Should I? Or Shouldn't I? The Value Of A Compliance Program

Our industry seems to be struggling with the question of whether or not to commit time, effort and money to developing compliance programs. It's an oversimplification, but you can group our industry into five basic categories on this topic:

1. The early adopters: "It's the law. It's the right thing to do. My customers expect it. It's a good business decision. I'm going to embrace it."
2. The curious: "What do I need to do, and how much is it going to cost? When the ROI proves out, I'll probably develop a program."
3. Those who rationalize: "I test most of the time, and I do factory audits when my clients request them. Not all of my customers are asking for compliance. What I am doing is good enough."
4. Those that resist: "Compliance costs way too much. It doesn't apply to my company. It's someone else's issue; I don't make the product. Clients just want low costs no matter what."
5. The blissfully ignorant: "Huh? Never heard of it. I'm simply not paying any attention to compliance."

Outside of the early adopters and the curious, whom I believe will eventually come around as market share moves to those companies who demonstrate they have a compliance program to end-buyers, the position the majority of the industry is taking baffles me. Why wouldn't we want to raise our standards? Why wouldn't we introduce quality and safety into our solutions?

I get that product safety and compliance programs are hard. I get that you either have to put a sharp cookie on point for building these programs or go out and hire one. I get that you cannot have a compliance program for $500 a year. What I don't get is why people don't see the value of every company in our industry having one.