Now that President Barack Obama has embraced job creation in his 2011 State of the Union Address, he might want to take a look at a company that has been successful in creating both jobs and value for its customers. Wichita-based Koch Industries Inc. has done this through an application of market-based practices as described in The Science of Success: How Market-Based Management Built the World’s Largest Private Company, a 2007 book authored by company CEO Charles G. Koch. Koch’s approach has been successful. Since 1960, the value of Koch Industries Inc. has increased faster than the value of the broad-based S&P index of the 500 largest U.S. companies by a factor of 16 times.
Charles and David Koch also believe in free markets and economic freedom as the best way to promote prosperity for all people, and they have long supported organizations that work towards this goal.
But not everyone agrees with Charles and David Koch and their free-market approach to creating jobs, value, and prosperity. Recently they have come under baseless attack by the liberal activist group Common Cause for an alleged attempt to influence two U.S. Supreme Court justices. But as shown in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere, Common Cause’s complaint is based on incorrect facts, even a total disregard for facts, and is totally groundless. As the Journal notes: “Common Cause’s letter to the Justice Department is just the latest salvo in a long campaign by left-wing groups to intimidate conservative judges, academics and activists.” Fortunately for the cause of freedom, Charles and David Koch do not shrink back from these attacks.
Recently the Wichita Eagle profiled Koch Industries Inc. and how the company’s growth supports over 50,000 jobs in the U.S. and 17,000 overseas. When ripple effects are counted, the job count is at over 203,000 in the U.S. A reprint of the Eagle article is available at Koch cautious in acquiring other businesses.