S.C. Johnson & Son and the Hallmarks of Running a Family Business

S.C. Johnson & Son is an American private company that globally manufactures household cleaning supplies and various other consumer chemicals. Based in Racine, Wisconsin, S.C. Johnson & Son has operations in 72 countries across the globe, with more than 110 brands under its name. it is the biggest part of the Johnson Family Enterprises which also accommodates Johnson Outdoors and the Johnson Financial Group. S.C. Johnson & Son traces its roots to a parquet floor business that Samuel Curtis Johnson, Sr. bought in 1886 from the Racine Hardware Company.

Management of the company was passed along generations of the Johnson Company, a feat that is still considered unusual to this day. Despite the massive reach and size of S.C. Johnson & Son, it is remarkable that it has managed to remain a privately owned company. A fifth-generation Johnson, Dr. Herbert Fisk Johnson III is the current Chairman and CEO of the company after succeeding Samuel Curtis Johnson, Jr., his father, in 2004.

Some of the brands carried by S.C. Johnson & Son include: Grand Prix, Johnsons Brite, Bayfresh, Caldrea, Drano, Glade, Mr Muscle, Nature's Source, Pledge, Scrubbing Bubbles, Seed by Soy Inspirations, Windex, Saran Wrap, Ziploc, Autan, Baygon, OFF!, Raid, and Kiwi. Some of the competitors that the company has been butting heads with through the years include: the Spotless Group, Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser, Procter & Gamble, Henkel, Colgate-Palmolive, Clorox, and Zep.

Principles that guide S.C. Johnson & Son were first summarized by Herbert f. Johnson, Sr. in 1927. These guiding principles were officially included in This We Believe, the company's statement of principles for global operations. This We Believe is the essence of who S.C. Johnson & Son is and how the company works with others and is related to the five stakeholder groups that the company is responsible for.