3M: The Innovation Engine

This case traces the development of 3M’s innovative and global culture from its early days through 2018. The main focus of the case is on the evolution of culture at 3M, and how this culture drove their global strategy through a continual stream of product innovations that have taken the company into a large number of different industries. The case also looks at how management deliberately institutionalized the emerging culture at 3M by creating rules and procedures that provided opportunities for, and rewarded, innovative risk-taking.