4 ms·

I love mittlestand companies like this. Global, highly specialized, and all about product quality and customer service.

by dsalzman 7y ago

rhizome 7y ago
Thanks for the TIL word!
- Kyro38 7y ago
  And of course it's a german word. These companies are the strength of the german industry !
  - dmix 7y ago
    And the driving force of capitalism, megacorps only represent about 1% of companies and ~20% of employment (minimum wage jobs are also a very small percentage of all jobs despite the constant attention it gets). SMB are the real business world and where the majority of upward mobility is. Sadly most critiques of markets are hyper focused on the mega corps and policy gets made which only considers the big bad guys, which squeezes out the smaller firms as side effects of otherwise well intentioned policy. The rate of people starting new businesses has been declining lately and it’s concerning. Megacorps dominating absolutely everything is a big part of dystopian fiction for a good reason.
    - toyg 7y ago
      I agree, but part of the reason is that such small businesses consistently fail to differentiate their policy objectives from the ones of megacorps. If I give a tax breaks to companies, megacorps will benefit disproportionately more than SMBs, but SMBs oppose thresholds and caps because they “discourage growth” and “increase red tape”. What is a legislator going to do? SMBs in many ways act as “temporarily embarrassed megacorps” and hence reap what they sow.
  - fishingisfun 7y ago
    what small business is all about
    - m_mueller 7y ago
      not sure about the US, but in Europe these companies often grow into having a couple of hundred employees, at which point they just continue being at the top in their niche without much growth. sometimes they get absorbed, often not because what they do doesn't provide a lot of synergies with what big corp. are doing.
- dsalzman 7y ago
  If you want the 101 of Mittelstand read the book Hidden Champions by Hermann Simon. A little dated but still relevant and a great read.
frequentnapper 7y ago
shouldn't this be "jittlestand" as mittlestand implies German businesses? Brittlestand is analogous term for British businesses.
xenadu02 7y ago
There are a lot of these small suppliers around the world no one really knows about. A former boss of mine had a side business making blade balancing weights for helicopters. He would take a few weeks every few years to make a big batch then ship them over. I found it surprising at the time that a one-man show made the blade balance weights for 1/4 of all the helicopters in the world as a part-time gig in the middle of nowhere. Just goes to show there are still plenty of niches out there if you can find them.
- thdrdt 7y ago
  I believe there is a similar story about a man who made window seals for planes.

I love mittlestand companies like this. Global, highly specialized, and all about product quality and customer service.

rhizome 7y ago

Thanks for the TIL word!

Kyro38 7y ago
And of course it's a german word. These companies are the strength of the german industry !
- dmix 7y ago
  And the driving force of capitalism, megacorps only represent about 1% of companies and ~20% of employment (minimum wage jobs are also a very small percentage of all jobs despite the constant attention it gets). SMB are the real business world and where the majority of upward mobility is. Sadly most critiques of markets are hyper focused on the mega corps and policy gets made which only considers the big bad guys, which squeezes out the smaller firms as side effects of otherwise well intentioned policy. The rate of people starting new businesses has been declining lately and it’s concerning. Megacorps dominating absolutely everything is a big part of dystopian fiction for a good reason.
  - toyg 7y ago
    I agree, but part of the reason is that such small businesses consistently fail to differentiate their policy objectives from the ones of megacorps. If I give a tax breaks to companies, megacorps will benefit disproportionately more than SMBs, but SMBs oppose thresholds and caps because they “discourage growth” and “increase red tape”. What is a legislator going to do? SMBs in many ways act as “temporarily embarrassed megacorps” and hence reap what they sow.
- fishingisfun 7y ago
  what small business is all about
  - m_mueller 7y ago
    not sure about the US, but in Europe these companies often grow into having a couple of hundred employees, at which point they just continue being at the top in their niche without much growth. sometimes they get absorbed, often not because what they do doesn't provide a lot of synergies with what big corp. are doing.
dsalzman 7y ago
If you want the 101 of Mittelstand read the book Hidden Champions by Hermann Simon. A little dated but still relevant and a great read.

frequentnapper 7y ago

shouldn't this be "jittlestand" as mittlestand implies German businesses? Brittlestand is analogous term for British businesses.

xenadu02 7y ago

There are a lot of these small suppliers around the world no one really knows about. A former boss of mine had a side business making blade balancing weights for helicopters. He would take a few weeks every few years to make a big batch then ship them over. I found it surprising at the time that a one-man show made the blade balance weights for 1/4 of all the helicopters in the world as a part-time gig in the middle of nowhere. Just goes to show there are still plenty of niches out there if you can find them.

thdrdt 7y ago
I believe there is a similar story about a man who made window seals for planes.