Marketing Strategy for Small- to Medium-Sized Manufacturers

Four Types of Manufacturers

Years ago, Mike Collins introduced the following chart to explain why strategies developed for big companies cannot be simply dropped on to or “down sized” for smaller companies and why strategies for small companies must be markedly different and simpler. Figure 3 illustrates four types of manufacturers, based on employment size as a proxy of their overall ability to execute growth strategies.

Figure 3. Four types of manufacturers.

Note: The use of employment size is a rule-of-thumb—not a ­scientific or statistical metric—and is not cast in concrete. It is simply a way to anticipate the problems and issues confronting ...