CHANGING the mindset and embracing the “new normal” will be the key factors to ensure 3M’s successful stint in China, according to Dr. Denise Rutherford, Vice President of 3M Greater China Area and Managing Director of 3M China.

Rutherford took charge of 3M’s biggest overseas market in July 2015 when a slowdown at the world’s second-largest economy was making headlines around the world.

“It is perhaps slower but it is an impressive growth rate for such a large economy. For businesses like 3M, there are still tremendous opportunities and exciting areas for investment,” Rutherford said.

The US-based diversified manufacturer set up base in China in 1984. Since then, 3M China has established a strong foothold in the country, setting up 12 companies, 11 manufacturing sites, 27 offices, four technical centers and two R&D centers.

As 3M navigates its import-based business in China to more local production and innovation, the company is changing its management approach and building a more responsive organization with value-added services, Rutherford said.

Rutherford said the company would step up its investment in R&D to capitalize on the rising demand in China to improve air quality, sustainability and productivity. 3M is also seeking to boost sales of consumer products by teaming up with local e-commerce platforms and building its brand through global advertising campaigns, she said.

In a 3M career spanning more than 25 years, Rutherford has worked in various departments within the company. Before coming to China, she was the Vice President of 3M Latin America.

As the first female head of 3M China, Rutherford said she felt exciting for her new role and it is perhaps the right time for a change in the leadership style to be more aggressive on the market while retaining a human touch.

Shanghai Daily sat down with Rutherford at her 3M office for an exclusive chat about her vision for 3M China.

Q: What are your key goals for 3M China?

A: The first goal is to achieve the corporate growth expectations. 3M expects in 2016 to grow globally between 1 and 3 percent in local currencies. Those growth expectations are higher for China because the market growth in terms of industrial production index and gross domestic product is higher in China. We expect ourselves to grow at least as fast as the market.

The second is to maintain profit, because 3M is a large company that is part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. We are a company in which people invest for pension planning. We have a lot of institutional investors who count on us performing well every year despite the economy. So their investors, the pensioners, can afford their retirements.

The next goal we always have for ourselves is to develop capable leadership teams and effective organizations. So we have many actions within the company to make sure that we are continuing to develop and provide new opportunities for all of our employees, from people who directly report to me on my leadership team and to sales reps we have in remote areas in China as we expand geographically across the entire country. We do rely heavily on local talents.

Q: What are the key success factors and potential challenges in achieving these goals?

A: Key success factors for us are maintaining focus and prioritization. As a large company with so many opportunities, we participate in many market sectors. We have five business groups, which are consumer, electronics and energy, health care, industrial, and safety and graphics. We have to prioritize within each of those groups to identify the best opportunities for us to pursue.

It is also important for us to understand and balance the complete portfolio within 3M and to make effective decisions on how we align our resources to capitalize on all the opportunities.

The challenge is how do you do that across multiple industry sectors across a huge geography at a time when some of the team actually feels that is much more challenging because economy is slowing down.

So probably our biggest challenge is changing the mindset, being willing to embrace a new economy and how we can be successful even as China changes internally. There are still a lot of developments with huge opportunities in China, but it’s a different way of growing now than in the past.

Q: 3M is a highly diversified industrial company. What is 3M’s business focus in China?

A: We actually continuously watch out the market mega trends to understand what market segments have high growth rate in China and where we can participate effectively.

We’ve been looking at key markets for us where we believe the growth in China is quite significant, such as domestic consumption, investment in manufacturing as related to Made in China 2020, sustainability, and health care. Those are areas we see the government is planning to invest and those are markets where 3M has good portfolio today. I believe that our sustained investment in new products and partnership with key customers can provide a good level of growth for us to outperform the market.

Q: How does 3M manage to sustain innovation?

A: Innovation is really the core of what we do. Everyone in 3M understands that their role is to either support business development or sustain the innovation culture here. We have internal investment programs that provide opportunities for our employees, who can write research proposals and submit them to internal venture capital board which consists of corporate scientists. After screening and selection, funds will be allocated for the applicants to explore new ideas. That is one of the approaches anyone at 3M can get involved in exploring innovative ideas that they believe could add value to 3M. And as we run our division in our country laboratories, we very tightly align with the global strategy, knowing where the business wants to go and also working closely with customers to build alignment between business needs and our own investment in new technologies. That’s just the way we work. It is part of our culture. The success that we are able to build in our market is how we keep that innovation engine strong.

Q: How would you arrange yourself in a normal workday?

A: It depends on the day. As I reflect on this, there are things I have to work on every day. I put them in three buckets: operations, strategy and people. There is maybe some operational focus on things I have to get done. For me as a leader, I also take time to stop and think what strategy we are going to implement and drive operations accordingly. And then how are we ensuring our people not only to do the right things but to understand why we are doing these things. And we are providing the right opportunities, trainings and communications to all of our employees.

And how I prioritize the things in each of these areas is the old pattern many people may use: urgency verse importance matrix. What if it is urgent and important, I get it done immediately. What if it is important, I get it done too. What if it is neither urgent nor important, then I leave it behind or delegate it. We shall always prioritize and focus on the most important thing first.