Middle market companies typically operate as links within the supply chains of other, often larger, businesses. By gaining a better understanding of supply chain dynamics from the perspective of a middle market firm, the National Center for the Middle Market and its research partners set out to understand what makes a middle market company the “perfect link.”
According to new research conducted by the National Center for the Middle Market in collaboration with Dr. Peter Ward of the Center for Operational Excellence at The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business, we have concluded that operations should be managed as a system comprised of four interlocking subsystems.
Margin management - or the ability to understand where money is made and lost in a business - is critical to the success of all businesses and to middle market firms in particular. Middle market executives cite the ability to maintain margins as a somewhat to highly challenging issue. Quarter after quarter, margin maintenance is ranked as a top concern among middle market companies, second only to the cost of healthcare.