Innovation Management: Strategies and Practices

This assignment delves into the crucial aspects of innovation management. It examines various strategic approaches to fostering innovation, such as open innovation and user-driven initiatives. The discussion encompasses creativity management techniques and analyzes how networks and agglomerations contribute to innovation success. Drawing upon diverse academic sources, including works by Drucker, Stokes, and Edquist, the assignment highlights the significance of understanding different types of innovation and their impact on economic growth and technological development.

INNOVATION

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Innovation and its comparison with invention.......................................................................3
P2 Organisational factors influencing shape of innovation and commercialization...................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P3 Explain the 4Ps of innovation and innovation funnel............................................................6
P4 What is frugal innovation.......................................................................................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
P5 Commercial funnel and the process of new product development (NPD)............................8
P6 Build an innovation business case for the organization.........................................................9
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
P7 Tools and techniques use to protect and retain knowledge and intellectual property..........10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Innovation means generation of new ideas and thoughts which are translated into goods
or services. The product which is manufactured should be able to fulfill all requirements and
need of customers. Manager can implement innovation process in different procedures, products,
technologies, services, etc to maximize productivity and profitability of their company. Every
organization is applying this process in their business activities to satisfy their target consumers
by providing them innovative products with unique qualities (Camisón and Villar-López, 2014).
This will attract more customers towards their goods and company will ultimately achieve
desired success. Talent plus is management consulting company which is based on assessing
talents of candidates and make them ready for future competitive world. They believe in
maximizing profitability, job performances and engagement of employees, sales performance,
retention ability, etc. This assignment will focus on comparison of innovation and invention and
its importance in relation to business context. Importance of commercial funnel and application
of new product development and critical elements that are used to protect intellectual rights of
organization are mentioned in this project.
TASK 1
P1 Innovation and its comparison with invention.
Innovation is a process of translating new ideas and imagination into manufacturing of a
product or services which can satisfy need of consumers as well as company. By implementing
innovative ideas at the time of strategies generation can lead to better productivity and
completion of business objective and goals of company. Talent plus is a company which help
candidates to prepare them for future challenges and opportunities. They do this by building up
their self confidence and enhancing their skills and talents required to perform a particular tasks.
By modifying and implementing some new methods in their activities, company can provide
better training to candidates (Dewald and Truffer, 2011). This increases talents and knowledge of
that individual which produce more outputs in future. Company hire only best talented and
skilled people for their company and Talent Plus helps them to provide all rounder candidates.
This enterprise also deals in many more sectors like health care and hospitality, financial,
government, services and utilities, education, consumer products, etc. and they can maximize
results of various activities by modifying it with new ideas. Innovation act as a catalyst of growth

for any organization. So it is necessary for companies to generate new ideas to improve their
functioning.
On the other hand, invention is related to new ideas which has never been thought or
generated before and is totally new to everyone. Difference between innovation and invention
are described below:
BAISIS FOR COMPARISON INVENTION INNOVATION
Meaning- Invention is defined as new
ideas which has never been
thought before and is
extremely new for customers
as well as for company also.
Innovation is related to
implementation part of those
new ideas and imagination to
manufacture any new
products.
Concept- Some new ideas are generated. Practical execution of ideas for
producing goods and services.
Occur- When new ideas occur in mind
of someone (Bogers and West,
2012).
When there is need to improve
existing products.
Commercialization- Commercialization is not
requires.
It results into
commercialization.
Concerned with- Single process or product. Combination of various
process or product.
Below are some importance of innovation and invention which are related to business
organization:
Create a competitive advantage: It is very crucial to manufacture new products and
services at some interval of time to lead in this global world. With the help of innovation
process, company can always stay ahead of their competitors and they can easily achieve
competitive advantage over their rivals.
Responding to increasing customers expectations and choice: Every organization
work in direction to fulfill its ultimate target and that is customer satisfaction. They produce
suitable goods which should have power to satisfy their consumers with their features. Once they

are successful in doing this, customers will always prefer them first over other companies. To
attract more customers, they can make desirable changes in existing product or may manufacture
new products of customer choice (Van-Hemert, Nijkamp and Masurel, 2013).
Implement best method for organizations: managers formulate strategies on daily basis
and is necessary to scrutinize best methods from those. By selecting and executing innovative
methods or procedures in their tasks, they can get better outputs and profits. This ensure
achievement of goals and vision in desired manner.
P2 Organisational factors influencing shape of innovation and commercialization
To gain profits and success, company can opt innovation and commercialization process.
Managers can make changes in their plans and activities to enhance their effectiveness, so that
they can produce better results for company. They can even give responsibilities to their
subordinates to come to with new ideas and opinions which can be beneficial for company. It is
important for an enterprise to market their product, so they can use the concept of
commercialization. With the help of this process, company can launch their products in to market
place. Talent plus can market their services on large scale to attract candidates in large number.
Some organisational factors that can shapes innovation and commercialization are:
Vision: It is critical to develop vision statement for a company to provide appropriate
direction to their business operation. Top level and other superiors are responsible for developing
vision for company. They can apply innovative ideas which can help company to attract more
consumers towards their firm (Manyika and et al, 2011). New ideas can make vision more
attractive and worth full as this represent the image of company in market. So it should be
meaningful and serves a strong message to customers and clients.
Teamwork: This is an effective way to contribute combine talent and skills of
employees and managers towards a task to produce maximum profits. This also ensure timely
completion of business activities. Different employees working in a team can come up with new
and innovative ideas which can help company to achieve their goals in effective manner.
Managers should also give responsibility to employees to bring up with ideas, this leads to
compiling of unique ideas from employees and managers can select suitable opinions and
implement in their activities. It require great team effort to execute commercialization activity to
launch their products in market. Managers of Talent Plus can work together to impart great
training services to their candidates.

Leadership: This is the ability of a leader to direct, control, motivate, inspire, guide an
business organization. Leadership is really necessary to maintain and regulate discipline within
organization. Leaders are responsible for generating innovative ideas and implement them in
organizational activities. They can even modify or alter their leadership styles and theories with
innovative ideas (Stokes, 2011). This will ensure change in working environment of the
company and may result in more outputs and satisfaction of employees. Innovation helps them to
formulate new plans which can benefit company in long term. Leaders of Talent Plus are highly
proficient and they ensure that every candidates get equal opportunities and better training form
company.
Culture: It is related to human beliefs, norms, religions, values and attitude. Every
organization consist of large number of employees which belongs to different cultures. Culture
can shape the concepts of innovation and commercialization, as employees will have different
perceptions and point of view which can be fruitful for company. They can maximizes
company's profitability and can achieve both shot term and long term goals. Talent Plus has
healthy environment where candidates can improve their qualities and talents in more effective
manner.
TASK 2
P3 Explain the 4Ps of innovation and innovation funnel
Company can design and develop new products by using 4P's of innovation and distribute
that product in market. 4P's mainly involve Process, Product, Paradigm and Position. These are
described below in detail:
Process: This is something which is required to achieve goals and objectives of
organization. With process, no company can reach to their targets. It is very important for
superiors to formulates different strategies through which organization can complete their
activities (Edquist, 2013). Major responsibility of a manager is to select best suitable methods for
its company and they can do this by using innovation funnel. This ensures scrutinizing of best
process which should be implemented while manufacturing goods and services.
Product: Company tend to offer their service to customers through products. These
are developed according to needs and requirements of customers. It is crucial for organization to
produces which are preferred and liked by customers. If they are satisfied with service, then they

tend to prefer those products more frequently over others. Managers can also make desired
modifications in existing products and re- launch that again in market with altered
characteristics.
Paradigm: This is related to the implementation of innovative techniques in functioning
of company. Managers can modify their working style to make it more effective.
Position: This is related to how a manager can reach to their target market. For that they
have to decide best distribution channels which can make company products available to
customers on time (Tebbe, 2011). They can use innovation funnel concept while selecting best
channel for company. This help company to have more satisfied and loyal customers.
Innovation funnel: Every organization wants to gain maximum profits and want to lead
in market. To achieve this, company needs to formulate numerous strategies so that they can
select best strategy and implement that in their business functioning. This concept is known as
innovation funnel. Employees come up with different ideas and opinions which can be
implemented to generate new methods and procedures for company. Methods should be effective
in fulfilling all demands of customers, only through this company can gain desired success.
There are three stages which are involved in development of funnel and are described below:
Focuses on wide mouth of funnel: Funnel is divided into three parts i.e., wider,
narrowing and narrow part. This part mainly focuses on wider part of funnel in which
organization collects information and facts which will be useful in developing as many ideas as
possible. Mangers should have better idea about company objectives only then they will be able
to manufacture products (Drucker, 2014). They have the opportunity to select best suitable ideas
form pool of ideas and have large percentage to develop unique products and services.
Narrowing part of funnel: In this, best idea is selected and compared with vision of
company. Proper research and evaluation is done in this step.
Narrow segment of funnel: This is last part of this concept as well as end part of funnel.
In this, company uses commercialization theory to introduce their products and service in
market.

P4 What is frugal innovation
Frugal innovation (FI) leads to production of low cost product and more satisfied
customer. This concept believes in removing of not important features or characters form product
or services. This leads to more economic and affordable product. It also increases durability of
that particular goods. Frugal innovation is considered more than strategy. This concept is a recent
attraction for various managers and they try to manufacture goods which provide many features
at low cost (Goldberg, 2013). This is a great tool to attract large number of customers towards
their product and company. It can be beneficial in those areas or countries which have weak
economic conditions and more customers are from lower and middle class. Companies of these
countries uses this concept to satisfy customer demands at affordable costs. These requirement
changes according to business operation in different countries. Frugal organizations focus on
creating good quality solutions that can deliver great value to customers at lower costs rather
then making customers vow with technically sophisticated product.
In case of retail store like Aldi, superiors can identify economic situation of a country in
which they are operating. If the country have low economic condition then they can formulate
Illustration 1: Innovation funnel

strategies according to that and make those products available which have low cost ranges. If
they become successful in providing affordable goods to customers, then they will prefer them
more as compared to other retail stores. This encourage sales of company and increase in profits.
So, it is beneficial to use both frugal innovation as well as commercial funnel so that they can
achieve desired success.
TASK 3
P5 Commercial funnel and the process of new product development (NPD)
Organization should be effective in distributing their products to market and making
every products available to target customers. Products should be designed in such a manner that
it can fulfill needs and wants of consumers and clients. Marketing department has a great
responsibility to make effective and strong marketing strategies to ensure efficient and timely
distribution of goods and services (Baden, Fuller and Haefliger, 2013). They can use the concept
of commercial funnel also known as sales funnel to manage their sales and distribution of
products. This encourages timely availability of products in market as well as to customers. This
increases satisfaction level which is the ultimate goal of every organization. Below are some
importance of the same:
 It helps in improving distribution capacity and also encourages sales of the company.
 This concept give accurate idea about selling desired products to suitable market and
customers.
 Encourages timely availability of products.
 More sales encourages increase in profits and ultimately leading to success of company.
New product development process
It involves procedures and process which are included in development and production of
a new product. Every product has to go through some stages to finally reach to the market and
those steps are given below in detail: Generation of idea: This is the very first step towards development of products. It is a
vital part as without idea manufacturing process is not possible. Superiors of organization
can give responsibility to their employees to bring different ideas. Large number of ideas
give maximum opportunity to choose from.

 Idea screening: In this stage, every idea go through a screening process and form that
best ideas are selected for further processing. Some factors are there which influences
section criteria of ideas and those are strength and weakness of company, customer
needs, expected return on investment, affordability, etc (Nathan and Lee, 2013). Concept development and testing: Different ideas which passes the screening tests are
converted into concepts. These are then tested on target market and customers.
Employees give brief idea about features and service of a particular product and tell them
to visualize that. Then targeted customers give feedback which can be both, positive and
negative. Managers try to make necessary alterations and modification to make their
products suitable for customer use. Business strategy analysis and development: Proper research help company to formulate
final strategies or plans which can be included in product manufacturing. Proper analysis
of strategies and market are done at this stage. Product development: By implementing feedback given by target customers while
manufacturing products can help company to make suitable alteration and also increase
their sales.
 Introduction: This is the final step in which company finally introduces their products
and services in target market.
P6 Build an innovation business case for the organization
Innovation business case provide better idea to organization about understanding of
business activities and procedures. It help company to operate in effective manner. Some specific
planning is done and is mentioned below:
Identifications of company's objectives: This is a necessary step for managers to know
about company's business objectives and goals (Hausman and Johnston, 2014). After proper
knowledge about objectives, they can make better strategies which can achieve all objectives of
company and ensure desired success.
Market research and survey: It is a crucial tool for making effective plans. Only after
proper research and survey, company can get proper information about customer's requirements
and preferences which should be fulfilled by products they serve.
Evaluation: It is required to evaluate procedures and activities which is performed by an
organization. It is necessary because only best strategy will result in more output and less

effective strategy will lead to loss for the company. To stay ahead and retain position in market,
it is crucial to manufacture good products which should be capable enough to fulfill all demands
of customers as well as company.
In case of Talent Plus, if managers want to retain and expand their firm in market, they
will be requiring huge amount of funds which can help them for easy establishment of their
innovation. If they lack appropriate funds they won't be able to implement their ideas in
practical. They can take help from some investors which are mentioned below:
Angel investors: They help small organization by providing them with huge amount of
funds so that they can easily start their venture.
Bank: They provide loans and funds to small, medium and large organization for smooth
functioning and production.
Venture capital funds: These investors don't like to take risk so they can ask for partial
ownership in organization in which they are investing their funds. They can also take part in
decision making process.
TASK 4
P7 Tools and techniques use to protect and retain knowledge and intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) are considered as fundamentals for innovation. There are critical
elements which help to protect IP and they are patents, trademarks, design right, copyrights and
are mentioned below in detail.
Trade mark: It is represented by any logo, sign, expression, symbol. For this approval,
company need to register themselves at national level and should be approved by government by
country.
Design rights: This gives legal authority to company to copyright their designs. After
registering their designs, nobody is eligible to steal that designs to manufacture their products. It
generally protects appearance of a product which gives company an actual right for that
appearance.
Copyright: In this, authority give right to others for reproduction of their work for a
limited time period (Fischer and Qaim, 2012).
Patent: This provide company with legal authority to protect their innovation from other
rival organization. Legal action be taken against anyone who try to copy the patent work.
Following are some benefits which is offered by protecting these rights:

 Nobody can copy any patent or copyright work. If try to do, legal actions can be done.
 It gives full authority to a particular company to represent their work.
CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned report it has been concluded that, innovations and
commercialization are keys to success as they provide company with better and effective ideas
which they can implement it in their functioning. This leads to completion of set business goals
and targets made by organisation. Customers like those products which have the capacity to fulfil
and satisfy all their demands and requirements (Gnyawali and Park, 2011).. Enterprise can also
make alteration in existing products and launch that product again with modified characteristics
in the market. Managers can use 4P's of innovation as well as commercial funnel to maximise
their sales and increase profits. Superiors can also use frugal innovation to manufacture low
priced products for poor and middle class people. With effective commercialization, company
can introduce their new as well as existing products in market.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Camisón, C. and Villar-López, A., 2014. Organizational innovation as an enabler of
technological innovation capabilities and firm performance. Journal of business
research. 67(1). pp. 2891-2902.
Dewald, U. and Truffer, B., 2011. Market formation in technological innovation systems—
diffusion of photovoltaic applications in Germany. Industry and Innovation. 18(03). pp.
285-300.
Bogers, M. and West, J., 2012. Managing distributed innovation: Strategic utilization of open
and user innovation. Creativity and innovation management. 21(1). pp. 61-75.
Van Hemert, P., Nijkamp, P. and Masurel, E., 2013. From innovation to commercialization
through networks and agglomerations: analysis of sources of innovation, innovDrucker,
P., 2014. Innovation and entrepreneurship. Routledge.
Manyika, J and et al, 2011. Big data: The next frontier for innovation, competition, and
productivity.
Stokes, D.E., 2011. Pasteur's quadrant: Basic science and technological innovation. Brookings
Institution Press.
Edquist, C., 2013. Systems of innovation: technologies, institutions and organizations.
Routledge.
Tebbe, J., 2011. Where good ideas come from: The natural history of innovation.ation
capabilities and performance of Dutch SMEs. The Annals of Regional Science. 50(2).
pp. 425-452.
Drucker, P., 2014. Innovation and entrepreneurship. Routledge.
Goldberg, D.E., 2013. The design of innovation: Lessons from and for competent genetic
algorithms (Vol. 7). Springer Science & Business Media.
Baden-Fuller, C. and Haefliger, S., 2013. Business models and technological innovation. Long
range planning. 46(6). pp. 419-426.
Gnyawali, D.R. and Park, B.J.R., 2011. Co-opetition between giants: Collaboration with
competitors for technological innovation. Research Policy. 40(5). pp. 650-663.
Nathan, M. and Lee, N., 2013. Cultural Diversity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship: Firm‐level
Evidence from London. Economic Geography. 89(4). pp. 367-394.
Hausman, A. and Johnston, W.J., 2014. The role of innovation in driving the economy: Lessons
from the global financial crisis. Journal of Business Research. 67(1). pp. 2720-2726.
Fischer, E. and Qaim, M., 2012. Gender, agricultural commercialization, and collective action in
Kenya. Food Security. 4(3). pp. 441-453.
Online
New product development. 2018. [Online]. Available through
<https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9781118785317.weom130026>.
Tips for generating and screening ideas. 2010. [Online]. Available through
<http://www.han.co/blog/?m=201004>.