What is a 3M enterprise?

3M Company is a giant enterprise, located in St. Paul, the capital of Minnesota in the midwest of the United States. It has not only created an enviable financial record, but also has a unique management culture and philosophy. With the help of this management culture and concept, the company has made remarkable achievements in innovative products. It is no accident that 3M is outstanding in this respect. Under the guidance of this set of enterprise values, the diversified product development strategy adopted by the company has enabled this giant enterprise to penetrate into all fields, links and aspects of enterprise management in innovation. 1980, the turnover of 3M company was as high as $6 1 100 million, ranking 5th1among the 500 largest enterprises in Fortune magazine. It can be said to be a top "giant enterprise": Up to now, 3M has invented 50,000 kinds of new products, and launched almost more than 100 products every year on average. It has 40 product departments, a turnover of 6 billion US dollars, and 3M's after-tax net profit is as high as 678 million US dollars, ranking fifth in the Fortune 100 list, second only to Solillo and Solillo.

Second, the corporate culture and management concept of 3M Company

(A) to cultivate dedication to enterprise spirit and "innovation fighters."

The most striking features of the corporate culture of 3M Company are the company's dedicated enterprise spirit and the corporate strategy of cultivating "innovative fighters". Under the guidance of this corporate philosophy, we will vigorously develop diversified business strategies. Engaged in many industries, among which adhesive tape and its related products (including scotch tape) are the largest, accounting for 65,438+07% of its sales. Other business projects include printing systems, abrasives, adhesives, etc. Although the diversification strategy has been implemented, 3M Company is mainly controlled by chemical engineers, focusing on the development of coating and bonding industrial technology, but this does not mean that they will only develop ordinary and uncharacteristic products. Fortune magazine pointed out that the new products launched by 3M in recent two years include: sunscreen lotion for swimming protection, special suturing device for accelerating surgeons to sew wounds, special lithographic film without adding expensive silver, and drugs that can inhibit the growth of weeds.

In the process of cultivating enterprise culture and enterprise spirit, 3M Company strives to cultivate an important concept of employees, that is, the enterprise spirit of "enthusiasm and dedication". The company's decision-makers pointed out that it is necessary for employees to cultivate enthusiasm and dedication to any job. Take new product development as an example. Without the enthusiasm and dedication of enterprise spirit, the company's new product development could not be as successful as it is today. Fortune magazine once commented on this concept: "The most gratifying thing about 3M is that everyone in the company can take products as their own business when developing new products, or when successfully putting products that others have no confidence in into the market, or when figuring out how to mass-produce and reduce costs, and most bosses let them do so." 3M Company attaches great importance to the construction of the support system for "innovation fighters", and company managers become "protectors" of innovators. Because the company's innovation tradition has a long history, the supervisor himself must have experienced the process of inventing new products, such as strange style, not playing according to the rules, being banned, being keen on an invention, and perhaps having been working on his beloved invention for more than ten years. But now, as a supervisor, I am sitting there, responsible for protecting the younger generation of "innovation fighters" from the interference of company employees and driving these subversives out of the refuge of "innovation fighters" at the right time. In 3M Company, in order to protect young "innovation fighters", executives often come to a corporate culture education class to encourage innovators and criticize subversives, so as to open up innovation channels and create a good atmosphere for innovators. "The captain's bad rap won't stop until his tongue bleeds." This is used by the navy to describe the first time that the Junior Military Palace piloted and commanded a big ship to enter the port. But in 3M company, it is used to describe the painstaking process that the supervisor hands over the responsibility of developing new products to the younger generation. In 3M Company, the "fighter supervisor" is not a "direct superior", but is employed to train a new generation of innovative fighters with his patience and technology. "New Risk Team" is the basic unit of 3M Company's support system. This innovative project team has three important characteristics, namely, the uncertain tasks that all kinds of professionals fully participate in; All volunteers; Have considerable autonomy.

The members of an innovation team should at least include technicians, manufacturers, marketers, business personnel or financial personnel, and all of them are full-time. The decision-makers of 3M understand that under this system, some members may not come in handy immediately, resulting in a waste of talents. For example, in the initial stage of development, only about 1/3 production and manufacturing personnel are needed, but it seems that 3M company is willing to pay such a price, so that the staff can concentrate and devote themselves to their work. Their view is that only by assigning full-time jobs can employees be motivated to go all out and concentrate on completing a task. Another way for 3M to inspire employees' loyalty and dedication is to make the members of the innovation team all composed of volunteers. A 3M executive said: "The team members are all recruited, and the company will never assign them rigidly. There is a big difference. For example, suppose I am a marketer and I am assigned to evaluate the ideas of technicians. In most companies, I usually just let him pick out all the shortcomings. Then say that this idea is not good, and I can get away with it. ..... but if I volunteered to participate in the group work, this kind of thing would not happen. " Finally, 3M also ensures that the innovation team has considerable independence and job security. The company stipulates that team members shall not be dissolved before the new product launch conference. Edward roberts, who has been studying 3M for 20 years at MIT, pointed out that 3M said to the staff of the team: "Our commitment to you is to take the whole group as a unit, so that you can meet the standards needed to evaluate the company's performance. The company will let you enter the market with new products, step by step, and get the profits you deserve with the growth of product sales performance. In case you fail, we will have a backup remedy system, which will guarantee you.

In order to ensure that 3M Company cultivates the dedicated enterprise spirit and the system of "innovation fighter", 3M Company implements the reward system, which has an encouraging effect on the whole group or individual. When their product development plan overcomes many obstacles and achieves something, every member of the group will be promoted accordingly, so that innovative fighters will naturally benefit a lot. So, what is the career prospect of a successful innovative team worker in 3M Company? Robbs described it this way: "In 3M Company, as long as a person participates in the innovative development of new products, his position level and salary category in the company will naturally change with the business growth of products. For example, he may just be a production front-line engineer at first, leading the highest or lowest salary in this position, and once his products enter the market, he can be promoted to' product engineer'. When the total annual sales of the product reaches $654.38+$00,000, the product becomes a' fully qualified' product, and at this time, his professional title and salary level have changed greatly. When the sales volume of this product exceeds the $5 million mark, he can become the' engineering manager' of the whole product line. If the product further breaks through the $20 million mark, it can be upgraded to an independent product department. If he is the main technician developing products, he will naturally become the' engineering manager' or' R&D director' of the department. "

If you want to know more about how 3M stimulates enterprise vitality within the company, you'd better start with the "values" of the whole company, especially its "Eleventh Commandment: Don't kill any new ideas casually." Companies may sometimes be slow, not active enough, or refuse to allow the establishment of innovative teams, but they will never shoot the creator of a new idea. In order to further understand how 3M Company cultivates the values of the whole company, we can get relevant contents from the experience of every executive of 3M Company. The previous presidents of the company and several important decision makers all have a well-known history of successful inventions, and the top management of the whole 3M company is an example for the younger generation to learn from. Young people who want to be innovative fighters often get inspiration and encouragement from the deeds of these predecessors. The invention process of Drew and Burton is a typical example, which often inspires the younger generation of the company. According to the current chairman, Lear, "When our business people went to the automobile factory for routine inspection, they noticed that the workers were painting the new two-color car, because the two paints always flowed together, and they felt very helpless." At that time, a young technician named Drew in the laboratory researched and developed a kind of strong adhesive tape, which could cover the parts that didn't need painting. It not only solved the problem of car painters, but also invented the first paper tape product for 3M Company. 1930, that is, six years after DuPont introduced cellophane, Drew developed a method of coating adhesive on cellophane, and scotch tape was born. But at first, it was only used for industrial packaging. It was not until Burton, a business manager of 3M Company, invented a reel with a paper cutter device that scotch tape really became popular and widely used in offices. "This representative story reflects the typical style of 3M Company, which is of great significance: 1) The close relationship between enterprises and customers. 2) It also shows that not only technicians can invent new products. 3) For 3M Company, any new product development plan has unlimited market potential.

(B) 3M Company's corporate values of not being afraid of failure and encouraging innovation

3M Company has always had a corporate tradition of encouraging innovation and not being afraid of failure. For the winners, they give heroic hospitality, and for the losers, they still give encouragement.

Once the innovation fighter succeeds in inventing, he will be warmly received by 3HERO immediately. Lear proudly pointed out, "Every year, 15 to more than 20 new products with good market prospects break through the million-dollar sales mark. You may think that this will not get any attention in 3M company, then you are wrong. At this time, spotlights, bells and cameras all came out to enthusiastically praise the achievements of this pioneer. " It is under such encouragement that the young engineers of 3M Company bravely walked out of the ivory tower with new ideas and took risks everywhere. In the values of 3M, almost any new product idea is acceptable. Although the company is the mainstream of coating and bonding industry, it does not exclude other types of new products. Robbs observed: "As long as the product concept meets the company's financial standards, such as sales growth, profit and so on. Whether it belongs to the company's main industry or not, 3M Company is happy to accept it. " Moreover, in 3M company, losers will be encouraged. As the saying goes, "where there is a will, there is a way", and the company's decision-making level encourages employees to do so. Chairman Lear often uses past examples to encourage employees not to be afraid of failure. Even if they fail, they should not be discouraged. They should give full play to the entrepreneurial spirit of struggle. He said: "In 3M company, you have the freedom to stick to the end in scientific research and development, which means you have the freedom not to be afraid of making mistakes and failing." Perseverance and persistence will eventually succeed in 3M Company. A director of 3M pointed out: "We will not kill new ideas casually, but sometimes it is inevitable that some ideas will be biased. After all, we are in custody. Sometimes, you always have to terminate an unsuccessful product plan. But only in this way can you force those truly enthusiastic inventors to try their best to make his product plan successful. "

At first glance, this seems to be a very contradictory approach: on the one hand, it is very supportive of any potential product concept development; On the other hand, we will never invest too much in this aspect, because 3M is a very practical company after all. Their typical approach is usually this: if the product idea of an innovative fighter has developed from the theoretical stage to the forming stage. They can start organizing innovation groups, usually in groups of five or six people. However, in the middle of making the plan, unexpected difficulties suddenly appeared. At this time, 3M Company will quickly cancel the development plan. However, if the innovation fighter is really keen on this plan, the company will not object, but will encourage him to stick to it alone or find a partner. 3M found that, generally speaking, it takes ten years for a new product to be truly accepted by the market. Therefore, at the beginning, innovation fighters must experience ups and downs. Until the end, the market will mature, and the time has finally come. His innovation has been rebuilt, and he has begun to hold his head high and succeed. 3M Company is the first company to regard product innovation as a digital game. Robert M.Adams, the deputy general manager in charge of the R&D department, expressed the attitude of 3M Company: "Our company's style is to do a little, sell a little, and then develop a little further." One of his colleagues further explained the strategy of 3M, saying, "Start small and move towards big goals. Invest appropriate capital, acquire further knowledge and technology, increase profits, and conduct numerous small experiments in a short time. A new development is a series of attacks. As long as it is possible to develop into a profitable product, the plan will never be unnecessarily disturbed, and any new idea has unlimited development potential. " So in 3M company, we can see that "innovation fighters" are experimenting one by one, but most of them are doomed to fail, a few have gained a little, and some of them have finally succeeded through many experiments.

Any soldier, physicist or microcomputer expert who wants to organize an innovation team is willing to provide research funds for their use. Moreover, in Sao Paulo, the well-equipped head office itself is an excellent testing ground, and their ability to quickly turn several ideas into several new products on the market is amazing enough. And users (customers) will participate in the whole new product development process from beginning to end. What is even more surprising is that each new product development plan of 3M Company is very short, with an average of only about 5 pages. However, a vice president of 3M Company said disapprovingly, "You totally misjudged 3M Company. In most companies, new product proposals are usually at least 200 pages long. At 3M Company, the first time you put forward a new product proposal, you only need to explain it in a coherent sentence. " The vice president went on to say: "In the initial stage of development, we will not waste our time and energy unnecessarily on planning things that are still uncertain. Of course, there must be plans, such as accurate and detailed sales implementation plans, but these detailed plans must be made after the research has developed to a considerable extent and there are some clues. Why did we take the time to write a 250-page plan and then do some simple experiments according to the needs of customers? " By the same token, another director of 3M Company said, "Experience tells us that we can't accurately predict the sales growth of new products before they enter the market, so now we only make sales forecasts after the products are on the market." On the evaluation of the organizational structure of 3M Company, Rob said that the organizational structure of 3M Company does not seem unique in theory. An executive of 3M even said in stronger terms: "The organizational form has nothing to do with us." Having said that, the organizational structure of 3M Company still has several important features. 3M Company has always maintained a decentralized and autonomous organizational structure. /kloc-3M had 25 departments 0/0 years ago, and now there are 40 departments, and new departments will continue to be established. Instead of focusing on the business growth of a department, 3M should adopt a decentralized approach, which has always been the only way for 3M to succeed. In addition, in 3M Company, if the employees of the product development team of a certain department put forward a new idea, the normal practice is to apply for development funds from the immediate supervisor first. If rejected by the supervisor, then 3M Company can transfer to another application department through the relevant rules and regulations of the enterprise and the relevant provisions stipulated in the corporate culture handbook. If you are rejected again, you can apply to other departments. He may belong to the viscose product development team, but he can go to other product departments to promote his new ideas at will. Even though he is still hitting a wall everywhere, when he is almost at the end of the road, 3M still has a supreme court, namely the "Innovation and Development Department", for them to file a final appeal. Usually, really profound and special research suggestions are finally judged here.

Third, comments.

1. Why is this method so successful in 3M Company? Quite simply, 3M Company uses various incentive mechanisms to encourage its clients to do so. As long as the planner of any innovation team can win foreign funds to support the research and development of the team, it will get considerable returns. This provision also applies effectively to department heads. In addition, 3M Company has many direct reward systems to urge you to find opportunities to promote your ideas or try to find opportunities to explore new ideas. In order to cooperate with the development of this system, 3M is very flexible in personnel transfer. For example, once the idea of an employee in group A is adopted by a department manager in group B, the employee can transfer to group B with his idea. There are other related rules, for example, 3M Company stipulates that the sales of new products in each department in the last five years should account for at least 25% of the total turnover of the department. Usually, such business objectives are based on the whole company in other companies, but in fact, such objectives can also be achieved in the middle and lower departments of enterprises. Therefore, 3M always requires all departments to achieve this goal, forcing 40 department heads to compete to develop and research new products.

2.3M Company's most important concept in corporate culture, which is also repeatedly emphasized by the company, is integrity and systematicness. The success of the company is not only based on one or two factors. Of course, it is undeniable that innovation fighters, fighter directors and innovation teams are the focus of the whole innovation process. However, their success is mainly due to the support of many heroes in all aspects, the support of the company's value system, tolerance for failure, the strategy of infiltrating special markets, close customer relations, the development and research methods from small to large, flexible company personnel organization, no excessive paperwork and red tape, and fierce internal competition. After many years, these factors work together.

3. A positive, innovative and successful business environment is characterized by its tolerance for failure. One of the tenets of 3M's corporate culture is: "You must accept failure." Emerson's Knight also stressed: "You need to have the ability to bear failure. Unless you are willing to accept mistakes, you can't have any innovation or breakthrough. " The spirit of tolerating failure has become one of the connotations of excellent enterprise spirit. The essence of this corporate culture of 3M Company is directly instilled and cultivated by the company's top management. This kind of entrepreneurial spirit and innovation fighter means that enterprises must go through countless experiments and suffer many failures in innovation; Otherwise, we can't learn new knowledge from failure, but the most noteworthy thing is that regular communication can minimize the blow and punishment caused by failure. The most serious failures, that is, those that really leave scars, are usually the consequences of letting the plan go on for several years without serious and clear guidance and communication. However, in an open communication environment of an excellent company, you can't hide anything, and there is really no need to do so. Therefore, there are many support systems for innovation fighters, and the support methods are even more lacking. Innovative fighters are not born. The so-called heroes created by the times need a suitable environment, such as the traditional spirit of the company, various support systems, and tolerance for failure. These innovative fighters are encouraged to cultivate, not just a few creative wizards.