We discuss the impact of precision measurements of $\sigma(e^+e^-\to
\mbox{hadrons})$
in the center-of-mass range between 3 and 12~GeV, including improvements
in the electronic widths of the narrow charmonium and bottonium resonances,
on the determination of parameters of the Standard Model.
In particular we discuss the impact of potential improvements on the
extraction of the strong coupling constant $\alpha_s$, on the evaluation of
the hadronic contributions to the electromagnetic coupling $\alpha(M_Z)$, and
the determination of the charm and bottom quark masses.
