The study began by leveraging available data from a database of 128,000 middle market firms. The data covers a recent seven-year period (2006-2012). Researchers divided the firms between those that grew and those that did not grow during the 2006 -2008 period. The researchers followed these firms to see which companies grew in the post-recession period (2009-2012). In addition, researchers conducted a comprehensive survey of 247 middle market CEOs and other C-suite executives from America’s middle market companies to quantitatively understand the key drivers of sustainable growth.