Managing Product & Service Innovation-Free-Samples for Students

Question: Innovation is increasingly being considered as a core competency that organisations must develop. Companies that consistently innovate don't rely on chance; they address innovation in a systematic way. Answer: Introduction In the age of competitiveness, it is necessary that every organisation develop innovative techniques that can help it to satisfy customers and gain global recognition. Drucker (2014) stated that product and service innovation is important so that customers do not feel monotonous about buying the same product or using the same service. The assignment focuses on the development of an innovation framework necessary for gaining success in the business market. For the purpose of the assignment, Woolworths has been considered. Woolworths is an Australian retail store specialising in various types of products used for daily life (Woolworthsgroup.com.au, 2018). The assignment sheds light on the concept of innovation along with its types and provides an overview of the application of the innovative framework in Woolworths. The gaps in the application are identified and the area of weakness of Woolworths is discussed. Recommendations are provided to bridge the gap that exists and improve on th e weakness of the company. Background of the company Woolworths is a famous and major retail company situated in New South Wales, Australia. The greatness of the company is determined by the fact that it has over 995 stores all over the country. The number of employees in the company is about 202,000 with team members exceeding over 115,000 (Woolworthsgroup.com.au, 2018). The company looks after the welfare and health of the people in the country and because of this; it manufactures and produces fresh vegetables and fruits. The mission of the company is to produce and serve the best quality food to the customers so that they remain satisfied. This strategy allowed the company to set up Woolworths Australias Fresh Food People (Woolworthsgroup.com.au, 2018). It is considered as a type of social responsibility of the company wherein the company strives to maintain its mission. At the same time, Woolworths indulges in innovative factors to help in the satisfaction of the customers. In this regard, it can be seen that the vision of the comp any is to gain international recognition in the market and promote unity among the employees (Woolworthsgroup.com.au, 2018). Concept of innovation According to Johnston and Marshall (2016), innovation is a process to develop new ideas, devices and methods. At the same time, innovation is also considered as the application of solutions that are better than the existing solutions so that new requirements of an organisation can be met. The needs of the market, as well as the customers, are met with the advent of innovation in the market. Innovation can be achieved by using a more effective approach towards marinating the products, process, service and technologies. Innovation is mainly created in the models that are available in the market, Government policies and in the society in which an organisation functions. However, Christensen, Raynor and McDonald (2016) pointed out the fact that innovation is different from invention. This mainly because of the fact that invention deals with the discovery of a new thing or process that can help an organisation or individual get the desired recognition in the society. Innovation, on the other hand, makes changes to an invention once it is monotonous to the people. The originality of ideas of individuals that highlights the effectiveness of their skills is considered an innovation. Dutta, Lanvin and Wunsch-Vincent (2015) is of the opinion that in management science innovation is considered as a process that unites various ideas of individuals so that satisfaction of customers can be attained with an increase in profit for the organisations. Types of innovation According to Tukker et al. (2017), innovation can be of various types that can help organisations to pursue their objectives. To understand the types of innovation that exist in a market it is necessary to break down innovation into two dimensions. These include market and technology. The breakdown can provide four major types of innovation that organisations apply depending on the situation of the market. These include: Architectural innovation: Lusch and Nambisan (2015) observed that architectural innovation involves the application of lessons, skills as well technological advancement in a different market. The positive point of this particular innovation is that it helps in increasing the customers as long as the market in which it operates is responsive. The risk involved with the application of this type of innovation is low mainly because of this innovation relies on the use of technology that is already proved. The technologies that are required to be introduced in the market are reintroduced in the companies. However, on most occasions, it is necessary that the requirement of the new markets be met with the manipulation of certain activities (Gawer Cusumano, 2014). For example, the research centres of NASA attempted in improving the safety of the aircraft cushions. Radical innovation: This type of innovation is the most common thought that arises while considering innovation in organisations. This form of innovation gives rise to new industries and involves the creation of technologies that can revolutionise the technical aspects as well as the market. An example of this can be provided by tracing the origins of aeroplanes as it was not designed to provide transportation to the people. However, with the increase in population and the demand for people to continue to travel quickly, customer carrier planes were developed. Incremental innovation: According to Chesbrough, Vanhaverbeke and West (2014), incremental innovation is considered as the most popular form of innovation as organisations remain keen to apply this type for its success. The existing technologies are utilised and the value of the customers are increased. This type of innovation usually consists of the features of an organisation along with its design and changes it has made in the products and services. The existing markets are analysed so that the changes can be made and effectively utilised in the organisations. Bain and Kleinknecht (2016) stated that most organisations engage in incremental innovation at one point of its business tenure. An example of incremental innovation is the inclusion of new features in an already existing product or service. Disruptive innovation: Disruptive innovation is sometimes called stealth innovation as it involves the application of new technology and processes to a current market of a company. According to Christensen, Raynor and McDonald (2015), the reason for this type of innovation being referred to as stealthy is that new technologies that are developed can be superior and expensive for the existing markets to implement. Newer markets can implement disruptive innovation to pose threats to the already existing markets in a business. Some of the examples of companies that indulge in disruptive innovation include the distribution of the iPhones of Apple. This is because prior to the launch of iPhone most of the mobile phones relied on the use of buttons and backdated safety patterns for the phone. However, the latest technology applied by Apple has provided new ventures to the use of mobile phones in the modern generation. Figure 1: Types of innovation (Source: Drucker, 2014) In this regard, it can be said that the areas related to the capabilities of innovation can have strength and or weakness. The strength lies in the fact that innovation can help provide organisations with an ability to remain creative and access the areas of development. On the other hand, the weakness being that an organisation may have to spend a huge sum of money to recruit employees that have the capability of being innovative. Not only that, the technology required for being innovative also required huge investments. For example, in a company like Woolworths, innovation can help in ensuring that customers get to experience new form business from the company. This can be considered as strength for the company as innovation can bring about changes in the company and ensure that Woolworths achieve their number one rank in the Australian business. At the same time, the cost of purchasing the technologies required for innovation may be huge and Woolworths need to maintain its revenue . Developing an innovation framework Smith et al. (2017) stated that organisations innovate to create competitiveness and enhance the opportunities for maintaining effective production in the industry. The attitude of the organisations towards innovating products and the level of risks that are involved in the acceptance of products direct the innovative nature of managers and organisations. Thereby, a market for size and growth that is sufficient for innovation need to be analysed by the managers. Thereby it is necessary to implement certain frameworks that can help managers gain the maximum productivity from the market. One such framework that can be used is the Value-Added Corporate Innovation Management Framework. This framework makes a comprehensive analysis of the multi-dimensional reality involving various domains of innovation (Kleinknecht, 2016). This framework is basically composed of five layers that are required for the effective innovation of business. These domains include: Business base: As the name suggests, this particular domain covers the overall market activity of an organisation and analyses the business goals of an organisation. The business base is the foundation domain and based on this domain, organisations can cover the overall market of an organisation and analysis its strategic imperative and dynamics (Adams et al, 2016). Resources: The second domain is the people and machines that an organisation possesses. As stated by West and Bogers (2014) employees are the main resources of an organisation and it is necessary that managers maintain the interests of the employees by motivation. In the modern day, technology, business partnerships, collaboration with the external market and open innovation are considered for conducting innovation. Will and culture: This is used to address the leadership ability of an organisation and the employees. The governance of an organisation and the culture are analysed so that effective innovation can take place. This particular domain defines the innovation complex and the importance of leadership in creating innovation in the organisations. Solutions: This is one of the important domains as it helps in identifying the processes used to be imaginative and creative in the organisations. It analyses the process used by an organisation along with the tactics used for developing the products (Kogan et al., 2017). The management of innovation is considered as a critical process in organisations as it covers various aspects of an organisation. Value: This is considered as the topmost domains that analyse the portfolio of the innovations undertaken by a company. Matters such as financial stability, number of customers, brand and environment of an organisation are considered in the domain that helps in understanding the value of a company. Thus, having considered the framework, analysis can be made to understand the manner in which Woolworths applies this framework. Figure 2: Value-Added Corporate Innovation Management Framework (Source: Kleinknecht, 2016) Application of the innovation framework In reputed organisations, the application of the innovative framework can help organisations strengthen its resources. This is mainly because of the fact that the framework helps in analysing the capability of an organisation and consequently frames strategies for innovation. According to Shalley, Hitt and Zhou (2015), the Value-Added Corporate Innovation Management Framework can help an organisation like Woolworths to identify the potential gaps that exist in the company. The five domains act as a means of a supporting pillar of the organisation so that it can improve its capabilities and ensure that it achieves its mission and vision. As such, the application can be determined by identifying the areas in which innovation is required. The analysis of the company shows that Woolworths have issues in maintaining cybersecurity, preserving food and gaining feedback from the customers. These issues can create problems for an organisation, as these factors are essential to the success of an organisation. To spread the market with the application of online marketing, Woolworths need to strengthen the IT security of the company. Anderson, Poto?nik and Zhou (2014) stated that Woolworths does not have sufficient security protocols that can help the organisation maintain the security of the customers and the private information. Hence, it is necessary to strengthen the IT sector and ensure that the application of the framework can help in developing such security. Innovation framework that can be used in this case includes installing firewalls for the unauthorised access. The firewalls can come in the form of various animated shapes that track the IP address of the hackers before exposing them to the relevant authority. In the case of the dealing with the food preservation of the customers, it can be said that the vision of the company is to provide good and fresh quality food to the people in Australia (Woolworthsgroup.com.au, 2018). Hence, it is necessary that the company serve vegetables and fruits that are freshly grown in the market and in the backyard of the company. According to Vargo, Wieland and Akaka (2015), for maximising profit, it is necessary that Woolworths produce fresh food items so that the customers are not harmed. However, the challenge lies in the preservation of the food items and the manner in which the customers are protected from harm. Woolworths need to innovate in this area by implementing techniques that are useful for the conservation of food. Innovative can be made in the manner of producing the food by using ingredients that are new on the market. For example, if Woolworths is to use canning techniques for preserving the food, it can make the cans in a manner that it a llows free flow of air but at the same time keeps the harmful particles away. The filtration can be done in this format. Bernstein (2015) stated that the issue related to the customer feedback might cause serious problems for an organisation. This is mainly because the feedback of the customers is necessary for an organisation to improve. In this regard, it can be said that Woolworths need to maintain the customer feedback process by continuously interacting with the customers. This particular innovative tactic will remain in the value domain of the company, as the customers and brand are a part of the domain. The marketing territory and the social factors governing the organisation may help in creating areas of progress in the organisation. Hence, Woolworths can address innovation for this particular issue by ensuring that the customers are approached via social media in a playful manner. Woolworths can arrange gaming activities in the social media or create an application that allows customers to indulge themselves in the reality of shopping while enjoying browsing in the social media. Gaps in the application Thus, it can be said that after the analysis of the innovation framework and the application of it in Woolworths, certain gaps have been identified that needs to be addressed. These gaps are identified from the analysis of the situations and the current secondary resources that are available for understanding this gap. The focus is on the three critical factors that affect the organisation and the manner in which innovation can be used to address the satisfaction of the customers. One such gap that has been identified is the lack of resources that can be used for mitigating the threat caused in the cyber department of Woolworths. According to Barrett et al. (2015), in the modern day, cybercrime is the most threatening factor that poses risk to business organisations. Woolworths lack the technical expertise necessary to prevent the website of the company being attacked by hackers and thereby prevent professional information of the company. Other gaps include the lack of partners. Woolworths is a parent company and lacks the aid of any partners. Although the company have managed to achieve top rank among the retail organisations in Australia, sometimes partnership can help in providing necessary stability in terms of finance and managerial advice. Therefore, this can be considered as one area in which Woolworths lacks in the effective application of innovative factors (Etzkowitz Ranga, 2015). The third gap that has been seen is the fact the interaction with the customers is a big drawback for the company. In the modern day, this is also another huge factor that needs to be addressed by Woolworths so that feedback from the customers can be generated. Thus, these gaps can create serious problems for Woolworths as the factors that are involved in the innovation of the organisation need to be addressed in a proper manner. Therefore, these areas need to be improved so that Woolworths can maintain innovative tactics in the organisation. To ensure that these areas are addressed in a proper manner, the managers of Woolworths need to undertake certain methods that can help in addressing the gaps. For example, the managers of Woolworths can indulge in adopting the disruptive method of innovation (Woolworthsgroup.com.au, 2018). This is mainly because of the fact that with the indulgence of this method, Woolworths can make rapid changes by implementing new technologies in the market. The application of the new technologies can help Woolworths to improve and solve the matter related to the cybercrime of the company (Van Oort, 2017). Despite the fact that sometimes, the application of the new technologies can be expensive; the fact that Woolworths earn revenue of AUD$42 billion can enable the company to afford such purchase (Woolworthsgroup.com.au, 2018). This can also be useful to enhance the interactive sessi ons with the customers. Hence, a plan can be developed to address the weakness of the company. Addressing area of weakness in organisations West et al. (2014) stated that an effective plan needs to focus on the areas that require development along with identify new areas that can be improved to ensure that an organisation succeeds. Hence, in the case of Woolworths, the company need to ensure that suitable plans are developed that can help the company to address the issues in an innovative manner. Therefore, the plan that can be developed to address the issue includes effective addressing of the external environment. This can help Woolworths to continue with the activities that are required for maintaining stability in the organisation. This includes conducting a proper marketing analysis of the factors that are involved in conducting business in the external environment of the company. The managers of Woolworths can sanction the plan so that the company can identify the potential opportunities to expand its business in overseas markets (Woolworthsgroup.com.au, 2018). Thus, this can help Woolworths to address the mission of the company. Conclusion Hence, it can be concluded that innovation is required for maintaining a competitive advantage in the organisations. Every organisation need to innovate its product and services so that it can have an effective sale in the business market. The manner in which the innovation framework can be used highlights the different domain that exists in the innovation of the strategies. In the case of Woolworths, the three issues that have been identified may pose threat to the reputation of the company. Hence, the application of the innovation framework can be applied in a systematic manner to address the requirements of the organisations and develop new plans for mitigating the scenario. Thus, it can be said that without proper innovation, an organisation cannot hope to gain success in the business sector. References Adams, R., Jeanrenaud, S., Bessant, J., Denyer, D., Overy, P. (2016). 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