Enterprise Engineering Colloquium: Sandy Narayan M.S. ‘77 MechE (3M International) - Delivering Growth and Innovation in Emerging Markets

Special EEC with Emerging Markets Institute

3M has been operating in International countries for decades and doing well. Currently about 65% of total 3M sales come from international operations. Emerging markets have recently become a major penetration growth priority where 3M has expanded by deploying local R&D, manufacturing and commercializing innovative platforms tailored to local customers. However, this mission has created leadership challenges which have required 3M to drive transformational change in all aspects of our organization deployment, human capital revitalization, new products commercialization, leveraging digital and robust on site customer engagement. Changing buying behavior by millennials, new national megatrends, and the digital revolution have also required fresh thinking in our investment prioritization, manufacturing supply chain and service delivery models to our global customers.

This class discussion will aim to share some insights into new business creation strategies that 3M has deployed for winning in key emerging market geographies.  These include creating a Customer First mindset, expanding use of consumer insights tools, relocating leaders for significant assignments with diverse cultural experiences, transforming supply chain, transforming way to market, aligning channel partnerships, redesigning solution platforms more relevant to local norms and maximizing use of digital commerce. We will share actual examples from India, Greater China, and South East Asia especially Vietnam, to bring our key learning messages for engineers and business school leaders aspiring to enhancing their professional growth and career trajectory globally.