Case 2 3M – Opdracht International Business: Case 2 about the company 3M – 3M CASE Identify 3M’s – StudeerSnel
The
3M CASE
1.
Identify
3M’
s
core
competencies,
co
re
products
and
end
products.
How
are
these
three
sources
of
competitive
advantage
linked
with
each other?
3M’s
core
competences
are
innovating,
engineering
and
its
tolerance
for
experimentation.
T
his
helped
the
company
to
create
its
core
products:
the
technology
leading
to
production
of
new
products.
With
help
of
the
BEF
3M
was
able
to
make
end
p
roducts
like
special
LCD
screens
with
brightness enhancement.
These
three
so
urces
o
f
competitive
advantage
are
linked
with
each
other
by
all
being
a
part
in
the
process
of
creating
a
un
ique
product
for
the
company of 3M.
2.
How does 3M mobilize resources at th
e SBU level?
3M
mobilized
its
resources
at
the
SBU
level
in
stages.
It
began
by
exporting products
to
the
places of
the
strategic business
units. Then
it
set
up
sales
subsidiaries
in
these
areas
and
this
process
of
increased
integration
in
the
market
of
the
host
country
would
continue
even
so
far
that
the
host
country
of
the
strategic
bu
siness
unit
would
p
roduce
and
innovate new products themselves.
3.
How does 3M address the probl
em of bounded innovation?
3M tries to break through the problem of
bounded innovation by supporting
all kinds of ways of innovations. Firstly 3M
makes sure that its employees
have a suf
ficient amount of time and money f
or research projects.
This is
done for example by setting up gr
ants for research projects that would
otherwise not be able to go thro
ugh regular funding channels. 3M also
assures a suf
ficient amount of sharing technolo
gy and ideas by providing
opportunities through both formal an
d informal channels.
And, l
astly
, to
help unexperienced innovators there’
s also guidance by more experienced
co-workers
4.
What
is
the
strategic
architecture
a
t
3M?
How
did
top
management
build it?
strategic
archi
tecture
at
3M
is
to
support
creativity
and
innovation
at