Unit 8: Innovation And Commercialization (Hibo) Case Study

Unit 8: Innovation And Commercialization (Hibo)

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Introduction: Unit 8: Innovation And Commercialization (Hibo)

Innovation in business can be defined as an item, administration, plan of action, or methodology that is both novel along with helpful. Innovation in business usually does not need to be significant leap forwards in innovation or new plans of action; they can be pretty much as straightforward as moves up to an organization's client care or elements added to a current item. Innovation in any business case is also referred to as the modifications created in order to create a technique additionally effective. For instance, mechanical production systems were a leap forward in assembling. So, it can be identified from the discussion that one of the main objectives of conducting this study is to shed light on the topic of innovation in business cases. The study has been divided into two main segments in which based on the given scenario’s solution will be given to the selected UK based online grocery stores.

Part 1

LO1: Investigate how innovation is sourced and supported within different types of organisations

P1 Ways in which different organisations source and foster innovation

There are various ways through which a company can foster and source innovation. But the success and failure of this innovative technique is usually depending on how the company is deploying those innovative technique and serving the clients. Also post coronavirus pandemic it has been seen most of the customers are preferring to do online shopping instead of visiting the shop which increases the pressure over the online websites to serve them better. So, keeping in mind the given scenario in Part 1 of the study the two online grocery retailers that has been selected to see how they source and foster innovation within their functioning are Amazon and Sainsbury.

So, it can be identified from the overall discussion that sourcing and fostering innovation in case of UK’s leading online grocery stores follows various e-commerce tools so as to provide the best services to its clients which make them happy and also allows companies to retain them for longer period of time that directly impacts the image of the company in a positive manner.

M1 Ways in which innovation is sourced and supported within different organisation environments and cultures

In the above discussed section, a brief detail about in what manner innovation is sourced as well as fostered within Amazon and Sainsbury has been given. Now in this segment of the study a brief discussion will be done on in what manner the innovation is soured as supported within both the company’s online grocery stores culture. There is huge difference between the culture followed in physical stores and online stores as their functioning technique are totally different. Particularly in case of online grocery stores it has been seen that the organization culture is mainly focussed on maintaining the data integrity and serving the client with utmost faith as the whole function is done via online. Keeping in mind these points in case of Amazon’s online grocery shopping culture it has been seen that they generate a mutual comprehension of innovation among the employees and customers. Development is context-oriented, and that intends that while the company might comprehend the significance of development, try to decipher the overall meaning of what advancement is to what it explicitly resembles and is planned to do in your association. It must be in plain language and it must be pertinent to everybody in the association. However, in case of Sainsbury it has been seen that the innovation is sourced and supported by empowering steadiness. It is done by utilizing inspiring proclamations that clarify that the quest for an answer is imperative. Assess execution, whenever the situation allows, as far as how compelling a colleague is at adjusting and working together with others, not the number of issues they have neatly tackled. Enabling voice ordering is also one of the processes which has been seen in case of both Amazon and Sainsbury is using to source and support innovation. Voice-enacted shopping is perhaps the most creative innovation that is on the ascent in the staple space. Amazon is utilizing its advanced aide Alexa to empower UK-based Amazon Prime individuals to shop at its staple chain Entire Food varieties, while customers at Carrefour stores in France can associate through Google shrewd speakers and cell phones.

Online grocery Retailers have for some time been depending on income sources irrelevant to centre items. It has been seen that Sainsbury has started presenting free well-being evaluating stands and in-person meetings for clients, while likewise cooperating with neighbourhood essential consideration centre organizations to give low-to no-cost medical services for their representatives, especially after this Covid-19 pandemic. This speculation opens another wellspring of income, yet in addition, gives health care to representatives that can create reserve funds for the business over the long haul.

So, from the overall discussion it can be identified there are various ways though which big online retail giants like Amazon and Sainsbury source and support innovation within different environment and culture. Online store is bound to face various issues as it is not handled manually as a result it is important for the companies to accept and select innovation based on the type of market they are serving.

LO2: Explore the processing of different types of innovation within organisations

P2: Differentiate between different types of innovation and how they are processed within organisations

Typically, there are three basic types of innovation that any online grocery stores can choose to implement. These are ly Radical, disruptive and incremental. These innovation types vary according to the products and services provides by the company, the branding essence, the market and so on. For introducing innovation, companies must first be aware of the types that exist (Rajapathirana et al. 2018)

• Radical innovation: Suggestive of the , this type of innovation changes the entire situation of Amazon’s and Sainsbury’s online store functioning with regard to the dynamics or the market of the business. This can occur due to multiple reasons such as the positioning of the brand, its process of working and the products or service that it provides to the customers. One of the best examples is that of Sainsbury’s daily use items. In order to implement radical innovation, organizations must be willing to take risks.
• Disruptive innovation: This type of innovation has been favored with the ongoing behavioral and technological changes in the past few decades. This innovation is known for following the entire niche market rather than a specific product or service. It can further be clouted by anything that has been previously offered by Amazon online grocery store and henceforth draws its from the same. However, in general times it can be defined as a change that is scalable and reaches a wide number of people during a time frame. Again, one of the most successful examples of disruptive innovation is Amazon and Sainsbury. It earlier depended on customer who only come for physical buying like later on it ventured into a subscription-based model whereby customers could get their products on a monthly basis as and when they need. The quintessential step in implementing disruptive innovation is identifying the crucial markets of the company and deciding on the most important segments of the market.
• Incremental innovation: Increment means promotion. Incremental innovation adds new features or updates to an existing product without introducing any changes that revolutionize the basis of the product or service (Kobarg et al. 2019). The add-ons often complement the other aspects of the company such as the employees, business features or even customers. An example would be again Amazon and Sainsbury. Initially created for providing email features to users but later on, several add-ons were done to improve the experience of the customers. The first and foremost step while implementing incremental innovation is understanding the customers and their needs and accordingly changing the product or the service. Incremental innovation can also be augmented with radical innovation.

M2: Analyze how different types of innovation are successfully processed within different organization settings

Disruptive innovation is applied differently in different organizations depending upon its structure and other various factors. There are several approaches to implementing it. This includes low-end disruption where the customers who do not need the entire performance are placed at a high end of the niche market. Then there is a new market disruption where the customers have needs that were not addressed previously by other occupants. From here the scope can be expanded when opportunities are seen. Then again, using supply sources that were not used properly or were largely unused can be used to bridge the gap between seller and buyer.

Radical innovation can be practiced by any type of online grocery stoes, small or big. However, the challenges and the strength differ according to the size of the company. Small companies have the flexibility to implement a radical idea but they mostly are not able to scale the idea. In comparison, it is relatively easier for companies larger in size to scale the ideas but the challenge to get approval from the top management about a risky project remains alarmingly high. Before deciding to implement radical innovation, it is important to identify the challenges faced by the particular organization. Radical innovation means taking risks. However, it also means taking a strategic risk and not just incalculable risks.

Irrespective of the size and for how long the company has been operational, it must always try to innovate to remain competitive. However, this doesn’t mean changing the entire thing every time they decide to innovate. Incremental innovation means taking small steps that are significantly giving a competitive advantage to the company. This has to be an ongoing process. While deciding how to allocate the resources of a company in the best way two things have to be considered: scale and maturity.

D1 Critically analyze how innovation is successfully developed and embedded in different organizational contexts

Due to the current business environment that is highly dynamic and competitive, big online grocery stores like Amazon and Sainsbury must become adaptive and flexible (Hopp et al. 2018). For successful implementation of innovation, Amazon and Sainsbury must adopt multidisciplinary inter-functional structures that have become quintessential. For the success of innovation, be it of any kind, the role played by the dynamics of the internal team must be adequately addressed. It is important as the frequency and type of conflicts among the members of a team affect overall team performance. During the innovation process, it becomes important to maintain and manage the integration between employees. It is important as the innovation process involves high amounts of information exchange and also results in high levels of risk interdependencies. Inter-functional teams are the most important factor in ensuring a positive innovation process. Teams that are inter-functional are seen to be more effective when they seek a common goal.

Apart from inter-functional teams, the top management of an organization also plays an important role in ensuring the success of the innovation process. Engagement of the senior officials or management in the process proves to be a company asset as their knowledge and know-how are highly tacit and contribute in a positive way (Anning-Dorson, 2018). The senior executive will be responsible for fostering a company culture that encourages innovation at every step. There should be no space for ambiguity. A recent trend in the face of globalization for implementing the innovation process is making strategic alliances. Because of the increasing competition and lack of proper and adequate knowledge, companies today have started sharing their knowledge and resources when trying to come up with a new product. These alliances can be of several types including joint ventures, collaborations, supplier relations and so on.

Lastly, analyzing the extent of success of the innovation or even its failure is truly a deciding factor in its success. The innovation process must be analyzed at every step so that change can be made accordingly to keep it on a path of success or discard it altogether.

Part 2

LO3: Apply the process required to commercialize innovation within an organization

P3: Produce a detailed business case for innovation for an organization, including risks, benefits and ways to access funding

A business innovation case describes the reason to take action for the innovation (Owen et al. 2018) The business case is a written document including the intangible and tangible risks, the innovation’s advantage and the reason behind taking action for the innovation. Particularly in this case the business case of online grocery stores within UK will be explained.

Trusting the business innovation case

While presenting a business innovation case of online grocery stores within UK, the organization needs to gain the trust of the people who listen to the presentation which means people need to trust the innovation's potential and capability of achieving the planned targets if providing the best deal of product via online. In order to get the best response from the people, the online grocery stores should try to make the business innovation case direct, transparent, credible, reliable and strategized. As online grocery stores, it is very important to understand the importance that the business case should be transparent and direct and to create a transparent and direct case the organization should take time and pay attention to all the details. The quality of the business innovation case represents the picture of the organization.

The business case should be not over-written

An organization should prepare a business carefully and the written should not be longer than needed. It's vital for an organization to only include the data which would responsible for the process of decision-making. The business case should not include any information that would not be responsible for the process of decision-making (Games and Rendi). The necessity of only including information that would influence the process of decision-making is to make the business case transparent and clear. The business case that is prepared by an organization should always be simple and transparent no matter the complexity of the innovation so that the business case is appropriate in a short period.

The information required in the business case

Every business case is different that is the reason organizations should only add relevant information without including things about which the organization has no idea. Writing a business case is beneficial as well because when an organization prepares a business case, it enables the organization to consider elements that the organization wouldn't have considered. This helps the organization to prepare a better business study with better clarity and simplicity. The organization should explain the need for innovation and how it would bring a change in the market and a change in the life the customers. The biggest factor about an idea or innovation is its sustainability in the market, and an organization that prepares the business case should also include information that would answer this question simply and directly. Organizations should also include the expense of starting the work and the potential profitability of the concept (Bredmar, 2017)

Challenges of the business innovation case

The biggest challenge that online grocery stores face while building an innovative business is that the organizations have no clarity about the market and its biggest competitors move like Tesco, Amazon and Sainsbury. This means the online grocery stores are unable to have a clear idea of being successful, this makes the process of finding investors tough because organizations have no idea to represent the innovations as profitable or investable. The second problem that organizations face is the lack of accurate information (Schaltegger et al. 2019). The lack of information stops the organization from finding the best answers to the questions that the investors ask. The clarity in writing the business case would help the organizations to get the best answers and this process would take time, so the organization should patiently and carefully prepare the business case. The last common problem that organizations face is handling time, organizations are busy because they need to work on different projects but if the organization feels that the innovation has the potential to be successful then it would require time, writing down the innovation in the business case with the possible outcomes would help the organization understand if the assumptions about the potential of innovation are valid or not (Kodama, 2018). Organizations should understand that starting an innovation business is not at all an easy task, so organizations have to invest their time in preparing the business case for getting an about the transparency of the innovation.

M3 Produce an evidence-based business case analysis for innovation that emphasizes the business value for potential investment.

According to various studies, the innovation business is classified into two types, incremental innovation and the other is radical innovation. Radical innovation businesses could be referred to as an organization’s idea to do something that has never been done. Radical innovation businesses are set up to utilize the opportunities existing in the market in order to bring huge changes in people’s life (Kodama, 2019). Incremental innovation businesses could be referred to as organizations that plan to make improvements and develop an already existing product of the market by changing small things so that the performance and durability. As per multiple studies, there is a potential third type of innovation business which is the disruptive innovation business. In this type of innovation business organizations create a plan to form a new market or plan to transform the existing market. The best example of innovative business is a separate segment for Amazon’s grocery store. Amazon as an employee-owned organization for managing various products ranges earned a huge reputation when the company provide the solution for business problems through online facility. As online store process was used, the fun way of solving problems started engaging the users. This helped the company gain more and more users. In the beginning, Amazon’s grocery store was not able successfully to operate because it was not able to provide the customer with an engaging and stable experience. After that, the company prepared an innovation business case where they mentioned the company's preference to use the Amazon’s online grocery store in order to create an engaging experience for the users and add fun in the process of solving problems. The clarity of the business case allowed Amazon’s grocery store as a company to positively influence the process of decision-making and investors started showing interest in their concept (Parida et al. 2019). Amazon’s online grocery store planned to add simple things to their existing product, for example, Amazon’s online grocery store created a points table through which they rewarded the users after every monthly grocery purchase. Amazon’s online grocery store d this process an Innovation Game. The users were given the chance to earn rewards by completing surveys, volunteering at an event or attending webinars. This helped Amazon’s online grocery store as a company to create an engaging environment for all the users while also helping the company to create a huge user base for their product. This evidence of innovative business shows how some changes in the process of operating could bring massive changes in the outcome. In this modern era, every organization has numerous opportunities to become successful, that is the reason organizations with ideas that they think would change the market and bring value to the life of people should properly prepare a business case. Preparing the business case would help the organization to find more ways to improve their idea and find more things that the product would offer. During the preparation of the business, the organization would also be able to understand the sustainability of the idea. With the help of business cases organizations would also be able to know the amount of investment their innovation would require to become a reality, most innovation businesses require huge investments, and types of machinery and consume a lot of time. This is the reason organizations have to plan the process properly by not only focusing on the innovation they create but also maintaining the previous services they provide so that the organization's productivity is not damaged (Nosratabadi et al. 2019). The organization should always prepare a business case before taking action so that the organization understands the things that are required to be done in order to get the best results.

LO4: Evaluate the range of methods for protecting innovation within organizations

P4: Evaluate the different tools that organizations can use to develop, retain and protect knowledge and intellectual property

Protecting the intellectual property or IP of an organization is crucial for securing an economic benefit for the company. It ensures that the products or services that are unique to the company are protected and cannot be copied by others. While the best way to safeguard the intellectual property of a company is by registering it with the government and thereafter enforcing the rights of ownership, there are other ways to protect IP as well (Siegel and Wessner, 2018).

Implementing the DRM or Digital Rights management system: When the work of an organization is available online, some accessors may try to copy it. DRM safeguards the assets of the company that is published online by coding that does various functions. This includes restricting the amount of time that a person or any individual can access the company window, preventing the accessor from copying, saving or editing the original work. Using watermarks to establish rights of ownership. It also includes limiting the number of devices from which the website can be accessed. DRM is mostly chosen by companies to protect content like e-books, software, market reports and so on.

According to clauses of NDA or non-disclosure agreements, prevents any shareholder from sharing any crucial information mentioned by the NDA (Agostini et al. 2020). Drafting NDA is important for strengthening the defense against violations of IP protections such as misappropriations or misuse of trade secrets.

Protecting a secret includes taking proactive action unless and until there is only one person who is aware of the secret. In absence of proper security protecting a business secret, it is impossible to convince courts that the secrets were highly important to protect them. String credentials are important to protect any outside access to intellectual property. This includes demarcating teams to prevent sharing of files, giving adequate training to employees about the best security practices of the company and keep changing passwords frequently. With such measures, the chances of security leakage are reduced but not eliminated (Bockenet et al. 2019). Leaks can still happen and in case such a situation arises it is best to consult an IP expert. In today’s data and the internet-driven world, while it can’t always be possible to protect your IP, documenting the innovations and discoveries as they happen is necessary.

M4 Critically evaluate the different tools that organizations can use to develop, retain and protect knowledge and intellectual property in the context of the wider business environment

In today’s digital world, almost all sort of online grocery stores has gained advantages from the internet. However, like any other aspect, it also has its cons. While the internet has allowed the online grocery stores to reach a wider market at a relatively cheaper cost, it also has heightened the risks of violations of intellectual property (Foerderer, 2020). Therefore, in today's internet and highly technologically advanced world, it has become increasingly important to protect intellectual property. There are various tools and ways that the online grocery stores can use and implement to protect its intellectual property.

Online grocery stores can safeguard their research and development operations and their core internal management by registering their intellectual property rights (Pieroni et al. 2019). This also gives them a better position for making counterclaims and cross-licensing. Having rights over their intellectual property, allows online grocery stores to dissuade newly entering companies, create an obstruction for goods that are competitive and lay a path for market share in the future using technological developments. Intellectual property rights can come in different forms. Each form is a protective right that can be used to sue a third person in any case of violation.

Copyrights ensure that the original functioning of the online grocery stores or the original artistic expression are safeguarded. Copyrights can be issued for drawings, any form of text, artwork or any work a combination of all of these (Matzembacher et al. 2020). Trademarks on the other hand are logos, symbols or brand s that make the services or products of a company unique from the similar products and services of other competitive companies. A trademark can be an emblem, photograph, inscription, advertising, words, signature and so on.

Patents are also another form of intellectual property rights that is mainly used to protect a new and unique innovation that was previously unknown to the public. The public must be made aware of the technical information related to the innovation or experiment by making an application for a patent.

Plagiarism is a persistent problem in all organizations irrespective of the type of industry they operate in. It can also be used to understand why creativity is seen to make such leaps of evolution. Competitors won’t be able to stay on par if the innovation so made has several loops in it (Lüdeke?Freund, 2020). This would require a business to be lean and fast-paced like that of an Olympic athlete.

One of the most important components among others is making separate teams if possible so that neither of them has the access to an entire product. In case they want to breach the product of its rights they will have to work cooperatively. Separate duties to separate teams are quintessential in securing information related to intellectual property.

D2 Produce a commercially driven business case for innovation, including an action plan for development and methods for its successful protection in the context of the wider business environment

Successfully exploiting new ideas is vital for any organization for achieving progress. Organizations with a motivation to make innovation need to prepare a well-documented business case (Kahn et al, 2018). Organizations need to prepare a business plan properly because while preparing the business case the company would be able to understand the innovation completely, preparing a business case also helps the organization to learn about the factors related to the innovation in a better way. There are several things that organizations miss out on while discussing innovation but the process of preparing a business case enables the company to know about the factors that they don’t think about while discussing it. Innovative businesses can be referred to as creative businesses. One of the best examples of innovative businesses is Apple Inc. Apple is one of the most famous companies to make smartphones (Cillo et al. 2019). Apple came up with the innovation of changing key-pad phones to smartphones. Apple identified the market before other companies and prepared the business case by noting all the things that were required to transform the market of cell phones. Apple developed its operating software known as IOS which helped them to become different from other companies. The business case allowed Apple as the company to recognize the demand of the cell phone market. Apple as a company planned not to focus on making different products instead, they identified that improving the product regularly would help the organization to get more clients. No one would be able to deny the success that Apple's iPhone series has achieved and the reason behind this is Apple's constant effort to make innovations in their smartphones. Apple was the first company to introduce face unlock, no other company was able to identify the need for this feature but once Apple came up with the innovation, all the other companies followed it. This level of consistent success is only possible for a company like Apple because of the appropriate preparation of the innovation business case, this helped Apple to identify all the factors that were necessary for its innovation to be successful.

Conclusion

So, it can be concluded from the overall study innovation plays a very pivotal role in shaping the business life for any organization. It can also be identified from the overall study that the selected two UK based online retail store that is Amazon and Sainsbury is adopting various innovative techniques to process their functioning through which they can serve better to their customers. Considering the innovation technique both the retailers have used it has also been identified that some of them are considered s success for them while o few others are not a success. So, overall, it can be said that not always innovation helps in achieving the desired goals based on how companies are using them helps in making innovation a success.

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