Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/competition-shifting-in-expanding-employer-arena-status-report-9-on-employer-child-care/5012726/
The year 1998 will be remembered as the year that the nature of competition in the employer child care marketplace moved to a new level.The big news of the year was, of course, the merger of the largest manager of employer child care services, Bright Horizons Children's Centers with the second largest, CorporateFamily Solutions. Not only did this merger cement the combined company's leadership position in the employer arena, but it also vaulted the new company into position as the fifth largest for profit child care organization overall.
Many Wall Street analysts predicted that the merger would effectively lock up the employer child care market for the new company, Bright Horizons Family Solutions. However, most of the players in the arena saw the merger in just the opposite way and were bullish about the new competitive environment.
And the results for the year seemed to confirm their optimism. For many companies, 1998 was a banner year (see The Exchange Top 15 on the next page). For example:
- ARAMARK Educational Resources started to reap the benefits of breaking off its employer division as ARAMARK Employer Partnerships, from its community child care division, Children's World Learning Centers. It also strengthened its consulting services ...