1 - How has 3M's innovation process evolved since the company was founded?

Why, if at all, does 3M,

known as a "hothouse" of innovation, need to regain its historic closeness to the customer?
3M (Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co.) was founded in 1902 initially as a mining exploration and
development company, but after its failure it developed numerous innovative products, which came about
haphazardly. These haphazard innovations have helped rocket 3M forward into a multi-billion dollar company. The
company has since then continued to make large investments into research and development activities and employ
many scientists, engineers and technicians. These large investments allowed 3M to develop core technologies,
which gained its global reputation as a hothouse of innovation. However, the process grew slowly which allowed
3M to recognize user needs.
3M had 30 key technologies in the 1990s and employed more scientists to increase market growth and product
development. However, 3M recognized that growth in the United States was limited and penetration into markets
overseas was hampered by the high cost of 3M products when converted into foreign currencies. Faced with these
challenges, and the reality that the technological excellence often was not enough, the business unit had gone
almost a decade without introducing more than one successful product. 3M was not able to find what customers
needed because of a lack of interaction and closeness with customers and users. Thus in order to do effective
market research and identify customer needs, 3M needs to regain its historic closeness which allowed 3M to gain
valuable insights into the needs of the markets currently served.
2 - How does the Lead User research process differ from and complement other traditional market research
methods?
Lead user research process: (1) Project planning / (2) Trends/needs identification / (3) Preliminary concept
generation / (4) Final concept generation
Traditional market research methods: (1) data from sales representatives / (2) focus groups / (3) customer
evaluations / (4) site visits / (4) data on risk factors for diseases
-> Traditional market research methods generally address quantifying needs that are already established in a
marketplace, rather than identification of novel, evolving needs.
The lead user research process fosters strong working relationships between cross-functional teams, lead users
and customers, and a variety of experts. Bringing together all of these into a directed and targeted approach allows
for the development of new insights and innovations. By collecting the data from the lead users, companies and
organizations are able to identify the clients specific needs and move toward creating innovative products by getting
ideas from the users instead of novel, unarticulated market needs. Additionally, the lead user research allowed 3M
to manage any intellectual property arising from the process by having the experts sign over intellectual property
rights to 3M.
The lead user research process differs from other traditional market research methods in that it taps into lead
users, or those individuals that face market needs well before others.
3 - Has the Medical-Surgical team applied the Lead User research process successfully? Why or Why not?

4 - What should the Medical-Surgical Lead User team recommend to Dunlop: the three new product
concepts or a new business strategy? What are the risks to the new Lead User process at 3M? What are the
risks to the Medical-Surgical business unit?
The team should initially recommend the three new product concepts (economic, skin doctor and armor) to
promote a balanced risk-based portfolio containing both incremental (low risk & investments) and breakthrough
(high risk & investments) innovations. These proposed product concepts could provide 3M with the potential to
increase sales for the Health Care Unit and break into overseas markets, such as hospitals in Korea, Indonesia and
India.

The risks to the new Lead User process at 3M is that the lead user research concept still needs consideration and
additional refinement before it can be implemented at a wide scale across the company. For instance, the various
challenges that the lead user team faced during the final stage (final concept generation) of the process would need
to be addressed in order to increase the efficiency of the overall process. These challenges were: lack of structure
for corporate meetings, balancing the participation of introverts and extroverts in a meeting, integrating creative
ideas with technical and economical feasibility, and being able to discern the most important aspects from a sea of
facts.