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Company Case 8
3M: Where Innovation Is a Way of Life
Synopsis
3M sells more than 50,000 products in nearly 200 countries across dozens of industries,
including office products, construction, telecommunications, electronics, healthcare,
aerospace, and automotive. Among its products are some of the world’s most
recognizable consumer brands, such as Scotch tape, Nexcare first aid products, Filtrete
home filtration products, and Post-it Notes. But 3M’s portfolio is also packed with
hundreds of brands that most people have never heard of—such as Pruven waste bags for
picking up dog poop. This case examines the systems and culture of a company that is on
the cutting edge of innovation, releases new products every year, and maintains a strong
profit margin without fail.
Teaching Objectives
The teaching objectives for this case are to:
1. Evaluate factors that contribute to new product success.
2. Understand the different approaches to new product development.
3. Consider new-product development in conjunction with product management.
4. Consider the tradeoffs between high-growth and consistent growth.
Discussion Questions:
1. Based on concepts discussed in this chapter, describe the factors that have
contributed to 3M’s new product success.
3M’s new product success is largely due to the fact that the company has a
system in place and that system is part of the corporate culture. 3M has a
2. Is 3M’s product development process customer centered? Why or why not?
A customer-centered process starts with assessing customer needs, then
working backwards to engineer solutions. All the information in the case does
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Part 1: Defining Marketing and the Marketing Process
3. Considering the product life cycle, what challenges does 3M face in managing
its product portfolio?
The challenge that it faces is based on scope. 3M has such a large portfolio of
products, it requires an extreme amount of attention and resources. And even
4. Are there limits to how broad 3M’s product portfolio can grow? Explain.
Perhaps a better question is, are there limits to how broad 3M’s product
portfolio can grow and still be profitably manageable? The short answer is, yes.
5. Is it possible for 3M to maintain steady growth and profitability and raise that
growth to much higher levels?
Again, this is a question that requires the consideration of the most typical
trends in the corporate world. One might simply say, “Anything is possible if you
put your mind to it.” At the same time, try to find an example of a company that
Teaching Suggestions
Ask the class to name a 3M product. Chances are they won’t get far beyond Scotch tape
and Post-it notes. And many of them won’t be able to identify even those products as 3M
brands. Take the class on a tour of 3M’s product lines by visiting
http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/All/3M-ProdServ/. It will become
immediately apparent just how many different kinds of products 3M has.
This case was developed for use with Chapter 8. This case also works well with the
marketing research chapter (Chapter 4) and the personal selling chapter (Chapter 13).
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