Innovation & Commercialization: Heinz UK

The report discusses the importance of innovation and commercialization in organizations, using Heinz UK as a case study. The report shows how Heinz UK has innovated and introduced new products to increase their customer base and drive higher profitability, and discusses the importance of innovation for remaining competitive in a global market.

INNOVATION AND
COMMERCIALISATION

INTRODUCTION
The innovation is defined as creating ideas which are new, imaginations and thoughts
which are creative in order to form a product or method. It is also defined as application of
improved solutions which meets the unarticulated needs, requirements and existing markets. It is
related with development of new product whereas commercialization means running and
managing a business with a purpose to earn financial gains. The report is based on Heinz UK.
The firm is established in January 1869. The company founder is Henry J. Heinz. It mainly deals
in beans, ketchups and soups.
The study will explain the innovation and its significance in the organizations and also
compare it with invention. It will describe how organizational culture, leadership, vision and
teamwork help to shape the innovation and commercialization. Furthermore, it will explain
innovative 4 ps & also define various uses of the funnel innovation for examining & shaping the
innovative ideas. It will define the significance of commercial funnel and NDP processing in
order to do commercialization of innovation. The report will build the business case for
innovation within the organization. It will evaluate various tools which the organizations use for
retaining, protecting, intellectual property and knowledge.
LO1
Importance of innovation in the organizations and its comparison with invention
Innovation - It refers as creation of new product or to bring some creative idea and method in
the organization (Gross and et.al, 2018). Its aim is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of
the organization for gaining the competitive advantage. There are various drivers which push the
innovation process that includes courage, thinking, intellectuality and differentiation.
Invention – It refers as discovering a thing or product for very first time in the world. It is the
process or series of steps of making and creating or to figure out a way for executing some
activity. Invention is derived in wider concept and it is done for the sake of society benefit. It is
the commencement of actual thinking or idea into the action.
Innovation and invention differentiation

Innovation Invention
It is the process of introducing the new
concept or product for the purpose of
commercial success (Dincer, 2017).
Innovation is done after a product is being
discovered in the invention.
It refers as creation of new product or device
for the very first time. Invention take place for
the first time then the innovation is done for
making changes in that particular invented
product features, quality or taste.
Innovation is done for driving the
organizational success. It gives firm a
competitive advantage.
Invention is to make something without
proper verification that it will work or not or
whether it is commercially valuable or not.
Innovation means to make or add something
in existing product.
Invention means to make or launch a new
service or product.
For doing innovation in the organization there
is need of marketing and strategic skills.
For doing invention there is need of scientific
skills.
Business value enhance with the help of
innovation.
Company value increases through invention.
Importance of Innovation in case of Heinz UK
Heinz UK is successfully operating their business as they have been loved and have
trusted brands among the customers. Heinz have innovated baked bean cuisine which can be
incorporating into various recipes such as Cheesy Pasta Bake, Sausage Hot Pot etc (Innovation at
Heinz, 2019). They have also innovated Barbie pasta shapes and baked beans which targets 3 to
10-year-old girls. This comes under pink packaging for attracting the girls mind. This product
had launched with an offer for a Barbie watch after collection of several tokens. This scheme
helps the company to increase their brand loyalty and girls will do repeated purchasing for the
collection of tokens. Another innovation is that they have introduced flavored purified water for
the babies. New range of infant products helps the company to increase their customer base and
drive their business to achieve higher profitability.
With the analysis it is clear that another major factor of using innovation is competition
and this is due to the reason that the competition in the global market is very high and due to this
there is necessity of using the innovation. Another major factor is the demanding consumer that

they need some or the other changes in the product and services timely as they need a variety of
changes. In addition to this according to the social factor from the PESTLE analysis it is clear
that the society and the consumers are becoming more conscious relating to their health and
safety and for this it is necessary for Hienz UK to bring in some innovation from time to time. In
accordance to the environmental factor from the PESTLE analysis it is evident that the consumer
has become more conscious relating to the protection of environment and due to this the
innovation is a necessity.
Organizational leadership, vision, teamwork and culture shapes the commercialization and
innovation
Vision - The vision of Heinz UK is to become best food company. Thus, for becoming the best
company in food products they have to regularly do innovation for attracting the customers
towards their products for increasing their satisfaction level. Thus, vision of the company put
impact on innovation process (Naughton and Foss, 2019).
Leadership - Leadership is important for doing innovation in the organization. A leader guides
their team member to do innovation at the workplace. The leader will be helpful for bringing the
innovative idea in the Heinz UK.
Culture - Heinz UK have introduced the culture of innovation in the organization for driving the
new and creative ideas at the workplace. By doing the improvement in existing products with the
help of innovation, the firm is able to take competitive lead. Innovative culture also encourages
the employees to come up with better ideas (Ramljak, 2020). An innovative culture helps to
encourage the development of creative and unique ideas.
Teamwork - Teamwork helps in the contribution of innovation and commercialization in
organization. Teamwork also allows the employees to exchange and share their ideas with one
another, this helps to bring innovative ideas in the organization. Heinz UK also has created an
innovation fresh folder of the ideas. Through this the individuals and teams are able to share their
ideas in the folder. For the purpose of teamwork, the cross functional team is very essential as
this help in building collaborative culture and this increase the communication among the
employees.

LO2
Evaluate all the 4Ps of innovation and also evaluate the use of innovation funnel to analyze and
shape innovative ideas.
4Ps of Innovation -
 Product innovation - In the era of development and technological up-gradation, in every
business there are some values which are related to development and growth of the Heinz
UK (Adelowo, Akinwale and Olaopa, 2017). In product innovation the product which is
produced by the firm will be in such a way that not be similar to the preceding product of
the company or any other competitor by this the firm can enjoy the benefit of innovation
and development.
 Process innovation - In the case of process innovation the focus is on how the Heinz UK
is conducting the process of production in order to analyze cost benefits. This is a concept
by which product can be produced in effective manner with the use of latest techniques &
methods and effectiveness & creativity can be achieved by the workers.
 Position innovation - This is a concept which is related to changing the target market in
order to increase the profit by changing the group of customers or a market segment.
According to this concept the earlier positioned product of Heinz UK is re-positioned

again, position of a product can be re- positioned by changing the market segment for the
target customers such as from adults to children's.
 Paradigm innovation - After the product and position innovation this is important to
frame action plan in order to face the upcoming challenges by going through the process
of production and framing some necessary changes to increase the effectiveness and
efficiency in the Heinz Company. Paradigm innovation is related to changes in the
existing process of production and changes in some other elements that are involved in
producing a product. This will result in increasing the brand value of the firm.
The use of innovation funnel is described as making changes in the current process of
production, which is done by innovative idea by following some prescribed steps related to
innovation funnel (Medase and Barasa, 2019). The innovative ideas of Heinz UK are given new
shape by the use of innovation funnel. The major importance of innovation funnel within the
Heinz UK is to generate and develop more of the innovative and creative idea so that the
company can capture the large market share. Innovation funnel is very essential to be used by
Heinz UK as this will help the company in evaluating the viability of the different types of ideas
and whether it will be beneficial or not. Thus, this innovation funnel will assist the company in
leading the different idea for the development of the business and this will help the company in
developing the new idea into a viable project.
(Source: Horizontal innovation funnel. 2020)

From the above diagram it is clear that the innovation funnel is very important as this helps
in converting the innovative idea in a good and viable project. In this innovation funnel firstly
the idea is generated and there after the idea goes to the assessment gate where it is reviewed and
analyzed with the potential of the idea whether it will be successful or not. Further the next stage
is of development gate wherein the idea is developed to a further stage so that it can be converted
in viable and feasible study. The next stage in the innovation funnel is of test gate that is the idea
is tested that whether it will be successful or not. Finally, the last stage is of launch that is when
in the test gat he idea is passed then the product is launched in the market among the consumer
all over the globe. Hence, in the end it can be said that innovation funnel is important in order to
access the fact that whether the idea generated will be successful or not.
Developments in Frugal innovation
Frugal innovation refers as a process to invent a product idea which is in the context of
scarce resources of the country. It helps to reduce the production and manufacturing costs and
also avoids complexities in the production (Frugal Innovation, 2017). Heinz UK is driving frugal
innovation in order to reduce the use of resources for doing innovation. To drive a sustainable
business, it is important to minimize the use scarce resources (Brand and Blok, 2019). It helps
the company to make reduction in unnecessary cost of the production. It helps to attain
maximum profits by using minimal resources. The main aim of the frugal innovation is to use
limited resources and to produce large quality of the products in the company. This also cut off
the production cost in Heinz UK. But this doesn't mean that company sacrifice with its product
quality. It will not be going to happen; Heinz provides high quality products to its customers for
retaining the customers. This type of innovation helps the company to grow with sustainability
and achieve higher profitability. It gives reliability to the products for attaining the higher
number of the customers in minimum use of resources. For example, Samsung also enter in
Indian market with a concept of frugal innovation. In addition to this another example is of Tata
Nano which is also a frugal innovation. This is a frugal innovation as this assist the company in
substantial cost reduction and the concentrate on the core function of the product that us just
transporting the people from one place to another.

Figure 1 Frugal innovation (Source: Frugal Innovation, 2017)
LO3
Importance of commercial funnel and new product development processing for innovation and
commercialization
Commercial Funnel refer as a marketing tool by which the company find qualify and
mechanism of sales or trade for the consumers. It helps to create roadmap for the company
(What Is a Sales Funnel?, 2020). It helps to open up door in order to deal with maximum number
of customers. The sales funnel has various steps which allow the company to bring their potential
customer more closely. Steps are described as follows -
 Awareness - In this stage the company is making prospects for increasing the awareness
about the product and brand. It is introductory phase.
 Discovery - In this stage the customer discovers about company's product as they are
curious to learn more. The company shares valuable educational contents regarding to
prospects problems.
 Evaluation - In this stage prospect is evaluating the company's services and products. In
this the company answers the prospect for resolving their queries and problems.
 Intent - In this stage the prospect has made decision about whether to buy company's
product or not. Company's proposal should encompass everything in order to make them
buy.

 Purchase -The prospect has now become customer of the company. They have made the
purchase.
 Loyalty - The Company has to formulate strategies in order to retain the loyal customers.
The firm has to build good relationships with their clients so that they get convinced to
make purchase in near future as well.
New product development
The new product development process is also known as innovation process (Razak and
Murray, 2017). The new product development process is defined as follows -
 Generating - In this the new idea is being generated. In this stage the internal and external
analysis of the company has to be done. The current marketing trends have to be analyzed
in order to do innovation.
 Screening the idea - In these ideas which is generated on earlier basis has to be screen the
poor ideas or projects have sent back.
 Testing the concept- The idea concept need to be understand in this stage. The company
identifies whether the new idea is meeting the customer’s needs or not.
 Business Analytics - During NPD process the system of metrics is built in order to do
monitoring of the process. It includes input metrics for calculating the average time for
each stage. In this stage output metrics is made for measuring the value of launched
goods or products. Also, need to calculate the percentage of sales for the new product.
 Marketability tests - In this stage the product is tested. Private tests groups, forming test
and beta versions are launched which allows valuable information about the new product
in order to make the last minute improvements.
 Product development - This is the stage where innovation take place and new product is
being developed and manufacture in company's factory.

 Commercialize - In this stage the consumers are purchasing the products and services of
the company. Technical support is also helpful for consistently monitoring the progress
of new product.
 Review - Lastly the product has to be reviewed for making further improvements in
product quality or pricing.
Figure 2 Commercialization Funnel (Source: What Is a Sales Funnel?, 2020)
Build a case related to innovative business for an organization that must include ways to access
funding.
To work easily in an organization, the organization can assess some of its requirements that
can make an innovation business case (Pustovrh and et.al, 2017). This process for begins from
measurement of the performance and also prepares an action plan for the future goals and

challenges. In the present Heinz is planning to innovate and for this they are bringing a healthy
detox drink which will help the people in managing a healthy life.
 The first job of Heinz UK is to do is to develop the product offerings of the company.
The product offering of a company can be increased by modifying the existing products
and including some more effective features in them. For this Heinz will first research the
market that is whether the product will be a success or not. Also, they will try to research
the need and requirement of the market and then make modification in the product.
 In order to earn huge amount of revenue the organization must set a reasonable price for
its product in the target market for the customers (Gabriel 2019). Similarly Heinz UK
needs to set a specific pricing strategy that must be reasonable and at least cover the cost
of production. For this the company will fix the price by keeping it low for the healthy
detox drink at initial and then after it when the product will grow the price will be
increased a little.
 On promotion activity they are various firms which are dependent on advertisements for
the promotion of new product that is healthy detox drink. The Heinz UK must provide
relevant information about its product not only to the customers that are inside the home
country but must provide the information on the Global basis. This new product of
healthy detox drink will be commercialized with the help of the social media advertising.
In addition to this free sample of drink will be provided at gym and fitness centers.
 The source of funding for this product will majorly be with help of the equity shares or
by taking loan from the banks and other financial institutions.
 In addition to this the major necessary thing for developing business case if the finance as
without money no work can be done. Thus, for this the source of finance need to be
analyzed first and then the innovation is to be implemented. Thus, the major cost for the
Heinz UK for the innovation is as follows-
Expenses Amount
Labour £400
Material £500
Marketing £300

Salaries and wages £800
Rent £450
Bills £550
Decoration £250
Food and catering £750
Total £4000
LO4
Evaluate different tools which will be helpful for an organization in developing, protecting and
retaining knowledge and intellectual property.
There are several methods that can be used by the Heinz UK in order to protect its
knowledge and Intellectual Property Rights such as trademarks, patents and copyrights. By using
these methods, a firm can get the ownership right of product or an idea. The exclusive right of
the invention and innovation can be obtained by a firm through patents (Lehtimäki and et.al,
2019). Innovation can be in any form such as innovation of new products or a process or
introduction of some new techniques and methods in order to increase efficiency and
effectiveness of the Heinz UK. However, to obtain patents and other rights a firm needs some
legal documents and needs to follow a legal process. The Heinz UK can get patent right by
applying a patent application with the necessary documents related to company. Patents give the
right to the owner to protect or avoid commercialization of invention and ideas that are
introduced by the firm itself.
Trademark is a design, symbol word that identifies the source of product and differentiates it
from the other products that are similar to it. Trademark is obtained by a Heinz UK in order to
differentiate the product from the product of its competitors. Service mark is used by service
industry in form of a symbol or design or a word. Like service mark there are various trade
marks for each and every business specifically (Rietsch, Beaudry and Héroux-Vaillancourt
2016).

Advantages
 The major advantage of using the trademark for Hienz UK is that the registration of the
trademark is very economical and simple and easy.
 In addition to this the trademark has a life till the time it is renewed again and again.
 Another advantage is that registered trademark provides security to the company that
their product cannot be used by any other.
Disadvantage
 The major drawback of using the trademark is that the cost of the registering the
trademark is very high and this increases the overall cost of the company.
 Along with registering the trademark it also need to be renewed from time to time and
this also involves a little cost.
Copyright is also type of intellectual property rights which is referred to right to copy. This
means that the original creators in Heinz UK of a particular product are having a right to copy. In
this no other person can copy a product or service that is produced by a specific organization
having copyright as intellectual property.
Advantage
 The major advantage of using copyright is that this includes a long statutory life and this
does not create any of the financial action within that life (Amponsah and Adams, 2017).
 The copyright assists the company in preventing the work to be used by other for any
other purpose.
Disadvantage
 On the other side the major drawback of using the copyright is that this copyright secures
the statement of the idea and not the idea itself.
 Thus, the idea can be copied by the any other person and the company cannot do
anything against it.
 The copyright does not provide the ownership if copyright of any product is taken.

 For instance, if a person takes the copyright of producing the product owed by another
company. then in that case company can only produce the product but they cannot own it.

CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the assignment that innovation means to bring some creative
and new ideas at the workplace for doing product development. This innovative ideas and
features can be add into existing products for making them more unique so that they can satisfy
the customers need in the company. Heinz UK has also done Innovation and has brought lot into
their products for gaining the competitive advantage in the marketplace. There innovation
includes baked beans, Barbie shape pasta and flavored water for the babies. This innovations has
helps them a lot to increase their customer base. It has been determined that vision, culture,
leadership and teamwork helps to shape the innovation in the organization. It has been
summarized that frugal innovation drives sustainability in the business of Heinz UK. It helps to
meet the organizational objectives and goals. Also, it has been identified that Commercial funnel
provides steps for increasing the customers in the company. Trademark, patents and copyright
for the products has to be done for protecting the knowledge and innovation of the company.

REFERENCES
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