Importance of Innovation and Commercialisation

This report discusses the importance of innovation and commercialisation in business, focusing on the difference between innovation and invention, the role of leadership, culture, teamwork, and vision in shaping innovation, and the use of innovation funnel and 4Ps. It also explores the concept of frugal innovation and its developments, and the significance of commercial funnel and NPD application. The case of Marks and Spencer, a major multinational retailing company, is used as an example throughout the report.

Innovation and
Commercialisation

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO1..................................................................................................................................................3
P1 Importance of innovation........................................................................................................3
P2 Organisational leadership, culture, teamworkand vision shaping the commercialisation and
innovation....................................................................................................................................5
LO2..................................................................................................................................................6
P3 Use of innovation funnel and 4Ps...........................................................................................6
P4 Frugal innovation Developments............................................................................................7
LO3..................................................................................................................................................9
P5 Commercial funnel importance of with the NPD application................................................9
P6 Innovation case for M&S......................................................................................................10
LO4................................................................................................................................................11
P7 Various tools for development, retaining, protection of intellectual property.....................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Innovation with in the business can be referred as process of manufacturing or production
of new goods and services which are better and new than existing ones. It can also be described
as a process of performing the business or operating a business in a new way. Effective
innovation leads to the commercialisation which is the process that converts new ideas or
prototype in to the viable products which can help the company in retaining its desired
functionality. In this report Marks and Spencer is taken as an organisation, which is one of the
major multinational retailing company of UK. Present report discusses the difference between
the invention and innovation and what are the different type of innovation and 4Ps of
innovation , also developments in the frugal innovation how it is used within the organisational
context. This report also includes the process that is required to commercialise the innovation
and also different methods of protection of ideas with their disadvantages and advantages
LO1
P1 Importance of innovation
Innovation is a simple creation for improving the effectiveness of products and services,
processes. Different ideas which can lead to the success of the business. It could alos refer to the
implementation of new and improved services and ideas or creation of dynamic products in the
market which could result in competitive advantage.
Comparison between innovation and invention:
Basis Innovation Invention
Definition and meaning It simply means implication of
new idea for developing a
product for first time.
Invention means occurrence of
new idea for a product or a
service which has been never
ever made before.
Occurrence Innovation takes place when
there is a need felt by the
business for improving the
product (Walker, 2018).
It takes place when a new idea
strikes to the mind of product
designer or developer.
Skills It involves the set of technical,
strategic and marketing skills.
It involves a set of scientific
skills that requires

experimental knowledge.
Activities Innovation needs to be get
spread to every department of
the organisation.
It is constricted to research
only and development as it
needs more research.
Importance of innovation for company:
Innovation can be of huge importance for M&S as it can help the company the company
to overcome the challenges which is faced by the company in various ways like competition,
lack of product quality and design, low profitability, etc (Osoro, Kirama and Vermeulen, 2017).
All of these challenges can be easily handled the process of innovation. The value and
importance of innovation for the company are mentioned below:
Creative products: Innovation can help the product designer to develop the products which
unique and creative. This requires a proper skills and tactics from the product developers once a
company is able to produce creative products it can help the company in achieving competitive
advantage and high profitability in the market.
Solving problems: M&S may numerous problems in its business due to high level of competition
in market and it is really important for the company to come up with the ideas which can solve
all the problems of the company. This is possible only through innovation where a company may
have to think out of box in order to find the answer to the solution.
Higher productivity: M&S can innovate its production process which can help the company to
increase its level of products. It is not always all about putting extra efforts for increasing the
levels of production but can simply innovate its operational process in an effective manner.
Decrease competition: Innovation can play an important role in decreasing the competition in
the markets and can even help the company to gain the competitive advantage in the market. As
innovative can increase the sale of products of the company which can enhance the productivity
a well as profitability of the company (Zahedi, Mirghfoori and Morovati Sharif Abadi, 2018).
This can help M&S to beat the competition in market and operate smoothly. M&S can innovate
its clothes by changing the design or starting a new trend or improving the quality of its products.
So, innovation can help the company to face the competition in an effective manner.

P2 Organisational leadership, culture, teamworkand vision shaping the commercialisation and
innovation
In order to innovate the products and services of the company one of the major role
which can shape the innovation of the company is M&S's vision. It is the vision of the company
to “Build its brand on the core values of value, services, quality, trust and innovation”.
So,within the vision statement of the company there are various core values like quality, trust,
innovation and to increase the value of company can only be done through innovation and this
can help in shaping the innovation in the company. Another major factor which can help the
company to shape the innovation is organisational culture, it is really important of M&S to have
positive and innovative culture in the company as it can boost the company's and employees
innovation. If the organisational culture of the company is innovative it can help shaping the
innovation as it may result in changing of roles and responsibilities of the employees or process
or duties etc and for this company's organisational culture should support all of these changes in
an company (Bilgeri and Wortmann, 2017). Besides, it should be the objective of the company
which should also support the innovation of the company like M&S's objective is “To increase
the range of products which is to their customers across the world” this objective of the
company can only be achieved through innovation (William, 2018).
One of the major factors which can help in shaping the innovation of the company is
leadership. Type of leadership style which is adopted by the company plays an important role is
shaping of innovation in the company. Innovation may result in change in the organisation with
in processes, methods, procedures, duties and responsibilities of employees, etc which may lay a
huge impact on the employees and the business operations. So, it is leaders of the organisation
which can help the company in bringing and establishing this change in a workplace that can
help in shaping the innovation of the company (Servoss and et.al., 2018). Leaders play a vital
role in mitigating the resistance from employees while shaping the innovation and type of
leadership style adopted by the organisation may help the company in brining a successful
innovation. With leadership another important factor in shaping the innovation is effective
teamwork if there in no teamwork there is no innovation in the organisation. All the employees
of the organisation have to work in collaboration with each other and share their ideas and
selecting the best among them is an effective way of shaping the innovation in the company.

LO2
P3 Use of innovation funnel and 4Ps
Innovation is based on the 4Ps which can help the company in bringing the change and
there are two basic elements of innovation such as incremental and radical innovation. An
effective examples of radical innovation is the sales-force customer relationship management
and the example of incremental innovation are Cad-bury, Coca Cola etc. Radical is related to the
development of new products and second one is related to the change in the procedures and
methods. 4Ps of innovation are as follows:
Process: It means bringing the change within the procedures as well as methods of operation
which is done by increasing the operational efficiency (Innovation Funnel Management, 2019).
In the process loopholes are identified and changes are being made which result in innovation.
Product: It means developing new product or service for the customers and this type of
innovation is used for ensuring the long-term growth and development within the market (Souto,
2015). This can help in attracting new and existing customers which can result in gaining the
competitive advantage.
Position: In this type of innovation, M&S can find new markets and position its products in new
markets in order to attract the customers. This type of innovation requires a huge market research
which help the company in identification of new customer needs and preferences.
Paradigm: In this type innovating M&S can develop a proposal for the future which may be
long-term and short-term objectives of the innovations to be made. It also includes the type of
methods or process to be adopted for making an innovation.
Innovation funnel can be referred as a framework which can help the company to
generate idea and M&S can follow this process in order to implement the idea or innovation
successfully. To use an innovation funnel company has to go through the different steps which is
explained below:

Illustration 1: Innovation Funnel
(Source:Innovation Funnel Management, 2019 )
Mouth of funnel: It is the stage where a company generated the idea and then various solutions
are offered for implementing the idea in a real life. It can help the company to find out an
effective innovation which can be implemented.
Narrowing funnel: At this company screens different ideas on the basis of objectives and during
this various criteria are being considered like how to gain benefit from it t how to minimise the
challenges. It is important for the company that innovation should match to goals and objectives
of the company (Sebastianski and et.al., 2015). This stage also includes analysis of cost, risk and
benefits or profitability, etc.
Narrowed part: Here the innovation should be executed through a proper plan and then testing
is done and new product is being launched in the market.
M&S can use innovation funnel for launching more and better product in the market
which can help the company to achieve its goals and objectives and competitive advantage as
well.
P4 Frugal innovation Developments
Frugal innovation is a process of developing new products as well as business process in
to reduce cost. this type of innovation is beneficial through which goals are attained. Generally,
in this focus is on reducing cost of product by bringing innovation in it. There are many

companies who have benefited from frugal innovation. It has enabled in their growth and
development. Alongside, organisation can easily grow and expand in other markets by providing
unique features products. Furthermore, the main purpose is to lower cost and generate high
revenue. beside this, innovation can be brought by changing process of production as well. Apart
from it, this process can be adopted by various firms to make improvement in its extra
components to offer them in the market (Abhari, Davidson and Xiao, 2016). The process of
frugal innovation in context of creating awareness about its new product. However, business
acquire new resources to produce product.
In addition to it, innovation is done to reduce complexity in production. This helps in
finding out deviations in process and searching for new opportunities. However, it supports in
long term of firm and sustain in market. The continuous development is in system, services, etc.
to make improvements. As M&S is retailing company and by using the frugal innovation,
company can be able to achieve its goals of decreasing its costs of manufacturing the products. It
mainly focuses on the elimination of those features which are non-essential in a particular
products of the organisation and also helps in increasing the durability of goods. M&S operates
in retailing industry and thus is facing high competition and to deal with the competition in a
market it is very important for organisation to go for innovating its products which will be
offered to customers.
For example- Apple did frugal innovation by developing I Pod. It allowed them to provide high
quality services with some distinct and unique features. Also, it enabled them to gain competitive
advantage in industry and creating a brand name More and more customers were highly attracted
towards Apple new products.
Another example can be taken is – Tata company developed nano car as frugal innovation. it was
done to provide low cost car to people. At initial stage the product helped in increasing sales but
later the innovation resulted in failure.
In similar way, M&S can also implement frugal innovation. They can produce new
clothes and make new apparels for both men and women. Through it, company will be able to
attract new market and increase sales. Alongside, by reducing price of cloths, high revenue can
be generated. Beside, new product will led to gain competitive advantage by M&S in industry.

LO3
P5 Commercial funnel importance of with the NPD application
Commercial funnel is referred a path which a customer takes for buying a new product or
services. So, it is really vital for M&S to realize the importance commercial funnel. With the
help of commercial funnel company can find different holes within the funnel where a customer
can drop out and may never return (Zahay, Hajli and Sihi, 2018). By developing the
understanding of commercial funnel M&S can effectively utilise it and also can develop various
schemes for drawing new customers to the products. There strategies may involve awareness,
interest, decision and action and within each stage.
Awareness-In this is a stage a company gets the attention from the customers by generating
awareness among the customers.
Interest-At this stage M&S should bring out its products to assist people to take much more
informed decision.
Decision-Here a consumer is willing to buy the product but an organisation need to offer the
best to customer which it has.
Action-It is stage customer actually buys a product and thus becomes a part of commerical
system.
M&S by developing an apprehension of commercial funnel stages, it can enhance the
sales of its products and this can also provide a company different opportunities for expansion
and growth .Within the process of NPD, a company has to follow various steps in order to create
a new product. As, M&S is operating in the retailing industry also in it exists a huge competition
in market so, develop a new product can assist the organisation to gain higher profitability.
New Product Development (NPD), strategy can prove to be an efficient strategy for the
organisation in various ways as mentioned below:
Long-term growth-M&S is facing a tough contest within the industrty and by creating
new product it can help the company to keep the existing customers attracted and also acts as a
tool for attracting potential customers in the market (Ernst and et.al., 2017). This can help in
achieving the long-term growth of the company.
Generation of new values-By developing a new product can help M&S in generating
new values for their customers which is really important for the company operating in retailing

sector. Here M&S can offer extra features within the new products which will attract the
customers.
Improving lifestyles-A process of NPD can help the company to improve the lifestyles
of their customers which in return can attract new customers for the company.
So, New Product Development can increase the efficiency of the business in different
ways and also can generate higher sales and profitability.
P6 Innovation case for M&S
As M&S is operating in the retailing business due which it is facing a huge competition
in the markets as there are various competitors which exists in the market that offers a similar
products to customers particularly in a clothing segment. So, it is really important for the
company to develop a new product which is unique and different from its competitors. Now
M&S have come up with an innovative idea in a clothes which is called “Stain Resistant
Clothes”. This are the type of clothes which will be totally stain proof from any liquid or stains
from food and dust, etc. Fabric of these clothes will be such that, it has a protective layer which
protects the clothes from getting dirty. This is a unique innovation in the products which will be
offered to all segments of customer.
M&S in order to stay competitive in the market need to develop a new product which
can offer a tough competition to their competitors in the markets. This innovation is unique as
majority of companies in the market have not come up with this idea besides the fabric which
will be used for these products will be kept confidential in every in order to protect this idea from
getting copied. This innovation can help the company to achieve higher profitability in the
market as customer prefer innovations and get attracted to unique products available in the

market. This NPD can help M&S in gaining the competitive advantage as it can help the
company to generate a quick sales in markets as this is new product concept which has been
developed by any renowned company (Cooper, 2016). Besides with the advancement in
technology, there may be various additional feature which will added in the future in order to
keep customers attracted. Also, the much more focus will given to the quality fabric which will
be used for enhancing the product standards of the product. After developing this new product is
really important for the marketers of M&S to develop an effective marketing strategies for
generating awareness in order to attract customers. Also, company should go for aggressive
marketing strategies which can help attracting customer within the markets of UK.
Financial position of M&S is quite strong in the market and based on its financial
position it can make easily funds available for the company's strategy of NPD. But there are also
various funding options available for the company from where company can acquire finance for
new product development. Some most viable options for funding are mentioned below:
Equity Capital: In this funding option M&S can sell part of company in a form of shares to
number of investors and can easily acquire funds for investing new product development.
Debt Capital: This is another source of funding available for the company and is the easiest
source of funding for the company. Here company can acquire money from financial instutions
in the form of loans also it can be achieved publicly in the form of debt issue.
There are the two major source of funding available for the company in order to develop
a new product. M&S before choosing a origin of funding, it should properly analyse its financial
position and depending on the financial position, it should develop a proper budget. The budget
developed will help the company in developing a framework for selecting a proper source of
funding. It is also vital for the company marketing budget in to consideration as well before
selecting a source of funding.
LO4
P7 Various tools for development, retaining, protection of intellectual property
It is really important for M&S to protect its intellectual property and knowledge so that it
will not be easy for its competitors to copy the idea, product or services. In general intellectual
property is used for protecting the procedure, formula, methods, etc for developing a product or a
service. By this company can make sure that its competitors are not able to copy their products or
ideas (Dratler Jr and McJohn, 2018). This can also help the company in protecting the

confidentiality of information and data which is related to new product development. The
different tools that is available for M&S to protect intellectual knowledge as well as property
are-
Copyright: It is not generally related to business but it covers the authorship or right of work-
life, music, art, pictures, etc and in this company has the right to create, modify and display the
work. It will also protect the idea in fixed form of a business. With the help of Copyright Act
M&S can protects business idea based on the Copyright. For this it is important for a company to
fix it in a tangible form example piece of writing, photograph, video etc.
Patent: It can right to M&S for reserving its invention and this can restrict other organisations to
sell or develop similar type of products and offer them to customers (Janis and et.al., 2016). This
can help a company in gaining the competitive advantage as it prevents its competitors for
copying the features of new product. Patents is of three types which company can make for
examples utility patents, design patients which are suitable for the M&S’s new product
development.
Trade Mark: It is also an effective tool for preventing the intellectual property and this may
include design, symbol and the services offered by the company. This can help M&S to get
differentiated from others. Company can make use of its tag line, logo, symbol etc to get their
products easily differentiated from its competitors in the competitive market. M&S in order to
protect its intellectual property can Trademark its property by General Trademark, Descriptive
Trademark and Suggestive Trademark.
CONCLUSION
Present report that commercialisation and innovation can be an effective tool for the
company to operate business in efficacious manner. Within aprocess of innovation and
commercialisation either new product is develop or new methods or processes are being
developed. Present report also concludes that there are 4Ps of innovation which can be used by
company for innovation. Also, organisation make use of commercial funnel to develop proper
understanding of customers and it is vital for the company for developing different ideas or make
innovation in order to stay competitive. Company can make use of various tools for protecting
and retaining the intellectual property as well as knowledge

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