Managing Innovation in Business

This report analyzes the importance of innovation in the business context, using Virgin Mobile as a case study. It examines the company's innovation process, predicts the future of the telecommunications industry, and suggests strategies for building future innovation capabilities. The report also explores the significance of organizational knowledge transfer and the role of leadership in implementing innovation.

Managing Innovation in
Business 2
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report mainly has the focus on demonstrating the importance of innovation in
business context. Virgin mobile is a firm which has been selected in order to identify the
innovation process adopted by business entity. Virgin mobile is UK based company which
provides mobile phone services. It also offers broadband and internet services to customers. An
organization sell services through its retail stores which are located at different locations.
Business entity provides goods and services at low cost to customers. Virgin mobile company is
famous for facilitating innovation in telecommunication sector.
This study includes the detail about the innovation process of virgin mobile company. It
emphasizes on developing the understanding about the future of an industry in which
organization is operating. Different models have been used for conducting an innovation
development audit.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................5
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................5
Future of the industry 2020....................................................................................................5
Organization innovation requirement 2020 and beyond........................................................7
Building the future innovation capabilities for the organisation (1500)................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13
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INTRODUCTION
Innovation in context of business, can be refers to as the procedure of bringing improvement
in existing goods or services. It can also be defined as organisational or business process which
includes introducing as well as implementing new ideas, methodologies etc. Innovation is
important as it assist an organisation in increasing efficiency and helps firm in improving
business performance. The objective of innovation is to support an organisation in fostering
growth and renewing business. Innovation is also facilitated by an organisation for identifying
new source of income generation. It can be considering by firm in order to bring drastic as well
as positive change at workplace.
The purpose of the report is to develop the understanding about the process as well as
importance of innovation. It also emphasizes on predicting the future of an industry in which
virgin mobile company is operating its business. Some strategies will be suggested in the report
which can be used by firm for increasing future innovation capabilities. Report will have focus
on identifying requirement of innovation by an organisation. It will also analyse the significance
of organisational knowledge transfer. Study emphasizes on determining the way firm and leaders
can successfully plan as well as implement innovation at workplace.
MAIN BODY
Future of the industry 2020
Telecom industry in which virgin mobile company is operating its business is growing at
very fast rate. It has been expected that telecommunication sector will continue to grow in future
as well. Over the few decades, drastic changes have taken place. Companies such operating in
telecom sector has facilitated innovation at very big scale. Some of innovated products or
services launched by business entities are 5G wireless, Fiber optics, Artificial intelligence,
Subsea cables etc. These innovations are done by companies in order to provide the good
experience as well as high level of satisfaction to customers (McCelvey, Wiklund and
Brattström,2018). The main reason for the growth in telecommunication sector is continuous
information waves and technical advancement.
Companies operating in telecommunication sector in order to maintain its sustainability is
trying to provide products and services to customer at lower price. But connectivity is capturing
a smaller proportion of the information value chain while content, service, and product
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deliverers capture more. It has been predicted that big firms will acquire small organization
operating in telecommunication sector. By 2020, it will be very much essential for the
companies operating in telecom sector to facilitate a range of technical and operational
innovations, as consumer in the market will demand security.
It has been expected that an organization operating in telecommunication sector might
have to face the various challenges. But there will be vast opportunities for this sector to
grow. It has been determined that technological advancement will enable an industry to
increase its size as well as scale by 2020. Business entities in this sector has made promise to
its customer that companies will serve higher number of mobile network connections and
increased smartphone adoption in the future (Snihur and Tarzijan, 2018). It is required by
organizations such as virgin mobile to bring changes its infrastructure and expand business
operations which is very much important in order to deal with several challenges in the future.
It has been determined that 90 percent adult people in the UK market will have a
smartphone within next five years. Future smartphone innovation will mostly be invisible:
sensors, connectivity and software – and the impacts of these improvements will be tangible in
the form of enhanced user experiences. There will be increase in sales of companies operating in
telecom sector. It has been estimated that there will be approx. 1.84 billion sales of smart phones
in 2023. Total market value of smart phones will be approx. 649 billion. Virgin mobile company
expects that technology will generate ancillary airline revenues close to $1bn in 2018.
It has been determined that increase in demand of mobile subscribers for data services
over traditional ones such as SMS services, which previously used cellular network will be
replaced by mobile applications, this trend will continue in the future also. As per the forecast, in
2020 there will be a high growth in data Traffic and there will be increase in bandwidth
requirement Globally. It will become very much important for firms such as Virgin mobile
which is operating in telecom industry to make investment in infrastructure. It is required by
enterprises to focus on providing bandwidth facilities (Taghizadeh, Jayaraman and Quazi,
2017). In addition to this, Telecom operators can also launch data bundle packages for video
streaming or IP messaging to encourage data usage. As this strategy will help business entities in
increasing sales, revenue and profitability.
The other major challenge which telecom operator companies might have to face in the
future is the saturation of mobile penetration level. Business entities might have to face these
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challenges due to chance in economic as well as political conditions in the country. An
organization such as Virgin mobile need to adopt the innovation strategy, as this will assist
business entity in dealing with such challenges (Prokop and Stejskal, 2017). Innovation strategy
will also support an organization in improving business performance. It is important for
telecommunication to facilitate innovation, as it will help firm in fostering growth. In future the
market of telecom industry is expected to grow by approx. 10.2 percent
Organization innovation requirement 2020 and beyond
In context of business, innovation can be considered to be as developing new things or
products. In other words, innovation can be defined as changing or developing new procedures.
It includes executing new ideas in order to bring big as well as positive transformation at
workplace. In present scenario, it has become important for an enterprise to facilitate innovation,
as it will assist business entity in sustaining in highly competitive as well as dynamic
environment. Innovation enables firm to gain competitive advantage in the market. It also
supports an organization in attracting more number of customers (Mahajan, Misra and Mahajan,
2017). In present scenario, it has become important for every company to innovate, as innovation
strategy assists business entities ion providing quick and appropriate response to changes.
Telecom sector have faced disruptive competition. Many telecom operators have faced
many challenges due to changes in law, advancement in technology etc. Firm in order to
maintain its position and remain competitive has planned to facilitate innovation. This industry is
most vulnerable to advancement in technology, customers’ needs and competitors’ actions. It is
required by companies to use advance technology, as this will help business entities in becoming
digital service provider (Foss and Saebi, 2017). Over the few decades there has been rise in
demand of capital expenditure. It is required by virgin mobile organization to launch the
bandwidth.
Some researchers have forecasted that by 2020, there will be increase in number of mobile
users and percentage of people using internet will also rise. There are many factors such as high
growth of data traffic. Increase in intensity or level of competition and decrease in the revenue
will force telecom companies to facilitate innovation. The telecom operators’ companies need to
innovation strategy in order to deal with the challenges created by advancement in technology.
Innovation is required to be facilitated by telecom sector as this will assist firm in grabbing
various opportunities. innovation strategy will allow an organist onto provide suitable response
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to changes. Innovation strategy is required to be adopted by organization in telecom industry for
gaining competitive advantage in the market (Willcocks and Whitley, 2018). This strategy also
enables firm to identity the new sources of revenue generation. The main requirement of
facilitating innovation by telecom companies is to increase sustainability in high competitive and
dynamic business environment. Innovation is required for bringing improvement in business
models and to provide high value as well as satisfaction to customers. Business entity will
require to facilitate innovation in order to fulfill the unique demand by customers.
Strategic partnership – Virgin mobile can form strategic partnership with other companies
in same industry. As this strategy will assist business entity in obtaining resources which are
required for facilitating innovation. It will also enable firm to identify innovate ways for solving
various business problems.
Adoption of latest technology – It is required by an enterprise to implement advance
technology at workplace, as this tactic will provide firm an ease in developing new products or
services. Business entity by using digital technology will easily able to modify the existing goods
or services.
For the majority of the workers in UK, the ideal digital tool: its merits are its portability,
biometric security and constant connection. The smartphone will drive much of the next phase of
business process reinvention. Business entities might have to bring changes in business policies,
procedures or system due to change in political situations, technological advancement or changes
in economic factor.
Virgin mobile company innovation performance and capabilities
An organization main strength or capability is that it is global service provider. In
addition to this firm has a team of technical experts which assist business entity in identifying the
ways to deliver products or service to customers at low cost. The other capabilities of firm is that
it has large number of stores at different locations, these retail outlet provided 24*7 hours
services. An organization has a strong partnership support. It has partnership with world’s
leading telecommunication companies like Sprint, Tata telecom etc. Virgin mobile company is
performing well in the market, but still there is scope of improvement.
Building the future innovation capabilities for the organisation (1500)
Innovation capabilities can be defined as the capacity of an organization to develop new
competencies. It can also be referred to as the firm potential to act upon opportunities as well as
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organizing asset which enables the development if current and future offerings. (Zaabi, Singh
and Ajmal, 2017). Organization capabilities can also be considered to be as a type of strategic
resources as it is valuable, rare, non-tradeable and valuable.
It is also referred to as ability of a firm to combine different resources which allows an
organization to achieve its goals and help business entity in sustaining competitive advantage.
There are various drivers which encourages firm to facilitate innovation these factors are
change in customer demand, increase in competition etc. Development of innovation capabilities
includes imagining as well as creating new valuable solutions to be transacted in the market.
Technological revolution has bought both challenges and opportunities for an organization.
Technical advance has provided business entities an opportunity to increase its innovation
capabilities. It is required by Virgin media organization to implement advance technology at
workplace, as this strategy will provide firm an ease in facilitating innovation. It will also assist
an organization in increasing working efficiencies and productivity (Recalde and Gutiérrez-
García, 2017). Use of technology by an organization operating in telecommunication sector will
help business entities in improving business performance. By utilizing the technology, virgin
media can develop unique and valuable products at low cost. Technology aids firm in lowering
the cost and helps business entity in differentiating its goods from that of competitors. It also
helps an enterprise in gaining competitive advantage in the market. Use of technology will
enable business entity to provide an appropriate as well as quick response to change which is
very much necessary in order to maintain sustainability in highly competitive business
environment.
The virgin mobile organization can launch bandwidth and 5G network. The chosen
businesses will also be given coaching, mentoring, invitations to networking events, and will also
gain access to the alliance members’ customer base which equates to over a billion customers.
Business entity using the latest technology will launch mobiles with new features. It is also
planning to launch new mobile applications. An organization can launch residential broadband and
pay-TV.
It is very much important for virgin mobile organization to invest in developing
systematic innovation capabilities. As this strategy will assist business entity in exploring the
current as well as future growth opportunities. Management in an organization should also
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concentrate on creating innovation culture at workplace, as this tactic will provide firm an ease in
accomplishing desired objectives (Dodgson,2018 ).
It is required by management in an organization to provide training to employees, as this
strategy will assist business entity in increasing innovation capabilities (Khan, Khan and
Ali,2018).
.It is required by management in Virgin mobile company to develop strategies or rewards
system for engaging employees in the process of innovation. Management in Virgin mobile
organization needs to concentrate on helping an individual in building their own capabilities. It is
important for manager in an enterprise to make an effective plan for bringing change in the
business procedures as well as policies, as this strategy will assist Virgin mobile company in
eliminating the barriers which might occur in implementing the innovation or change at
workplace. (Ahmadi, Petrudi and Wang, 2017). Manager is required to ensure that firm new
capabilities are linked to strategies as well as real business opportunities.
It is very much crucial for management to address both demand as well as supply side of
innovation. The management in Virgin mobile company should provide the open communication
channel, as this will help in promoting knowledge transfer will is very much crucial for
developing new ideas. Communication is considered to be as knowledge as well as information
exchange which facilitates or hinders mobilization of knowledge. In simple words an effective as
well as frequent communication between the different functional department results into
enhanced innovation (Biemans, 2018). In addition to this inter unit communication has
significant role to play in creation as well as diffusion of innovation in organization with
complex business structure and various departments.
Innovation audit is a frame work which can be used by management in Virgin mobile
organization for measuring their overall performance of innovation process. It can also be
utilized for analyzing an organization innovation capability (Hernandez, Cooper and Murphy,
2017). Innovation audit is considered to be an effective method for improving the innovation. It
assists management in an enterprise to identify the suitable strategies, methods or techniques for
increasing the innovation capabilities. In addition to this it is required by business entity top
increase its supply change which is very much important in order to obtain resources which are
necessary for facilitating innovation. As lack of resources can hinder the innovation and can have
negative effect on firm’s performance.
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Management in organization should allow cross-functional innovation, as this have
positive impact on the innovation capability of firm. This tactic will assist in influencing the
amount of knowledge transfer between different functional units in business.
Mc Kinsey7s framework
Strategy: Virgin mobile company has adopted the life cycle based innovation strategy. Another
is leadership strategy which is adopted by an organization for facilitating innovation at
workplace. In addition to this, manager in an organization needs to ensure that innovation
strategy of an organization match the dynamism through management of integration,
interdependence, risk.
Structure: A virgin mobile company has decentralized business structure. All the employee’s in
an organization has an authority to make decisions.
Systems: Management in virgin mobile company is responsible for managing as well as
controlling the different functions or operations within business entity. The three factors which
supports innovation capabilities are frequency of cross functional communication, overlapping
knowledge facilities and knowledge mobilization.
Skills: Human resource manager provide training to employees and allows them to develop
various skills and competencies which are required for dealing with complex situations.
Staff: Management in an organization has adopted an effective approach of recruitment and
manager in an enterprise has focus on hiring talented as well as skilled workforce. Innovative
culture within an enterprise is helping management in attracting fresh talent. They promote team
work which is very important in context of development as well as implementation of new ideas.
A special team of competent workers has been formed in Virgin mobile company for monitoring
as well as managing innovation. In addition to this, human resource manager in Virgin mobile
company carefully screen candidates for personality traits which are required for performing
group task or for knowledge sharing which is very much important for facilitating innovation at
workplace (Zhu, Zhang and Lin, 2017).
Styles: A virgin mobile company has innovative culture which enables employees to develop
critical as well as creative thinking.
Shared value: Virgin mobile company provides their employees with open communication
channel which encourages them to share their knowledge, views, opinions and ideas with other
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people at workplace. Knowledge sharing can be considered to be as a major source of
innovation
In addition to above framework, the another technique such as assessment of financial
data, interview method, market research etc. can be undertaken to measure the innovation
performance of firm.
key activities required for its successful development of products or services are:
Suggestion: It is the initial process in which manager or employees in Virgin mobile company
need to analyses the needs of current and potential customers, their levels of satisfaction with
what the competition is offering, their consumption habits and the technical possibilities for
improving existing products. In context of Virgin mobile company can launch bandwidth.
Reason: The increase in demand of bandwidth is the major reason for suggesting this product to
launch in the market.
Impact of change: Change in social trend and technological advancement will give rise to
demand for bandwidth in the market.
Feasibility; Considering the future trend, introduction of bandwidth in the market will be
profitable for the virgin mobile organization. It will help firm in gaining higher return on
investment.
Approval procedure: it is required by the management in an organization to take approval from
higher authorities within an organization as well as from government before launching of
products.
Application of change: before launching the bandwidth in the market, it is required by firm to
test the product, as this strategy will assist business entity in ensuring successful launch of
product.
Review After the successful launch of product in the market, it is very much important for an
enterprise to review the product performance. Market research, survey, customer feedback can
be used as a tool for measuring the performance of product.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the report that innovation has great importance in today’s highly
competitive and dynamic business environment. The another conclusion drawn from the report is
that there are various factors such as competition, development, changes in trends creates
pressure on firm to facilitate innovation. It has been concluded from the assignment that
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innovation audit is a tool that can be used for identifying the innovation capability of firm.
Knowledge sharing and cross cultural communication helps in enhancing innovation. It has been
concluded from the report that telecom sector in UK is growing at very faster rate. Continuous
innovation is the key factor which has enable telecom sector to foster growth. It has been
summarised from the assignment that technological advancement has both challenges and
various opportunities for companies operating in telecom industry.
Innovation audit is tool which can be adopted by an enterprise for measuring the
innovative performance. In addition to this there are various other tools are highlighted in the
report can be used for finding the root cause of poor performance. There are various strategies
has been recommended in the study which can be used by an enterprise for increasing the
innovation capabilities. It has been suggested to business entity that management in organization
by provide open communication system, as this will enable knowledge sharing which is
important for developing innovation. Firm should implement advance technology at workplace,
as this will assist an organization in increasing working efficiency as well as productivity.
Technology will provide business entity an ease in developing new products or services.
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REFERENCES
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Khan, M.W., Khan, M.A., Alam, M. and Ali, W., 2018. Impact of Big Data over Telecom
Industry. Pakistan Journal of Engineering, Technology & Science, 6(2).
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Wireless Networks: First International Conference, 5GWN 2017, Beijing, China, April
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Recalde, M. and Gutiérrez-García, E., 2017. Communication management and the telecom
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Taghizadeh, S.K., Jayaraman, K., Rahman, S.A. and Quazi, A., 2017. SERVICE INNOVATION
MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND PRICING PRACTICES FOR PERFORMANCE
IN MALAYSIAN TELECOM. Asian Academy of Management Journal. 22(2).
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Willcocks, L.P. and Whitley, E.A., 2018. Outsourcing Reframed: Delivering on Collaborative
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Zaabi, H.H.J.A., Singh, S.K. and Ajmal, M.M., 2017. Role of organisational commitment,
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Zhu, H., Zhang, M.Y. and Lin, W., 2017. The fit between business model innovation and
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Tidd and Bessant innovation process model. 2013.[Online]. Assessed through:
<http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/12488/2/Innovation_and_dynamic_capability_08-01-09.pdf>
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