Innovation and Commercialization in Tesco: Ways to Foster and Source Innovation

This report discusses the ways in which Tesco sources and fosters innovation, different types of innovation, and a detailed business case for innovation including risks, benefits, and ways to access funding. It also covers the subject of Innovation and Commercialization for Unit 8, with course code and college/university not mentioned.

Innovation &
Commercialisation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................1
P1 Discuss the ways in which different organisations source and foster innovation, using
examples......................................................................................................................................1
P2 Differentiate between different types of innovation and how they are processed within the
organisation.................................................................................................................................3
P3 Produce a detailed business case for innovation for an organisation, including risks,
benefits and ways to access funding...........................................................................................5
P4 Evaluate the different tools that organisations can use to develop, retain and protect
knowledge and intellectual property...........................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
References:.....................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Innovation is the applied implementation of ideas and thoughts that results in the creativity of
new and evolved products or services. It can also be known as new or changed entity.
Commercialisation is the process by which the new innovations are brought to the market.
Though going deep into the process of commercialisation means involvement of production,
distribution and other factors leading to the commercial success of any business. The company
considered in this report is Tesco. It is a British MNC operating in the retail sector and owns
more than 5000 stores and supermarkets across Europe and Asia(Anderson, and et.al., 2018). In
this report the ways by which different organisations source and foster innovation using specific
examples. Then the differentiation between the types of innovation and how they are processed
within organisations will be observed. Also the detailed business case for the innovation for an
organisation including risks, benefits and ways to access funding will be learned. Concluding
the report will be the tools that organisations can use to develop, retain and protect knowledge
and intellectual property.
MAIN BODY
P1 Discuss the ways in which different organisations source and foster innovation, using
examples.
Innovation is an ultimate requirement for any organisation to generate the creativity in their
business and its respective activities. It is the product of people's involvement in the company
and the amount of effort they are ready to put in the product or service they are working on.
Tesco is a general retail company and usually deals with the products and goods of other
companies and organisations. So it is required for the company to innovate and generate
creativity in their presentation and marketing of their products. Technology can be a boost in
their company in order to make things faster and better for the employees and the customers. The
marketing of their company can hugely benefit from the social media marketing strategies that
the customers can be acquainted with in quick time(Andrade, Pasini and Scarano, 2020). Getting
customers in quick period of time can be initiated through new and trending ideas and content
which could bring in a plethora of innovation and creativity. The following are the ways by
which Tesco could get the source of innovations in their company:
 Success and Failures
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The successes can be a huge benefit to Tesco in boosting their confidence and focusing on the
right strategies which would have led to the success in the past. These success will open up
opportunities to build up a standard of their company. Even more than the successes, the failures
of the company will lead to new innovations in the company. The company will know which
areas are to not target while marketing and which sectors are where the focus is not needed while
working on innovations.
 The predictions and the result
The predictions are always done before completing any activity related to the business. These
predictions may or may not be able to fulfil the expectations when the activities actually gets
finished. The result is likely to differ from the predictions in positive or negative ways for the
company. The difference between the predictions and results could be an opportunity for Tesco
in generating creativity and innovation for the organisation. This will also help the company in
knowing what they actually missed out when it came to innovating the last time(Battaglia,
Paolucci and Ughetto, 2021).
 The deficiencies in the processes
Tesco while conducting their business activities whether generating positive impact or negative
results from those activities will always have some deficiencies in the processes and this has top
filled with the help of new innovations and ideas for the improvement of the company. The new
innovations may or may not fill those deficiencies but they provide the best opportunities to
Tesco to generate creativity and new ideas.
 New Knowledge
The new knowledge is always gained by the people of the organisation and Tesco is no
exception. The company is already conducting workshops and sessions in order to improve the
employee capability and make them more knowledgable. This knowledge is the best way to
generate new innovations and creativity amongst the organisation premises. Whether the
employee is new or experienced knowledge is required for them to grow from their current status
and make the organisation grow too.
 Demographic changes
Expanding the business into different demographic areas is a way to boost innovations among
the people of the organisation. The demographic areas bring up the opportunity to innovate in the
products and the marketing of those products as there are lot of different tastes of people of
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different areas. Tesco which is already present in almost 14 countries is using demographic
benefit in their marketing and sales(Bhatti, and et.al., 2020).
The following are the ways by which Tesco can foster innovation in the organisation:
 Proper leadership
The proper leadership is required to keep the employees thoughts and ideas in the right run and
mindset. A good leader could make his employees create better ideas. One of the best ways is
nourish the new comers as they are the ones with the fresh ideas and new minds.
 Creating a culture of innovations
It is important that the Tesco management decides to create a culture of innovations in the
organisation. This way even the people who were not innovating earlier will end up thinking
about new things and in turn innovate something that could benefit the organisation.
 Rewarding successes and failures
It is also important for the organisations to reward and evaluate the failures that the company
may seem important for the future for entering into new sector. These successes and failures will
be needed by the companies to push the organisation in the right way and foster the right ideas
and innovation from the staffs.
 Proper structure
It is required for Tesco to keep and move with a proper structure in the company since if the
employees of Tesco are aware of the structure and they are adapted to the structure, it will be
able to provide a platform for them to generate ideas and innovation in quick amount of time in
the right environment(Buchheim, Krieger and Arndt, 2020).
P2 Differentiate between different types of innovation and how they are processed within the
organisation.
Innovation is needed in the organisation to prepare the employees for better and creative ideas
for the improvement of the performance of the Tesco as an organisation. There are different
processes that contribute the performance of the organisation and the different types of
innovation is key to performing those processes properly. These types of innovation:
 Paradigm
Paradigm innovation is when the shift of the model of the organisation by changing things and
processes. An industry could be itself an impact of the paradigm innovation. For example-
Apple's product could be a paradigm for the whole industry as that change the way how people
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viewed mobile phone and also how customers interacted with the brands in general. For Tesco
the different types of innovations could be important in order to bring in different products and
generate better ideas. The paradigm would mean for the changing the pattern or models that
could help in the evolution of the processes. It is a set of ideas and perspectives. This innovation
could help Tesco in finding new opportunities for the company or sell their products in the
market to the customers(Gobble, 2018).
 Position
The position of the company's products in a market with specific target customers could be how
Tesco could align the organisation and their products in customers mindset and perspective.
Positioning any product or service also means giving a new direction to the business itself. For
Tesco it is about repositioning their business structure. They business is already in such a good
market of retail industry and they have already positioned themselves as one of the biggest retail
businesses of the world. They have to make sure that the position innovation is how all the other
types of innovations bare made possible for the business. The first stage for Tesco could be to do
something new and making an environment that could facilitate the new innovations. Then use
the position innovation strategies to do figure or the benefits.
 Process
Process innovation is what describes how the companies are running their processes with
innovation consistently. These processes could be in consideration with supplying, selling,
recruiting and accounting processes which could benefit from the innovation of the company.
For Tesco, a good example could be to redeveloping the way Tesco should handle their business
processes which should be how the business activities should be improved and happen with
clarity. The company should use different strategies to implement or evolute their previous
procedures of the organisation working. These processes are tough to execute for Tesco because
it is the entire structure that is needed to be changed and it is a big risk for a company like Tesco
which has already flourished with their past processes(Lim, 2021). The innovation in the
processes could be generated from the company itself. The feedbacks from the employees and
the customers could be a well designed criteria for the company to find out the requirement in
changing the process of the company.
 Product
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It is a need for the company to use strategies that could be used by the organisations to take
competitive advantage in the market. By innovating the products the companies could be able to
provide new products or updated versions of the products that the customer would appreciate
from the businesses to be able to provide them with products that could be important for the
future of the company as well. In respect to Tesco, the product innovation is not what they are
selling as they operate through stores and supermarkets. It is what innovative they do to sell their
products that their customers will find appealing. Tesco could use the technological innovation to
improve the quality and make customers satisfied. Product innovation is what people think of
when they talk about innovations(Marion and Fixson, 2021). Tesco has been innovating their
products by bringing in products from the new brands that are trending in the market. They are
also keeping products according to the demographic preferences as these are important to attract
specific customers.
P3 Produce a detailed business case for innovation for an organisation, including risks, benefits
and ways to access funding.
A business case study provides a platform to give justification to the project. It measures the
proper benefits, risks and ways to access funds for the company. Hence for finding bthe
opportunity to generate innovation in the organisation this case study is very important for Tesco
to improve creativity. There are many ways for the company to deal with risks and to get funding
if the company is as stable as Tesco.
Summary Tesco is British multinational company
operating through supermarkets and
hypermarkets. The company is present in
almost 14 countries across the globe. Tesco
was earlier just a store which now has been
expanded into multiple chains of stores in
almost 100 years of its existence.
Objectives The objective of the company is to improve the
company performance and increase the
profitability by reducing the costs through
different techniques and strategies. The
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company also aims to expand their business
portfolio to multiple sectors and countries that
will in turn help in increasing the profits of
their business activities. The objective of this
case study is to provide platform for innovation
in Tesco including risks, benefits and ways to
access funding. The aim of this case study is to
find the right opportunities for the Tesco in
looking for the right expansion
ideas(Ronquillo, Popa and Willems, 2021).
Mission Tesco works accordingly to their mission and
objectives. The mission statement of the
company is “We make what matters better,
together”. In consideration to work according
to the mission statement Tesco is taking
actions that will be able create an environment
in which everyone can achieve their potentials
to contribute to the proper growth of the
company. Their mission also makes it clear
that all the employees and the customers are
part of their long deserving success that will be
arriving in the future.
Vision Tesco vision statement is what decides the
companies long term future. It also determines
what their values are and how they are going to
effect the organisation's structure. The vision
statement of the company is “to be the most
highly valued business by: the customers we
serve, the communities in which we operate,
our loyal and committed colleagues and of
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course, our shareholders”. This statement has
made an assurance for the Tesco's owners and
stakeholders that they will be highly valued by
the company and there satisfaction is one of the
primary goals of the company(Shao, and et.al.,
2020).
Innovation in products Tesco being in retail sector is aware of the
customers needs and demands about the
products. Considering the clothing range is
varied form multiple brands and prices. But
there is always a space that the consumers see
and the brands don't. Tesco needs to innovate
their own clothing range in order to
successfully create better quality products and
not so expensive in pricing. This innovation
should come up with something unique in the
industry of fashion. The clothing industry is
never away from newness in the market. Since
Tesco is aware of the market strategies that
there competitors are making they can use it to
create more reliable products and market them
accordingly.
Source of funds There are many sources of funds present for
the companies at different levels and Tesco
which already have many sources of funds
present can also use these to expand their
markets or to cover up these losses. These
sources of funds are:
Bank Loans- Tesco could make use of bank
loans to cover up their losses or to manufacture
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the new product that was briefed above. The
bank loans are not that hard to get for
companies like Tesco and the fact that the
amount is so big would mean that the interest
rates will be low and the time period will be
affordable as well.
Venture Capitalists: The venture capitalists are
the private equity investors that can invest in
the companies with good growth potential.
They unlike the banks which take the amount
back with the interest rates, the venture
capitalists actually take stakes in the company
which would make them the shareholders of
the company and as the company makes
profits, they will earn a good amount as
well(Siebold, 2021).
Benefits By innovating new products and services like
the one above, Tesco could benefit making the
customers satisfied by bringing out products
that are new to the customers. If that new
product is in a good price range and has a fine
quality, then the customers are likely to be
interested in the products of Tesco. This will in
turn help the company in being profitable and
productive for the company in the long run.
Monitoring and controlling Tesco has the aim to monitor and track the
product performance in the market. Because
only that could help in analysing the proper
report of the company. This could also help the
companies in knowing the required changes in
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the product quality or its marketing strategies.
They should also monitor the competitors of
the products and how they are faring in the
market. Tesco should figure out their speciality
in their product's quality that could help them
in knowing their product's core
competence(Wang, Phillips and Yang, 2021).
P4 Evaluate the different tools that organisations can use to develop, retain and protect
knowledge and intellectual property.
Intellectual property is needed to kept safe and secure. Without the protection of ideas the
businesses will be unable to get the benefits of the innovation that the new ideas that the
individuals are creating. Intellectual property is that property that is a wide categorical
description for the set of intangible assets legally owned by a company or individual. The
concept of these property says that these products of human intellectual should be given some
protective rights that apply to physical property. An intellectual property infringement exists
when a a third person or group pursue in the unauthorised use of the assets. Although there are
legal protection is there for these intellectual property, they usually expire after sometime or can
be infringed as well. The intellectual property can consist of many assets that includes
Trademarks, Patents and copyrights. These are explained in detail below:
 Copyright
Copyright is determined as the rights that are legally owned by the owner of the intellectual
property. It can also be said as the right to be able to copy. This also means that the product
maker or the owner and the people they have given the authorisation to are the only people who
have the right to produce the same work again. There is a law considering the copyrights that is
known as the copyright law which allows the maker of the original material the right to use. This
is for a specific time and after that time the copyrighted item becomes open to the public.
Pros of copyrights:
 Prompt preventive measures
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It is a big advantage for the individual or the company that is keeping the copyright that the no
one will be able to make the use of the original work. If in any case the work, the owner can file
a case against the user(Yaseen, Bryceson and Mungai, 2018).
 Incentive to innovate
By taking the copyrights of the products or services, the company gets to keep their products safe
and secure. This will allow them to focus on other innovations and not worry about the
infringement.
Cons of copyright
 Fees and registration
For the copyright procedure the companies have to register with the UK copyright office, and the
companies or individuals will have to pay a fees which is disadvantage for the companies or
individuals.
 Limited protection
The protection getting from the copyright law may not be enough. So sometimes it is not
necessary that the owner will be allowed to do modifications in that property.
 Trademark
Trademark can be considered as the something that can identify a product as a belonging to a
specific company and gives the company the ownership of that brand. It is actually a symbol,
phrase or a word that denotes a specific product. Though the trademark is almost non perishable,
the owner of the trademark must use it to receive the protections associated with it.
Pros of Trademark:
 Licencing
Whenever a trademark is registered, it becomes licenced. This licence is registered and it allows
the owner to be use it with full authority.
 Foreign territories
The trademark registered is valid anywhere irrespective of the country. This allows the company
or the individual to use it worldwide.
Cons of Trademark:
 Weakest protection
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It actually offers a weak protection to the product and is among the weakest when compared to
the copyrights and the patents.
 Repeated renewals
The trademark registration is only valid for 10 years. After every 10 years it has to be renewed
again.
 Patent
 It gives rights to the owners for the property that is granted by the government agency.
The patent allows the owners to be able to use the exclusive rights to the innovative
services or products. Technologies and the software are mostly patented and kept secure
for the future use.
Pros of patents:
 Exclusive rights
The owners have the right of making, using and selling their innovation to anyone. No person or
company can use this except the owner(Yin, Chen and Li, 2019).
Cons of patents:
 Public disclosure
To file for a patent, the owner of that patent is required to make the technicality of the product or
the service public for the disclosure.
CONCLUSION
In this report, it has been known that there are ways in which different organisations source and
foster innovation using examples related to companies. Then it was concluded that there are
different types of innovation and how they are processed within organisations. Also a business
case was produced focussing on the innovation of an organisation, including risks, benefits and
ways to access funding that would be helpful for the companies in expanding their businesses or
to cover up the losses. Then concluding the report was the different tools that can be used to
develop, retain and protect knowledge and intellectual property. The report also made sure that
Tesco could also innovate a new product and could use specific strategies to facilitate proper
marketing strategies and more creativity.
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References:
Books and Journals
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Work & Organizational Psychology: Managerial Psychology and Organizational
Approaches (pp. 161-186). SAGE Publications Ltd.
Andrade, D., Pasini, F. and Scarano, F.R., 2020. Syntropy and innovation in agriculture. Current
Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 45, pp.20-24.
Battaglia, D., Paolucci, E. and Ughetto, E., 2021. The role of Proof-of-Concept programs in
facilitating the commercialization of research-based inventions. Research Policy, 50(6),
p.104268.
Bhatti, and et.al., 2020. High-performance work systems, innovation and knowledge sharing: An
empirical analysis in the context of project-based organizations. Employee Relations: The
International Journal, 43(2), pp.438-458.
Buchheim, L., Krieger, A. and Arndt, S., 2020. Innovation types in public sector organizations: a
systematic review of the literature. Management Review Quarterly, 70(4), pp.509-533.
Gobble, M.M., 2018. Digitalization, digitization, and innovation. Research-Technology
Management, 61(4), pp.56-59.
Lim, S.E., 2021. Fostering absorptive capacity and facilitating innovation in hospitality
organizations through empowering leadership. International Journal of Hospitality
Management, 94, p.102780.
Marion, T.J. and Fixson, S.K., 2021. The transformation of the innovation process: How digital
tools are changing work, collaboration, and organizations in new product
development. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 38(1), pp.192-215.
Ronquillo, J.C., Popa, A. and Willems, J., 2021. Toward an understanding of the role of human
resources in cultivating a climate for innovation in nonprofit and public
organizations. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit
Organizations, 32(5), pp.1126-1138.
Shao, and et.al., 2020. Environmental regulation and enterprise innovation: a review. Business
Strategy and the Environment, 29(3), pp.1465-1478.
Siebold, N., 2021. Reference points for business model innovation in social purpose
organizations: A stakeholder perspective. Journal of Business Research, 125, pp.710-719.
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Wang, Y.C., Phillips, F. and Yang, C., 2021. Bridging innovation and commercialization to
create value: An open innovation study. Journal of Business Research, 123, pp.255-266.
Yaseen, A., Bryceson, K. and Mungai, A.N., 2018. Commercialization behaviour in production
agriculture: The overlooked role of market orientation. Journal of Agribusiness in
Developing and Emerging Economies.
Yin, X., Chen, J. and Li, J., 2019. Rural innovation system: Revitalize the countryside for a
sustainable development. Journal of Rural Studies.
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