But there are not many examples of a firm of any scale surviving for long by selling truly independent research.
Businesses of this sort account for around a third of jobs and private-sector GDP, have a manufacturing and export bent (though less so in Britain) and combine the benefits of small-firm flexibility with large-firm economies of scale.
When you run a business at this level of scale as a brokerage firm, you have to clear and settle every trade yourself.
Northern Ireland Finance Minister Sammy Wilson, who is also the MP for East Antrim, said he was shocked at the scale of the redundancies at the firm.
As an owner of a small regional brokerage firm I can report from the front lines that a primary driver of the demise of the local brokerage firm is a lack of economies of scale to remain competitive.
That is partly a question of scale: one lucky break by a smaller firm could double its reserves, but barely register at one of the majors.
But it will also strike some as faintly obscene given the scale of public support needed to keep the firm and its peers from buckling last year.
Despite the firm's admission, the scale of the case against Morgan Stanley remains unclear.
The combined firm will have greater economies of scale and more bargaining power with handset and equipment suppliers.
But in a letter to domestic electrical good retailers the Commission has said it was unlikely to find that the Dixons Group was operating a 'scale' monopoly in the sale of warranties as the firm had slightly less than 25% market share.
Stephanie Gallo says her family's firm can profitably mine both ends of the price scale.
In an industry in which economies of scale have been a big factor, size should give the bigger firm an advantage.
One potential bidder said that lack of synergy and scale would be difficult to overcome for a private equity investor like his firm.
应用推荐