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Ernest Gundling, Ph.D., cofounder and managing director of Meridian Resources Associates, Inc., has lived and worked in Asia (including six years in Japan), Europe, and Mexico. He is a lecturer at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley

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This volume is an in-depth study of 3M’s culture, and how it creates and maintains industries through
invention after invention. The book begins with acknowledgements and a glowing foreword by Jerry Porras. The
introduction then outlines 3M’s truly impressive ability to innovate. Five common misconceptions about innovation are summarised before the outline of the ensuing chapters is aired.

Chapter 1 looks at the innovation process by defining innovation, then, using the invention of non-woven material as an example, outlines the three markets and applications of it. Using the invention of microreplication, Gundling shows how solutions come before problems, and five ways those solutions open up markets to create innovation. Finally, the high-profile development of HFE’s is summarised, and then the low-profile 'inventorpreneur” Aldara cream story is used, to show how 3M uses six management tools, and has the innovator-hero myth, to keep innovation occurring.

Chapter Two starts with 3M’s many early-century failures until the open and inquisitive William McKnight obsessed about quality checking and initiated research and development funding. The axiom that “management that is destructively critical when mistakes are made kills initiative,” the proviso that employees are allowed to work on projects of their own personal interest, and a decentralised structure result from his forward-thinking management policies. Three examples of how persistence through failures have led to significant innovations are given before concluding with nine historical values, such as small working
groups, that have shaped the majority of 3M legends.

The structure of research and development at 3M is enabled to “find the smokestacks,” or customers, and outlined in Chapter 3 using the example of how transparency films turned into classroom staples. Technical innovation management, specifically the evolutionary philosophy where technologies are found before a use can be found for them, follows into a description of the Tech Centres, the Tech Forum, and the various awards 3M’ers receive for innovation.

Gundling then looks into the non-technical functions of human resource, finance, and marketing in 3M, and how each supports the technical innovations of 3M, such as through 3M-TV, and how they are innovative unto themselves, using the example of 3M Mexico’s financial response to the peso’s devaluation in the early 1990’s.
Chapter 5 analyses 3M’s global presence. Using the example of the lighting for Da Vinci’s Last Supper, Gundling shows how 3M have managed to transfer their culture for innovation across borders with both formal (such as the division/country matrix) and informal (overseas exchanges and 3M’s Language Society are examples) support. He outlines shortfalls of 3M’s global reach, then emphasizes the complexities of the global regime.

3M’s largest subsidiary, Sumitomo 3M in Tokyo, is given a run for its money in Chapter 6. How 3M built the relationship to it’s quirky, uniquely Japanese subsidiary is illustrated, showing the build-up of trust and autonomy, the establishment of Sumitomo 3M’s regional leadership, it’s strategic integration into 3M in Minnesota and then the global 3M community. Finally, the subsidiary’s vision, and some examples of how it is achieving it, are given.

Chapter 7 gives a management perspective on 3M’s people system, pointing to steps an organization needs to accomplish to create an innovative company, both formal and informal. Gundling then goes into detail about some commonly held misconceptions about innovative cultures, such as the idea that real innovation comes through paradigm shifts, and challenges them with 3M practice. In 3M for instance, innovation invariably occurs
incrementally.

The final chapter looks at the Imation Corp. spin-off, and analyses three critical issues, such as being too nice to people, which could slow or speed up the pace of innovation depending on their management. Gundling then focuses on 3M’s new industry platforms, such as ecoefficient products, looks at where the structure of 3M is heading, and finishes with a constructive critique of 3M’s future.

Six appendices are given, the largest restating the useful questions to ask your organisation’s culture about innovation that are given at the end of each chapter. Twelve pages of endnotes and a bibliography ensue before an index concludes the book.

Background of the Author

Gundling is the managing director of a consulting firm and a lecturer in organisational behaviour at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. He received his doctorate from the University of Chicago.

Though Gundling considers 3M to be one of the more promising human endeavours of our era, and is willing to wager it will still be around in a century’s time,1 this vivid enthusiasm for the company is compensated for by his incisive eye and willingness to criticise constructively.

Critique

Gundling hopes to replace the one-day visits by executives who go to 3M as a benchmarking exercise, and leave none the wiser, with a more comprehensive overview of the organisation’s culture. Students and management scholars researching innovative cultures and strategies would also find this book essential reading. Complex issues are dealt with using clear, flowing language. Management, economics and financial jargon are employed to a certain degree, but if one pays enough attention the points are simple enough to grasp and at the right level for the intended audience. These points are almost always echoed with understandable black-and-white diagrams, tables, sketches and photos that occur on virtually every other lustrous page.

Gundling gradually draws us to his points with the use of examples, grounded on extensive research throughout the company. If one takes the care to read the examples thoroughly, the elusive practicalities of the 3M culture, which benchmarking managers cannot comprehend with a superficial glance, become apparent.
Gundling also has a large, up-to-date bibliography, and has evidently read widely from reputable sources such as Oxford, Harvard, Nikkei Business, The Economist and Fortune.

The framework of the book is not particularly well structured or as lucid as the language. Often it is difficult to understand how one section follows into another in a chapter, or why either of them fit into it as opposed to another chapter. To give Gundling credit, however, this is a particularly difficult task given the organic, unpredictable and amorphous nature of both innovation and 3M. Having read the book, however, the make-up, direction and borders of an innovative culture become clearer as the various concepts congeal in one’s
head.

Most of the concepts discussed find concurrence in Robbins and Bryson. Concepts such as the definition of innovation, it only occurring incrementally, its correlation with organic structures, the need for high job security, a reward system for innovation, champions of innovation, high tolerance for failure, the stimulation of conflict9 are confirmed in all three books. This is unsurprising, as Robbins states, “the standard of innovation…. is that achieved by the 3M Company”. Robbins does fail to emphasize, however, the importance of the informal corporate culture, the atmosphere of pride, friendship, prestige, community, and volunteerism that so pervades and reinforces the company, and Gundling sees as imperative to innovation.

Implications

Initially, an innovative organizational culture may appear to have very little relevance for information services. Certainly, thirty years ago, libraries existed in very placid environments, keeping pace with technologies was not difficult, and fluctuations in funding were minor. Analysis of the external environment was not undertaken to any major degree, with assumptions based on past experience generally holding true.

Today, however, information centres live in a more disturbed and competitive environment, with funding cuts rife, technology advancing at a phenomenal rate, and competitors moving into areas where once a monopoly was held. These factors will either see libraries offering the same services, but on a lesser scale, or act as a stimulus to build more innovative cultures in order to prosper in what is undoubtedly a dynamic and exciting
time.
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adampope | Aug 8, 2012 |

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