「JIMI企業」に学ぶ無形資産を顧客価値と利益につなぐ経営

『日経ビジネス』2026年10月19日号で、「地味でも伸びるJIMI企業　技術とヒト、無形資産で稼ぐ11社」という特集が組まれています。日経ビジネスでは、今後の成長が期待できる中堅企業を「JIMI企業（Japan Innovative Mid-cap Incorporated）」と位置付けて、革新的な技術やユニークな事業モデルで稼ぐ力が強い中堅企業が「成長型経済」の鍵を握るとしています。知財・無形資産経営の目で読むと、各社には、蓄積した強みを「顧客に選ばれる理由」と「自社の利益」につなげているという共通点があります。
■技術と顧客の関係が互いを強くする
精工技研は、先端顧客に選ばれる立場を次の開発案件を知る機会にもしています。マニーは、医療現場の声を製品改善や新しい事業領域への展開につなげています。顧客接点そのものが、次の発明を生む資産です。
■個人の知識を会社の能力に変える
オルガノは訓練設備・スキルマップ・AIを組み合わせてベテランの実践知を継承しています。ラクスは失注原因をチームで分析して営業を改善しています。どちらも、個人の経験をほかの社員も使える仕組みにしています。
■人への投資は仕組みとセットで
高砂熱学工業は処遇を改善すると同時に支店長の評価を見直し、人材を採算のよい案件に配置しています。人への投資の成果は、人が力を発揮できる組織や業務の仕組みと切り離せません。
■知財部門への示唆
何を強化し、顧客のどの課題を解き、なぜ選ばれ、どう利益につなげ、成果を次の投資にどう生かすか。この問いを一続きで考えることが重要です。知財部門は、発明情報の収集や権利化で得る情報を生かせば、技術・顧客課題・競争優位・収益の関係を整理し、事業側と共有できます。
各社の成長には市場拡大などの要因もあり、投資と業績を単純に結び付けることはできません。それでも今回の特集は、自社の無形資産を棚卸しし、それが「顧客に選ばれる理由」と「自社の利益につながる理由」まで説明できるかを点検する、よい材料になると思います。
 
地味でも伸びるJIMI企業　技術とヒト、無形資産で稼ぐ11社
https://business.nikkei.com/atcl/NBD/19/special/02674/
            
 
Lessons from “JIMI Companies”: Turning Intangible Assets into Customer Value and Profits
The October 19, 2026 issue of Nikkei Business features a special report titled “Low-Profile but Growing: 11 JIMI Companies Profiting from Technology, People, and Intangible Assets.” The magazine uses the term “JIMI companies” (Japan Innovative Mid-cap Incorporated) to describe mid-sized companies with promising growth prospects. It argues that these companies, with their strong ability to generate profits through innovative technologies and distinctive business models, hold the key to a “growth-oriented economy.” Viewed through the lens of intellectual property (IP) and intangible asset management, they share a common trait: they translate the strengths they have built over time into both “reasons for customers to choose them” and “profits for their businesses.”
Technology and Customer Relationships Reinforce Each Other
Seikoh Giken uses its position as a preferred supplier to customers at the forefront of technology to learn about their upcoming development projects. MANI draws on feedback from medical professionals to improve its products and expand into new business areas. Interactions with customers are themselves assets that can give rise to the next invention.
Turning Individual Knowledge into Organizational Capabilities
Organo combines training facilities, skills maps, and AI to pass on experienced employees’ practical know-how. At RAKUS, teams analyze why sales opportunities were lost and use the findings to improve their sales approach. Both companies have established systems that enable other employees to draw on individuals’ experience.
Investment in People Must Be Supported by the Right Systems
Takasago Thermal Engineering is improving employee compensation and working conditions while also revising how branch managers are evaluated and assigning staff to profitable projects. The returns on investment in people are inseparable from the organizational structures and work processes that enable employees to use their capabilities effectively.
Implications for IP Departments
The key is to consider a connected sequence of questions: what to strengthen, which customer problems to solve, why customers will choose the company, how to translate that into profits, and how to use the results to guide the next round of investment. IP departments can draw on the insights gained from gathering information on inventions and securing IP rights to map the relationships among technology, customer challenges, competitive advantage, and financial returns, and share that understanding with business teams.
Factors such as market expansion also contribute to these companies’ growth, so we cannot draw a simple causal link between investment and business performance. Even so, I believe this feature provides a valuable opportunity for companies to take stock of their intangible assets and assess whether they can explain how those assets give customers a reason to choose them—and why they translate into profits for the business.