There may also be an opportunity to use tangible assets that are needed, or are already owned (such as property, plant or machinery), to fund purchasing or leasing using asset finance. If the company’s primary need is to enlarge its workforce, asset finance is more difficult, furthermore, in order to make either tangible assets or its workforce productive, a company may need to make accompanying intangible investments (such as marketing, training, software coding and/or IP protection). However, irrespective of the funding method, it is common to find that IP and intangible assets form part of the foundation for the planned expansion, by virtue of underpinning the processes or methods that need to be scaled up, being embedded within the products and services themselves, or providing a protected environment in which they can be sold without infringing other companies (or being infringed).