Soaring on the winds of change.

The winds of change continue to sweep through the business landscape, hr today's environment, CEOs see the signs of an impending tempest one day and find their companies in the middle of a tsunami the next.

Competition for revenue growth and market share has become as fierce as gale-force winds. To ensure that cash flow and productivity gains aren't blown away by stormy conditions, tight-fisted managers are squeezing value out of every cent. And companies are habitually refreshing their client rosters as the business climate creates industrial shifts and corporate upheaval.

Most BE 100s CEOs--who head businesses ranging from industrial/service companies to auto dealerships--are unwilling to fall prey to business cycles. In this issue, our 33rd Annual Report on Black Business, we found that advancement favored the bold and the innovative. By re-evaluating corporate capabilities and adjusting operations, a number of companies soared to new heights. Moreover, these CEOs are claiming their rightful place in the business mainstream and, in some cases, forging billion-dollar institutions. "Black-owned companies are no longer satisfied with standing on the sidelines or leaving money on the table," says Executive Editor Derek T. Dingle, who has tracked the BE 100s for more than 20 years. "We have found CEOs who have positioned their companies to compete with the big boys and, in a number of cases, beaten them."

No group of BE 100s firms represents this competitive spirit better than our companies of the year. Take Fairview Capital Management, this year's Financial Company of the Year. By finding a niche in private equity and targeting general-market business, Fairview has boosted its capital under management by more than 77%, from $900 million in 2003 to $1.6 billion in 2004. Our Auto Dealer of the Year, Detroit-based Prestige Automotive Group, became the first black-owned auto dealer to cross the $1 billion revenue threshold by marrying a high-volume fleet sales operation with an extremely profitable service center. Chicago-based E. Morris Communications Inc., our Advertising Agency of the Year, grew more than 34% by cultivating a greater share of ad dollars from existing clients such as Wal-Mart and Tyson Foods. And our Company of the Year engaged in a strategy our editors have been advocating for years, one in which BE 100s companies merge with or acquire one another to land mammoth corporate and government contracts. Last year, Dimensions International, an Alexandria, Virginia-based technical service firm, bought rival SENTEL Corp. to create a new force in the homeland security and defense sectors.

Chief executives--especially those who run black-owned companies--will always face external forces and internal challenges that can rip through a firm like a tornado. The enterprises that survive, and ultimately thrive, will be those with business models that can withstand any kind of weather.

--The Editors