Effective Use of Intellectual Property Tools for Business Sustainability

The given report discusses the importance of intellectual property (IP) tools for business sustainability. It highlights the advantages of protecting IP, including reducing the risk of competitors copying strategies and gaining competitive advantage. However, it also notes the disadvantages, such as additional costs and reduced quality of products if rights are not absolute. The report further recommends using effective IP tools to prevent others from copying products and strategies.

Table of Content
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INTRODUCTION
Innovation is the process of converting ideas and thoughts into action by providing
products that add value to the customer and gain competitive edge in rivalry market. It helps in
the growth and development of the organisation by targeting larger customer base and improving
profit margins (Scaringella, 2018). Therefore, innovation is necessary in order to remain
competitive in the global business environment. The present assignment report is based on
Essence Drinks which was established by Akshay Kumar and provides healthy mango lassi in
the UK market, but due to decline in its sales, owner thinks to innovate a new provide, i.e., Rose
Cheery lassi in order to capture larger market share by attracting customers from all age groups.
This report covers all concepts of innovation and determines the differentiation between
innovation and invention. It also discusses 4 p's of innovation and describes the process required
to commercialise innovation. At last, it evaluates range of methods to protect knowledge and
Intellectual property of the respective company.
TASK 1
Innovation is not only concerned with transforming of ideas and thoughts to manufacture
different products it is concerned with bringing modifications in the existing product. . It is the
application of better solutions and the practices to meet new requirements of the existing market.
Essence Drink which is a small scale business provide healthy mango Lassi in the UK market,
but due to entry of various competitors in market, it leads to decline in sales of company's
product. In order to maintain its sustainability, Essence Drinks thinks to bring innovation in Lassi
by bringing preservative rose Lassi in the market in order to capture larger market share and
attains maximum profitability.
The importance of bringing innovation in the organisation are discussed as follows-
 Bringing innovation in the Lassi product will allow the company to attract larger number
of customers by providing them products according to their requirements. It will also
help the firm in maintaining its sustainability in market for a long time period.
 It will assist Essence Drinks to gain competitive advantage as well as enhances its brand
image in the market and allows respective company to achieve its goals and objectives in
a proper manner (Ab Rashid and et.al., 2017).
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These are the various advantages that organisation receives while innovating its product,
but innovation is different from invention as it is concerned with the development of new
product which has never been available in the market and is completely new for the customers. It
is the procedure of creating something new whereas innovation is determined as the process of
adding new features in the existing products so as to create their demand in the competitive
market.
Difference between innovation and invention is described as follows-
Basis Innovation Invention
Meaning Innovation is concerned with
developing or innovating an
existing products by
converting ideas and thoughts
into action. Essence Drink has
brought innovation in its Lassi
product by adding rose cheery
flavours to it.
Invention is totally different
from innovation as it is
concerned with development
of new product that has never
been made before and is
completely a new product for
the customer.
Knowledge- As a way to capture larger
market share, it requires
effective mind-set and proper
knowledge of changing trends
in the market, thereby assist
company in bringing
successful innovation
(Mukherjee and Chawla,
2018).
For inventing a new product, it
requires proper research and
development skills so as to
analyse and information about
the customer behaviour in the
market.
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Organisational vision, leadership and teamwork and culture directs an organisation to
bring innovation at workplace so as achieve all of them within limited time period.
Organisation's vision should be clearly made and communicated to all the employees so that they
can work innovatively towards its success. The ways in which organisational vision, leadership,
culture and teamwork can shape innovation and commercialisation within Essence Drink are
discussed in detail as follows-
 Vision- Vision of the Essence Drink is to provide high quality Lassi to its customers that
provide them an enriching experience of having a natural, delightful and fresh preserved
lassi which can be used till two months from the manufactured date. When employee are
aware about vision it assist them to work more innovatively by generating more ideas
and achieves goals of business.
 Leadership- Leaders within Essence Drink should adopt democratic leadership style by
involving all the employees in decision making process. This leads to the generation of
more innovative ideas and assist company to bring innovation in their products according
to customer demands.
Team work- Effective team groups should be made within Essence Drinks so that employees
work collaboratively which can lead to development of more ideas and solutions and assist
Essence Drink to innovate its product and maintains sustainability of company in competitive
market place( Agolla and Van Lill, 2017). Different types of teams Essence Drink could make
are as follows-
 Project Teams- These team consist of employees who work towards completing the
project activities within the definite time period and achieve shared goals.
 Self Managed teams-It consist of the employees within the organisation and work
effectively towards reaching common goal and there is no specific authority as wella s
rules and expectations to guide their behaviour.
 Virtual Teams- Under this team employees working at different locations use various
network tools to contact each other and conducts the business functions effectively.
 Operational teams- These types of teams support other teams and forms to make sure that
all the business processes are carried smoothly and functionally.
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Forming these teams has greater benefits of innovation as the employees come up with new idea
sand can work collaboratively towards attainment of the organisational goals and leads to
effective innovation and commercialisation of product.
Entrepreneurial Teams- It consist of two or more individuals who have common interest to
establish their venture successfully and can forma and work efficiently towards the sucees of
entrepreneurial ventures.
Culture- Essence Drink should a create a positive culture by allowing workers to work
according to the acceptable rules and regulation and creates a open communication level which
assist them to work with dedication and provides away of generating more innovative ideas.
Their are different types of culture such as-
 Role Culture- Under this culture rules and regulations are strictly controlled and
individuals are clear with their roles and responsibilities in a effective manner.
 Power Culture- Under this culture power is held within few individuals and influences
power and takes the decision alone through the organisation.
 Person Culture- Under this culture individuals believe them superior to others in the
business and as all the individuals work just towards realisation of organisational goals.
 Task Culture- In this culture teams are formed to solve problems, they work collectively
and power is derived from expertise according to their requirements.
Essence Drinks follows task culture where individuals works in team towards the attainment of
common goals and objectives.
Innovation Culture- Under this culture leader within the respective organisation promotes
creativity within individual in order to nurture employees thinking to come up with new ideas
and suggestions and assist the respective company to gain competitive advantage.
TASK 2
4Ps of innovation:
Innovation mix is the effective framework or model which consist of 4 p's including
product, process, position and paradigm. This assist the company in bringing modification in
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their products and provides innovative offerings to the customers. Explanation of 4 p's in relation
to Essence Drink are described as follows-
 Product- Bringing innovation in the product of LASSI assist the company to grab the
attention of larger customer base. Adding rose cherry flavour will provide different taste
and healthy product which meets the requirement of the customer and assist company to
effectively sustain in market.
 Process- Process is not only concerned with converting raw materials into finished
products. Manager at Essence Drink choose the most effective raw materials and recruits
efficient manpower so as to provide quality products to the customers in a cost effective
manner.
 Position- It is concerned the acceptability of the respective company's new offering in the
market. This analysis helps in making further innovation in its products, thereby
enhancing brand image.
 Paradigm- It is related with perceiving the business in a different way. Therefore
Essence Drinks makes certain modifications in their existing products but these
perceptions about change doesn't always lead to positive results. This will allow company
to gain competitive advantage. #
Innovation funnel is an effective process or a mechanism which consist of various steps
towards developing a new product. The main purpose of innovation funnel is to provide products
according to the requirements of the customer in a cost effective manner.
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Explanation of these steps are described as follows-
 Opportunity assessment- In the first stage, manager analyses the market data and
interpret the information and effectively identifies the available opportunity related to
innovation and modify its products according to the existing market needs (Jansma,
Gosselt and de Jong, 2018).
 Insights based Ideation- After analysing the available opportunities in the market place,
it is necessary for the manager at Essence Drink to frame effective strategies regarding
converting its ideas into innovative products. Ie determine proper requirement of the
resources of raw materials and finance for providing rose cherry Lassi.
 Experimentation- Under this step, new rose cheery Lassi is being offered to the
consumers in order to know their feedbacks against the product and make necessary
changes according to their demand.
 Commercialization- In this step, product is being available in the market and manager
conducts market analysis to find out whether new products is accepted by the customer
and conducts cost benefit analysis for the new product.
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Illustration 1: Steps of Innovation Funnel, 2018
(Source): Steps of Innovation Funnel, 2018

 Diffusion and Implementation- Under this stage, if new product that is, rose cheery
Lassi is gaining acceptance of the customers and Essence drinks gets the accurate data
about the resource required and effectively manages the budget to provide continuous
supply of Lassi product in the market.
This is the effective way innovation and commercialization shapes the innovative ideas
and allows the company to gain competitive advantage (Galiakhmetov, Giuri andMunari, 2018).
Application of innovation funnel for Essence Drinks:
Innovation funnel assist the respective company to develop various ideas into action and
allows to grab the latest available opportunities to develop a new product I.e innovating rose
cherry lassi in the market of UK. Moreover this innovation funnel assist Essence Drinks to
properly commercialize its products and gains the acceptance of the customer.
Frugal innovation is concerned with process of reducing complexities and
eliminating necessary processes and waste so that efficiency can be maintained and allows
Essence Drink to maintain a cost effective production process. Frugal Innovation is been used in
Essence Drink which is explained as follows-
 Determining and Finding Opportunities- In order to maintain its sustainability in
competitive business environment, it is necessary for the company to determine and grab
the available opportunities. This led Essence Drink to bring new Rose cheery lassi in
market to meet the existing market needs. This will assist the company to gain
competitive advantage and therefore enhances their brand image. Developments in the
frugal innovation involves from producing original Lassi to an innovative rose cherry
Lassi and enhances sales of the product.
 Efficient use of resources- Innovation in the essence drink company products leads to
utilisation of resources in the most effective manner. Respective company has made
effective use of resources by adding flavours to their original products rather than making
huge investments on development of new product. This led to effective utilisation of
resources and maintains sustainability of company.
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For example- Developments in Frugal innovation is being from mango Lassi to rose cheery
Lassi which would be priced lower with the help of frugal innovation but not comprising with
the quality. It is a open innovation and a helps to gain competitive advantage.
Application for essence drinks:
There was a significant transmission of the pattern approach to the development of frugal
innovation which reconstructed the solution principles in the form of patterns by defining that
problems occur over and over in the environment, developments in frugal innovation leads to
describing the core solution to the problem so that it doesn't occur twice in nature. It can be
effectively applied towards the innovation of Essence Drinks where with the development of
healthy mango Lassi there was no innovation it lead to decline in sales ls for the company's
products. Therefore with the help of frugal innovation it led to the development of innovative
rose cheery Lassi in the market.
TASK 3
Commercial funnel is type of innovating strategy which is concerned with
brining innovation in the existing products. Commercial Funnel helps in the proper growth of the
business by making effective utilisation of resources so that improvements and modifications can
be made in the existing product of Essence Drinks. Importance of Commercial Funnel for the
development of new products for Essence Drinks are as follows-
 Product Pricing Policy- Essence drink which is offering innovative rose cherry lassi
should provide its products at a moderate rate so as to target larger customer base.
Respective company analyses the market conditions and identifies the behaviour of the
customer with the help of commercial funnel and effectively sets the price of the product.
 Advance way of developing business- With the assistance of Commercial Funnel it
assist essence Drinks to effectively grow and develop their business. Commercial funnel
assist the company in identifying the demands and the requirements of the customer and
provide the products according to the requirement of the existing market (Judd and Laing,
2017).

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Process of New Product Development for Commercialisation and innovation
 Idea Generation- In this step manager at essence Drink analyses the market information
and identifies the available opportunities. This requires effective research to gather
information about customer taste and preferences so as to decide to innovate its products.
 Idea evaluation and Screening- Under this step, when the manager of Essence Drinks
identifies the opportunities, it leads to generation of more ideas out of which best one is
selected which has the capability to meet the customer needs.
 Concept Definition- Under this step, attractive idea which has been selected should be
developed into a product concept. It will includes the detail knowledge of the new
product such as Essence Drinks is introducing a new preservative rose cheery Lassi in the
market which will target customers from all age groups and will include rose flavour and
cherry as the main ingredients in their product and could adopting marketing strategies
such as free samples, advertising so as to make the customers aware about the product
(Spieth and MEISSNER NÉE SCHUCHERT, 2018).
 Strategic Analysis- Under this stage, manager at Essence drinks will effectively
formulates the strategies to carry the business activities efficiently. It will properly
formulates pricing strategy to keep the price of their products moderate and targets larger
customer base.
 Product Development and Testing- Before launching the product in the market it is
necessary for Essence Drink to check the quality and taste of the the rose cheery lassi and
take feedbacks from the customer so that manager could make necessary changes or
modifications can be made according to the requirement of the customers.
 Commercialisation- After doing the test marketing, it provides the manager of Essence
Drink with proper information regarding taking decision to launch or not to launch the
new product. Therefore this is the final stage of commercialisation of new product.
Manager will make the efficient use of financial, technological and human resources as
well as spends huge amount on advertising and sales promotion to make the customers
aware about the product.
 Product Launch- This is the final step towards launching rose cheery lassi in the market
and meet the requirement of the customer.
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New product development at Essence Drinks:
create an innovative new range of drinks, but does not want to move away from lassis
image
Flavour- New lassi contain rose flavours to make the product fresh and attract attention of large
customers.
Ingredients- It will include curd , sugar rose flavour small cheery and some preservatives to be
used till 2months from manufacturing date.
Price- This new lassi will be available at the price of I pound for 500 ml pack
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packaging- This new lassi will be available in packaged of 500 ml to be used till months from
manufactured date.
Marketing and Sales- In order to promote its new product company will provide free samples
and will conduct sales promotion in order to create awareness and assist in sales of product.
innovative business case:
This project is about developing a new product which is rose cherry Lassi which will
provide delightful and enriching experience to the customers and provides them a healthy life
style. This assist Essence Drink to capture larger market share and gain competitive advantage.
Executive Summary- It is more important for an organisation to innovate its products so
as to meet the requirements and demands of the existing market which increases the possibilities
of achieving huge market share and revenue in competitive market. In this project, Essence drink
has bring modifications in the product which will assist them to increase sales and profitability
level (Taghizadeh, Rahman and Hossain, 2018.
Market Analysis- In order to innovate products, manager at Essence drinks should
analyse the market information properly and brings modifications in the product according to the
requirement of the customers.
Segmentation- Essence Drinks should conduct market segmentation and makes the group of
customer who have similar needs and wants. This assist the company in providing products
according to the needs of specific group of customers.
Targeting- New product which is rose cherry lassi is mainly targeting the customers from all age
groups and this flavour specifically caters the needs of young children and also provides them a
healthy living style.
Positioning- Rose cherry lassi enjoys a competitive position in the market as it is new product
which meets the requirement of the customer.
Design and Development plans- In order to create an anew innovative product it is
necessary for the company to design effective plans such as use of effective advertising and sales
promotion techniques to market it products. It creates effective development plans such as
product requirements which is of rose and cheery to properly innovate its products.
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Customer Research- Before introducing the product in market it is necessary for the
Essence Drinks Company to analyse the customer behaviour before innovating the product. As
customers demand taste and healthy Lassi it led to the development of rose cherry Lassi.
Marketing and sales – For enhancing sales of the company advertising and sales
promotions can be adopted to increase customer awareness and leads to improved profit margins
for the company.
Packaging- Rose Cherry Lassi will be available in preserved form which can be used till
two months from manufactured date.
Product Ingredients- It will include rose flavour, cheery curd, sugar to make it and little
preservation to be used till two months.
Financial Projection- For carrying out the business activities in a efficient manner it
requires £30,000 to launch new innovative Lassi in the market of UK (Mazzarol, 2013)
Ways of Funding- Essence Drink could make arrangements of finance through
various sources and makes efficiency in their business operations. Different sources are-
 From Banks- It is the most easy way to get finance for essence drinks by paying
security against the principal amount. This leads to efficiency in business operations.
 Through Family and Friends- It is the most simple method that the manager of Essence
Drink can easily get funds from family and friends, without paying any security and there
is no specified time for the repayment of loan.
Disadvantage of knowledge protection and intellectual property tools
There are some disadvantages of Knowledge protection and intellectual property
tools such as -
 Additional Cost- In context to Essence Drinks it cost additional amount for the company
and if the product includes various processes, company needs various patent applications
to protect the product.
 Reduced Quality- Protecting the knowledge reduces the quality of the product as rthere
is less of motivation and incentive to work effectively as company knows that its IP
rights are not absolute.
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TASK 4
Intellectual property rights provides a right of ownership that no one can copy the business idea
or any other practices of different companies. Business owner can develop their own creative
design which cannot be reused by another forms. Their are different tools that Essence drinks
can adopt to prevent their methods and strategies from being reused by any other firms. These
are as follows-
 Trade Marks- These are the specialise deign or the symbol which allows customers to
identify products. It sign or symbol is TM which provides information to the customer
that the product is registered and cannot be copied by any other company.
 Copy Rights- This is a effective tool which allows owner to create their own design and
take legal authority from the government to copy right their products. This will not allow
any other business organisation to copy the methods and strategies of other organisations.
( Mazzarol and et. al., 2014).
 Patents- It is necessary for the company to get its product patent and prevent other
competitor to reuse their idea and attracts larger share in market.
Advantage of knowledge protection and
intellectual property tools
Protecting IP and knowledge reduces the risk
of competitors to copy their competitive
strategies and gain competitive advantage.
Disadvantage of knowledge protection
and intellectual property tools
Disadvantage associated is that protecting
tools could cost additional money to the
company and leads to reduced quality of the
product if the respective company is aware
that its rights are not absolute.
Strength of knowledge protection and
intellectual property tools
Protecting the knowledge and IP tools assist
the business to work efficiently and can be
used as a leverage in attracting investors.
Weakness of knowledge protection and
intellectual property tools
Disadvantage associated with knowledge
protection is that company has to pay higher
legal cost and filing fees so that competitors
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do not cope their product and they have to hire
a partitioner for regulating updating and
payment of the legal fees.
Effective and ineffectiveness of tools for
essence Drinks
Patents is an effective tool for Essence Drinks
as it gives right to the company to stop others
from copying. Manufacturing and selling their
products without permission. Trade marks and
copy rights are ineffective tools for Essence
Drinks as it is a small business. It just protects
the marketing concepts and not always the
product.
From all the above tools of intellectual property, essence drinks could patents its rose
cheery Lassi, this allow the company that their strategy cannot be copied by any other
competitor and allows respective company to gain competitive advantage.
CONCLUSION
It has been summarised from the above report that in order to sustain in this competitive
business environment, it is necessary for the company to bring innovation in their products and
meet the requirement of the existing market. Democratic leadership and positive culture should
be maintained within the organisation so that employees work more innovatively towards the
attainment of organisational goals. Apart from this, innovation funnel help the company in
bringing modifications in their products and with the use of various tools such as copyright and
patents helps the company in protecting their information from being copied by any other
company.
Recommendations:
It is recommended to the respective company that in order to maintain its sustainability in
the competitive market place it is necessary for the company to innovate its existing products and
meet the satisfaction level of customer. Managers of the respective company should properly
conduct the market research and analyse consumer behaviour which will help the company to
innovate and commercialise its products effectively and leads to improved profit margins. Apart
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from this Innovation in the existing product should meet the requirements of the customer of all
age groups so that it results in maximum profitability and productivity. It is also recommended to
the company to protect their knowledge and strategies and use effective IP tools to prevent other
companies from copying them.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journal
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