Innovative Service Proposition for Riverwood: Challenges and Management Frameworks

This report discusses the challenges faced by Riverwood, a logistics solutions provider, due to lack of innovation in their service offerings. It applies management frameworks to mitigate the challenges and identifies gaps in the environmental analysis. The report also discusses the dynamic capabilities of the organization through the 7S framework.

Running head: INNOVATIVE SERVICE PROPOSITION
INNOVATIVE SERVICE PROPOSITION
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Executive summary
The report will be examining different challenges that are faced by the organization, Riverwood,
and thereby apply different management frameworks and principles in order to mitigate the
same. On the other hand, the report also enumerates the different gaps in the environmental
analysis that was undertaken by the business. The report focuses on discussing the dynamic
capabilities of the organization and understands the strategic fit of the business through the
application of the 7S framework.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
2. Solving the management challenges of Riverwood.....................................................................3
2.1 Research Question.................................................................................................................3
2.2 Narrowing the problem encountered by Riverwood.............................................................3
2.3 Focus of research question.....................................................................................................4
3. Gaps in the existing tools and concepts.......................................................................................5
3.1 VUCA....................................................................................................................................5
3.1.1 Conclusion of VUCA.....................................................................................................6
3.2 Strategic capabilities..............................................................................................................6
4. Additional research......................................................................................................................7
4.1 VUCA....................................................................................................................................7
4.2 Dynamic capabilities.............................................................................................................8
4.3 7S framework.......................................................................................................................10
5. Other organizations with similar issues.....................................................................................11
6. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13
Appendix - Feedback: Reflection..................................................................................................16

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1. Introduction
The identification of the different management frameworks helps the organizations in
identifying the current issues that are encountered by the same. The different challenges that are
encountered by the organization, Riverwood, will be studied in the light of different management
frameworks. The frameworks will be helping he organization in maintaining the proficiency of
the services and thereby bring forth innovations. The report will be taking steps to restate the
issues that are faced by the business through the identification of the gaps in the PESTEL and
SWOT analysis (Rossi et al., 2013). It will be helping in identifying the prominent issues that are
faced by the organization while proposing their service offerings to the different organizations.
The key purpose of undertaking the research is to apply relevant knowledge of the management
tools, which will be helping the organizations in purging different issues that are encountered by
the same.
2. Solving the management challenges of Riverwood
2.1 Research Question
The major research question that will be addressed in the research is related to issues
relating to lack of innovation in the processes of the organization Riverwood. The lack of proper
innovation in the service offerings of the organization has affected the service offerings.
2.2 Narrowing the problem encountered by Riverwood
The identification of the issue that are faced by the organization are based on the lack of
innovation in the service offerings of the business. The organization offers logistics solutions to

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different businesses. Identification of the issues relating to the lack of innovative approach of the
organization has affected the performance of the same while operating as per the needs of the
clients. 5Why analysis revealed the different aspects of the lack of innovation and the manner in
which it has affected the performance of the business.
Why lack of innovative services?
Lack of financial funds to undertake research and lack of innovative culture in the
organization affected their innovative service proposition.
Why lack of innovative culture?
Lack of innovative and skilled employees and poor communication systems of the
organization affected the proper functioning of the innovative framework of the business.
Why is lack of innovative employees?
The skilled employees do not prefer to join the organization and the top- down hierarchy
model of the business resulted to lack of innovative employees in the organization.
Why do younger millennial people don’t want to join Riverwood?
The benefits that are provided by the organization are not attractive and thereby the
people feels reluctant to join the organization. On the other hand, the lack of brand awareness
also creates a situation of disinterest among the candidates for the organization.
Why are benefits not attractive?
The benefits that are provided by the organization are not attractive due to the lack of
funds and margins.

5INNOVATIVE SERVICE PROPOSITION
One of the basic reasons for the lack of innovative approach in the organizational
performance is due to lack of communicational measures. The headquarters of the organization is
located at a far off place from the work zone, which has affected the integrated functioning of the
management of the organization and the employees. On the other hand, the lack of
encouragement to the employees for involving in the processes of the business has affected the
innovative approach of the business. Lack of knowledge transfers among the employees has
affected the smooth functioning of the innovative processes as per the objectives (Tsai & Tang,
2012). Lack of subtle innovation in the processes is a crucial issue that is faced by the
organization, which is affecting the sustainable relations with the client organizations thereby
resulting to a degradation in the brand name.
2.3 Focus of research question
The major focus of the research question is to identify the root issue that is faced by the
organization due to lack of suitable innovations in the logistic solutions that are provided by the
same. It has affected the sustainability of the organization as per the service offerings of the
business objectives. Lesser focus on the functional elements of the employees is again an
important concern that has affected the organizational context, which resulted to lack of
innovation in the processes. Insufficient funds of the business have affected the capabilities of
the business to undertake continuous innovation in the logistics designs as per the needs of the
client organizations. The concerned organization undertakes a B2B form of business operations
where the innovative logistics solutions would be helping the clients in upholding a dynamic
supply chain and networking. However, the lack of innovation in the service offerings of the
business has affected the competitive edge of the business while operating in the offshore
markets.

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3. Gaps in the existing tools and concepts
3.1 VUCA
Volatility
The volatile attributes refers to different situations which are unstable for unpredictable
duration. The different changes that are undertaken by the organizations as a matter of concern
that supports the sustenance of the organizations. It clearly portrays the volatile nature of the
modifications (Wagner & Sutter, 2012). The different dynamic and untimely changes in the
diversified markets being volatile in nature might affect the innovative approach of the
organization. However, the volatile nature of the markets are not studied through PESTEL or
SWOT as different elements concerning the change over time is not addressed in the same.
Uncertainty
The lack of relevant information of the market trends affects the smooth operations of the
business. The organization, Riverwood, is facing challenges relating to the lack of proper
information systems of the market trends, which has resulted to lack of innovation in the services
that are offered by the organization as per the needs of the client organizations. The lack of
suitable R&D department of the organization has affected the smooth performance of the
business as per the needs of the organizational innovative approach. Lack of specific knowledge
of the industry trends and the changing logistic needs of the organizations has adversely
impacted the innovative approach (Moore, 2014).
Complexity
The complexity of the data that is acquired by the organization and lack of suitable
synthesis tools of the same in order to understand the industry needs has affected the innovative

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approach of the concerned organization. Lack of proper synthesis of complex data affects the
knowledge management attributes of the business thereby resulting to a slower innovation
process.
Ambiguity
Ambiguity in the processes and the innovation processes that are developed by the
organization might create glitches while undertaking the operations. The major deficiencies that
are faced by the organization, Riverwood, is based on the lack of understanding of the stages that
might be undertaken by the business in order to bring forth innovation in the logistics services.
Ambiguity in the stages of inducing innovation in the processes of the business affects the
performance of the business as per the needs of the client organizations.
3.1.1 Conclusion of VUCA
The data that is being derived from the understanding of the PESTEL and SWOT does
not include the future implications of the business as the dynamic nature of changes in the
external environments of the organizations affect the understanding of the market trends (Bennett
& Lemoine, 2014). Different technological innovations and the diversity in the market trends are
volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous in nature, which would be affecting the suitable
functioning of the elements of change as per the needs of the organizational sustenance.
3.2 Strategic capabilities
The identification of the different environmental concerns that are undertaken by the
organization is based on the study of PESTEL and SWOT analysis, which focuses on illustrating
the current strategic position of the business. However, the identification of the future
opportunities of the business is controlled through the dynamic capabilities of the organization to

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bring ion changes in the processes and thereby innovate as per the market trends that are faced
by the same (Hahn & Packowski, 2015). Therefore, the enumeration of the VUCA in the next
section will be concentrating on the dynamic capabilities that will be helping Riverwood in
proposing innovative services that are required by the client organizations.
4. Additional research
4.1 VUCA
Volatility
The volatile nature of the market is based on the frivolous changes in the market trends
which affects the proper functioning of th4e systems of the business while operating in the
international markets. The concerned company thereby faces issue relating to the identification
of the market trend through the study of PESTEL and SWOT, which states the current strategic
position of the business (Wilden et al., 2013). However, the lack of understanding of the
dynamically changing innovation that is leading the logistics service providing industry has
affected the innovative approach of the business.
Uncertainty
Riverwood lacks in maintaining a sound information system, which has affected the
organizational knowledge management attributes relating to the innovative trends in the market.
The uncertainty of information that is gathered by the organization has affected the innovative
approach of the business while developing their service offerings.
Complexity

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Complexity of the data that is derived by the organizations and synthesis of the same
affects the smooth functioning of the systems of the business operations per the objectives of the
business. The complexity of data relating to the market trends and the innovations that are
undertaken by the other companies in the same industry has resulted to lack of innovation in the
services (Kor & Mesko, 2013). However, Riverwood must take steps to synthesize the data
relating to innovations that are undertaken by the different organizations in order to maintain
their proficiency as per the changing needs of the clients in the market.
Ambiguity
The ambiguity in the processes of the data synthesis and the lack of understanding of the
key stages that might be induced by the concerned organization for supporting innovation in the
services has affected the organizational competitive advantage (Helfat & Peteraf, 2015).
However, the organization must take steps to pre- plan the stages for inducing the innovative
approach in the service offerings through a study of the innovations that are undertaken by the
organizations. It will be helping the organization in upholding the proficiency of the change in
the processes.
4.2 Dynamic capabilities
The dynamic capabilities of the organization are based on the understanding of the steps
that might be undertaken by the organization in order to analyze the different scopes of
expansion of the business in different changing market situations (Beske, 2012). Riverwood
must take steps to analyze the different opportunities for growth of the organization in the
industry through induction of innovation in the processes. It will be helping the organization in

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maintaining a steady competitive advantage as per the objectives of its sustenance. Dynamic
capabilities are the most important matters in the context of the success of the organizations in
the most ways. This is why the organizations would look to put in their best efforts into their
quest of becoming the industry leaders (Teece, 2012). The research question in this matter
revolves around the lack of the innovative services in terms of the logistics services among the
employees. The various tangible and intangible assets of the firm will have to be assessed so the
best resources could be found out in terms of the best logistics services. The flexibility of the
Riverwood Company is very much important in this context as well (Hoch, 2013). This will be
helpful for them to survive in the global competitive business environment. The external
environment of the organizations is changing very quickly so Riverwood will have to adjust with
these changes properly as well. The importance of the skills of the employees and their
innovative capabilities will surely lead Riverwood towards the organizational success
(Kindström, Kowalkowski & Sandberg, 2013).
The proper dynamic capabilities will always lead the organizations towards the desired
organizational success indeed. In this matter the most important issue is to improve the
innovative thinking among the employees (Teece, 2012). The concerned organization here is
Roverwood that has to focus on improving its dynamic capabilities. The research question based
on the organization Riverwood is very much relevant to the dynamic capabilities. The
capabilities of the management and their knowledge sharing are indeed very significant matter as
well (Lin & Wu, 2014). It is very much important that the organization must be able to develop
their capabilities in the best matters so it can be able to put focus on the knowledge sharing of
their managers and the employees (Kindström, Kowalkowski & Sandberg, 2013). The
organization must be able to provide the best resources and opportunities for their employees in

11INNOVATIVE SERVICE PROPOSITION
the near future. The knowledge sharing of the organization will have to be improved in the best
manners as well. As the employees are not able to get the best knowledge regarding their future
they tend to leave the organization. This hampers the integrity of the organization in a large way
indeed (Lin & Wu, 2014). This is the time that they will have to understand the ample
opportunities they have in front of them by working for the Riverwood logistics. If the
knowledge sharing is done within the entire organization, it will be better for the employees to
understand their value. This is the time they will surely stay in the organization and provide their
best efforts for the Riverwood Logistics Company. It is better for the organization that they
publish their advertisements for the recruitments in the proper method indeed. The
innovativeness in the employees will be given the highest priority for the recruitment and
selection (Zhou et al., 2014).
In the previous section, the organization did not consider the various issues like their
organization structure and systems properly. These things indeed are very important to shape up
the entire organization. This big gap in the research can be assisted by the 7s framework by
McKinsey as part of the strong management frameworks (Wagner & Hollenbeck, 2014). The
analysis of the internal environment could be done through this framework indeed.
4.3 7S framework
The 7s framework or diagram is a very important factor in order to understand the
various changes that could change the entire context of the organization in the best ways. The
coordination between the employees and the higher authorities of the organization is regarded as
the most important factor (Singh, 2013). The 7s framework is considered to be very much
relevant and much connected with the research question since the knowledge sharing is a very
important part in this matter. The problem could only be solved when the organization would

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improve their knowledge sharing in the best ways for the benefit of their management
capabilities. The various components of the framework will have to be aligned with the several
shared values of the organization (Uhl, 2016).
In Riverwood, the company is facing the problem of the lack of the innovative skills and
resources (Pinder, 2014). The gap between the current strategic capabilities and the needed skills
is huge. This is why the organization will have to apply this framework for the benefit of their
services. The organization will have to find out and identify the relevant innovative skills gaps
since it is very much important to meet the strategic objectives and goals of the organization. The
lack of the innovative workforce led to the fall of the brand image of the organization (Singh,
2013).
The external; environment of the organization could be improved if the innovation takes
the control in the operations of the organization. The integrity among the different departments
of the organization and their innovative skills will lead the organization towards the proper
success (Kaliannan & Adjovu, 2015). The mentality for the innovation would surely lead the
organization towards the desired success. The shared values and innovation facilities should be
aligned with the organizational structure. The factor of the innovation will help the organization
to lead from the front in the logistics industry. The collaboration among the employees and their
approach towards the integrity will be very important indeed (Pinder, 2014).
5. Other organizations with similar issues
Yahoo has been such a company that has not been able to put the different innovative
ideas into the place to get the desired success. The lack of innovation has made them stay behind
regarding the rise of Google. They have not been able to keep their strong market position since

13INNOVATIVE SERVICE PROPOSITION
the employees have not been able to put the strong innovative ideas. Yahoo had missed several
opportunities in the quest to be the most popular search engine in the digital technology industry.
This is why it is very highly important for the leaders to sit down together and discuss about the
several ideas that will be the foundations stones for becoming highly successful. In the presence
of strong contenders like Microsoft, Google and Facebook, Yahoo is trying their best to keep up
in the race.
6. Conclusion
Therefore, from the above analysis it might be stated that the application of VUCA, 7S
framework and the dynamic capabilities will be helping in identifying the issues relating to lack
of innovation in the service offerings. On the other hand, the report also enumerates the gaps that
are created through the utilization of PESTEL and SWOT as it examines the current strategic
position of the business. The different management challenges and the lack of innovation in the
service propositions of the organization is being highlighted in the research which will be
providing a clear insight of the mitigation strategies that might be considered by the business
while operating in the offshore markets.

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References
Bennett, N., & Lemoine, G. J. (2014). What a difference a word makes: Understanding threats to
performance in a VUCA world. Business Horizons, 57(3), 311-317.
Beske, P. (2012). Dynamic capabilities and sustainable supply chain management. International
Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 42(4), 372-387.
Hahn, G. J., & Packowski, J. (2015). A perspective on applications of in-memory analytics in
supply chain management. Decision Support Systems, 76, 45-52.
Helfat, C. E., & Peteraf, M. A. (2015). Managerial cognitive capabilities and the
microfoundations of dynamic capabilities. Strategic Management Journal, 36(6), 831-
850.
Hoch, J. E. (2013). Shared leadership and innovation: The role of vertical leadership and
employee integrity. Journal of Business and Psychology, 28(2), 159-174.
Kaliannan, M., & Adjovu, S. N. (2015). Effective employee engagement and organizational
success: a case study. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 172, 161-168.
Kindström, D., Kowalkowski, C., & Sandberg, E. (2013). Enabling service innovation: A
dynamic capabilities approach. Journal of business research, 66(8), 1063-1073.
Kor, Y. Y., & Mesko, A. (2013). Dynamic managerial capabilities: Configuration and
orchestration of top executives' capabilities and the firm's dominant logic. Strategic
Management Journal, 34(2), 233-244.

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Lin, Y., & Wu, L. Y. (2014). Exploring the role of dynamic capabilities in firm performance
under the resource-based view framework. Journal of business research, 67(3), 407-413.
Moore, D. L. (2014). The experience of strategic thinking in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and
ambiguous (VUCA) environment (Doctoral dissertation, The George Washington
University).
Pinder, C. C. (2014). Work motivation in organizational behavior. Psychology Press.
Rossi, S., Colicchia, C., Cozzolino, A., & Christopher, M. (2013). The logistics service providers
in eco-efficiency innovation: an empirical study. Supply chain management: an
international journal, 18(6), 583-603.
Singh, A. (2013). A study of role of McKinsey's 7S framework in achieving organizational
excellence. Organization Development Journal, 31(3), 39.
Teece, D. J. (2012). Dynamic capabilities: Routines versus entrepreneurial action. Journal of
management studies, 49(8), 1395-1401.
Tsai, W. C., & Tang, L. L. (2012). A model of the adoption of radio frequency identification
technology: The case of logistics service firms. Journal of Engineering and Technology
Management, 29(1), 131-151.
Uhl, A. (2016). Introduction. In A Handbook of Business Transformation Management
Methodology (pp. 29-40). Routledge.
Wagner III, J. A., & Hollenbeck, J. R. (2014). Organizational behavior: Securing competitive
advantage. Routledge.

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Wagner, S. M., & Sutter, R. (2012). A qualitative investigation of innovation between third-‐
party logistics providers and customers. International Journal of Production
Economics, 140(2), 944-958.
Wilden, R., Gudergan, S. P., Nielsen, B. B., & Lings, I. (2013). Dynamic capabilities and
performance: strategy, structure and environment. Long Range Planning, 46(1-2), 72-96.
Zhou, J., Ma, Y., Cheng, W., & Xia, B. (2014). Mediating role of employee emotions in the
relationship between authentic leadership and employee innovation. Social Behavior and
Personality: an international journal, 42(8), 1267-1278.

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Appendix - Feedback: Reflection
There are some key points that I have received as the feedbacks for the assignment. There
are three feedbacks that could be discussed in this section. The first one is the fact that I would
have to understand the problem in a clear manner. The second point is the fact that I would have
to organize the most important concepts and frameworks that could originate from the discussed
problem. The third point is the fact that could be to make the short conclusion section that would
help me to understand what implications I could derive from this matter properly.
Earlir it had been reflected that my report lacks the proper integrity and analysis about the
various identified issues. It had also been said that the report has lacked the proper justification
about the matter as well. I can say that I could have made better arguments in order to address
the various problems that the organization Riverwood had been facing of late. I might tend to
give a proper problem statement where I will address all the relevant issues and facts relating to
the most important matters. I can suggest in this context that it is very important to address the
management challenges and apply the several management frameworks in this context. I will
discuss in deeper contexts about the matter and find out the most important way outs so I could
find out the relevant solutions. The in-depth analysis will help me to problems regarding the
staffing and the importance of innovation for them. The different management frameworks and
frameworks will have to be implemented in this section for the better understanding of the
matter. The factors of lack of innovation affecting Riverwood will be largely discussed in this
section.
In the assignment two, I will try to make the necessary improvements in the report
structure of the assignment with the proper headings and the sub headings. I will also try to give

18INNOVATIVE SERVICE PROPOSITION
a short conclusion on how I can relate the research question to the different management
frameworks. This will surely help me a large way to develop my skills of writing the report in
the proper ways. I will also try to set up the research question in the clear manner so the different
management frameworks like VUCA, 7s framework and dynamic capabilities will be helpful for
me to develop the idea of the problem.
I have also applied some important frameworks to make the case more reasonable and be
able to present the arguments in a way that I could support them. I would also put in the example
of an organization from a different industry where the similar problem had existed. It would be
beneficial for the Riverwood Logistics Company to address these challenges and apply the
several management frameworks in the proper place. The proper recommendations could also be
supplied for the next assignments as well.