Exploring 3m's Blue Ocean Strategy

Understanding the purchasing behavior of a specific demographic is one of the most important sets of research data available to marketers. To develop a strategic plan to present your products in a way that produces the most optimal buying behavior, one needs to understand what the target audience avoids as much as what triggers them to spend their money. (Marketing Land, 2014)

In light of an evolving market, faced with new competitors, and after a careful analysis of their current customers, the Vanguard Group (hereinafter referred to as “Vanguard”) realizes it must rethink its entire marketing strategy. However, in order to protect and leverage their competitive advantage, which is their low management fees, and to optimize the loyalty that their customers continuously demonstrate toward their organization, they must now target the most profitable segment for them, and develop the best way to serve and delight these customers.

Customers want the business to produce quality products at reasonable price. You have different types of customers. There are different types of customers there are loyal ones, young ones, elderly, family or one-time customers.

It needs to be a specific group of customers. Sometimes using stereotype images can help to describe a group, such as the “soccer mom.”

Customers can have a massive impact on how successful a business is, because it’s the customer’s choice as to where they want to spend their money. Tesco and Oxfam customers differ in the way that customers at Tesco will go there as they know exactly what products they will have for sale as they constantly stock those products whereas Oxfam customers

Who are MM’s target customers? Are all segments equally attractive to MM? If yes, why? If not, why not? How do the different segments’ needs and expectations evolve over time?

Markets consist of buyers that differ in their needs, wants, resources, locations, buying attitudes and buying practices. To reach customer insight, it is important to understand the needs of different segments and to communicate pertinently to them (Brown L, Brown C, Gallagher SM, 2008).

According The Wall Street Journal” … Cirque du Soleil, the Canadian company that redefined the dynamics of a declining circus industry in the 1980s. Under conventional strategy analysis, the circus industry was a loser. Star performers had “supplier power” over the company. Alternative forms of entertainment, from sporting events to home entertainment systems, were relatively inexpensive and on the rise. Moreover, animal rights groups were putting increased pressure on circuses for their treatment of animals.” (Murray, 2014) A new era was created transforming the concept of what is a circus today. As the Wall Street Journal described, “Cirque du Soleil eliminated the animals and reduced the importance of individual stars. It created a new form of entertainment that combined dance, music and athletic skill to appeal to an upscale adult audience that had abandoned the traditional circus. (Murray, 2014)

Best Buy, a familiar retailer in the technology world, is struggling to stay on top. Online and mass stores have cornered the market in terms of convenience, customer service and price matching. The recent closing of over two hundred stores alongside falling sales has experts predicting that the giant won’t be in business long. Using a results-only work environment (ROWE), Best Buy has removed the customer from the equation and forced many employees out. A marketing disaster, Best Buy must change its marketing strategy from sales-based to a customer-based to stay afloat.

Customers are assets, and their values grow and decline. Segmenting customers based on their lifetime value is a powerful way to target them because marketing mix activities can then aim at enhancing customer value. (Ho, 2006)

1. Describe the organizational structures and devices 3M uses to encourage entrepreneurial activity. Why do they work?

This is done by creating a leap in value both for the buyers as well as for the organization thereby creating a new and uncontested market space. Companies left out in the red ocean usually follow a conventional approach, running to beat competition by creating a defensible position in the current market space order.

The company 3M is a diverse company that was incorporated on June 25, 1929 with presence in more than 10 industries alone. “3M products are sold through a number of distribution channels, including directly to users and through wholesalers, retailers, jobbers, distributors and dealers in a range of trades in a number of countries worldwide” ("3M Co," n.d., para. 1) The company head quarters is located in St. Paul Minnesota, however 3M has locations all over the United States. 3M is best known within the consumer industry with brands such as Post-it, Scotch, Scotch-Brite, Filtrete, O-Cel-O, Nexcare, and Command. “3M is one of 30 companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and also is a component of the Standard & Poor's 500

To understand the consumers in the target market, marketing managers rely on the 7 O’s framework of consumer research.

There are some tool produce to help implement blue ocean strategy. The Eliminate-Reduce-Raise-Create (ERRC) Grid is the matrix that help execute blue ocean strategy with the four action framework: eliminating, reducing, aising and creating. ERRC Grid help company to remain on their competitive factors. Eliminating and reduce the factor that the transitional industry take it for granted can help the new strategy to remain unique from the transitional market. Nevertheless, raising and creating some unique competitive factor the transitional market never or seldom offered that is above the industry standard. With all these “Four Actions Framework” the company can escape the transitional red ocean market by activate a new blue ocean market and create a new value curve. (Kim & Mauborgne, 2005)