B205a Exploring Innovation & Entrepreneurship

CREATING INNOVATION FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE:
A PROCTOR & GAMBLE CASE STUDY
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A Proctor & Gamble Case Study 2
Creating Innovation for Competitive Advantage
A Proctor & Gamble Case Study
Question 1: what is the importance of innovation for Proctor & Gamble, reference your
answer from the case study(200words)
Innovations are increasingly becoming important for the organization in today’s business
environments have become increasingly complex and volatile. Innovation helps organizations in
overcoming the shortcomings presents in their markets (Barrett, Davidson, Prabhu and Vargo
2015). Proctor and Gamble is a large firm with vast products making innovation a crucial factor
in its growth and development in its market. Through innovation, the firm is able to achieve an
innovative business model where they are the lead innovator in the market with over 2500
patents, gaining a competitive advantage over its rivals. Through innovation, Proctor and
Gamble is able to capture and nurture talent which will be essential for coming up with high-
quality new products to dominate the market and gaining a competitive advantage in the future.
This improves the product service delivery which is essential in ensuring consumer satisfaction
by adapting to their change in taste and preferences, therefore increasing consumer loyalty.
Innovation allows the development of tools that will monitor the performance of employee and
reward systems for exceptional employees which increases the overall productivity of the firm,
Nevertheless the management team at Proctor and Gamble is able to make effective decisions
which are speeded up through the availability of necessary and crucial information based on
research on the volatility of the business environment .

A Proctor & Gamble Case Study 3
Question 2: Assess the role of goals and objectives at Proctor & Gamble in promoting its
innovation capabilities and support your analysis with evidence from the case.
Having clear goals and objectives plays a major role in improving the innovation capabilities of a
firm. In the case of Proctor and Gamble, it creates a conducive working environment for the
employees at the firm. This creates a basis of strong relationship where individuals are able to
communicate with one another and air their grievances to the management without fear of
persecution. Additionally, goals and objective at Proctor and Gamble is vested in creating a
competitive advantage through product development.
The firm currently boasts to have over 2500 patents which have assisted the firm in dominating
the market easily. Nevertheless, the product development has contributed in the field of research,
a good example in regards to the case is the groundbreaking research undertaken by Dr. David
Francis where he focused upon the release of calcium ion which created very many opportunities
of the firm’s products service delivery such as toothpaste improvements. Moreover, the vision
which leads this research undertaken resulted in a leap from one area of chemistry to the other
leading to the discovery of a new class of compounds: bisphosphonates! which was a cornerstone
for success.
Employees productivity is crucial to the overall performance of the company in day to day
business activities which have to ultimately lead in achieving the goals and objectives of Proctor
and Gamble. Therefore, monitoring the performance of employees is crucial since it will identify
employees who are lagging behind and nurture their skills and talent through training programs
(Dereli 2015). Consumer loyalty and satisfaction is essential to the growth and development of
Proctor and Gamble. Through studying the business environment and consumer targets
demographic, the firm is able to identify gaps and changes to taste and preferences of consumers

A Proctor & Gamble Case Study 4
who would automatically switch to other firms that meet their needs. The relationship is further
strengthened when the firm takes ideas and suggestions from its consumers regarding the various
aspect of the products which would be essential in creating quality product service delivery
ensuring consumer satisfaction and maintaining consumer loyalty in the long run.
Question 3Assess the role of organizational culture at in developing its innovative
capability supporting your answer with evidence from the case
Innovations are increasingly becoming important for the organization in today’s business
environments have become increasingly complex and volatile. Innovation helps organizations in
overcoming the shortcomings presents in their markets leading to the overall growth and
development of the firm (Hausman and Johnston 2014). Therefore, there is a need to foster an
organizational culture that creates a conducive environment for the development of innovation
capabilities. Proctor and Gamble is able to achieve this first, through its human resource
department by identifying and employing individuals with skills and talent for innovation
regardless of the department. The department then defines the internal environment by removing
any potential barriers that would hinder the development of its innovation capabilities. In
expelling the obstructions that keep individuals down, it empowers individuals to utilize their
mastery, respectability, drive, and craving to add to new product development and serve buyers
better. This regularly includes utilizing their imagination and forces of development to go past
acknowledged plans to produce better approaches for showing signs of improvement in their
results. Due to this fact, the thousands of employees identified with unique talent within Proctor
and Gamble organization will determine where the organization will make a difference in its
global markets and contribute to the advancement of technology in there are if expertise
ultimately serving the consumer better in the long run. Additionality the human resource

A Proctor & Gamble Case Study 5
department focuses on nurturing individual talents and their productivity towards their
designated projects through the use of performance monitoring tools and rewards programs.
Through this technique employees who are performing well a reward for their work while
employees who are lagging behind are taken through training programs that would assist them in
improving their skills and areas of work which will improve the productivity of the firm and
developing innovation capabilities that will lead Proctor and Gamble towards global success in
the overall market. Therefore, hiring people with the right attitude and skills fosters creativity
and effective interdepartmental communication in the firm. Therefore, the proper communication
between employees who are based in research work and other departments will develop an
innovative culture through sharing of ideas and suggestions that will ensure a new product will
succeed in the market
Question4 Assess the role of organizational structure at Proctor & Gamble in promoting its
innovative capability supporting your answer with evidence from the case
Innovation is the key to success for Proctor and Gamble in its market, this means that through
innovation the firm is able to gain a competitive advantage over its rivals in the market. A good
example in regards to the case is the groundbreaking research undertaken by Dr. David Francis
where he focused upon the release of calcium ion which created very many opportunities of the
firm’s products service delivery such as toothpaste improvements. Moreover, the vision which
leads to this research undertaken, resulted in a leap from one area of chemistry to the other
leading to the discovery of a new class of compounds: bisphosphonates! , which was a
cornerstone for success. All this has been made possible through the effective creation of a
conducive environment which ensures respect and effective interdepartmental communications.
This means that a simple idea can lead to the quality new product through the effective flow of

A Proctor & Gamble Case Study 6
information from one department to another regardless of the hierarchies available in those
department’s organizational structure supports innovative culture through creating a strong
relationships with the consumer through seeking opinions and ideas that will lead to the
improvement of a particular products or the innovations of a new products meeting the consumer
demands and changes in tats and preferences . However the organizational culture also supports
innovation through increased funding and provisions of necessary resource, this ensures the
smooth running of activities based on innovation and product development which also motivates
employees in performing their task as they are motivated by the length the firm is willing to go
to ensure support of the firms innovative capabilities in the long run (Barrett et al 2015).
Question5 Discuss the types and sources of innovation at Proctor & Gamble supporting
your answer with evidence from the case
Innovative ideas from salespeople- the sales department are responsible for ensuring the firm's
products are consumed by both loyal and prospective consumers in the market through sales
activities they actually play a big role in the generation of revenue for the firm in the long run.
However, this interactions with consumers give the salespeople a clear perspective of the taste
and preferences of the consumers. This generally means they know what the consumer wants and
what would make the particular product sell more or attract the consumer to the Proctor and
Gamble brand (West and Bogers 2014). Therefore, the salespeople might generate ideas based on
this and take it to the research team which will lead to the development of a new product or
tailoring the current product to cater the ideas given such as the development of Swiffer which
was made possible through listening to consumers
‘Blue sky’-this sources of innovation is actually based on research on a scientific field of study
that will lead to the generation of new ideas and concepts. This calls for the unity of the skilled

A Proctor & Gamble Case Study 7
individuals in a particular field such as chemistry where they are intended to make
groundbreaking discoveries that will lead to the development of new products such as the
groundbreaking research undertaken by Dr. David Francis where he focused upon the release of
calcium ion which created very many opportunities of the firm’s products service delivery such
as toothpaste improvements. Moreover, it resulted in a leap from one area of chemistry to the
other leading to the discovery of a new class of compounds.
Technology merging- this is when a firm identifies a potential innovation or product
development through the combining of two technologies to serve a similar but efficient purpose
and one of the old technologies or basically to serve a new and unidentified purpose. A good
example of such an innovation by Proctor and Gamble is the merging of baby wipes technology
which as so successful and the adding antibacterial properties to kill germs. This new technology
could not only be used for it intended purpose for the baby wipes technologies but could be used
to wipe other areas such as cars, equipment’s, furniture for the purpose of cleaning and
additionally killing gems
Transferring technologies -this is the transferring of other innovative products and processes to
other different products to obtain a new and improved product that will ensure quality products
service delivery, basically adding a competitive advantage on a new product which ensures the
firm is ahead of its game in it markets such as the Flash antibacterial wipes.
Extension of existing products-This basically involves adding minor changes to an existing
technology or product that will ensure the continued use of the product by the consumer only in a
more effective way. The baby wipes product and technology was further extended through the
minor change of adding antibacterial properties that are used in killing germs

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Improvement of existing concepts – this source of innovation is where a product’s current
functionalities and purpose are significantly improved through research and innovation to serve a
better purpose . This leads it to increase consumer loyalty to the products as the firm is able to
adapt and predict the changes in consumer taste and preferences such as the Flash antibacterial
wipes.
Question 6 Discuss the role of entrepreneurial teams, in promoting innovation and
organizational success at Proctor& Gamble;
Entrepreneurial teams are vested in the growth and development of a firm regardless of the
volatility of the firm’s business environment where Innovations are increasingly becoming
important for organization Innovation in overcoming the shortcomings presents in their markets
(Camisón and Villar-López 2014). Proctor and Gamble's business model is based in the
innovation of new products and their advancement; therefore, the entrepreneurial teams conduct
research on their current business environment by identifying potential barriers to their success
and finding ways to prevent them or adapt to them. Presences of barriers basically mean the
potential loss of consumers due to their change and taste in preferences, by relaying this
information to the research and innovation department new products or change in product service
delivery to counter these barriers are easily achieved. Furthermore, the entrepreneurial team is
contributing to the creation of an organizational culture that develops and supports the firm
innovative capabilities by ensuring the goals and objectives set are achieved by the firm in the
long run (Pisano 2015).

A Proctor & Gamble Case Study 9
References
Hausman, A. and Johnston, W.J., 2014. The role of innovation in driving the economy: Lessons
from the global financial crisis. Journal of Business Research, 67(1), pp.2720-2726.
West, J. and Bogers, M., 2014. Leveraging external sources of innovation: a review of research
on open innovation. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 31(4), pp.814-831.
Camisón, C. and Villar-López, A., 2014. Organizational innovation as an enabler of
technological innovation capabilities and firm performance. Journal of business research, 67(1),
pp.2891-2902.
Dereli, D.D., 2015. Innovation management in global competition and competitive advantage.
Procedia-Social and behavioral sciences, 195, pp.1365-1370.
Pisano, G.P., 2015. You need an innovation strategy. Harvard Business Review, 93(6), pp.44-54.
Barrett, M., Davidson, E., Prabhu, J. and Vargo, S.L., 2015. Service innovation in the digital age:
key contributions and future directions., 39(1), pp.135-154.