Small, prosperous companies that expect to keep doing well may find themselves the object of foreign takeover attempts–and displaced middle managers could benefit from that situation.
That is the gist of a recent survey by the Research Institute of America, a private organization. Most of its members are closely held companies with sales of $50 million or less.
”We expect small businesses to continue to transform the American economy in 1987,”said Nancy F. Shuker, directing editor of the report. Small businesses, which Shuker defines as companies having fewer than 500 employees, provide jobs to nearly half the nation`s private work force and that trend is expected to continue.
Recently many middle managers, particularly those older than 50 and receiving $50,000 to $80,000, have lost their jobs at such large companies as American Telephone & Telegraph Co., Eastman Kodak Co., International Business Machines Corp. and E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.
Job placement experts often suggest that displaced managers should seek jobs at smaller companies. Yet the survey indicates that small companies, especially prosperous ones, may become targets for takeovers–most likely by the Japanese and West Germans.
Foreign interest is expected to focus, Shuker said, on American companies that have ”strong brand identification or retail outlets.” The most likely targets, she reported, will be companies in technology, health care, finance and other service areas.
If small companies are sought by foreigners for investment and possible acquisition, middle managers who apply for jobs with such companies should be aware of the trend and try to benefit from it.
”This is a tumultuous time for middle managers,” Shuker said. ”They will have to rethink career strategy, but there could be many opportunities as well, so I`m not pessimistic. There might be jobs, for example, for Americans as liaisons between the foreign owners and the company.”
Barry Nathanson, president of Richards Consultants Ltd., a management recruiting concern, says there will be job opportunities for some middle managers at small companies taken over by foreign investors. Many small companies, he predicted, will be building up their international marketing staffs, ”especially where they did not have in-depth strength.”
