Why small manufacturers need help with intangibles

From Jack Healy's column in the Massachusetts MEP newsletter Sales and Marketing: Manufacturing's Biggest Deficit:

Ask any manufacturer on how they would rate their respective manufacturing operations, on a scale of 1 -10, with the number one being very bad, and ten being very good? Most responses that we have experienced to this question have been in the 7 to 9 range and indicates how these manufacturers perceive their manufacturing capabilities.
Similarly ask the same group of manufacturers (or yourself) on how they would rate their respective sales and marketing organizations, using this same evaluation scale of 1 to 10. And responses to this question usually draw poorer evaluations - in the 3 to 5 range.

In other words, what manufacturers need is not just help with the manufacturing process but help managing their intangibles -- like marketing and customer relations.

To their credit, MassMEP is offering assistance in this area including an upcoming workshop to help companies:

"• Create Basic Foundations for your Sales and Marketing Strategy
• Better understand your clients
• Articulate the value of your product and your customer
• Determine if you have the right product and/or services
• Target the right markets
• Develop a structure that enables your business to grow
• Innovation impacts your company and be introduced to the MassMEP Growth Strategy Development Program"

This is the stuff MEPs should be doing. But they need to be doing more. The Administration's budget calls for doubling the MEP budget. But, as we argued in our Policy Brief--Intellectual Capital and Revitalizing Manufacturing, the scope of this assistance to manufacturers needs to be expanded to include innovation, new product development, and utilization of intellectual capital. Manufacturing companies have a wealth of intellectual capital that they often do not recognize or manage well. MEP services must include intellectual resource management that covers a broad array of assets, beyond help with intellectual property. The program's budget increase should be used to expand services and staffing in areas such as marketing, finance, and business model development, in addition to new product development and process adoption. The MassMEP programs are a good first step in this direction.