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...
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