I think they've been steadily hollowing themselves out just like the every other American / global company that makes stuff. They don't spend on R&D like they used to, instead they've tried to acquire new products and technology.
It feels like the culture of innovation they built is lagging, and like for many American companies losing their way, I wish they could make a case for a real reinvestment in research with a 10 year payback instead of a next quarter result. This is anecdotal and I've only worked with one division of 3M in the past, but i've seen changes in how they support companies downstream. It may just be how everything is changing everywhere.
They still make good products, and they're consistently very good but always premium priced.
Why do research when you can spend the same amount of money just buying small companies that have researched and innovated?
I'm honestly asking. It doesn't seem like there's any substantial pros to doing the research in-house for a big company like 3m. A top down directive to make use of $new_acquisition's tech every now and then seems easier than fostering a culture of innovation at all times.
I am no expert, but one reason could be that there are certain avenues of research could only be viable for a company with large resources and funding not to mention patience (An example is pharma companies that spends billions and a decade developing a new drug).
It’s funny that you say that about pharmas - I’m not terribly informed but I’ve sure read a lot recently about big pharma following that model quite a lot actually.
A lot of that expensive, longer term research happens at public institutions via public funds. Which then gets commercialized by the university or by a spinoff company from the researchers.
Giving the benefit of expensive, longer term research but in a convenient form where the actual R&D was publicly funded, rather than internal.
It feels like the culture of innovation they built is lagging, and like for many American companies losing their way, I wish they could make a case for a real reinvestment in research with a 10 year payback instead of a next quarter result. This is anecdotal and I've only worked with one division of 3M in the past, but i've seen changes in how they support companies downstream. It may just be how everything is changing everywhere.
They still make good products, and they're consistently very good but always premium priced.