. Financial information is an important and quantifiable indicator of success for our judges. It is required that revenue and profitability information be included as part of your submission. Attachments and additional data tables can be appended. Financial information will be kept in strict confidence and will only be made available to jury members and representatives responsible for collecting information on behalf of the jury. 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total revenue/sales $ Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Growth % Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Net income $ Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Growth % Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Breakdown of revenue/sales % Domestic Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. International Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Number of countries doing business in Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Number of employees Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Number of physical locations/offices Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Click here to enter text. Please complete all of the information requested in the Submission Form and upload the completed form during the submission process on the website at privatebusienssgrowthaward.com The Private Business Growth Award Application package – page 5 of 4 SUBMITTED BY Name Title Signature Date By submitting this application, you agree that (i) you have read and agree to these rules and regulations; (ii) you have complied with all eligibility requirements; (iii) the Award will be accepted as presented; (iv) the information you are submitting is true, complete and accurate; (v) the information being submitted as part of the application process will be used by Grant Thornton LLP and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with their third party service providers and judging panels in selecting an Award recipient and consent for such purpose is herein provided; (vi) Grant Thornton LLP and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce shall have the unrestricted right to produce, reproduce, publicize, broadcast, exhibit, distribute and otherwise use in any fashion, the winner’s name, logo, trademark, and any photograph, voice or likeness of any personal representative thereof whose consent the winner will be responsible for obtaining, for advertising and publicity purposes without any additional compensation; and (vii) Grant Thornton LLP and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and their respective officers, directors, members, partners, principals and employees are hereby released from any and all liability, loss, damages or cost related to participation in the Award process or the acceptance, use or misuse of the Award. Grant Thornton LLP and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce assume no liability for any lost, late, illegible, falsified, misdirected or incomplete submission, notification, reply or the unauthorized use of or access to same, or for any technical malfunction, loss or delay in data transmission, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, damage or failure of any computer, equipment, software, website, e-mail, server, online system, network, lines or browser related to or resulting from participation in the Award. Grant Thornton LLP and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce assume no liability whatsoever for any loss, damage, cost, injury or claim howsoever caused.