Growth of varying magnitudes

Economic growth: Midsize companies expecting economic growth - chicagotribune.com: "While 93 percent of companies said they expected the economy to grow, only 20 percent believed that growth would be enough to support widespread job creation. Nevertheless, about 69 percent of executives said they planned to add full-time employees in 2011. A larger portion of executives (84 percent) said they expected to see productivity increase over the next year, despite levels that are already historically high. Full-time head count is lower than in 2007 by more than 10 percent for a third of the companies surveyed.

Still, many survey respondents reported improved cash balances and profits compared with a year ago, which has them planning for growth.

Eric Belcher, CEO of InnerWorkings, a public company that helps manage print procurement for large global companies, said it recently has seen clients' budgets for printed items increase over previous years.

"How much of that is due to the increasing return they are seeing on print versus overall economic performance, we aren't able to tell, but they are moving in the right direction," he said.

InnerWorkings, which reported revenue of $482 million in 2010, has hired 50 people in 2011 and expects to hire an equal number by the end of this year.

Besides organic growth from a recovering economy, executives surveyed indicated that mergers and acquisitions will be a common growth strategy over the next year, but that they would stay away from growth plans that require taking on substantial debt. One-third of executives said they will likely acquire companies this year, with almost half of those transactions involving direct U.S. competitors in an effort to expand their customer base, capture efficiencies of scale or as part of a bargain-hunting strategy.

Chicago-based security firm Trustwave acquired more than a half-dozen companies during the last few years and is one of just 8 percent of privately held midmarket companies planning an initial public offering in the coming year.

"While other companies were looking for exit opportunities, we capitalized on that," said Doug Klotnia, executive vice president of Trustwave.

The survey also found that more midsize companies are looking at opportunities overseas. Three years ago, 73 percent of retailers reported no overseas revenue, said Sonenthal. Three years from now, 45 percent expect a quarter of their revenue to come from overseas, according to the survey.

"To the extent that these companies can sell overseas and move U.S. goods overseas, I think that's a positive for us, a positive for the United States," said Sonenthal.

The eye toward global growth seems to stem mostly from a desire to replicate local successes rather than from a need to diversify, the survey found, with the largest draws China and Western Europe. The findings are significant, said Sonenthal, for a segment of the economy that historically is cautious.

"The world is flat," said John Shegerian, chairman and CEO of California-based Electronic Recyclers International. "Globalization is here. Small and new industries like ours cannot think in the historical legacy ways of being just America-centric. If you can't think globally, you shouldn't be in this business."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, midmarket executives expressed concerns over taxes and health care costs, but a surprising number — 50 percent — expressed a fear that federal, state and municipal debt woes could present the largest obstacles to economic growth.

"If someone doesn't deal with those issues quite soon, these companies are expecting major cuts, and if (governments) lay people off, that's less people to buy their goods. Either that, or higher taxes for the purpose of raising revenue," Sonenthal said."