Exploring Innovation Models: Case Studies and Theoretical Frameworks

This assignment explores the multifaceted nature of innovation through a comprehensive analysis of various models, theories, and real-world case studies. Students will delve into topics such as communication for rural innovation, creating value through business model innovation, productivity and social organization in relation to technical innovation, open vs closed innovation, and the impact of institutional ownership on innovation. The assignment requires a critical evaluation of these concepts using evidence from academic literature, practical examples, and personal insights.

INNOVATION

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P 1. Importance of innovation in company and its comparison with invention..........................3
P2) Organisational leadership, vision, teamwork and culture shapes innovation and
commercialization.......................................................................................................................5
P3. 4Ps of innovation and use of innovation funnel...................................................................6
P4 What is frugal innovation .....................................................................................................7
P 5. Significance of the commercial funnel and the application of New Product Development 8
P6 Build an innovation business case for the organisation.......................................................10
P 7. Different tools used to develop, retain and protect knowledge and intellectual properties
...................................................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Innovation can be defined as the process of improving the present state by
introducing some new idea, method or theory which brings revolutionary change in the world.
Innovation is the ultimate and most promising assets for business that make it differentiate itself
from the rest of the competitors in market. Innovation serves to be that tool to retain old
customers and to capture attention of new consumers so as to achieve success in the lofty peaks
of competition (Huberman and Miles, 2013). The current report is based on Ensoft ltd which is a
small software company expertise in networking software. It was established in 1997 with its
base in Harpenden, UK. currently having a team of around 70 proficient engineers who are
expert in developing all sorts of networking software. This assignment will undertake a brief
study about innovation and its significance determining about how organizational vision,
leadership, culture and teamwork can shape innovation and commercialization. Moreover, it will
also discuss about the 4P's of innovation and about commercial funnel and its application in
New Product Development.
TASK 1
P 1. Importance of innovation in company and its comparison with invention
Innovation in simple terms refers to introducing something new that has not been
introduced in the market yet. Innovation in today's competitive time proves to be a key to create,
maintain and improve an edge over business rivals. Thus; it ultimately results in increasing the
productivity and profitability of the firm by effectively crating new features in the available
products for meeting the frequently changing customers needs and wants. A firm to successfully
implement new ideas, thoughts and methods into actual reality adopts a variety of tools and
technologies (Patti, Yanes and Siuzdak, 2012). Ensoft ltd along with its team of specialized
engineers keeps on finding new and innovation methods to bring changes in existing services so
as to cater even the latest needs and aspirations of its clients. To maintain and enhance its
position in the market, it is of vital importance for Ensoft ltd had to organized and scientifically
strategically develop company's culture to boost up the productivity by utilizing modern
techniques to work approach as well as in its business operations.
Significance of innovation is eventide from the mention below points:-

Helpful in meeting fast changing customers needs and wants: Through
innovation,company can find new ways of existing product use which helps in meeting the
frequently changing taste and preference of the customers. .
Create a competitive advantage: It helps in gaining competitive advantage over other
competitors as upgrading the exiting technology and procedures through new and innovative
ideas help a firm to differentiate its advanced products from other that can capture the attention
the customers .
Implement best method for organizations: Innovation involves a deep study of present
and probable future trends of the market. Thus this research helps an enterprise to design an
develop latest and most appropriate methods for manufacturing products.
Helpful in creating brand image:- Innovation helps in creating an maintaining brand
image of a company because of the fact that company produces latest, most creative products
which are superior than from other available products .
Difference between innovation and invention is evaluated as below:
Innovation Invention
 Innovation is a process of
implementation of new and creative
ideas for the first time which results in
enhancing organisational productivity
and performance.
 It is value addition in existing product
or services (Leeuwis, 2013).
 It includes modifying or finding new
features of current products and
services which enhances their
effectiveness.
 Invention is the process of discovering
some new technology, method, tool that
are entirely new and has never been
applied by anyone in their business.
 It is introduction of new and distinct
products in the market with advance
features for meeting up the latest taste
and preference of customers.
 A firm recruit specialized team to
design and form new goods and
services .

P2) Organisational leadership, vision, teamwork and culture shapes innovation and
commercialization.
In this modern era, sole objective of every firm is to achieve all its pre determined goals
and objectives by getting maximum output and generating higher profits. For attaining this target
diversity seems to be the key factor as as it allows the introduction of new and creative ways,
ideas ,methods and procedures to do particular task. Thus, group efforts, vision, organization
culture and leadership plays a significant role in this aspect (Amit and Zott, 2012). It is therefore
requisite for Ensoft Ltd to adapt new and latest structure to carry out its operations in an
appropriate manner besides applying an effective leadership style for influencing its employees
to work as per the guidelines and its vision. To stand ahead in the market an enterprise should
create :-
Vision: Vision is the aspiration explanation of future about what company want to to
achieve in its long term. It includes purpose, aim , objective and future course of actions that
company intends undertake in certain time limit. It needs to be clear, measurable and realistic.
Team-work: A proficient, motivated and dedicated team serves as an asset to an
organization which is necessary for effectively and timely accomplishing its set objectives.
Therefore, it has become the responsibility of management to maintain a cordial relationship
with its workforce by encouraging them to participate in decision making process. This results in
employee being confident enough to express new ideas , methods and techniques to perform a
task which might come useful to the organization in increasing quality of its operation and
production.
Culture: Organizational culture refers to values, ideologies, principles and beliefs that a
firm follows. It should be good enough for an employee to feel comfortable to interact freely
and work without stress (Rice, 2013). It plays a crucial role in productivity of an employee as it
influences their way to interact Therefore, management of Ensoft ltd strives to follow and
develop good and supporting organizational culture so as to helps its employees to freely share
views and concerns
Effective Leadership: Enterprise also requires to adopt effective leadership in its
management. Through this, managers and leaders can influence the workers towards
achievement of a common objective. They need to provide necessary training programs for
members in order to develop their skills and needs for better production.

P3. 4Ps of innovation and use of innovation funnel
4Ps of innovation popularly known as innovation mix model was proposed by John
Bessant and Joe Tidd. It is based on four different factors that considered to be vital for the value
addition of exiting products. Ensoft Ltd make use of innovation mix to get best outcomes. Those
four components are described below :
 Product : This refer to offering a new improved product or service to customers by taking
help of creative and innovation concepts along with enhancing product quality. It is
essential capability that a firms need to develop so as to keep itself advance in frequently
changing market preferences. Ensoft ltd should improve its techniques for designing so
as to produce more attractive products and services with best quality to improve its
customers base.
 Process : An obsolete method of manufacturing often lead to high cost of production,
more time consumption with decrease in the productivity level of a firm. Thus to timely
improve its methods of manufacturing so as to reduce its costs and maintain the quality
of its products/services as well its operations (Stokes, 2011). It lead to company getting
advantage of producing cheap and goods and service with high quality and affordable
prices for customers.
 Position : It is related to finding out the target audience for new and improved product
and introducing it to them. Innovation aids a company to secure higher position in
market by meeting the specific requirements of the consumers. Ensoft ltd needs to realise
it potential and should introduce necessary changes as per the market demands so as to
attract clients towards it services.
 Paradigm : This is completely related to bring out a change in the way something is been
done in a company (Huizingh, 2011). It is changing or modifying the system, process or
procedure carried out by a firm in accordance with customers ease or comfort. To
introduce paradigm change Ensoft Ltd required to understand the specific needs of their
prospective users to achieve customer satisfaction.
Innovation funnel: Innovation funnel is the technique used by manager to for implementing
the most appropriate ideas and procedures to cater market demand in affordable way. The
manager is presented with a plethora of ideas, opinions and methods out of which the most
unique and most suitable option is selected that can benefit both the firm and customers.

Funnel includes a sequential of developing an innovation starting from its idea generation,
screening the alternatives options and then picking up the most innovative idea (Goldberg,
2013). Development of innovation funnel mainly involves mentioned below three steps:-
Focuses on wide mouth of funnel: In this step firm collects as many ideas, knowledge and
information as possible regarding the product development. Various sources of information
competitors, university connections, existing partner etc are considered to realize the market
trends in reference to firms capabilities and future objectives.
Narrowing segment of funnel:- This stage involves screening the available abundant ideas in
the light of the goals and objectives set by an enterprise. It involve selecting the best an dthe
most innovative idea by exploring each alternatives for its feasibility and risk factors involved to
carry out that idea (Schaffers and et al, 2011).
Narrow segment of funnel:- This the last stage where a firm after ensuring that the new product
or service created is feasible and competitive enough to cater the needs and wants of the
customers is launched in the market
P4 What is frugal innovation
Fugal innovation (FI) is the process of discovering new business models, value chains,
redesigning product or eliminating the non essential features of a product so as to make the
product service more affordable, durable and sustainable with high quality. Mentioned below
are the significance of FI are listed below:
 FI proves to be an effective techniques for developing countries who seeks opportunities
to sell their products and services at low costs so as to attract customers who prefer
buying reasonable products..
 FI as is practiced in emerging markets take into consideration the bottom level and then
makes its way up to other top levels to benefit all its customers.
 It is helpful for company facing financial crisis as by adopting FI it can reduce ad
eliminate their research and development expenditures, production costs and to enhance
its quality. .
 Managers can produce reasonable products which is cost effective which can increase
company's sales.
Considering the cases of two most prominent brands Apple and Virgin, who operates
their operations in many countries across the globe and make modification in their products as

per the demand and need of their consumers. By using fugal innovation these firms may They
may eliminate extra charges making their products more affordable and reasonable for
developing country so that customers have an a better and cost effective option over other
brands. them over other companies (Boons and Lüdeke-Freund, 2013). This technique will
benefit Ensoft Ltd as by making use of FI technique the firm can develop new products for the
customers so that they don't get bored from the same products and merchandise If performed
systematically an defectively FI will contribute in enhancing the sale of a firm in drastic manner
by capturing attention of consumers to new and innovative product. Managers need to proactive
in providing different ranges of products for every sections of society especially for middle and
lower income class as they forms the majority of population and will help the company in
capturing large market share .
P 5. Significance of the commercial funnel and the application of New Product Development
Commercial funnel also known as sales funnel can be described as the process of buying
products or commodities. It visually describes the purchasing process from initial stage of
contact to final stage of selling product. Ensoft ltd should utilize this process in its business
activities to get maximum returns Sale funnel is divided into seven steps depending upon
particular sales model:-
 Awareness : In this phase, company tries to explore the existence of some effective
solutions for the problems that are been regularly faced by consumers.
 Interest : In this phase the awareness and interest of the potential customers towards the
products and services of a firm is analysed and identified.
 Evaluation : In this step prospects or prospective company evaluates and analysed all the
probable solutions adopted by its competitors so that it left them an inch ahead from
making final purchase decisions.
 Decision : The decision phase is concerned with taking the judgement to purchase . The
prospects here are ready to buy and starts comparing different solutions that are available
in the market (Lichtenthaler, 2011). It is where the company task is to make them
convince to buy their products instead from its rivals. After that ending judgement is
made and process of negotiation starts.
 Purchase : In this stage purchase is made by the prospects.

Thus it can be seen that commercial funnel is playing very significant role in Ensoft ltd as it is
enabling firm to increase its selling rate and achieve higher profits.
New product development process
This is a process which includes all procedures that are carried out in developing a new
product. Every product has to go through certain stages before going to market. Following are
some stages:
 Generation of idea : This is the first and the foremost stage of developing an idea which
ought to be logical and realistic to be put into action. To check the feasibility of the same
company conduct SWOT analysis so as to determine the probable strength weakness,
opportunity and threat related to converting that idea into action plan.
 Screening of idea : In this stage out off all the alternative ideas the most prominent ones
are selected and other non feasible ideas are discarded.
 Funding : To pursue the selected idea into action plans company requires funds and
investments for manufacturing goods and services. In this phase firm finds out the
prospective stakeholders to invest in business plan (Aghion Van Reenen and Zingales,
2013). Sources to raise funds includes shareholders, banks, investors and many other key
elements. Development and testing : Third step included developing the concept and testing it on
the selected target market. In this process customers are give information about the new
product and are asked about their opinion. Their reactions are recorded for further
analysis and if most customers are feel positive about the concept the idea is adopted for
execution.
 Business strategy analysis : It is an important phase as it here the company finds out
whether the concept chosen is profitable enough to convert into a product or not. Firm go
through detail market analysis and studies new product from business point of view
(Cross, 2011.). If idea comes out to be profitable enough it is adopted else rejected. Product Development:- After formulating all necessary strategies related to marketing
finance, production,advertising etc. concept is converted in actual product with all
specifications. Test marketing: It involves testing product into smaller market section to monitor its
success. Feedback is taken and further modifications are done, if required.

 Commercialization: In this stage, product is launched at large scale and different
marketing strategy are adopted for its sales promotion by using marketing mix.
P6 Build an innovation business case for the organisation
Projects need sufficient fund to operate their each and every innovation so that all related
aspects could be done and fulfil properly. Thus, funding have diverse number of sources which
need to understand by management of Ansoff Software so that appropriate and effective
innovation lead to take place. For this consideration, innovative business case required to
followed down:
Ansoff Software is a software generated company with more number of clients outside the
world as well. Now firm want to launch another software of call recording which support in
track unusual call and reduce traffic load as well. The mission statement which proclaimed for
this innovation is:
“To implement appropriate innovation for making service user experience more effective”
For commercialising the products and services, management need to arrange and determine the
fund of sources which enables them to made money as well as managing operations.
For this consideration, following are the several number of sources of fund which have to
understand by the Ansoff managers. Thus, diverse sources of fund for the company are: Internal sources: Retention of profit again into the business could identify as major
source of finance which reduce chances of debt. Along with this selling out of assets also
underpin and determine as another criteria for arraigning money through online.
 External sources: Several external sources of fund arrange are bank loan, over draft etc.
All these are major sources which enables and support in arranging money from outside
of the business world.
P 7. Different tools used to develop, retain and protect knowledge and intellectual properties
For every innovation, there is a need of specific legislation which have to followed up on
that. Innovation might get imitate by any other firm which need to assess and understand by the
business managers of a company so that further they become able to deal with all major aspects
and considerations.

To protect such property and their rights, regulatory bodies imposed a legislation which define as
an intellectual property right under which all major invention and innovation by a person or a
company could be secure (West and Bogers, 2014). This enables and support in deriving better
and appropriate outcome for a company as well as their image would get secure for long term.
 Intellectual property right define as a process which support in securing the invention and
innovation of a company to get copied by someone else so that appropriate design and
structure could be followed. This consideration required to understand by the business
managers of a company which further enables in deriving the better suited outcome for
long term perspective. Following are several number of intellectual property elements
which have to understand by the business managers of Ansoff Software:
 Copyright: This demonstration connotes that at whatever point an advancement prompt
occur then separated from proprietor no body have a privilege to utilize it. Consequently,
copyright empower numerous things to keep up things unique in outline which aid better
and proper working (Gunday and et al, 2011).
 Patent: Another correct which help with unique plan of item and administration is patent
right. Every single thought are patent in outline which none of a man prompt utilize it.
Along these lines, administration need to comprehend this segment also for better and
viable working
All these legislation aspects required to understand by the manager of Ansoff Software so that
they could maintain and manage their invention and innovation for long term. This directly
influence their sales as well as mitigate chances of risk.

CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned report it has been concluded that, innovation is an important
process for translating new ideas into goods and service. These products help company to
achieve their set goals and objectives in effective manner.. There are various organisational
factors which influence process of innovation and commercialization and those factors are
leadership, team work, culture and vision of the company. Manager can use innovation funnel to
scrutinize best possible method for production of particular products and services. They can also
make affordable products for poor and middles class people by using frugal innovation to
encourage effective sales of products. It is necessary for company to protect their intellectuals
rights so that nobody can copy their innovation. Managers should ensure effective plans by using
innovative ideas so that they can achieve desired success and can retain their position in market.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Huberman, A. M. and Miles, M. B., 2013. Innovation up close: How school improvement works.
Springer Science & Business Media.
Patti, G. J., Yanes, O. and Siuzdak, G., 2012. Innovation: Metabolomics: the apogee of the omics
trilogy. Nature reviews Molecular cell biology. 13(4). p. 263.
Leeuwis, C., 2013. Communication for rural innovation: rethinking agricultural extension. John
Wiley & Sons.
Amit, R. and Zott, C., 2012. Creating value through business model innovation. MIT Sloan
Management Review. 53(3). p. 41.
Rice, A. K. ed., 2013. Productivity and social organization: The Ahmedabad experiment:
Technical innovation, work organization and management. Routledge.
Stokes, D. E., 2011. Pasteur's quadrant: Basic science and technological innovation. Brookings
Institution Press.
Huizingh, E. K., 2011. Open innovation: State of the art and future
perspectives. Technovation. 31(1). pp .2-9.
Goldberg, D. E., 2013. The design of innovation: Lessons from and for competent genetic
algorithms (Vol. 7). Springer Science & Business Media.
Schaffers, H and et al, 2011, May. Smart cities and the future internet: Towards cooperation
frameworks for open innovation. In The future internet assembly (pp. 431-446).
Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Boons, F. and Lüdeke-Freund, F., 2013. Business models for sustainable innovation: state-of-
the-art and steps towards a research agenda. Journal of Cleaner Production. 45. pp. 9-
19.
Lichtenthaler, U., 2011. Open innovation: Past research, current debates, and future
directions. The Academy of Management Perspectives. 25(1). pp. 75-93.
Aghion, P., Van Reenen, J. and Zingales, L., 2013. Innovation and institutional
ownership. American economic review. 103(1). pp. 277-304.
Cross, J., 2011. Informal learning: Rediscovering the natural pathways that inspire innovation
and performance. John Wiley & Sons.
West, J. and Bogers, M., 2014. Leveraging external sources of innovation: a review of research
on open innovation. Journal of Product Innovation Management. 31(4). pp. 814-831.
Gunday, G and et al, 2011. Effects of innovation types on firm performance. International
Journal of production economics. 133(2). pp. 662-676.
Online
New product development. 2018. [Online]. Available through
<https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9781118785317.weom130026>.