Advice for CEOs

In earlier articles, I discussed issues confronting early stage and middle market companies. This was in relation to Markets and Model, two of the Four Ms in Newport Board Group’s framework to help companies navigate through No Man’s Land.

In our last article in this series, highlighting our firm’s Four Ms framework to get growing companies out of No Man’s Land, we focused on the “Model” issues confronting a growing electronics company in Austin. Today we move to the Market issues confronting a footwear company in northern New York State that I worked with closely. The company is 100 years old, making it anything but a start up. It is at the boundaries of middle market size, having become misaligned with its market. As a result, it is generating considerable losses. How did this once successful company become misaligned with the market place that it exists to serve?

In Part 1 of my No Man’s Land “4 Ms” article, I described how changing the model of certain aspects of your business can help accelerate growth. I cited the example of a Texas-based entertainment lighting firm who updated their business model and found success. Please find the conclusion of the firm’s story below.

Doug Tatum’s best-selling business book No Man’s Land explores the misalignments that occur as companies attempt to traverse No Man’s Land, the place where middle market companies falter because they are too big to be small and too small to be big.