Mid-Markets

Publications

Executive Action Reports

September 2009	Recession Lessons for Mid-Market CFOs: Successfully Obtaining Loans in the New World of Credit Even though signs of an economic recovery are emerging, recession challenges and a shutdown of easy credit have changed the lending world for CFOs of small- and mid-sized firms File size: 204KB
June 2009	On the Record with Barry Melancon Barry Melancon, President and CEO of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, discusses some of the successful initiatives that the AICPA has taken to build a strong pipeline for the accounting profession. File size: 230KB
May 2009	Waddayaknow? Knowledge Management Can Be an Organization's Key to Survival This Executive Action report uses three case studies to build a business case for implementing Knowledge Management, and provides tips for making KM work. File size: 248KB
March 2009	How to Compete and Win In a Broken Economy While many small and midsize firms are struggling to survive, stronger companies will find opportunities to improve their competitive position. File size: 270KB
January 2009	Tighten Your Supply Chain to Wring Out Costs This report features insights and practical advice from corporate executives and supply-chain experts, and helpful suggestions for recruiting logistic specialists. File size: 178KB
November 2008	Swimming with the Big Fish This Executive Action tailored to the needs of Mid-Market members of The Conference Board presents constructive advice for businesses that are competing with or seeking to do business with Fortune 500 companies. File size:
October 2008	Innovate Today, Grow Tomorrow In a down economy, companies can't afford to mark time. Three midsize firms are seizing the moment to explore ideas for new products and invent new business models. File size: 114KB
July 2008	The Profit in Smarter Pricing While holding the line on prices is a constant battle, small and midsize companies sometimes ignore the positive role that pricing can play as a lever of profit. File size: 134KB
May 2008	Harnessing the Perfect Storm: Business Executives in Mid-Size Companies Are Seizing Green Opportunities Mid-size businesses that may have only considered taking small affordable steps toward energy efficiency or that originally balked at government regulation are actively seeking ways to become environmentally friendly. File size: 233KB
April 2008	HR Challenge: Staffing Up to Expand Overseas You don't have to be a huge company to establish a presence in foreign markets. You do need to develop global leaders and learn how to recruit local talent. File size: 119KB
February 2008	How CEOs Turn Themselves (and Others) into True Leaders As never before, leaders of small-to-midsize companies must master softer, more intangible skills, such as the capacity to build relationships and maintain a strong culture. File size: 260KB
October 2007	Step Up to Solutions-Selling Some small and midsize companies are getting organized to sell solutions, not just products. Why aren't all the others? File size: 245KB
September 2007	Building an Ethical Company Whether large, small, or medium-sized, ethics and compliance programs are now essential to a company's DNA. File size:
September 2007	Unlocking Speed and Agility If mid-market companies want to remain strong competitors and avoid complacency, they need to rediscover the speed and agility they had as start-ups. File size: 120KB
June 2007	Brotherly Alliances, Engines of Growth One of the fastest, least capital-intensive ways for small-to-midsize companies to grow is to connect with a larger, more powerful partner or brand. But how do you find a 'big brother' you can trust? File size: 106 KB
April 2007	The Business Benefits of Security: Making the Case in Mid-Market Companies Mid-market companies are coming to the realization that security is best viewed as an investment that increases business value, rather than an expense to be minimized. File size: 368KB
March 2007	Growing a Business Niche by Niche Smaller and midsize companies are often gut-smart about serving a well-defined market segment. They can build on their success by expanding into "the niche next door." File size: 250KB
February 2007	The Secrets of Midsize Success: An Interview with Richard E. Cavanagh Midsize companies are essential to the U.S. economy, both for the products and services they offer and the jobs they provide. They also face a unique set of challenges and opportunities. File size: 160KB
January 2007	Citizenship and Sustainability: Doing Good Can Be Good for Business While they may not be in the public eye as much as their larger counterparts, small and mid-size companies have a lot to gain by expanding their corporate citizenship and sustainability programs. File size: 129KB
January 2007	Designing the High-Performance Compensation Plan That Works The latest article of the Mid-Market Trends series shows how smaller and midsize companies are revising their incentive plans, extending them to more employees, and attempting to tie them more closely to strategic objectives. File size: 132 KB
October 2006	Stopping the Profit Drain from Higher Energy Costs Corporate America can expect little respite from soaring — and volatile — energy prices. Smaller companies can protect profits by strengthening the ways they manage energy use. File size: 143KB
September 2006	Philanthropy at Mid-Market Firms: It Pays to Be Creative With a little creativity, midsize companies can make their philanthropic activities stand out, not only providing a wealth of assistance to those in need, but also strengthening their organizations at the same time. File size: 122 KB
August 2006	How to Hire Top Performers (Hint: They Already Have Jobs) Smaller companies don’t have to settle for less. Get an edge in the talent wars with shrewd targeting and robust retention strategies. File size: 116KB
June 2006	The Nuts and Bolts of Execution: Putting Ideas to Work How do mid-market companies take great vision and make it a reality? File size: 147.48KB
June 2006	Growing a Family Company: An Exercise in Patience In order to survive, many smaller and mid-sized companies are being forced to grow. But to grow successfully, they will have to re-examine old attitudes and junk outdated business models. File size: 173.88KB
March 2006	Hispanics in the Workplace: Building Meaningful Diversity This report explores current conditions and anticipated changes in both the overall Hispanic community and the Mexican, Central and South American, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and other Hispanic populations. File size: 108.10KB
February 2006	Preparing for the Worst: A Guide to Business Continuity Planning for Mid-Markets Why are smaller companies creating disaster survival plans? Because regulators, investors, and customers are demanding they do so. File size: 106.08KB
December 2005	Globalization: Will Your Company Be Left Standing? New market realities may compel mid-market companies to adopt a business model that powers growth through product innovation, as well as improved operational effectiveness. File size: 151.8 KB
December 2005	Making It in Manufacturing: Becoming Lean to Compete Globally What are some steps companies in higher-wage countries can take to remain competitive globally? File size: 105.2 KB
August 2005	How Smaller Companies Earn Customer Loyalty How do you develop customer loyalty? How do you measure it? How do you profit from it? File size: 128.2KB
April 2005	How CFOs Carve Out Time for What Counts Most The job descriptions of CFOs in smaller and mid-sized organizations have been steadily expanding. When do they find time to work on tasks that will build shareholder value? File size: 88.7KB
February 2005	Reaching the Goal Line On Good Governance Complying with Sarbanes-Oxley has been a difficult undertaking for small and medium sized companies. It has been a painful learning experience with more lessons to be learned. File size: 105.1KB
December 2004	Succession Planning....Without Tears Rather than putting off succession planning and then rushing to hire from the outside when the time arrives, small companies would be better served by grooming leaders from within the firm. File size: 108.6KB
November 2004	Security in Mid-Market Companies: Tackling the Challenge Will the most important incentive for smaller companies to upgrade their security operations come from standards imposed by major corporations rather than those imposed by the government? File size: 110.9KB
August 2004	Making Over Leaders and Leadership Styles Are the requirements of leadership changing? That is the question being asked as a new generation rises in the workplace. File size: 110.4KB
July 2004	Security Practices ... Security in Mid-Market Companies: The View From the Top Is corporate security an expense that should be minimized or an investment that increases business value? File size: 153.6KB
April 2004	Redesigning HR for Mid-Sized Firms Human Resources departments - of both large and mid-sized firms - choosing to outsource routine administrative tasks, are going through the same transitional pangs. File size: 87.8KB
December 2003	The Entrepreneurial Flame: How to Keep it Burning Brightly in Your Company Maintaining the enthusiasm and motivation of your most creative, entrepreneurial-minded employees is difficult even in the best of times. Learn how some successful companies manage to always keep the entrepreneurial spirit flourishing. File size: 90.7KB
September 2003	Managing Corporate Security in Mid-Markets Compared to large companies, security spending is more of a burden for smaller companies when expressed as a percentage of annual sales and they are less likely to feel that their security spending is adequate. File size: 161KB

Research Reports