Marketing Case Study Chapter 1 discusses the underlying factors for business market. 3M Canada has to consider the growth rates of its customer bases, and the drivers of those respective growth rates. The company also needs to consider the structure of those markets, for example the consolidation/creative destruction in MRO that sees waning companies combine and new companies emerge.

Chapter 2 discusses organizational buying behavior. This relates to understanding the buying trends, something that will help 3M identify the segments with the best potential to help it meet its sales growth objectives. The sales target is the problem that 3M must solve. The solution lies with, it appears, the MRO channel because OEM has become mature, but the major MRO distributors are growing double digits.

Chapter 3 discusses customer relationship marketing strategies. Right now, the 3M sales reps are not assigned by customer, so there may not be much in the way of CRM at the company. Yet, with a handful of major distributors in MRO, a more customer-focused approach might be the recommended tactic for driving sales. 3M therefore needs to identify what type of customer relationship is going to help it to achieve its sales objectives -- it is transactional right now, but should it be more collaborative in nature? Can technology help with that? Another interesting issue is to what degree the distributors are the customer, and to what degree 3M should be thinking more of the end user.

Chapter 4 is about segmenting the business market. In the case, there are two main segments. If 3M opts to pursue the MRO segment, it should be able to segment further. Its sales reps are dispersed geographically, so there is room for geographic segmentation. The MROs can also be divided into older ones and the younger, niche ones. Both are growing, but understanding key behavioral differences between the two might help 3M. Or, it could even segment the market on the basis of how much business each company has traditionally done with 3M -- there is opportunity in particular for the companies that are not doing enough business with 3M yet, but the best customers should also receive ample attention. This ties in with understanding the different ways to define a segment -- measurability, accessibility, substantiality and responsiveness. By profiling the different customers within MRO, 3M will have a better sense of what approaches it needs with each, and which customers on which it should focus in order to better meet its sales objectives.

Chapter 6 is about opportunities for global markets. 3M Canada operates only in Canada -- there are subsidiaries in other countries that serve those markets. The big issue here is how 3M Canada can contribute to the global advantages of 3M, especially as it serves the Canadian subsidiaries of other global companies. There are opportunities for 3M Canada to implement strategies that are centrally devised to help global customers; this has not really been explored yet at 3M but it holds tremendous potential in a globalized world.

Chapter 7 is about managing products. The chapter discusses issues like outsourcing, something that affects 3M Canada, which could produce overseas for a fraction of the cost. Further, 3M Canada can partner with the U.S. And Mexican 3M companies to form a buying group for such overseas purchases. As with the Chapter 6 material, Chapter 7 highlights opportunities for 3M Canada to get out of its silo and start acting like part of a global organization.

Chapter 8 is about innovation. The case identifies new product development as one of the key ways that companies can grow their markets. The innovation process may start as chaotic, so the company has to encourage creativity, but then streamline and organize the innovation process when products start to take shape. A bit issue in the case is what role the major customers should play in innovation -- the best sales potential lies in solving problems that customers have.

Chapter 10 is about managing channels. The channel design mix that 3M faces right now is oriented towards the big distributors. The company will either need to focus more on this, or it may wish to consider unlocked the B2B technology channels to cut out the distributors. This may not be viable, but is something the company should at least investigate for some larger or more specialized customers. A lot of the case focuses on channel management, because of the relationship between the major distributors and the thousands of individual end user customers.

Chapter...

While the company's mandate is to improve the top line, production costs are a factor when dealing with commodity products, as customers tend to have high price sensitivity for those types of products. Thus, managing the supply chain can be a critical source of competitive advantage; 3M can find margins both in inbound and outbound logistics.
Chapter 12 is about pricing strategy, and this is quite different for OEM and MRO. The latter is more commodity goods, so price competition in important. Margins only derive from product innovations and uniquenesses, and the product has to add equivalent value to the customer's business.

Chapter13 is about advertising and sales promotion. The case is mostly about B2B, but there are ways that 3M can reach the end customer. The elements of promotion -- advertising, catalogs and printed materials, trade shows and Internet presence all form part of the promotional mix for 3M. The company must also identify whether to sell more to end users or the distributor. Social media is an emerging area that the company is not yet utilizing, but may prove useful in particular for reaching smaller customers that do not always receive individual sales rep attention.

Chapter 14 is about personal selling. The 3M sales force is organized geographically and by product, but the company might wish to consider organizing by customer. Personal selling is expensive, so the ROI of different sales force organizations should be taken into consideration. Key accounts might provide the best opportunities to drive sales upwards, but they can also be a source of innovation because meeting their needs might help drive new product development. The global perspective on key accounts is important as well -- a company that is not otherwise a key account in Canada might be worthy of increased attention if it is a key account in the U.S. There needs to be a process for identifying key accounts, and the incentives for this will be a determining factor -- the globalized approach will have to be incentivized differently than the national "silo" type approach.

Part 2.2a. The most important issue here is that 3M needs to understand how it wants to think about its customers. It is recommended that 3M takes a key account approach, because there is more room for growth in focusing on key accounts. A customer-driven approach is new, so the preliminary (6mos) steps will be mainly identifying the key accounts, using a number of criteria, and putting together profiles for those accounts. Right now, they are being served by multiple reps, so it will take time to gather the information needed. Within 3 years, however the key accounts strategy should have been implemented. 3M should also have transitioned to a globalized approach to account management, something that will require the company to go back to Minnesota headquarters and advocate for an end to the national silos and that 3M Canada functions in concert with the U.S. And Mexican divisions to at the very least organize their buying and customer management on the NAFTA level.

2b. This section highlights the shifting nature of the market -- remember from Chapter 1 that understanding the market is a key underlying factor in marketing. These chapters point 3M in the direction of becoming a more globalized company. The key accounts should be defined in terms of their importance to 3M, not just 3M Canada. The needs of these customers should be a key driver of both customer relationship management and new product development. Within six months, the groundwork for the global strategy should be well underway. 3M needs to know who its major customers are, but will be working with those customers on a global level, not just at the individual customer level. Within 3 years the company should have overhauled its marketing strategy with respect to key accounts. Incentives should be international -- right now the mandate to increase sales 12% per annum in Canada only incentivizes pursuing stronger relationships with customers in Canada, not taking into account that major buyers operate globally and want the best service in every country. If, for example, 3M sells bottle caps to Coca-Cola, Coke wants the same service in the Yukon as it gets in California - even if the Yukon account is tiny, this is still an important customer in the big picture. This process will take longer, but a 3-year time frame should be more than enough to transition towards a globalized approach to purchasing…