John Malec is probably best known as the founder of Information Resources, Inc. (“IRIC”), the data collector upstart that grew to $600 million in sales while disrupting AC Nielsen’s 40 years of dominance in data tracking within the U.S. Now Malec is back as CEO of Visible Spectrum Inc. (VSI), a firm determined to bring [...]
MME Advisors: Insights and trends transforming middle market businesses.
Study Highlights Growing Optimism Among Owners of Privately Held Businesses
New York — Business optimism among private companies is nearly at a postrecession high, says Ken Esch, a partner with PwC’s private company services practice, who discussed with Middle-Market Executive some of the recent findings of PwC’s Trendsetter Barometer, a quarterly survey of private-company business leaders commissioned by PwC. According to the study, optimism [...]
Middle-Market Survey: Business Looking Up, Business Leaders Looking Outward
Atlanta — Lower middle-market business owners are feeling significantly better about the economy and their businesses than a year ago, says Tom Kuntz, SunTrust Bank’s commercial and business banking executive, who discussed with Middle-Market Executive some of the recent findings of a SunTrust survey of leaders from small and medium-size businesses. According to SunTrust, [...]
The Vanishing Middle Market: How a Lack of Digital Visibility is Putting Thousands of Firms at Risk
Once upon a time, visibility on the Web could be achieved with relative ease. Just so long as a firm’s URL showed up after a few keyword searches, middle-market CEOs could rest easy that their customers would always be able to find them. A decade later, many thousands of middle-market firms have all but [...]
Merger-Minded Business Leaders in Short Supply Despite Growing Middle-Market Optimism
As we advance into the second half of 2013, there are growing indications that business sentiment is improving despite nagging unemployment numbers and a shortage of merger-minded CEOs. Cindy Crotty, middle-market business watcher and head of KeyBank’s commercial banking segment, once more shared with Middle-Market Executive the findings of a KeyBank’s middle-market business sentiment survey, which [...]
Flow-Through Taxation Continues to Stir Debate Among Lower-Middle-Market Firms
As business leader sentiment toward the new tax reforms continues to wane, David A. VanEgmond of PwC’s Private Company Services practice recently answered a few of our questions concerning the rising banter around corporate tax rates. MME: For many lower-middle-market firms, we hear that the effective tax rate is now higher — and partnerships [...]
When It Comes to M&A, Middle-Market Firms Can Learn from the HR Function
Inside the lower middle market, many firms view acquisitions as a path of last resort. Or the path to take when all other paths to growth have been exhausted.Middle-Market Executive (MME) recently spoke with M&A consultant David Braun, who has long claimed that acquisitions provide middle-market firms with the fastest, securest, and most profitable [...]
Ideas Become the Currency of Choice as Customers Demand More From Middle-Market Sales Reps
As more middle-market firms bump up their growth expectations for 2013, sales people are finding customers ever more demanding. It seems that the best sales people these days come armed not only with information, but also with ideas. Or so Matt Dixon, executive director at CEB, tells us. Dixon, coauthor of The Challenger Sale, [...]
PwC Says Ambitious Growth Objectives Became Innovation Trigger for Middle-Market Firms
As more privately held companies escalate their investments in sales and marketing, new innovative initiatives are beginning to mushroom across the lower middle market. Middle-Market Executive recently spoke to Ken Esch, a partner with PwC’s Private Company Services practice, who shared some recent insights from PwC’s Trendsetter Barometer — a quarterly study that tracks [...]
Tapping the Middle-Market Channel: How PE Firms Became Profit Velocity’s Door of Entry
Having developed a manufacturing solution capable of helping middle-market manufacturers increase their cash contribution to revenue by 3 to 5 points, Michael Rothschild, CEO of Profit Velocity, thought that he may have created the manufacturing world’s next mouse trap. Nevertheless, Profit Velocity still faced a sizable learning curve when it came to finding a [...]
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