The 3 M Company

1.

There are many examples of successful companies. To what extent is 3M justifiably highlighted as the ‘innovating machine’? I feel 3M is justifiably highlighted as the ‘innovating machine’ and should be proud to be referred to as this. “For years, people around the world have looked to 3M for products and ideas that solve problems and make their lives easier and better. Our achievements are the foundation of a proud past and the bright future of many innovations to come.

” (3M, para1) I think that statement alone shows how people trust the 3M Company in making new products that will help them out.They have implemented strategies and encouraged their employees to use their creative imagination to come up with new products, even if it means making a mistake. Their encouragement and understanding has enabled employees to give their input and implement their ideas without having to worry about being reprimanded if their idea doesn’t turn out the way they thought it would. They just move on to the next creative idea.

To me, these are all the ingredients that give a company the right to call themselves an ‘innovating machine’. 2. In the 3M case study, what is meant by the statement: ‘the message is more important than the figures’?The message is basically encouraging employees to take time to work on innovative ideas they may have if they think it will benefit the company. The statement is referring to the ’15 per cent rule’. This is more of an encouragement than a rule. 3M does not require their employees to take 15 percent of their time to dedicate to new ideas, but they will encourage them to do so.

3M wants their employees to know that their creativity is appreciated and that they are more than welcome to come up with their own ideas on company time if they want.On the other hand, there is no pressure to do so if the employee doesn’t have any new ideas to contribute. 3. Discuss the merits and problems with the so-called ‘15 per cent rule’. Consider cost implications and a busy environment with deadlines to meet.

To what extent is this realistic or mere rhetoric? I think the ’15 per cent rule’ is more rhetoric than realistic. While 3M encourages creativity and innovation in their products, employees still have a job to do. This “rule” would only apply to employees that are actually working on a new idea.These employees do not have to dedicate exactly 15 percent of their time either.

It could be more or less depending on the time they need to work on their idea. In reality, it would be counter-productive to require all employees to take 15 percent of their work load and dedicate it to new ideas, especially if an employee did not have any new ideas. In essence, they would be wasting valuable work time doing absolutely nothing. Everyone knows there are deadlines to meet.

It would cost the company greatly if they were paying employees for 15 percent of time wasted when they could be working on current projects. . Encouraging product and brand managers to achieve 25 per cent of sales from recently introduced products would be welcomed by shareholders, but what happens if a successful business delivers profits without 25 per cent of sales from recently introduced products? If this happens, the company will be viewed as less innovative. This is what happened when 3M hired James McNerney as their CEO. The company dropped from Number 1 to Number 7 on Business Week’s most innovative companies. 3M had certain standards and goals they lived by.

Bringing in 30 percent of profits from new products was one of them. They may have still been profiting, but not as much from new products. This started to mar their reputation as the most innovative company out there. In this day and age, customers are looking for the newest products out there, so 3M’s goal of 30 percent makes sense to me.

They have lived by this for quite some time, so when this was changed, the whole structure of the company and their ideals changed. When they went back to their “old ways” everyone seemed happier. 5.Some people may argue that 3M’s success is largely due to the significance given to science and technology and this is the main lesson for other firms. Discuss the merits of such a view and the extent to which this is the case.

This view is a good argument in many ways. In this day and age, it is important to focus on science and technology. I think it is always a good idea to put time, money, and effort into research and development in order to keep up with innovation. “To support these activities the company invests 6. 5 per cent of its annual sales turnover in research and development.

This is about twice that of the top 50 industrial companies in the United States. The money is used to employ over 7,500 scientists and technologists in developing new and interesting technology. It is this technological intensity that provides the company with the competitive advantage to compete with its rivals. ” (Trott, 546) While science and technology is a large focus for the 3M Company, it implements other strategies that have allowed them to be viewed as innovative. I think corporate culture and the structure of the company should also be included in the reasoning for 3M’s success. 6.

Explain how the innovation dilemma affected 3M. When James McNerney was introduced as the new CEO of 3M, efficiency was stressed more than creativity, which caused issues with how the company was accustomed to conducting their business. The Six Sigma program he introduced appeared to be effective for everybody but the research and development department. Since there was pressure put on the speed that new products were created, there were more branches off existing products than brand new products. This ultimately led to a slow down on new products and lowered their percentage of profits in this category.This dilemma also resulted in their ranking of the most innovative company dropping from number 1 to number 7 within the 4 years that James McNerney was CEO.

Since George Buckley took over his position, things have turned around to the original way 3M conducted their business. Works Cited 3M (n. d. ) A Century of Innovation. Retrieved September 19, 2011 from http://solutions.

3m. com/wps/portal/3M/en_WW/History/3M/Company/century-innovation/ Trott, Paul Innovation Management and New Product Development, 4th Edition. Pearson Learning Solutions, 2008