January 31, 2017 (PHILADELPHIA, PA) – Greater Philadelphia’s middle market companies — those with revenues between $10 million and $1 billion — are critical to growing the region’s economy. They currently represent 27 percent of total regional employment, despite accounting for only approximately one percent of companies. A recent study explores the middle market’s impact on the region’s economy and examines the key findings that distinguish the potential for significant job growth middle market companies can create.
The report, “Mobilizing Greater Philadelphia’s Middle Market”, identifies six key themes that could encourage middle market growth in the region: STEM and front-line talent, sustaining growth in closely held businesses, access to capital needed for growth, business climate, transportation infrastructure and industry hubs and startup pipeline.
Although middle market companies are often overlooked, they have a combined revenue of over $180 billion in Greater Philadelphia alone, and publicly traded middle market companies in the 11 counties have outperformed their larger peers. These companies have revenue growth estimated at 4.8 percentage points higher than the national middle market projection, but they will only achieve that if they receive the support needed from state and local governments, colleges and universities, and economic development organizations.
The report concludes that in order to increase high growth rates in Greater Philadelphia’s economy, middle market companies must be supported through:
• Education of middle market executives on best practices for accessing capital and planning for transitions of leadership
• Mentorship opportunities between companies and peer institutions in other regions to provide industry-specific input on key strategic decisions
• Marketing the region to potential employees, entrepreneurs, and investors, highlighting its relatively low cost of doing business, strong infrastructure, growing millennial population, proximity to metropolitan areas, and strong presence of life science companies
• Communication of the needs of middle market companies in areas such as infrastructure, industry hub development, and tax policy
• Coordination of resources across middle market companies and supporting organizations to provide services such as outreach to regional universities
“In order to ensure the growth of our regional economy, we need to understand and support Greater Philadelphia’s middle market,” said Rob Wonderling, President and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia. “Our Chamber is convening middle market executives and stakeholders through our recently launched Middle Market Action Team in order to identify and act on opportunities that support these vital job creators in our community.”
The full report is available at http://chamberphl.com/download/public/mm17-report-digital.pdf.
About the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia
As the premier advocate for the business community, the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia works to attract, retain and grow jobs for companies and residents of the region. We represent over 600,000 employees from thousands of member companies in southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and northern Delaware.
chamberphl.com
With thanks to McKinsey & Company for providing research and analytical pro bono support for this work.
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