Top Family Business accolade for Coopers

Innovate SA would like to congratulate Coopers Brewery, who has been named the world’s top family business of 2011.

An innovative and entrepreneurial company celebrating 150 years in business this year, it really is great to see South Australian and Australian companies succeeding on the international stage.

London-based international family business magazine CampdenFB launched an “informal poll” of readers earlier this month asking them to select one of nine family businesses as the Top Family Business of the Year.

Coopers nudged out international heavyweight businesses including Ford Motor, Estee Lauder and Lego Group to win the accolade.

The magazine asked readers to vote for the business that has shown “outstanding performances in 2011 in terms of not just profits and revenues, but also commitment to best practices in areas like governance and succession planning, in the context of the family business.”

The full list of businesses in the survey was:

• Coopers Brewery (brewing, Australia)
• Estee Lauder (cosmetics and perfume, USA)
• Firmenich (perfume and flavour chemical manufacturer, Switzerland)
• Ford Motor (motor vehicles, USA)
• Godrej Group (diverse industry range, India)
• Lego Group (toys, Denmark)
• Nakumatt (retailer, Kenya)
• Odebrecht (engineering, chemicals, petrochemicals, Brazil)
• Puig (perfume and fashion, Spain.)

Coopers Managing Director, Dr Tim Cooper, said the accolade was a tremendous achievement for Coopers, which recently became the largest remaining Australian-owned brewer.

“This is a fantastic start to our 150th anniversary celebrations in 2012,” Dr Cooper said.

“Coopers prides itself on being family owned and controlled with a strong focus on the quality of our products. We are very pleased to be named the world’s Top Family Business of the Year.”