An American business 'success' story
Posted: June 10, 2006
By Jim Sedlak

America is the land of entrepreneurs. Those that are successful find a formula that works and then replicate that formula many times to build an empire. We have seen this happen in the fast-food industry, in retail stores, in computers and many other venues.

There is one enterprise that has received very little attention for its commercial acumen because most people don't view it as a business. But it is. Let's take a few moments to look at this business, review its business model and determine the secret to its success.

First, let's look at some of the numbers associated with this business. Last year, it had gross revenue of $882 million and a net profit of $63 million. This marks the 19th year in a row that the enterprise has increased its gross revenue and made a profit. In fact, over those 19 years, it has a total profit of $649.6 million on gross revenue of $10 billion. the rest