3M Case Study

Introduction

The 3M company is a US based company which was started in the year 1902, it is a company which deals with a variety of products ranging from electronics, safety products, car-care products, medical products, and adhesives. Since its start, the company has undergone numerous transformation which has enabled it to be an international company. Considering their first 110 years since its start; that is from 1902-2012, the company has taken much concentration in the adoption of various technological advances, hence we can say 3M is a technological guided company.

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Creativity and innovation have been their core values of the 3M company. When the company was started by the 5 Minnesota entrepreneurs, as Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, it failed to prosper, this failure was attributed to the resource they were mining at it was not suitable for sandpaper production (Cengage Learning. P 224). Due to this, the management resorted to employ business student graduate William McKnight to assist them in running the company in 1907. In 1920s 3M bought rights to produce Waterproof Sandpaper from Okie and they employed the first scientist to assist them in research. In 1925 Dick Drew innovated the manufacturing of adhesive. Due to the aggressive nature of 3M company in innovation, they introduced Scotch Cellophane Tape in 1953 and Post It Notes in the 1980s. The sound management of 3M company devised a new way of running a company by dividing it into six segments which produce 55,000 products. The success of 3M is majorly linked its emphasis on technology and innovation.

When McKnight was given an opportunity to run the company, he realized that for the company to achieve its goals and be profitable, it was wise to set up a working plan of the company. McKnight devised a target where the company was expected to increase its sales annually by 10% and make a profit of 25% (Cengage Learning, p. 222). There was diversification of products produced by 3M company, as a result of this, there was a necessity to build a centralized laboratory to enable them to carry out more research on their products. In 1951 3M Technical forum was started, the aim of this forum was to find answers to challenges being faced by the company. The company has ensured that the entrepreneurship has been natured and made a culture of the company, for them to achieve this, they award its employees who devise new ideas and they drop out ideas and products which are no longer profit-making as expected in the company.

During the tenure of McKnight and DeSimone, the company experienced tremendous advancement. McKnight believed in the philosophy of 'divide and grow', with this philosophy, the company was subdivided into manageable sections, this led to profit-making by the company. The company was in good harmony with its employees such that they believed that if an employee makes a mistake while doing a good thing, it will be accepted and fixed, also good remuneration and Salary was given to its employers. As the company experienced growth, there were challenges, for instance, after the introduction of an organic process, some their major customers were upset since at times they would receive several calls from different segments seeking to get clarification and response on certain products (Cengage Learning, p. 227)

In 2010, a 3M company registered a profit of 63% from the international market. This shows that the company has been able to sell more of their products in the international market. This success in the international market is attributed to good strategy put in place by Sampair, it was required that when a company is set up in a country, it employs people from that place hence attracting customers. Products were also packaged as dictated by the culture of the country the company is set up in. The company has philosophies which guide them in the international market. "First in Defeats Others" (FIDO) (Cengage Learning, p 229). Venturing into the market as the first investor will scare away other businesses. Employ talented and energetic people from the locality of the business.

In its course in advancing the business globally, the 3M company experienced some challenges. In 1997, the Asian crisis, this made the Asian currency value to depreciate by 80% compared to the US dollar, this decreased the profit margin. As a result of this, cheap products from Asia infiltrated into the market thus affecting products from 3M company, DeSimone was blamed for this menace.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the success of the 3M company is majorly attributed to its innovative nature and their quest to incorporate new technology in running their daily activities.

Works Cited

Cengage Learning. "The History of 3M company." Case 27 3M- The First 110 years (2017): C 222- C 232.