Sneered at in the media, investigated and fined by the authorities, Amway Corp keeps growing. The world's second-largest door-to-door sales operation was conceived in a basement in Grand Rapids, Michigan, only 32 years ago and today boasts $3.1 billion in retail sales ($2.6 billion at wholesale prices)around the world.

Amway is still owned almost entirely by its founders -- Richard DeVos, 65, and Jay Van Andel, 67 -- and their immediate families. Forbes magazine estimates that the company earned $300 million last year after taxes, and that DeVos and Van Andel are each worth close to $3 billion -- although it is difficult to value a business that, like Amway, is based on ephemeral human relationships.