Perhaps my impression is wrong, but it seems to me that the leadership no longer has any plans for the growth of the company nor particularly cares about it.
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I can only speak for digital marketing where the focus shifted from growth to standardisation and cost savings. Getting a budget for actual growth projects has become nearly impossible, even for initiatives that are clearly ROMI positive. It’s a shame.
Before starting at 3M, I got told that 3M stands for 'make more money'. Soon after starting, they started with the 'Grow' campaign. I was wondering what is new about this. Isn't that always the idea? And how do they want to achieve this? The only thing I saw was cost cutting. Seems like my initial gut feeling as a non-experienced person was about right. Still wondering how high management did not see it and how they could promote the 'Grow' slogan. In every management presentation... What was this supposed to tell the people? Run away - we are out of ideas?
3M is too risk adverse to show any true growth anymore. Their litigation issues has put them into so much fear that it’s impossible to innovate. 3M is trying to approach product launches like P&G but they are clueless, slow to market, saddled with tons of red tape. Upper management is too scared to cut bad ideas because of time invested and politics. Bad all around.
$210 to $98 in just 5 years. Brilliant !!
Dr. Vale is interested in the growth of a certain part of his anatomy when he visits the massage parlor.
3M sales dependendent on soley distribution channels has never worked in the history of the company. People have tried this theory and digitization stuff and promoted it multiple times tge last two decades. You have to prioritize where you are investing your resources in the sales channel. CBG is commodities so it makes sense to go middle men and direct channel. It's wasteful to think someone else will promote your products, on industrial and PSD safety to use middle men when they just go private label, steal and copy your designs and undercut prices on your in this case 3M prices. It's not a one size fits all solution or approach that will work.
Leadership says they want 'growth', but have taken no concrete steps to create growth. All of their actions have been directly opposed to growth.
Examples:
- Defunding of R&D - actual R&D spending has plummeted in the name of 'efficiency'. Most labs barely have enough to keep the lights on anymore.
- Decimation of the sales force (thanks Vale) in the utterly foolish theory that 'distribution' will sell 3M products.
- Dramatic reduction in effective production capacity, again in the name of false efficiency, prevented 3M from taking advantage of macroeconomic market growth.
Growth mindset needs a different leadership and culture.
When you have the whole organisation on a backfoot, since years. You only have defensive leaders and teams waiting for the next round of cuts. Only distrust grows in teams. And that k_ills all initiatives.
Management lost trust as they treat people as expendable.
Customer focus, innovation and solutions are long gone and no market strategy, m&a , industry 4.0 automation, chatgpt or other industry jargon..actions will revive growth.
Clean up with sorting the top of the top management..who get an F for making the tangled mess even worse on a daily basis.
Return to Growth by winning employee Trust first !!
Why so obsessed with growth? Why can't 3m be happy with even? Only reason for growth is lining pockets with bonus. Just cut costs. Weird company.
The only growth they seem interested is the profits, short-term that is. And the only way to do this with meager even negative organic growth is to cut costs more than sales drop. This is the GE strategy that has failed for over 20 years and has become endemic in 3M.
The death spiral will continue until a brave new leader focused on long-term growth tells Wall Street to buzz off about quarterly earnings. If Wall Street has a problem with that, they buy up the pieces leftover from GE.
Sadly, I think the goose is cooked, charred even. Thank you (not) James McNerney.
Agree, in last few years all the higher management has done is to say what the problem is I.e. no growth, but at no point have I heard any plan to address that issue. We have just been moving from one headache to another and from one restructuring to another.
Yes I confirm