The long reach of ObamacareThe vital products and services of companies in the 50 to 99 employee class...
As pulp and paper analysts, you likely spend most of your day thinking about very large corporations. Ones of a size that, on the whole, any Obamacare worries are small in the scheme of things.
However, there are a number of companies that serve the pulp and paper industry that are in the bubble of 50 to 99 employees. By any standards, they are small companies.
However, their ability to thrive and survive is vital to the overall health of the industry.
Who are these companies? They are companies that make specialized products and consumables. They make instruments. They produce high value additives that while small in quantity, may be responsible for the entire profitability of a mill on a per ton basis.
If their size based on employees puts them in jeopardy for new health insurance mandates, an easy solution might be for one of the behemoths that use their products to buy them. Yet what does that do for the rest of the industry? The behemoth might just decide they don't want to sell the products of their newly acquired subsidiary to their competitors. A game changer all the way around.
In your prognostication work, sometimes, it may be necessary to get out in the weeds and explore some of the behind the scenes activities.
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