Last summer, a bitter family feud between the DeMoulas family over who would take control of their family business—the Market Basket supermarket chain—exploded into public and protracted custody battle that played out for months. Employees of Market Basket turned out by the hundreds in support of Arthur T. Demoulas, who had been deposed as head of the company by his cousin, Arthur S., by staging walkouts and leaving stores un-stocked and un-staffed. Finally, after months of protest, "Artie T.," as he was known affectionately by employees, managed to buy back the company.

One year later, authors Grant Welker and Daniel Korschun look back at the fight to retake the store in their new book, "We Are Market Basket: The Story Of The Unlikely Grassroots Movement That Saved A Beloved Business."

"A lot of people want to simplify it and say this is about the 1 percent versus the 99 percent or about the labor versus the shareholders," Korschun said. "There are pieces of that in this. But really, this is about 2 million people of all walks of life, different relationships to this company—vendors, customers, associates, or the employees—coming together to save something that they felt they built."

"They just wanted to keep Market Basket," Welker said.

That spirit, says the authors, has helped Market Basket bounce back in a big way from its troubles last summer. During the walkouts, the store reportedly lost 90% of its sales, which the authors say have been made up in the subsequent year "and then some." Sales this year are expected to reach $4.8 billion. The chain has also expanded considerably, adding five new stores in the past year with plans to open two or three more.

Employers everywhere can learn a lot from Market Basket's travails about how to create a workforce of happy, loyal employees, Korschun says.

"There's a lot of empirical evidence to the idea that when a supervisor treats employees well, they're more loyal to the company and work harder and are more productive and happier," said Korschun.

"What makes Market Basket special in my eyes is what they've done, what they do better than most: they've really incorporated that philosophy into how they manage," he continued.

To hear more from authors Dan Korschun and Grant Welker, tune in to Boston Public Radio above.