Introduction
According to the case study by Thomke, it is evident that the traditional approach made the business stagnate at one place and that although it was making huge profits, the market was changing, and there was a need to comprehend the trend of the market change. However, to understand such tremendous change, the corporate would be forced to do away with the incremental approach and embrace the Lead User strategy. However, Dunlop should be made to understand that although the effort in finding the right Lead User was not only time consuming but difficult, it was the only approach that will help Shor to accomplish her objectives as the project leader and the overall business goal as well. Dunlop should thus be recommended to accept the new approach for various reasons as will be stated below. New strategies devise new insights into the market and innovation in the quality of the products that are released into the market that can meet the consumer needs more efficiently. The use of both qualitative and quantitative data allowed the researchers to utilize more methods in the analysis of the data thus leading to more information that will be used to make informed decisions by the user.
Main Body
Therefore, the following statements should be asserted to Dunlop; the first advice is that consumers are attracted by the introduction of new products into the market an aspect that will help the business win the customer loyalty. Secondly, the act will allow the company to grow significantly unlike the traditional approach that made the business to stagnate with innovation for an understanding of the market needs. Furthermore, it will maintain 3M Corporate on a competitive edge making it a global leader in the business an aspect that will impact significantly on the enterprise performance. The third recommendation to Dunlop is that through the new concept of Lead User, the business will be renowned globally for its impact in the control of microbial organisms and its innovative products and techniques.
The project was to devise three new products that will enhance the microbial control in the surgical setting an aspect that will significantly result in reduced cost of the same (Thomke and Ashok 3). The technique, therefore, intended to eradicate the use of the obsolete traditional approach and come with better ways of doing things in a more efficient way. The research team, therefore, achieved three main products with the first one being the "economy line" (Thomke and Ashok 11). Additionally, the "skin doctor" lines is the next product to appreciate, which is an indication that using the new information from the research; the surgical team will be able to address different kinds of skin infections more efficiently as compared to the past (Thomke and Ashok 11). Finally, the third recommendation to the management by the surgical team is the antimicrobial "armor" line evidence that 3M had come with new and better strategies for conducting business that will help the corporate to capitalize on new market opportunities.
3M corporate is one of the organizations in the US that is renowned for its innovation, a strategy that it has used to remain on competitive edge. As revealed by the case study, the business has invested most of its resources in the research and development field so as to devise new approaches on how it can operate in a more efficient manner (Thomke and Ashok 2). Hence, to enhance the quality of services that are offered the business premises, 3M intends to introduce the Lead User, which is a new approach that would fundamentally change the face of the business. Hence, the new approach is expected to replace the traditional incremental strategy that has been used by the corporate for decades and to achieves the above objective, 3M management plans to generate at least 30% of its sales from new products that have been introduced within a four-year period (Thomke and Ashok 3). Furthermore, the business expects to change the mix of its products to express innovation in the market and present merchandise that will consumer needs more effectively. Moreover, the above objective can be achieved with more investment in research which accounts for almost 7% of the sales globally. The new strategy is complex to implement and requires a lot of input in terms of time and resources and if not well managed it will result in unintended impacts to the business. However, it is important to appreciate the fact the new approach employed by the enterprise is sophisticated and requires lead expert as well resources for it to succeed.
According to the 1990 innovation at 3M, it is evident that investment on research had not been adequately met, and their technicians were not active in their research findings (Thomke and Ashok 3). Apparently, their marketing strategy was poor and mainly depended on the consumers and sales representative for information to do a market analysis which was not adequate for the number of market researchers employed by the corporate was still low. The approach used by the business to understand the needs of the market was weak as they relied on data that was presented by sales people or nurses' information which might not be true. Furthermore, the method of gathering nurses in an enclosed setting to get information on existing products was not adequate as consumer feedback was also required.
With the concept of "Lead Users", the management is expected to do a thorough market research so as to understand the market needs more comprehensively (Thomke and Ashok 8). The concept assumes that people are different and will presume to have different needs for products earlier than others an aspect that will lead to rapid innovation. By tapping experts in the field will help manufacturers to devise innovative ways through which they can maximize on future innovation that will make them be on the competitive edge and capitalize on the available opportunities. It was evident that the traditional methods of research that were used by 3M corporate were not yielding adequate results as expected. Hence, the use of the new strategy was meant to act as a breakthrough in the organizational research on market performance to understand the needs of the lead users.
It is important therefore to appreciate the fact that the use of Lead User in the market research is to gain new insight into the market needs, get new consumers and new products that will satisfy the customer needs more efficiently. Unlike the incremental approach, the new strategy is hoped to improve the business performance of the management will be in a position to work closely with consumers and appreciate the different market needs.
The medical surgical could enhance their performance through the application of the Lead User approach that will focus on product development. However, the method requires a lot of commitment by both the staff and the management to ensure that the approach works in the most efficient way possible. Furthermore, the tactic will require Shor to utilize most of her time and effort in which is a lot of commitment as compared to the previous methods. One of the challenges of the strategy is that the team will be required to spend more time on the scheme an aspect that will significantly reduce production and increase expenditure to the business. Moreover, it was difficult to find lead users as without them it is hard to achieve product efficacy which is the primary rationale for the research.
Conclusion
With the current state of globalization, innovation is inevitable to any business that wishes to prosper in the market as the concept is one of the approaches that is utilized to make corporate remain on the competitive edge. 3M corporate as evidenced from the above study is one of the organizations that employed the traditional method, "Incremental approach" a strategy that led to its stagnation in the market as it was not able to understand the intellectual needs of the market and responds to the change. However, adoption of new innovative approaches to the Lead User strategy helps an organization to respond to the changing needs consumers face in the market by introducing new products and techniques that make operations be run in the most optimal way. The above study, therefore, appreciates the contribution made by innovation to business performance citing the impact of the Lead User 3M and the surgical division as well. The concept led to not only the introduction of new products into the market but new techniques of doing things that reduced both the costs incurred in operations as well as efficiency as compared to the traditional approaches.
Work Cited
Thomke, Stefan H., and Ashok Nimgade. "Innovation at 3M Corporation (A)." Harvard Business School Case 699-012, August 1998. (Revised July 2002.). Print
