3M Canada: Industrial Business Division

Every institution, organization, or company has forces by which it stands, or weakness that if not appropriately curtailed hampers its advancement systematically. The analysis of a company is dependent on its progressive activities over a specified times. By definition of activity, 3M Canada, a subsidiary of 3M Company was established primarily for the manufacture of adhesives, abrasives, and tapes in 1951. Over the years the company has repositioned its administration from singular unit managers to what is presently a focus and a strong-manufacturing core. Only recently, the channel was affected by a reduction witnessed in the manufacturing sector of Canada. The set-in has been accounted for through two characterizations to include an increment in the value of the Canadian-dollar up to 32.96% form 0.637/USD to 0.847% within the periods April, 2002-may, 2006. This eroded an edge against the manufacturing sector in Canada due the fact that the earnings per sale generated an incurred expense within the time. According to studies,

“High north American labor costs had become a powerful incentive since 2002 for off-shoring production” (Hutt and Speh 503).

Resultantly, the man power of 3M Canada reduced significantly and, rather positive, it created high competitions among manufacture-based workers. Consequently, the competition compelled IBD to project its production line further than the OEM in order to attract more customer-ship as well as enhance its revenue. These created fresh channels for 3M to explore its business environment. Presently:

“3M has stayed the course through initiatives like products innovation, new product introduction, getting ‘specified’ for in-process usage, building relationships with business customers and working with them closely to reduce their costs of operations” (Hutt and Speh 504).

With the leadership of George Buckley in 2006, there was a new dimension to the marketing strategy of 3M took a fresh dimension beaming a spotlight on top-line-growth from marginal expansions. Hutt and Speh have noted that:

“Investment priorities were redirected from productivity gains and cost savings towards market development and promotion” (Hutt and Speh 510).

This fresh approach constituted four elements as noted by Hutt and Speh:

1. “Growing the core business, pursuing acquisitions, concentrating on emerging business opportunities and;
2. “Doubling investments in investments in emerging markets’ (Hutt and Speh 505).

These guidelines were generally grown through:

• “Drive scale in large markets;
• “Take higher related share in small markets;
• “Go for customization
• “Manage customer retention;
• “Develop local and differential products
• “Extend private labeling
• “Fill in product white spaces, and
• “Plan for cannibalization” (Hutt and Speh 513).

These issues are important fundamental to understanding the progress of 3M Canada in terms of evaluating its historic financial and production strength.

3M Canada can be described to be a company in fashion with trend, just like any other technological marketing company. It has great prospects because the product is in tune with time. The company has continued to exhibit unique leadership through a pathfinder approaches in innovating new technologies that are in tune with customer demand. It has been noted that:

IBD had not concentrated on the MRO players within it, some of them mega-corporations, were, in fact, growing at a double digit rate around 10 million for the industry, most of them commoditized. However, MRO was growing. The large players within it, some of them mega-corporations, were, in fact, growing at a double digit rate segment because it was fragmented, with little brand loyalty. The stock keeping units (SKUs) numbered (Hutt and Speh 512).

It is clear FROM Investigative analogy that 3M Canada is aware of a customer-diverse demand, and then a competitive market. These, and a threat in the market, are significant for proper analysis of the prospect of the market. The intention to invest 3500 for Entry-level and 2500 for Multi-feature is acceptable. The strategy has distinguished the company and its products which are not just fanciful but also available to must customers in compact form. The reflecting market in North America is stable at a profit of $80.22 for both products for the 6th year.

There are two ways of reaching the target — finding new customers for existing products, processes. They are the industrial equivalents of consumer “Big Box” stores and can take revenue. Based on that study, we have recently identified ten distributors (see Exhibit 1), showed that IBD’s share of distributor sales was a mere two per cent of the distributors’ gives us additional sales in the targeted time-frame. But IBD has had exposure only to a long time to produce results (Hutt and Speh 509).

Since the company has a global outreach, computation can be made of its products in the Europe-African market, and then in Asia. It can be noted that Entry-level returned $6.37 and Multi-feature returned $2.37 in the same year. There is a clear margin for the two products in this case, even though supply lags that in North America during the same year. 3M Canada can capitalized on this fact and saturate the European-African market with Entry-levels while it shades the North American market from competitor.

The indication of the market expressions is that the North American market constitutes a vast population of buyers who either understand both products very well or they don’t discriminate products. Whichever is the case, this market could yield more to competition than that of Europe-Africa.

For the North American market, they may be a further need to define the group to which products will sell more to; hence the need for intensified research is in place. It is not just enough to start a company but it is worth ensuring that there is availability of quality product for the maximum benefit and satisfaction of the customer through a price check.

3M Company was founded in 1902 and had grown to become a global enterprise with employees numbering over 69,000, companies in over 60 countries, and plants in 139 locations worldwide Its preliminary business charter was to mine a mineral deposit for grinding-wheel abrasives. In 1922, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, as the company was then known, developed the world’s water-proof sandpaper (Hutt and Speh 514).

Additionally

It marked the beginning of regular innovations with practical applications for which 3M was to be well-known in later years. To date, the company has a total of 50,000 patents worldwide, spread over 13 technology platforms ranging from abrasives to polymers. 3M has not, as a policy, outsourced production, although it encouraged subsidiaries worldwide, including 3M Canada, to pursue independent regional alliances — for third party distribution, licensed manufacturing and exclusive supplier status — to enhance local revenues and margins (Hutt and Speh 501).

To deal with the problem of staffing, which is internal to the company, 3M Canada may scout for staff, especially online through freelance marketing. In Africa, where much of the population constitutes young desperate youths, a well defined strategy which may be in the form of community incentives may be adopted by 3M Canada and this will market the product through the people. Cost of maintaining staff will then be reduced. Studies have noted:

The year 2006 heralded a shift in strategy at 3M. George Buckley, who took over as chairman, president and chief executive officer of the company on December 7, 2005, spearheaded the change by saying: “It’s more fun growing grapes than working a wine press.” The spotlight moved from margin expansion to top line growth. Investments priorities were redirected, from productivity gains and cost savings towards market development and promotion. The new strategy was comprised of four elements: growing the core business, pursuing acquisitions, concentrating on emerging business opportunities and doubling investments in emerging markets (Hutt and Speh 504)

3M Canada has great prospect as a leading company in producing its products. This paper has presented facts that can keep a global market afloat for the company. Finance marketing service has taken notice of the basic function adopted by finance service marketers in making decisions and has a searchlight beamed on the basic kinds of decisions-as well as problems- which face activities of marketing through continuous reviews of their documents. This point of view has been supported by Straub who has emphasized retouch of documentation in the following words:

• 3M Company’s business had been grouped into seven divisions: Health Care, Transportation, Display and Graphics, Consumer and Office, Industrial, Electro and Communications, and Safety and Security Services (see Exhibit 3). Each was a strategic business unit (SBU) with its own manufacturing and marketing facilities. Bringing together common or related technologies, each SBU had worldwide responsibility for product lines within it. As a result, line managers reported both to global heads of the business of which they were a part and also to country heads (Hutt and Speh 506).

Studies have also reviewed thus:

• While the business managers “owned” the product, the frontline sales force “owned” the customer. 3M had also introduced the concept of account managers for the company’s OEM customers whose product requirements cut across SBUs. The account managers presented a common face for ordering and both delivery and billing while preempting the inconvenience of a salesperson from each division of 3M calling on the same customer (Hutt and Speh 499).

Regulation of finances of a monetary institution has been considered in this paper to be a conscious effort to ensure proper adherence to specified requirements, guidelines, and boundaries that are set with an expectation to keep the financial institution reliable and functional as well as rejuvenate the regulation which could be done through legislation or a code of conduct that may be obligatory. The paper has basically presented that the regulation of finances is carried out following three basic principles, which are namely:

• Promotion of fairness, efficiency, and maintain an orderly market;
• Aid customers in retailing fair transactions; and
• Improve the capabilities of business and enhance the regulatory efficiency of a financial monitor.

The paper has strongly advocated for monitoring of financial institutions through machinery like FSA which is a monitor of financial transactions. A monitor of finances or a regulatory body has been noted as typically been responsible for regulating financial exchanges, financial service based markets, in-country industries and firms, as well as effecting standards which the financial institutions are expected to meet-up with. In order for the regulatory body to be effective, it must have an authority to descend on non-compliance institutions or institutions that are lagging in meeting the laid down standards.

Several initiatives have been under way at IBD for some time to generate top line growth. These are independent of the decision to focus on MRO. The division has identified nine product opportunities, based on existing technology platforms, as having growth potential. Among them are composite conductors, liquid filtration, paint preparation, and supply chain execution software. (Hutt and Speh 499).

The paper has given an example of the United Kingdom, for instance, where a body known as Financial Service Authority or FSA is empowered to conduct monetary activities as a finance regulator; and the body has been in engaged with the function since 2001. Since it was established, the powers of the FSA have greatly increased, and its regulatory activities are pictorial over mortgage business and general insurance, within the period November 2004 and January 2005. A part from the FSA, Central banks in countries may be concerned regulation of financial industries; which most of the banks have been doing through the issuance of licenses to banks in two groupings; including Licensed Specialized Banks (which are responsible for savings and developmental functions) and Commercial banks.

Works Cited

Hutt, Michael, and Speh Thomas. Business Marketing Management. New Delhi: South- Western Cengage Learning, 2009. Print.