By Edward P. Noga
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – I’ve always been drawn into the drama of businessman Howard Hughes and his role in American aeronautical engineering. My curiosity focuses especially on his designing and building the world’s largest wooden plane, “The Spruce Goose,” which flew only once back in 1947.
This curiosity was part of the reason I picked up a book during summer vacation in Canada about the Avro Arrow, a plane designed by Canadians to intercept enemy bombers (before the era of intercontinental ballistic missiles – ICBMs).
Avro was the name of the company that designed and built the plane, and Arrow was the name of its supersonic jet.
The history of the Avro Arrow had many prototypes and test runs. The plane, however, never took off. Its design and manufacture were halted in the 1950s. The book I read tried to explain why the Avro Arrow never took off.
Now, at this point, you might think this column is about aviation. These two aeronautical efforts, though, are a lead-in to my real topic.
In the case of the Avro Arrow, the Canadian government initiated the project. Of course, many companies and subcontractors were a part of this Herculean effort. When the project suffered its demise, it was estimated that some 30,000 jobs were ultimately affected.
Doesn’t take a genius to realize that anyone from the Mahoning Valley who reads about the Arrow will recall our own experience of losing thousands of jobs when the steel mills closed after Black Monday.
Far too many failures like Arrow and Black Monday have happened across North American communities. Sometimes, the most ambitious ideas don’t work. Too often, though, big government and big companies simply move on, leaving thousands of workers and families behind.
In a capitalist economy like ours, the corporate model brings many far-reaching and interesting innovations and investments. By many standards, though, small, family-owned businesses add much to the economy and produce many jobs that allow the local footprint to remain firmly in place.
Although online businesses have taken hold, the personal contact provided by small, local companies brings humans face-to-face. We are social by nature and we are more human when we encounter one another.
Recently, Small Business Saturday was held nationwide during the Thanksgiving weekend, highlighting our neighbors who have small businesses. They own companies that lack the wherewithal to put ads on television during the Super Bowl. But they are the kind of people who have the energy and business strategies that make them “super” in their communities. Often, the owners greet their customers at their front doors.
We all have our favorites in the small-business category and we patronize them because they live in our neighborhoods. They patronize one another for the goods and services of everyday life.
Completing transactions online is attractive and convenient. But a call to a local business is often an encounter that begins with a personal greeting of, “Hey, how are you and the family doing?” And, when the purchase is completed, it’s not unusual to hear, “Thanks for calling and thanks for your business!”
Those who research national business and job trends issue reports periodically about the impact that small businesses have on local and national economic trajectories. Sometimes referred to as “mom-and-pop” stores, these businesses open their doors every day and the owners answer their phones.
It’s sad how often we hear stories about a small business closing because its owners are tired after decades of service. Or sometimes the family business has run out of the next generation of leadership. In the farewell interviews, the owners always say something like, “I’m going to miss my customers who have become good friends.”
I salute these entrepreneurs who make a big impact on our quality of life.