In times of general prosperity, financial success does not always mean long-term success and viability — the dot-com bubble of the late ’90s and the housing crisis of the late 2010s demonstrated that. Perceptive and discerning people and companies, however, can thrive even when things swing toward the bearish.

The late ’90s and early 2000s also marked a time of increased activity in the security industry, during which many of the larger companies had been merging or had been acquired or were acquiring other companies, describes Ron Davis, founder, president and CEO, Davis Group Mergers & Acquisitions, Long Grove, Ill. “Alarm dealers were being brought into what seemed like a very frenzied cycle,” Davis says.