Creativity, Innovation, and Global Index: A Business Report

This report defines creativity and innovation, emphasizing their relationship to critical thinking and economic growth. It analyzes innovation through different forms and compares Australia's performance on the Global Innovation Index with Canada, highlighting areas for improvement. The report underscores the importance of creativity and innovation for a country's economic health, job creation, and competitive edge, advocating for a shift towards self-industrial innovation in Australia. It concludes that creativity is fundamental for effective innovation and improved living standards, supported by academic research and real-world examples. Desklib provides access to this and other solved assignments.

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CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
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Creativity and Innovation
Define creativity and explain its relationship to critical thinking.
Creativity is the ability to transform mental images or original ideas into reality.
Academically it is the tendency of generating new ideas, reasoning, possibilities or alternatives
that will help to solve communication problems with others and entertain ourselves and
others(Drucker, 2014). Critical thinking is thinking involving any subject, problem or content in
the way that improves quality of an individual thinking by skillfully assessing, analyzing and
reconstructing it(Greenberg and Zhang, 2010). It is a self-corrective, self-monitored, self-
directed and self-disciplined thinking (Greenberg and Zhang, 2010). Critical thinking and
creativity relate to that they are dependent on each other(Drucker, 2014). Critical thinking
requires creativity involvement in order to be effective(Greenberg and Zhang, 2010). The two
are the preference in the 4c’s of 21st-century entrepreneurial tools.

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Define innovation and explain what it is and use 3 different forms of innovation to help your
explanation.
Innovation is referred to as the new methods or idea(s) or the use of new ideas and
methods in solving problems(Greenberg and Zhang, 2010). Innovation is understood as the
application of solutions better for meeting new requirements, existing market needs or
unarticulated needs(Greenberg and Zhang, 2010). Innovation takes place more effectively
through the provision or use of technologies, services, processes, products or business
models(Drucker, 2014). These provisions are made available to the government, market and to
the society at large.
Innovation takes place through a process that involves five stages which includes:
Idea generation and Mobilization
This is the starting line of new ideas or methods. For an idea to be successful it must be
pressured by the freedom to explore or the need to compete. When a new idea is generated it
enters mobilization stage meaning the idea is in another logical or physical location(Anderson,
Potočnik and Zhou, 2014). It requires the innovators and marketers working together at this stage
in order for the idea to move along(Drucker, 2014). This stage is important to enhance the
innovation and skipping it can delay or ruin the process of innovation.
Advocacy and screening
In this stage, the new idea is weighed and pros and cons are determined. In this stage, the
advocacy and screening take place to do away with the ideas that are not worth it while taking
care that stakeholders do not through the impulsively depending on their novelty(Drucker, 2014).

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When employees are aware that their new ideas are welcomed and perceived well-allowing
defense, they are motivated to come with new ideas hence the company that encourages this is
more successful(Lindič, Baloh, RibièRe, and Desouza, 2011). While some companies merely
welcome ideas but do not pursue them making the new ideas generators even more skeptical.
Experimentation
In this stage, the sustainability of idea is tested to determine whether it can be sustained in a
particular organization, environment and time. In this stage, the customer is known and also what
they are going to use the innovation for(Drucker, 2014). It is here that the innovation is known
whether it is too way ahead of time or just not applicable in the target market(Gorgievski, Bakker
and Schaufeli, 2010). In this stage, companies should be keen not to interpret these innovations
as failures as they may be offering new grounds for new and great ideas(Drucker, 2014). In order
to succeed in this stage, the company should test the new idea in few of its branches to avoid
losing money and time when applying a new idea once without assurance it will work(Anderson,
Potočnik and Zhou, 2014). A good example is Washington Mutual Inc.’s that tested its new
design in a few of its branches and realized its usefulness and extended it to other of its
branches(Gap, 2017).
Commercialization and
This stage involves organization looking at the customers to verify whether the innovation solves
their problems and analyze the cost and benefit of implementing the innovation(Gap, 2017). The
authors of this model state that “an invention is only considered an innovation [once] it has been
commercialized.” This stage is very important and involves the right people in propelling the
ideas to the next developmental stage(Anderson, Potočnik and Zhou, 2014). For instance, one

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CEO said that innovators and authors do not understand the needs of this stage and once
involved in it, the result is pain and even more painful.
Diffusion and Implementation
Authors state that this stage is “two sides of the same coin.”Diffusion involves the gaining of
company final acceptance of an innovation while the implementation is setting of structures,
resources, and maintenance needed to produce it. In his stage, the new idea is fully used to
improve productivity or solve existing problems in the market(Chao, Reid and Mavondo, 2012).
Performance Comparison between Australia and Canada global innovation index 2017 and
what Australia needs to do
The 2017 global innovation index ranking (GIIR) placed Australia innovativeness at an
average score of 51.8% and Canada at 53.1%(Gap, 2017). The seven pillars of innovation
include innovation process, leadership structure, outcome, evidence-based practice, finance,
policy and technology and communication(Greenberg, and Zhang, 2010). Close to half of
Australian businesses are active in innovation and their innovation activities are distributed
broadly across all the industrial sectors(Bidault and Castello, 2010). The countries firms prefer
specializing in modifying innovations brought by other local firms though new-to-market ideas
are not so common. Australia ranks bottom half in innovation OECD across a range of metrics
on collaboration for innovativeness(Bidault and Castello, 2010). Australia entrepreneurial spirit
remains optimistic despite some decline dynamism in business in the country(Drucker, 2014).
Evidence from international on employment suggests that concentration of employment and
sales growth are in relatively small proportion where there is high-growth of firms (HGFs).

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Canada effort in innovation policy has been enhanced by major government cuts in
public expenditure which turns the federal budget with a deficit into the budgetary surplus of
only G-7 countries(Chao, Reid and Mavondo, 2012). Strategic reductions of tax, large increases
in public R&D has been made possible by an improved macroeconomic situation which
strengthened the measures to increase highly qualified labor, venture capital sector through
support for graduate university studies as well as improvements of Canada immigration
policies(Drucker, 2014). The publication of major Canada policy exercise and innovation
strategy was done in 2002.
This explanation shows that Australia should focus on self-industrial innovation and stop
relying on modifyinginnovation that has been introduced by local firms(Bidault and Castello,
2010). Australia having been ranked bottom half in the world innovation index it needs to come
up with better ways to encourage innovation amongst her own people(Gorgievski, Bakker and
Schaufeli, 2010).
Explain why creativity and innovation are important to any country
Innovation Drives Economic Growth
Innovation or use of new ideas will provide new goods and services with a higher value
than the old ones. The ability to innovate is the key growth and progress of future economic
health of a country. Innovation involves new trade relationships, new methods of production, and
the introduction of new products in the market(Acs, Szerb and Lloyd, 2017). A good example is
a reorganization of economic and business activities, and the discovery of raw materials(Hansen
et al. 2011). Innovation triggers higher growth, and higher growth contributes to greater

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investment in development and research and this in return result in more innovation. This means
a country will be more developed.
Innovation and Entrepreneurship across a Century
Many countries have seen growth and far much growth in centuries as a result of
innovation. One of the countries that were considered a hotbed of growth and innovation in the
twentieth century was Northeast Ohio today compared to Silicon Valley(Acs, Szerb and Lloyd,
2017). The country was blessed with energy, knowledge, and skills of their citizens and of new
people who kept streaming in the country. The region was characterized by health concentration
of entrepreneurs, experts working together, firms that created a major center for industrial
innovation(Pratt and Jeffcutt, 2009). Creativity is the core values that are attached to experts and
entrepreneurs in order to improve their services.
Innovation leads to improvements in the process of solving problems
In the world today, the major problem many countries are facing is unemployment.
Innovation will act as a bridge to solve unemployment dilemma in a particular country. Product
innovation mat means the emergence of new firms which would create new
jobs(Gumusluogluand Ilsev, 2009). “Industrial and innovation policies that support R&D and
product innovation, especially in high-tech sectors, can foster job creation.” The more people are
employed the more a country will get increased revenue, the more the growth a country attracts.
Creativity propels innovations forward, increases the business productivity, and helps in gaining
competitive edge which every firm strives to achieve(Greenberg, and Zhang, 2010). Without
creativity, there is zero innovation. Creativity is the ability to produce new ideas or unique ideas.
Conclusion

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Creativity is a fundamental requirement in all sectors of economy and business and firms
should be able to apply creativity in order to improve their effectiveness. Innovation, on the other
hand, being the use of new ideas to solve or improve services and products in the market require
creative minds for prosperity. In order for an innovation to be effective, it follows the five stages
to be useful: Idea generation and Mobilization, Advocacy and screening, Experimentation,
commercialization, Diffusion, and Implementation. A country with good innovation strategy is
likely to improve its global innovation index as well as increase its GDP and the living standards
of her people will increase. Innovation and creativity are equally important in a country.
Creativity is the mother of innovation, for without creativity no innovation.

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References
Acs, Z.J., Szerb, L. and Lloyd, A., 2017. The global entrepreneurship and development index. In
Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index 2017 (pp. 29-53). Springer, Cham.
Anderson, N., Potočnik, K. and Zhou, J., 2014. Innovation and creativity in organizations: A
state-of-the-science review, prospective commentary, and guiding framework. Journal of
Management, 40(5), pp.1297-1333.
Bidault, F. and Castello, A., 2010. Why too much trust is death to innovation. MIT Sloan
Management Review, 51(4), p.33.
Chao, C.W., Reid, M. and Mavondo, F.T., 2012. Consumer innovativeness influence on really
new product adoption. Australasian Marketing Journal (AMJ), 20(3), pp.211-217.
Drucker, P., 2014. Innovation and entrepreneurship. Routledge.
Gap, G.G., 2017. World Economic Forum. Cologny/Geneva.
Greenberg, J. and Zhang, Z., 2010. Managing behavior in organizations. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Gorgievski, M.J., Bakker, A.B. and Schaufeli, W.B., 2010. Work engagement and workaholism:
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Gumusluoglu, L. and Ilsev, A., 2009. Transformational leadership, creativity, and organizational
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Hansen, E.N., Nybakk, E., Bull, L., Crespell, P., Jélvez, A. and Knowles, C., 2011. A
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Forest Research, 26(3), pp.278-287.

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Lindič, J., Baloh, P., RibièRe, V.M. and Desouza, K.C., 2011. Deploying information
technologies for organizational innovation: Lessons from case studies. International Journal of
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