3M New Zealand

Abstract

Jim Nicoll, Group General Manager (GGM) of Supply Chain Services and IT (SCS&IT) at 3M New Zealand (3M NZ), gazed out his window at the Auckland skyline as he pondered the upcoming meeting with his counterparts at Boise. While the city below was abuzz with the excitement of the upcoming America’s Cup yacht race, Jim was preoccupied with the challenges he faced with customers like Boise. Boise was one of 3M NZ’s key distributors, representing approximately 5 percent of 3M NZ’s sales, and the two organizations had always enjoyed a strong working relationship. Yet, Jim was concerned that progress on the e-commerce relationship with Boise had proved to be frustratingly slow. What more could he do to speed things up with Boise? More generally, how could 3M NZ attain its ambitious targets for e-commerce integration with its trading partners, principally large customers like Boise?