— National Center for the Middle Market — Expert Perspectives
Leading Through Uncertainty: Middle Market Resources During COVID-19
As the COVID-19 pandemic disrupts day-to-day operations and planning of middle market companies across the country, the National Center for the Middle Market has compiled a list of resources to help you lead through uncertainty, navigate the constant changes, help manage human resources, conserve cash and working capital, maintain operations, and serve customers during this time.
Below you’ll find a selection of reports and podcasts to reference as you develop both short- and long-term plans for your company.
Report: COVID-19 and the Middle Market: 4Q 2020
Update on the Pandemic’s Impact: While executives believe the pandemic will have adverse effects on revenues well into 2021, the proportion of those who believe the negative impact on sales will be significant has decreased.
Report: COVID-19 and the Middle Market: 2Q 2020
5 Key Findings on the Pandemic’s Impact: While conditions have improved since the beginning of the year, businesses foresee continued uncertainty and a longer road to recovery.
Report: COVID-19 and the Middle Market
4 Ways the Coronavirus Is Changing the Business Landscape: The coronavirus pandemic will derail middle market performance. But executives believe they have the resilience to recover.
Support Your People
Blog Post: Getting Video Conferencing Right (When We’re All Video Conferencing)
COVID-19 has accelerated the use of videoconferencing as more middle market company employees work from home (WFH), a trend that will surely continue.
Podcast: Working Through Working from Home
It’s a new normal for companies across the world. Now that COVID-19 has pushed so many employees home, how can middle market companies make sure everything runs as smoothly as possible while managing everything else going on?
Report: Mastering Talent Planning: A Framework for Success
By looking closely at how middle market businesses approach talent planning, and by assessing the strengths and challenges in this space, this report provides talent planning insights and a practical talent planning framework.
Report: The Power of Culture
The culture of a company is a tangible and important force influencing its performance for good or ill. A strong culture accelerates revenue growth for middle market companies. A weak or dysfunctional culture can hold companies back.
Maintain Your Operations
Podcast: Don’t Quarantine Your Cybersecurity Efforts
As much of the country moves to a work-from-home setting, middle market companies mustn’t overlook the risks of malevolent opportunists targeting the new home office.
Report: The Operations Playbook: A Systematic Approach for Achieving and Maintaining Operations Excellence
Operational improvements tend to last longer—they are “stickier”—when they are comprehensive and systematic. Learn how with The Operations Playbook.
Report: Risk & Resilience in the Middle Market
This report seeks to better understand the prevalence and impact of business disruptions and to create a comprehensive picture of the major risks companies face and their resilience to withstand those disruptions.
Report: The Perfect Link: How Middle Market Companies Operate Within Supply Chains
How the most successful middle market suppliers meet their customers’ needs and partner with their own suppliers while growing their businesses at the same time.
Assessment Tool: Supply Chain Resiliency
By answering questions on your company’s supply chain capabilities and its vulnerabilities you’ll be able to see your company’s supply chain resiliency score and determine what adjustments should be made in order to remain competitive.
Report: The Case for Digital Transformation
This analysis creates a coherent picture of the importance of digital transformation and presents a framework that executives can use to advance digital initiatives in their businesses.
Manage Your Finances
Podcast: Cut Your Tail Spend
Companies are looking for ways to cut costs and free up cash flow. We welcome Expense Reduction Analysts Principal Consultant Paul Zaleski to talk about the oft forgotten 20% of spending or “tail spend.”
Report: Working Capital Management: How Much Cash Is Your Business Tying Up?
This report identifies working capital management perceptions, practices, and challenges and opportunities among middle market firms.
Report: Access to Capital: How Small and Mid-Sized Businesses Are Funding Their Futures
This research takes a look at how firms raise capital, their strategy for debt, factors that drive their decisions about financing and their outlook for expansion.
Benchmarking Tool: Working Capital
Benchmark your company’s working capital management against your peers. This tool allows companies to benchmark their working capital management in terms of accounts receivable, accounts payable, and inventory.
Deliver for Your Customers
Webinar: COVID-19 and the Middle Market: How Companies Are Shifting Focus During the Pandemic
Three middle market executives discuss how the pandemic has affected their companies and the steps they are taking to map a road to recovery.
Report: Digitizing the Customer Experience
How middle market companies view the customer experience, what actions they are taking to digitize that experience, the impact of digitization, and the obstacles to customer experience digitization.
Report: The Force Is with You: Building a Highly Effective Sales Organization
Based on a survey of 400 C-suite level middle market executives, this report identifies best practices in middle market sales force structure, hiring and training strategies, compensation models, and technology deployment.
