Analysis of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Topics

The assignment provided is a collection of research papers and articles on entrepreneurship and innovation topics. The papers cover various aspects of entrepreneurship and innovation, including technology ventures, cleantech, open innovation in SMEs, market orientation and firm performance relationships, analysis of wheat commercialization in Ethiopia, developing engineering leaders through an organized innovation approach, innovation and entrepreneurship in the academic setting, and commercialization of renewable energy technologies. The document aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of entrepreneurship and innovation topics.

Innovation and
commercialisation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1. Innovation and its importance to organisation in comparison with invention......................1
P2. How organisational vision, leadership, culture and teamwork can shape innovation and
commercialisation ......................................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
P3. The use of innovation funnel in examining and shaping the innovative ideas.....................4
P4. Frugal innovation and how it used........................................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
P5. Importance of commercial funnel and application of New Product Development process
for commercialisation..................................................................................................................6
P6. Innovation Business Case.....................................................................................................7
TASK4.............................................................................................................................................8
P7 Tools that organisations use to develop, retain and protect knowledge and intellectual
property.......................................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Innovation simply refers to the new idea, imagination and creative thoughts in the form
of method or device. It includes deliberate application of initiative, information and imagination
in deriving assorted value from resources and involves all processes through which new ideas are
created and transformed into new products. In the present assignment, chosen organisation is
Food and Grocery Store which offers grocery items to customers that they require in their daily
life (Clayton, Feldman and Lowe, 2017). This assignment covers innovation and its importance
to firms as compared to invention. It also defines the way vision, leadership, teamwork and
culture can shape innovation and commercialization. Apart from this, 4P's of innovation,
development in frugal innovation, significance of commercial funnel and application of new
product development is defined. At last, innovative business case and different intellectual
property tools are discussed in this project.
TASK 1
P1. Innovation and its importance to organisation in comparison with invention
Innovation refers to the act or process of introducing a new and unique idea, method or
device which support a company to provide its services in a more efficient manner for maximum
customer satisfaction (INNOVATION, 2018). It is very essential for a company to include
innovational approaches in its operations which encourage employees to perform their work in a
efficient and most effective manner (Dutta and Hora, 2017). By implementing innovational
practices Food & Grocery Mart will be able to enhance the productivity of its employees
working within the organisation. This further support Food & Grocery Mart to maximize their
profitability and return over investment.
CASE:-
Food & Grocery Mart is a UK based company which belongs to retail sector and provide
products like eatable, beverages, books and grocery items through their stores. But the increasing
demand of customers for online purchases leads to decrease in its customer base due to busy life
schedule people doesn't get much time to purchase their stuff by visiting physical store. So, in
order to solve this issue Food & Grocery Mart had decided to provide an home delivery option to
its customer by providing them an online access to store services. For this company is bringing a
mobile based application in which customers can login and order to product of their demand
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which will be then deliver to their address. The progress of this idea will be measured by the
profitability which is earned by Food & Grocery Mart.
Innovation is born out from some unique ideas which support a company to grow expand
its operation and perform well in market to achieve a competitive advantage. There are many
sources through which an innovation can be generated. It includes,
 Necessity:- Requirement is consider as a mother of invention because necessity always
lead a person to think and identify a new way of doing work that provide more reliable
and effective outcome (Gaddy and et. al., 2017). After determining the trend of online
shopping among people has encourage Food & Grocery Mart to innovate new method of
service access that support them in maintaining their market share.
 Demographics:- Lifestyle which people follows can also be a medium of innovation.
The busy schedule that nowadays community is living leads the generation of demnd of
quick service access. This leads Food & Grocery Mart to innovate their way of services
by bringing their online mobile application.
 Market structure:- The structure as well as procedure to which a market give more
preference also encourage companies to bring innovation in order to cope up with other
players in market. By assessing the interest of retailers toward regular up-gradation in
their services for attracting customers leads Food & Grocery Mart to think more creative
and bring a new innovation approach of online services.
These all are the sources through which the idea of innovation can be born out that
contribute toward improving the organisational operations. Hence it is very essentials for Food &
Grocery Mart to explain the importance of innovation to its employees. This will motivate
employees to share their innovative ideas and create up a constructive conflict that help in
identifying the new methods of brining innovation in current processes (Goble, Bercovitz and
Feldman, 2017). This will not only provide benefit to company but also support employees in
enhancing their critical thinking skill that contribute toward their career enhancement. Apart
from this it also support employees in enhancing their performance which provide them new
height in their career life. Innovation is sometime wrongly interpreted as invention, but both the
terms are different from one another which can be better understood using following table:
Innovation Invention
 Innovation happens when someone  It refers to the creation of a commodity
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make a significant modification to
existing product or services for making
it more better.
 Innovation spreads across the whole
organisation.
 It is generally occurred when an
organisation felt need for improvement
in its current product.
or introducing of a procedure for the
first while.
 Invention is only remains limited to
research & development department.
 It occurs when a new idea strikes in the
mind of scientist.
P2. How organisational vision, leadership, culture and teamwork can shape innovation and
commercialisation
Innovational practices are one of the crucial factor within an organisation which support
them in providing quality services to its customers and achieving a competitive edge within the
marketplace (Henttonen and et. al., 2017). On the other hand commercialisation refers to the
aggregation of innovation, marketing and communication activities which focuses on launching
of a product to market. There are certain factors present in a company which support in bringing
innovation and these factors are explained below:
 Vision:- It is a ability to plan or think about future with wisdom, experience and
imagination. This provide a direction on which an organisation has to work for
accomplishing the vision. Therefore, vision of Food & Grocery Mart contribute to a large
extend for bringing innovation to the current procedure for providing more personalised
and better services. The vision of company is to achieve stronger position in marketplace
by keeping customer satisfied with services. This vision always foster company to think
more innovative and bring new or unique method of improvising the services.
 Leadership:- It refers to the set of actions that are performed by leaders ibn order to
motivate and guide group of people toward the accomplishment of set goals and
objectives (Khan and et. al., 2017). By maintaining effective leadership Food & Grocery
Mart will be able to motivate its employees to bring up innovative ideas and accept the
innovational approach which are bring by company.
 Culture:- Organisational culture refers to the norm, value and rules that employees
generally follow for performing their work. Culture plays a major role in brining
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innovation within the organisational procedure. So, it is very essential for Food &
Grocery Mart to develop a culture which easily accept changes and also involve
employees in decision making process (Lim and et. al., 2017). This support company in
encouraging staff members to share their unique ideas which further help in identifying
an innovating approach that have an ability to improve its performance at marketplace.
 Teamwork:- Innovation can be only be implemented within the organisation using
teamwork. As it is consider as a group of people having their expertise in different field
which when work in a collaborative manner bring up positive outcome. So for
implementing innovation Food & Grocery Mart must promote team work which support
them in aligning the performance of employees toward pre-specified goals. Hence, team
work help in brining innovation and achieving success in commercialisation of product.
TASK 2
P3. The use of innovation funnel in examining and shaping the innovative ideas
Innovation refers to the process of brining new ideas for improving the good or services
that create value to customers. But before implementing innovation it is very essential for Food
& Grocery Mart to analyse the various factors and formulate strategies that support in achieving
the positive result out of innovation. For this innovation mix can be use that consist of four basic
elements which support Food & Grocery Mart in exploring the possible enhancement within
each area of business. These elements are explained below:
Product:- This element includes the analysis of product or services that are offered by
company in order to determine various ways through which it can be improve the current
offering that add more value to customers. By analysing the demand of customer for quick
service access due to lack of time, Food & Grocery Mart has decided to offer a mobile based
application of their company (Mamo and et. al., 2017). This provide a benefit to customers that
they buy their required product without visiting the stores physically and can get their purchased
stuff at home.
Process:- It refers to the way through which product or services are being offers to
customers which is one of the most crucial factor for company. Because in case when delivery
process is long or complicated it reduces the chance of success. So for implementing its new
innovation Food & Grocery Mart must ensure an effective delivery process which is easier to
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use. Company can display their advertisements over social media site along with the link to
download the application. It can also make application installed in the mobile of customers when
they visit their stores. After downloading the application, customers can login it with their social
media site or through mobile number and then place order as per their requirement.
Position:- This includes the process of commercialising the innovation in marketplace
through marketing and other communicational medium. For this Food & Grocery Mart can target
the work class people and communicate them when they visit the store about the benefit of
purchasing online stuff which saves their time (Perry and et. al., 2017). Apart from this company
can also place advertisement over social media sites or can mail their regular customer about
their new services which they offer.
Paradigm:- It refers to the process of analysing the overall procedure of development
and implementation of innovation. For achieving the success in innovation process it is very
essential for Food & Grocery Mart to analyse the various factor to identify the viability and
soundness of idea. Through this process company can identify whether the innovation will be
accepted by customer or does company have adequate resources or skill through which it can
implement the innovation.
Innovation funnel:-
It is a framework which help a company by describing about the step that must be
followed during the development or innovation of product or process. Food & Grocery Mart
must use this model while implementing innovation as it help in determining the way through
which positive result can be generate. The first step includes the collection of information to
determine that the innovation i.e. 'online service through mobile application', will be accepted by
market or not. This includes the analysis of various ideas that support in identifying the best idea
which suits the market demand. Further it also help in determining the way through which the
commercialisation of that innovation can be performed.
P4. Frugal innovation and how it used
Frugal innovation refers to the process through which a company can create high quality
product with the limited resources available to them. It focuses in reducing the cost of good and
complexity involve in production process, hence it support in shaping up effective innovation
process (Schmitz and et. al., 2017). By using this approach Food & Grocery Mart, will be able to
develop a innovational plan from brining their mobile based services in a most effective manner.
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Further it also support company to minimize its wastage which in turn will reduce the cost of
production.
Frugal innovation approach will support in developing a plan according to the political,
social and environmental factor so that when the innovation get commercialised in market place,
it remain unaffected from these external forces. Therefore, Food & Grocery Mart must use this
approach for brining innovation as it focuses on performing a research in order to develop a plan
that create a win-win situation. This will help Food & Grocery Mart in keeping the cost of its
mobile application production and implementation lower that support them in achieving
maximum benefit at minimum cost. Further it also support in achieving the higher Return over
investment from this innovation.
TASK 3
P5. Importance of commercial funnel and application of New Product Development process for
commercialisation
Commercial funnel refers to the graphical representation of different purchasing stages
through which a customer move while buying a product or services. It is one of the most
essential practice that will help Food & Grocery Mart in achieving the maximum benefit from
the commercialisation of its mobile based services. Since the company has decided to offer its
mobile application for making online purchases (Sheep, Fairhurst and Khazanchi, 2017). So
commercial funnel will support Food & Grocery Mart in focuses on only those customers which
will definitely use this new service after commercialisation i.e. working class people.
For commercialisation of its mobile application Food & Grocery Mart have to go
through New Product Development Process which is explained below:
 Idea generation & screening:- This step consist of germination of idea and then its
screening through brain storming process. By analysing the demand of customers related
to lack of time, Food & Grocery Mart has selected online purchasing and home delivery
of product. For example: Selecting an idea of launching of mobile application is essential
for the growth and success of an organisation, with the help of this company can easily
introduce feature of their products and services.
 Concept development & testing:- After selecting an innovation idea to fulfil the
demand of customers next step to develop the concept of implementing it. Under this
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Food & Grocery Mart has decided to develop a mobile application for providing online
services to customers. In this, company test what idea is best for the development and
growth of an organisation. Mobile application is more essential for an enterprise to easily
maximise customer base and accomplish better results.
 Marketing strategy development:- After concept development next step followed by
Food & Grocery Mart is to formulate strategies for promotion and positioning of this
service. For this, company follow different promotional channels to promote their new
product at market and to the customers.
 Business analysis:- Once the strategies and concept have been decided, next step is to
analysis the feasibility of Food & Grocery Mart regarding the adequate availability of
finance, skilled workforce or other resources.
 Product development and market testing:- After development of concept and analysis
of feasibility, next step is to develop the mobile application by collecting all the
resources. Once it has been developed, tested by technical expert for identifying and
removing the issues.
 Commercialisation:- After the application has been developed and tested by the
technical expertise. It has been commercialised in market as per the formulated
marketing strategies.
P6. Innovation Business Case
Food & Grocery Mart has decide to innovate their service procedure by providing an
online purchasing option to its customer by providing a personalised mobile application (Shi and
et. al., 2017). By introducing this innovation company will be able to maintain its position in
marketplace and achieving the higher return over investment. Following points describe about
the business case of Food & Grocery Mart:
 OVERVIEW:- Food & Grocery Mart is a retail company that offer food and grocery
items in UK market by maintaining its range of physical outlets.
 AIM:- Main objective of Food & Grocery Mart is to increase their Return on Investment
with 12 months.
 SOLUTION:- For accomplishing this Food & Grocery Mart has decided to provide an
online purchasing and home delivery service.
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 INNOVATION IN THE PRODUCT:- Food & Grocery Mart has decided to launch a
personalised mobile application through which customer can assess the product offered in
stores and make purchases.
 RESEARCH:- Food & Grocery Mart through its survey identify the demand of customer
quick service access due to lack time and busy schedule through which the idea of
providing online services has been generated.
 FUNDING:- There are different options that are present in front of company which it
can opt in order to get capital required to bring innovation. These options are bank loan,
peers to peers, venture capital, angel investors, self finance, government funding and
many other. All this are highly essential and help an enterprise to collect accurate amount
of capital for doing business operations easily. In order to implement its innovation plan
for operating its business online, Bank loan is more appropriate option for Food &
Grocery mart as it secure medium. ROI is normally expressed as a % and is atypically
applied for personal financial decisions in order to compare a business's profitability or to
compare the effectiveness of various investments. The is ROI = Return on investment
formula (Net Profit / Cost of Investment) x 100. Here, Food & Grocery Mart has invested
around 30000£ and net profit of firm after getting its business digitalise is estimated as
3000£ in upcoming year. So, ROI will be calculated as
ROI= Net profit/ Total Investment*100
3000/30000*100= 30%
Thus, it is proved that Food & Grocery Mart will be profitable after digitalising its
business.
 BENEFITS:- By implementing this innovation Food & Grocery Mart will be able to
maintain as well as increase its customer base which increase its profitability. Apart from
this company will also get maximum Return Over Investment.
TASK4
P7 Tools that organisations use to develop, retain and protect knowledge and intellectual
property.
Innovation is the techniques of developing and transforming ideas and knowledge so as
to develop and innovate new product in the market place. Food and Grocery Mart company has
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taken into consideration different strategies so as to innovate some new features within the
organization. Thus, it will help in accelerating the productivity level of an organization. In order
to make their product specific in the market Food and Grocery Mart company uses different
motivational techniques in order to make workforce to work harder in achieving target goal
(Gaddy and et. al., 2017). Moreover company uses different tools so as to retain and protect
intellectual property right and they are explained below:
Copyrights: This term refers to as the legal means through which the source can be kept
safe. Food and Grocery Mart company has adopted the concept of copyright in order to protect
their innovative ideas and knowledge so that other firm cannot copy their innovative ideas..
Patents: It is the form of intellectual property which the owner has the right to exclude
other party from making, selling and importing their innovative ideas and knowledge usually for
a limited period of time. This is the best technique which the Food and Grocery Mart company
has adopted so as to stop someone else to uses and sell their invention.
Trademark- It is refer to as symbol or size which helps in identification or products in
the market place (Shakeel, Takala and Zhu, 2017). Thus, the Food and Grocery Mart company
in itself have their clear brand image in the market which helps in identifying the speciality in
their products and services in the marketplace.
Thus, overall it can be concluded that the manager of the Food and Grocery Mart company
should use the above mentioned techniques so as to protect their innovative ideas, skills and
knowledge from getting being copied by second party.
CONCLUSION
Overall it can be concluded that innovation and commercialization plays a indispensable
role in achieving the competitive edge in the marketplace. In addition to this it can also be
concluded that the manager of the company should consider 4ps of innovation so as to develop
and innovate new products in the market sector. Moreover the company should follow step by
step procedure which start with generation of ideas and ends with commercialization of products
in the marketplace. So the manager of the company should develop some training and
development session for the workforce in order to develop the features of innovation in them
which will help them in becoming specialize in developing and innovating new skills and
techniques. Thus, it will result in achieving the increase in the level of profitability and
productivity of an organization.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journal
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Gaddy, B. E. and et. al., 2017. Venture Capital and Cleantech: The wrong model for energy
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Goble, L., Bercovitz, J. and Feldman, M., 2017. Organizing for Innovation—Do TLO
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Shakeel, S. R., Takala, J. and Zhu, L. D., 2017. Commercialization of renewable energy
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Sheep, M. L., Fairhurst, G. T. and Khazanchi, S., 2017. Knots in the discourse of innovation:
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Online
INNOVATION. 2018. [Online] Available through<https://www.toolshero.com/innovation/>./
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