2440030342-Axel Keane

LA24/IBM

1. Identify 3M’s core competencies, core products and end products. How are these three
sources of competitive advantage linked with each other?

-Core Competencies: The focus to grow and innovate in all range of businesses,or in other
words to Divide and conquer.This can be done by keeping 3M divisions small and not letting
them grow too big.Accordingly,employees have the initiative to innovate and start new
prototyping projects themselves.

Core and End Products: 3M’s core products is to be viewed as patents or trademarks.These
said patents and trademarks are applied at all of the production procedures and finally
reaching their end products such as sandpaper,glue,etc.

2. .How does 3M mobilize resources at the SBU level?

-SBU is a collection of minor subdivisions derived from the company outside of its main
divisions.At this level,a task is to be relocated to another division when said task grows too
big too handle for a certain SBU.This is done for the purpose of reaching internationalization
by connecting globally

3.How does 3M address the problem of bounded innovation?

3M addresses this by giving full support towards all efforts,methods,and different kind of
ways to do innovation.In practice, 3M ensures that enough and right amount of budget and
time deadline is accomodated for all employees that are putting their effort into creating
innovation by conducting research projects,for example by opening up grants and funding
channels.3M also accomodates various tech choices and many idea references from both
formal and informal sources.

4. What is the strategic architecture at 3M? How did top management build it?

The strategic architecture of 3M is to be always innovating in its own firm.It means that
everyone has a chance,every idea no matter how silly or little,is to be
heard,respected,appreciated,and to be done as it may be the next big sensation.International
innovation also plays a part in 3M’S strategic architecture and building their core
competencies.Top management constantly plans for exoansion,where they gathered a roster
of top managers from various contients to make 3M rise on top.

5.How did 3M internationalize? How did it exploit its core competencies developed at home?
How did 3M try to diffuse its core competencies to its overseas subsidiaries?

-One of the reasons that supported the internationalization of 3M is that because they are an
innovating company.3M is also known as an international as they produce and deliver to
international customers in the global trade,and coherently managing foreign business.This
enabled them to learn and enter various local markets, and fulfill and serve their needs.Their
core competencies which were developed at home, could be further exploited, by mixing and
matching to be become the one strategy they use, which enhanced and increased the chances
to innovation success. 3M also diffused said core competencies to overseas by exchanging
info, people and technical assistance with their subsidiaries abroad.This resulted in a an
agreement between country managers and US operations group executives to work together
and collaborate in the international division in order to expand the sales on a worldwide scale
and to create an international efficient atmosphere. Further innovation resulted from
international collaboration between 3M’s firms. This was possible due to information
exchange in the area of marketing, productions and operations.

6.What did McNerney and Buckley implement to improve 3M’s R&D activities? Do you
agree with these approaches? Why or why not?

McNerney and Buckley collectively implemented the 3M-Acceleration programme and the
Six Sigma management standards,although the Six Sigma is soon pulled out of use and
replaced with the 30% rule.This implementations are done because of facts that 30% of its
revenue comes from their products which weren’t older than four years. McNerney alaso
wanted to invest more toward top quality investmens compared to low quality ones, as he
thought that high quality investments would have more probability to success as opposed to
the lower ones.The results of this implementations turned out to be succesful, as the
company’s revenue saw an increase of 40% betwen 2005 and 2011. Seeing this, i can agree
with this approach as it made investments more efficient.

7.Can you provide an update 3M’S core competencies, using materials available on the web?

From the web, i can say and concur that James Mcnerney has had a very influential
relationship with 3M’s core competencies.According to this quote from Zohari:

“When W. James Mcnerney took the post of CEO in 2001, he immediately set forth an
agenda of examining the company’s organizational structure. Because of his being an
outsider, coming into office, he could see things in perspectives others who had been in the
company for a long while could not. He initiated the Six Sigma cost reduction programme,
decided upon 3M accelerate that favored better in development for quicker market
penetration and reformed the research and development to become more concentrated.”
(Zohari, 2013)

In conclusion 3M updated their core competencies, where they not only putting innovation as
their main priority, but giving cost reduction and efficiency the spotlight to focus on.