Innovation Management Methods

Describe about the Innovation Management for Process of Managing a Firm.

Innovation management is the process of managing a firm’s innovation procedure by beginning at the initial stage of idea formulation up to its final stage of successful implementation. All in all, it includes the whole process of implementing an innovation strategy (Lewandoski, 2015, p. 70). Most companies depend on innovation to develop products that can help consumers meet their needs. Innovation management is not a new concept to businesses. The high competition and the need for organizations to meet their set goals and objectives drives the companies to implement innovation management. Occasionally, these innovation management processes apply a disruptive method of change to change business. Innovation gives companies a competitive advantage over their competitors. Most companies try very hard to become market leaders in their respective industries. A closer look at successful companies like Microsoft and Apple technology, researchers found out that these businesses have well-developed innovation management policies and plans that guide the whole process to success. These companies rely much on innovation thus their ability to be market leaders. The purpose of this report is to determine with a succinct overview what innovation management entails.

Innovation Management Methods

Innovation management methods are three namely incremental, disruptive and breakthrough. Incremental innovation management is mainly applied in an industry where businesses have to reinvent themselves regularly (Byrnes, 2014, p.63). Businesses that have to reinvent themselves constantly thrive by improving current products and services and processes. The products produced by these businesses will have constantly improved over the years, and even the clients can acknowledge the fact. A good example of incremental technology is in the consumer technology industry. The consumer technology industry has strived to improve personal gadgets with customer-friendly apps and features thereby improving the position of the product in the market. A breakthrough innovation boosts the level of a product and service within an industry ahead of its main competitors. An example of a breakthrough technology is the virtual reality. A disruptive innovation promoters change in the market and help an organization gain a competitive advantage over its competitors in the industry. Examples of disruptive innovation include e-book readers and digital cameras.

An innovation management framework is a process that shows innovation management as a structured set of ideas and practices and focuses on their applicability to the set target of enabling and implementing innovation in organizations. An innovation framework provides control to the whole process of innovation management. Innovation management requires the management to design a framework that is suitable to the company’s needs and objectives. The innovation management framework guides the whole innovation management process by providing the necessary steps and procedures to be followed towards the successful process of innovation management. The innovation management framework has to be aligned with the strategic vision of the business. An innovation framework helps the organization not to wait for innovation to arrive arbitrarily but plan proactively and set the necessary system to utilize the new set of ideas. As innovation management is not an unexpected choice that the company makes, it thus needs an innovation framework to work on for success and efficient utilization of resources.

Innovation Management Framework

The dimensions of innovation management framework include; competitive advantage and customers also execution, business alignment, and business value. An advantage competitive foundation is based on the unique selling proposition for the concept. The idea should be different and unique to provide a competitive position for the firm in the market. In a given industry like the gaming industry, a company like Nintendo focused on how gamers want to play, unlike its competitors who focused more on graphics. Differentiation is a major factor to look into when conceptualizing an innovative idea. The innovation should help the company gain a competitive advantage over its competitors. Business alignment dimension requires the idea to align with the current and future business direction of the enterprise. The idea should be conceptualized around the strategic focus of the business goals and objectives. In a nutshell, the innovative idea should not change the organization completely but just modify on what the organization does (Chatterjee and Sahasranamam, 2014, p. 1802). The designed features should be aligned to the firm’s strategic focus on the business. Business value refers to what potential gains are in for the business in pursuing the innovation. The Business value dimension focuses on the important benefits for the organization and how the revenues will be generated. The value definition is a crucial part of the business model of the innovation and influences the choice of the innovation to implement.

Customers are vital to a business’s core existence. It is crucial for an organization to know its customers for an idea to build it based on the preferences and needs of the client. A key ingredient in innovation is to define the customer segment. An innovator should understand clearly the wants of clients and formulate the unique differentiators along what is thought to be important for that particular market segment. Before settling on innovation, a firm has to do extensive research on the market to have a clear understanding of what the market requires and if the innovation tends to meet those needs (Rasmussen and Hall, 2016, p. 356)

. Execution includes the complementing components that are needed to conceptualize the idea into a successful innovation for taking it to the customers. The organization should consider how to incubate the idea and the technical know-how that best suits the idea. The innovator should consider the resources required; risks involved, partnerships, suppliers and the eco-system in the market for the success of the innovation. It is not good to rush into an innovation when all factors that can affect the innovation have not been considered. It is critical to articulate an execution plan for the innovation.

Dimensions of Innovation Management Framework

Domino’s Pizza is restaurant that has branches all over the world, and it specializes in Pizza cooking and pizza delivery. Domino’s Pizza has its headquarters in Michigan United States. The restaurant was founded in 1960 by Tom Monaghan and James. The company operates in 81 countries in the world and is available on every continent. The pizza industry is very competitive thus the need for Domino’s to be very innovative to counter competition from its main competitors. Though over the years, Domino’s has tried to venture into non-pizza products such as apple pies and chicken wings it is widely known for pizza. Domino’s Pizza changed its name in 2012 to Domino’s to make the market aware of other variety of products that were non-pizza related (Hartley, 2015, p.3). The store has employed many people, and it has gained international recognition for its products and service delivery.

Domino’s is very critical when it comes to service delivery. Over the years, Dominos has reinvented its operations over the years to offer quality services to its customers. In the year 2007, Domino’s developed its online and mobile ordering sites. The ordering site has made it easier for customers and pizza moguls to place orders for their pizza. Domino’s has also developed mobile apps for Android users, Windows users, and IPhone. These innovations have been developed by the company to improve services delivery and cut down operating costs (MacArthur, 2006, p 10). Clients can now get the same services as visiting a Domino’s store at their doorstep. Though Domino’s introduced home delivery service some years ago, it has not stopped there.

Domino’s developed a live Pizza tracker system on both Android and iOS watches in Australia. Domino’s constant pursuit of innovation is very clear to the Pizza, market leader. Domino’s developed a ‘4 Click Ordering,’ ‘payment tokenization’ and ‘five click ordering’ to improve in making orders and payment system. Through a smart watch, a person can easily order and pay for a Domino,s Pizza and pay from the comfort of your home. The mobile apps are connected to an online responsive website making it just an easy click ordering system. Designed Pizza tracker technology is also developed for smart watches and Domino’s apps on mobile phones. Through the use of a Global Positioning System (GPS) tracker, a client is introduced to his or her driver and can track the vehicle from the store to the house.

Domino’s Pizza

To customize pizzas, Domino’s developed the Pizza Mogul program where pizza moguls can create an account and customize their pizzas using the Domino’s toppings (Klie, 2014, p.47). The program is a great initiative that allows people to order pizzas they have helped to design. The innovation has attracted a lot of customers who can now order the pizza of their choice with a large variety to choose from. If someone orders one of your creations, Domino’s gives the account user a certain percentage from the pizza sale. The initiative also allows users to donate some of their gains to charity. Domino’s unveiled a special pizza delivery car. The car has the potential to carry eighty pizzas and two-liter bottles of soda plus dipping sauce. The car named DXP has a one hundred and forty degree oven fitted in the car and it is manufactured to be fuel efficient. The innovation DXP is expected to improve services delivery to customers and reduce ordering downtime.

Though the innovations have helped Domino’s gain competitive advantage, the innovations have also had adverse effects on the company. The prices of the pizzas have been rising slowly to enable Domino’s meet its running costs. In the U.S especially there is high competition and thus the need to reduce the costs of its products to the same level as its competitors. Domino’s has concentrated more on innovation forgetting that to maintain its position in the market it has to consider other marketing strategies. In its product dimension, Domino’s has to input more effort to continue developing its products for the future. Its current strategy does not paint a good future for developed products. On execution dimension, it is vital for Domino’s to emphasize on both product offerings and marketing strategy. Dud services and products combined with dud commercials can do a lot of brand image to Domino’s.

The efforts that Domino’s management is making in supporting innovation deserve an applause. The company has made great strides to revolutionize the pizza industry, and it has taken the Australian market by storm. The innovation management framework used by the Domino’s laid a good foundation for the success of its innovations. The innovations ensure pitch sales, customer satisfaction and it has increased customer relations with the company (Magdalene, 2015, p. 53) . The innovations have attracted a lot of revenues for the company as increased sales were attributed to the high numbers of online orders placed by clients. Though there is still room for improvement in innovation management at Domino’s, the milestone achieved has propelled the organization to success. Domino’s Group CEO, Don Meij stated that the progressive Pizza Mogul has been a major sales driver and that the company was looking forward to adding more innovations such as a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) ordering system.

Surf Life Saving Australia formed in October 1907, is an organization that provides surf rescue services and safety of human beings in the water. The organization is a non-profit making organization formed by volunteering life savers whose main role is saving a life. Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA) offers education to the communities and has over one hundred and sixty-six thousand members committed to its course (Booth, 2008, p. 167). The organization operates most of the beaches in Australia. It sources for funds from the Government, fundraising, community donations and corporate sponsorships. SLSA was formed by nine surf lifesaving clubs in Australia who in a meeting resolved to form one single association of surf clubs. The association was called The Surf Bathing Association of New South Wales. The association was to acquire or develop better facilities for surf bathing at the beaches, promote and regulate surf bathing. The Association in 1922 was renamed to Surf Life Saving Association of Australia (SLSAA) sand later in 1991 it changed its name from SLSAA to Surf Life Saving Australia. The association has helped reduce the number of deaths at the beaches. SLSA offers opportunities to the young and old to help in saving lives of people.

 The surfing world has seen significant innovations to help save a lot of lives and prevent any accidents from occurring. The innovation of drones to search for and rescue distressed surfers and swimmers. The drones have the surveillance ability to detect sharks during the day and at night. Most deaths at the Australian beaches are associated with strong winds and shark attacks. The drones will be useful in both preventive and reactive purposes particularly in large-scale searches, high-risk surveillance and for rescue services. The beaches have drowning black spots where life savers and rescue services are not well equipped to cope with the dangers posed (Slotkin et al., 2009, p. 2010). The drones will also help in reducing the lives lost during a rescue mission. The drones will be used to check for sharks near the beach and to ensure that the water is clear for safe surfing. The drones are a lot quicker than human beings thus can cover larger areas in a few minutes and offer assistance efficiently.

The little ripper is a drone introduced in Australia to reduce and prevent shark attacks. The drones which have military technology have a front-mounted camera for recording and feeding live footage back to the technicians. The drone can fly a maximum of one hundred kilometers and can stay airborne for over 100 minutes to spot sharks. Shark attacks have been a menace to beach lovers and surfers altogether. The attacks were pushing away Australians and tourists from the beach. The drones are remote controlled, but the controller can view the feedback streaming and see what happens in the sea. The drones can be used to drop rescue packs as well as other lifesaving equipment (Ball, 2016, p. 5). The drones have undergone a lot of tests to ensure that they are of business value and can help save lives.

Though the drones offer to save a lot of lives, there is a catch. The pricing of the drones is too high thus not considering the customer dimension in innovation management framework.  When considering the viability of the drones, the organization did not consider individual Australian buyers. Throughout their testing period, the drones proved useful but without human input, they are not able to achieve their purpose (Ribas et al., 2014, p.1201). A customer is an imperative input to any innovative idea. Given that SLSA is a nonprofit organization, the drones are not evaluated for business value. The impact of the drones to saving lives cannot be quantified regarding business value thus a limit to the dimensions of the innovation management framework.

The actions of the SLSA have to be noticed. They have put so much effort in the development of technology to make the beaches as safe as possible for human beings. The dangers of shark attack have had a negative impact on the economy of Australia as they had led to few beach activities (Chan, 2016, p.1). SLSA has made tremendous efforts in innovation management. Through their full involvement in developing surf lifesaving equipment, they make sure all dimensions of the products innovation framework are met. The equipment, for example, the drone and shark deterring items are made to suit the beach life and all its activities. The innovations meet their main purpose which is to help save lives and prevent any accidents that could endanger the lives of people from happening. It is proper to say that the drones, will integrate into the future strategies of the organization (Ferguson, 2007, p.1). Throughout the innovation process, the SLSA made sure that the developers and other stakeholders get a return on all, there inputs thus the high price of the drones, but the market is readily available. It is prudent to say that the SLSA has done better in innovation management.

Conclusion

In conclusion, innovation management is an important aspect regarding the success of innovation. Before a company dives too much in an idea, the organization has to consider the dimensions of innovation management framework. The framework which is based on two views namely the business model view and the business strategy view will ensure the success of the innovation. Innovation is the only way in which all the problems facing the society and organizations can be solved. Without innovation management ideas will remain ideas and no successful conceptualization can take place.

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