A RESEARCH PAPER ON "3M: CULTIVATING CORE COMPETENCY

The 3M Company is one of the largest manufacturers in the U.S which has been well known for its innovation
and R&D. The 3M Corporation is a multinational conglomerate with six distinct operation segments: display and
graphics, health care, safety, electro and communications, industrial and transportation, and consumer and office.
Annual sales of these combined units for 2006 were approximately $23 billion, with net income of $3.851 billion.
About 67% of 3M sales are generated outside the United States. Like many multi-national companies, 3M has been
challenged to develop strategies that leverage their unique core competencies that will allow them to seize
opportunities within the global market. However, 3M executives face a somewhat paradoxical challenge in that their
unique corporate culture, which stresses sideways innovation where corporate entrepreneurship and informal
collegial cooperation between departments, is embraced as a core value (Krames, 2005). Strategic initiatives,
therefore, must complement this unique core competency.