Mid- market sized European firms especially have always been caught in growth traps, reliant on the strength of thier domestic customers and the economies they operate within. If Germany and Europe are doing well, then the mid-market firms does well. These form the backbone of our industrial here in Europe.
In the past decade, or even more, this reliance and dependancies on the European growth engine have provide stable markets where the experience and history of these mid-sied firms has been constantly expanded in what they know- in adjacent products, regional extensions and incremental progress improvments- not through bold new market plays, there was largely this “no need” attitude.
It becomes a radically different story when the markets plateau and growth starts to flatten or become less predictable. That lost steady reliable growth momentum, increasing market vulnerability from cheaper suppliers, especially from China, the constant concerns over succession within smaller business, that growth uncertainty raises the risks.
The growing feeling of isolation and vulnerability needs a different change of mindset. From independence into different froms of collaboration, networks and business ecosystems.
Tackling a number of issues are required for Mid-market firms
Can’t Scale, Can’t Convert.
That classic “dual” constraint of “can’t scale, can’t convert” where ambition has been tempered by years of a specific often singular focus, where that discipline and engineering excellence has become a straight-jacket in changing market conditions. Risk-taking outside of well-entreched comfort zones is often seen as reckless.
The scalable ecosystem mentality is limited to linear and self-driven (and self-financed), not on any reliances in network-based or co-created thinking. The established institutions or association bodies, relied upon for interpretation of new regulations, or a meeting place to bring specific advice or expertise, becomes limited by its established articles of association.
Mid-sized firms become increasingly globally marginal, trapped in an established prototpye extension or niche mode.
The Deeper Sysstem Issue- The constrains of no European Growth Infrastructure
Europe has a sound innovation infrastructure for its inputs, not as dynamic as it should be, but not really a mapped out growth infrastructure pathway, it is still fragmented.
EU and national ecosystems are far more tuned into startups (innovation) or corporates (industrial scale), still very national and sector centric and this “missing middle” is so often structurally unsupported or not appreciated as a real economic backbone. It does not support essential scaling.
Policy programes emphasise priority sesctors (green, digital, AI or health) but the mid-sized firm lacks cross-domain potential such as connecting one part of industrial automation into energy transition or smart mobility, these are locked into their islands of specialiation.
These gives a growing lack of ecosystem orchestration skills and cross-sctor or boarder incentives leaves firms isolated, even when technically brilliant, in given areas. They are dependent on domestic customers, in a changing connected world, and have really narrow funding channels to experiment and extend beyond their knowns.
With over 250,000 mid-sized firms being the backbone of Europe’s industrial and service economies that deliver quality, resilience and employment so often face invisibility to change. They are often “too big for startup incentives, too small for industrial policy focus”
They face the constrain loop
Taking a typical cycle of operating in a present comfort zone- lmited horizon- reliance on agencies and a small band of cumomers- fragmented funding- lost agility and in that repeating (doom) loop that reinforces internal caution and having that external structure reinforcing stagnation in todays’ globally competitive world.. The “loop” needs as different growth logic.
How can we re-cast these mid-sized firms so vital but seemingly unsupported?
REFRAMING- the Ecosystem pathway.
The real advantage of thinking and designing Ecosystems is they can multiply what no one firm can achieve on their own.
You can move from ownership into access, from isolation to otrchestration. You can share capabilities, assets, engineering and product knowledge, understading broader markets and recognise innovation differently. It is co-creation, cross-border solutions to shared European challenges can accelerate and shape the European network so differently
Introducing the Integrated Interconnected Business Ecosystem (IIBE)
This can provide the essential blueprint to a structured pathway for collaboration-led growth.
| European Barrier | IIBE Solution | Resulting Outcome |
| Fragmented Markets | Ecosystem Mapping | Transnationsl connections |
| Policy Dependency | Private Ecosystem Governance Building | Market-led growth |
| Broad Conservatism | Visual Blueprints for Growth and Collaborations | Confidence through clarity |
| Weak Commercialization | Shared go-to-market models | Faster conversion |
| Lack of Scale | Platform participation | Grwoth through collaboration and insight / knowledge exchanges |
The approach through Ecosystems enables connection, mot control through shared networks, not fixed assets with collaborations spreading costs, accelerating learning, benefiting from diversity and diversity of experiences.
The goal is to turn engineering into innovation growth- the conversion catalyst.
That need to reframe innovation from “product-led” to “problem-led” through shared ecosystem pilots by attracting new partners and investors by co-owning outcomes. Be these shared ambitions from these external connections, finding new market pathways and shared go-to-market models, building out these independent ecosystem networks, exploring new value constellations, and scaling through coordination not control as the needed shifts to take place.
The IIBE moves firms from engineering silos to market ecosystems by building ecosystem understanding, participation, access not acquisition. By building from precision into participation, scaling through collaborations, converting engineering excellence into market ecosystems and not waiting for policy dependency to become ecosystem independent.
Take a read of
A Comprehensive Guide Recommending Business Ecosystems for Mid-Sized Firms ,as well as
A Guide for Ecosystem Business Model Building for Mid-Sized Firms
Europe’s mid-sized firms don’t need another subsidy or waiting for government to catch up in tthe relaities ofb the today and the future. They need an ecosystem strategy.
Mobilization- from insight to action
The IIBE entry points to determine
1 Firstly discover your ecosystem readinness in 90 mnutes
2 Recognizing a Ecosystem pathway and what it means
3 Understanding that the IIBE can become the bridge from excellence to scale
4 Recognizing shared resources and what that means
5 Explore your existing growth constraints to reframe them as ecosystem opportunities.
Building this into the next growth framework for connection logic, a pragmatic, informed route to scale and diversify with always the emphasis “start small, build confidence (and understanding), grow collectively and seek out those new growth curves.
The mid-sized firm, especially in Europe (as well as the USA) is under threat. The independence of operations, reliantance on a given and selected group of customers is under “global threat”.
Competition is coming from multiple angles in price, in quality challenges, in market erosions in established markets and cost of entry into new ones becoming inhibitive with a time to be “established” really challenging.
Staying increasing “marooned” or increasingly vulnerable can be replaced by a very different thinking- one of exploring and adapting an Ecosystem deign and thinking.
Come talk to me to explore this further.