Managing Innovation in Business

This report explores the concept of managing innovation in business and its importance for companies to remain competitive and sustain in the market. It focuses on the innovation history of Revolut Ltd, a financial technology firm, and analyzes their existing performance and capabilities using SWOT and PESTLE analysis. The report also discusses the industry trends in 2019 and provides insights for business growth and development.

Managing Innovation in Business
CW1

Executive Summary
The process of creating, developing as well as implementing new services, processes and
products with an aim for improvising efficiency along with effectiveness for having competitive
edge is referred to as innovation. It is important for companies to bring innovation at marketplace
and offering unique products as well as services in order to remain in competition and sustain in
market for longer time period. Managing innovation implies aggregation of management of
innovation processes along with change management (Bader, 2019). It denotes marketing,
business processes and products which are brought in by organisation as a result of innovation.
Managing innovation acts as liability of each firm for sustaining within market for longer time
duration. This report is based on Revolut Ltd for managing innovation. It is a financial
technology firm which renders their customers with wide range of banking services and deals
within FinTech Industry. It was founded on 1st July 2015 by Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad
Yatsenko. Revolut is headquartered in London, England, United Kingdom. Their services
comprises of currency exchange as well as peer to peer payments.
This has been identified that effectual innovation capabilities aids within enhancement of
market shares along with revenue of Revolut Ltd. This report involves innovations which are
brought in by organization as well as ways in which they are being maintained by them to have
competitive positioning in market. Revolut Ltd provides their customers with different currencies
for making exchanges as per their requirements. Along with this, Pestle and SWOT analysis is
being used for analyzing their present performance and capabilities. SWOT analysis will help
entity to gain insight about its internal strength and weakness so that improvements can take
place effectively and timely. PESTLE analysis assist in identifying impact of uncontrollable
factors on business activities and performance as well. This innovation idea as well as capability
assists within accomplishment of objectives of organization. It provides enhanced experience to
their customers which enables firm to attain their goals and objectives. Porter’s five forces are
being used to identify industry in the year 2019 as it help company to gain an insight about level
of competition prevailing at marketplace. Later, the overall conclusion of report is given that
sates the activities covered in present report and how it help in business growth and development
as well.

Table of Contents
Executive Summary.....................................................................................................................................2
Introduction, Purpose & Structure..............................................................................................................4
Organization and their innovation History..............................................................................................4
Organizations existing innovation Performance and capabilities............................................................5
Industry in 2019.......................................................................................................................................9
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................11
References.................................................................................................................................................12

Introduction, Purpose & Structure
Innovation is define as a process of bringing something new in market in order to attract
more customers and develop value for them in an effective manner. In addition to this, it is also
referred as the ability for creating new as well as potential valuable ideas in the activities that are
being carried out. Basically, it is successful execution of creative thoughts in a firm. The
imperative activities which are being conducted by businesses for attaining enhanced results is
referred to as managing innovation in business (Bezpalov and et. al, 2019). It is a methodological
process that is liable for generating value for organization. Rationale of this report is to audit
past, present innovations, present performance and capabilities as well as industry in year 2019.
To understand concept of managing innovation within business Revolut Ltd is taken into account
which is a British financial technology which is liable for rendering banking services that
involves EUR and GBP bank accounts along with many other facilities. The present report will
cover detail description about chosen organization and its innovation history. In addition to this,
there is analysis of internal performance and capabilities of company by using different
frameworks such as PESTLE analysis and SWOT analysis. Moreover, industry in 2019 and 2020
and beyond is cover in the report in an appropriate manner.
Organization and their innovation History
Revolut Ltd deals within FinTech industry which was founded on July 1st, 2015 and is
headquartered in England, UK. They offers banking services to their customers which comprises
of Visa debit card or MasterCard, stock trading, peer to peer paymen
ts, fee-free currency and crypto currency exchange (Revolut Ltd, 2020). They have their
own application that is liable for supporting spending as well as withdrawals which are made by
making use of ATM within 120 and direct transactions can be made in 29 currencies.
Furthermore, access is provided to customers for crypto currencies like Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash,
XRP and Bitcoin by making an exchange to or from 25 different flat currencies. There evolution
in terms of innovation have been presented beneath:
1st July 2015: Revolut was launched at Level39 tech accelerator in Canary Wharf. As
per Mr Storonsky the rationale behind launch was to introduce digital banking as traditional
banks were taking long for bringing in digitalization and young customers were looking forward

for this (What is Revolut?, 2020). They presented a mobile application that provided digital
banking services. The features included in app are:
 Transfer money to international countries in 29 different currencies. A pre-paid debit card
which will allow cash withdrawals in around 120 countries.
 Crypto-currency exchange, vaults for budgeting as well as saving money. Overseas
medical and mobile phone insurance.
March 2016: The firm reached 4.5 million customers and out of these 1.6 million
customers belongs to UK only. The reason behind this was innovative features, they are:
 By opening a standard accounts, customers were also given free UK current as well as
euro IBAN account.
 There was no fees for exchanges which are being made in 24 distinct currencies with a
limit of £5,000 a month, as well as withdraw of £200 a month can be made from cash
machines.
In 2017: the three old firms had enhanced growth with 1.2 million customers and
revenue was inflated by fivefold i.e. £12.8m. In the same year in September, around 7000 new
accounts were being opened in a day and Revolut was processing near about $3bn transactions a
month. They provided their customers with monthly subscription plans with high thresholds with
no fees (What is Revolut?, 2020). In addition to this, instant access to cash back, concierge
services, travel and crypto currencies were provided.
In 2018: Revolut had a fund of $250 million which was led by DST Global (Hong
Kong) that made them unicorn. In same year in December firm had a specialized banking license
from European Central Bank. Furthermore, Bank of Lithunia provided them with Electronic
Money Institution license.
July 2019: The Fintech based firm, Revolut launched their commissioned free NASDAQ
and New York Stock Exchange in their application for customers who have opted for Metal plan.
Since then, they provided their clients with commission free trading.
Industry in 2020 and beyond

It is determine that Revolut Ltd. is getting growth in industry due to the change in market trends
and shift of people towards financial technology. Nowadays, people prefer to make use of
innovative technology and use those applications that is easy to access and provide all the
information in an effective manner. In addition to this, providing money transfer option is one of
the advantage and opportunity for company to attain success as well as growth at marketplace. In
the present scenario, the overall market situations is change due to pandemic crises arise in the
whole world. It is analyze that people are shifting from offline medium to online medium as it
save their time and easy access is allow to them. In the year 2015, Revolut limited launched a
service that is banking as well as payment solution and this is one of beneficial service that is
help company to gain higher growth and development as well. The company is going to be on
boom on the coming years because it offer solution online and also provide access to people at
anywhere and at any time. The offline service of banking industry is getting decline as most of
the provide online access and also give all the information to users. Increase in number of online
users has direct impact on productivity and profitability of company. In addition to this, the
company is going to face many issues as competition is getting high and there are lot of
organizations providing same service in market. In order to deal with this, it is important for
higher authorities of company to develop effective strategies and bring innovation in market in
order to attract people and retain in market for longer time period.

Gantt chart: Gantt chart is an effective toll of time management that will be used by
researcher for managing time of each activity (Collison and Marchesseault, 2018). These
activities are shown in graphical way:

Organizations existing innovation Performance and capabilities
Revolut Ltd has recently launched commission-free NASDAQ and New York Stock
Exchange stocks which are trading in their app for consumers within their metal plan. The
advantage of this is rendering their customers with enhanced speed for accomplishment of their
activities within a relevant way (Bouncken, Kraus and Roig-Tierno, 2019). This enables them to
provide impelling experience to their consumers. Revolut Ltd furnishes leading as well as
creativity within their productive action plan. SWOT and Pestle analysis for utilised for
acknowledging activities and opportunities which Revolut have:
SWOT Analysis: This is used by Revolut for carrying out analysis of their internal
capabilities by which they can be utilized for attaining affirmative outcomes. This is specified
below:
Strengths: Revolut provides a remarkable range of innovative services and products to
their customers which comprises of transfers within 29 currencies as well as cryptocurrency
exchanges. This seems appealing to those who mostly travel abroad. They are cheap in
comparison to their competitors like Starling and Monzo while sending money abroad along with
this, Revolut do not impose charges on these services. Apart from this, firm offers travel and
device insurance that can be paid by day with enhanced flexibility (Janjić and Rađenović, 2019).
They have large customer base and operates in various countries. They provides features for
instant payment notifications as well as security features through which cards can be freeze by
making use of application.
Weaknesses: Customers of Revolut are not protected through FSCS (Financial Services
Compensation Scheme) but their competitors do so. There is no contact number; the only way to
contact is via online chat. Customers are charged downgrade fees in case they want to close their
accounts or change to cheaper account. Furthermore, in 2016 whistleblower has made complaint
to FCE for investigating conformity of Revolut. In 2018, advertising campaign was accused for
shaming an individual who was featured in within Valentine’s Day.
Opportunities: Expansion of services into international markets outside of Europe for an
instance Hong Kong will provide Revolut with enhanced opportunities for growth. The reason
behind this is that retail banking is peculiar country is profitable as well as there is high

probability of growth for digital only banks (Strategic Analysis of Monzo and Revolut, 2019).
Furthermore, age groups of 18 to 27 are opting for making use of mobile banking applications
instead of well-known brand.
Threats: Traditional banks are opting for new technologies like Lloyds has revamped
their application and introduced saving pot as well as instant payments (Loon and Chik, 2019).
Some interests are being offered by their rivals like Starling and Monzo for certain account
criteria like 1% for intiaal deposit of £500 but Revolut does not offer any interest at all. Apart
from this, their rivals also provide their customers with unlimited withdrawals via ATM but
Revolut provides up to £200 free transactions.
By taking into account all the aspects mentioned in SWOT, Revolut must opt to
transform their weaknesses into strengths as well as opportunities must be used to have a
competitive positioning within the market (Mandal, 2019). Furthermore, they also need to
analyze the threats and accordingly formulate strategies.
Customers agree that Revolut Ltd is leading as well as creative firm that aids individuals
for making new experiences as per new services and products. This aids them to develop
management of their effectual growth as well as carrying out their operations in a systematic
way. Revolut Ltd opts for bringing in innovation as these aids within getting success in market
for longer time duration. This leads them to sustain and accomplish requirements of their
customers. For this, they have developed new managing goals as well as objectives and in
accordance to this they have to develop effectual strategies.
Pestle analysis: This implies external environment that is liable for creating an impact on
operations that are carried out by Revolut. These entities or factors are mentioned below;
Political factors: The banking sector on the whole will be influenced through political
interference. In this context banks which have been resulted from bailouts and takeovers have a
major threat in terms of financial health (Naqshbandi, Tabche and Choudhary, 2019). Political
instability due to Brexit will have relevant impact on their operations. Election results if different
party will win then it denotes alterations within legislation which will affect operations of
Revolut.

Economic factors: Economic losses which may occur within banking industry from
fraud are very high. Economy of UK has been drastically influenced by Brexit in terms in
increase in unemployment, inflation and GDP. This implies that Revolut must develop adequate
strategies through which they can deal with situations that prevails within the market (Ottosson,
2019).
Social factors: Alterations within expectations are fuelling enhancement within digital
banks across United Kingdom that will furnish greater opportunity. In addition to this,
engagement within mobile banks will enable UK customers to have a favorable method for
carrying out their financial transactions. In United Kingdom around 71% of banking
communications are digital or online. This leads Revolut to have enhanced opportunity.
Technological factors: There is a wide enhancement within banking sector in terms of
technology but there is certain privacy as well as security concerns which creates barriers for
opting for them (Strategic Analysis of Monzo and Revolut, 2019). Revolut have to reassure their
customers about kind of issues as well as explicate strategies to avoid any kind of confusions
with respect to online banking. Along with this, Revolut should wait until their customers are
confident to opt for digital approach then only they should bring in new technologies for carrying
out marketing.
Legal factors: The risk of regulations and legislations getting modified is high due to
political instability within market of UK. New regulations will create a strong influence on
Revolut in context of ways they operate (Santos and et. al, 2019). For this, they need to make
sure that they comply strictly with all the laws.
Environmental factors: There has been lot of pressure on individuals and businesses to
minimize carbon footprint as well as make investment within renewable sources of energy. The
usages of paper have been minimized by digital only banks this leads to create affirmative
impact on operations of firm. It implies that digital banks will be favored like Revolut as they
provide digital services.
The above analysis demonstrate different aspects related with the market, Revolut must
exploit those before expanding their operations within other countries.

Revolut Ltd is technologically sound which makes them to understand what is required
by customers and how it can be delivered accordingly they have developed their application. In
addition to this, they adhere to different legal formalities and laws which are related with online
transactions for staying away from any kind of legal hindrance within their activities (Smith and
et. al, 2019). This leads them to have loyal customer base as they can have the services when
they are required without any discrepancies. It provides them with enhanced capabilities that aid
them to have stability within evolving market for longer time duration within market
Awards: Revolut, Britain’s fast growing fintech start up was awarded with Europe’s Allstar
Company in 2018 at 16th annual Investor Allstar Awards ceremony (Revolut wins big at
Europe's Allstar Company of 2018 awards, 2019). The firm was able secure funds of around
£250 million since firm was founded in 2015. This implies that organization is booming.
The Level39 member Revolut which provides their users with instantly send as well as
spen money globally with zero fees has been awarded with “Best Emerging Payments Start-Up”
at recent Emerging Payments Award in 2015 (REVOLUT WINS ‘BEST EMERGING
PAYMENTS START-UP’ AWARD, 2020). They announced investment of around £1.5 won
the award along with optimal payments.
They have managed challenges by building effectual barriers for safeguarding their
position within market. But they have to bring in continuous innovations within services.
Through rapid innovation within new products, Revolut Ltd brings in innovation within their
services which leads them to captivate more individuals.
Industry in 2019
Revolut Ltd is a financial technology firm which renders various features to their customers via
mobile app. This leads to creation of long lasting impact of productive services which leads them
to sustain within market (Szutowski, Szulczewska-Remi, and Ratajczak, 2019). The firm renders
their services in high competitive market which makes it necessary to analyse different aspects
related with marketplace for being strong player. Porter’s five forces provides an holistic
framework through which firm can look into strategic decisions by which they can have
competitive edge as well as explore profitability prospects. Revolut Ltd can make use of Porter’s
five force analysis this is illustrated below:

 Threats of new entrants: New entrants within FinTech will bring in new ways through
which things can be carried out as well as innovation will be brought in (Zhu and et. al,
2019). The overall threat of new entrants to Revolut Ltd is low. For this, emphasis is laid
by Revolut Ltd on opting for low pricing strategies, minimisation of costs along with
furnishing their customers with new value propositions.
 Bargaining power of suppliers: They possess prevailing position within market which
will lead to decline within margins earned by Revolut Ltd. Strong suppliers makes use of
their negotiation power for extracting high prices from FinTech industry. There is
minimum impact of this factor on Revolut Ltd as they furnish there services by making
use of mobile app (Bader, 2019). Along with this, there are various suppliers who
delivers credit cards or other services to their customers.
 Bargaining power of buyers: This factor depends on two factor i.e. price sensitivity as
well as control over firms. The impact of this entity is low as individuals as it involves
high switching cost. Revolut Ltd have high loyalty from their customer base that enables
them within maintaining higher revenues along with market shares within United
Kingdom.
 Threats of substitute: When new services or products meets identical requirement within
distinct ways then it will lead to minimisation of profitability of firm (Bezpalov and et. al,
2019). For an example Green Dot, WeSwap, Monzo and TransferWise also provides
same services as furnished by Revolut Ltd. This implies that there is high threat which is
being experienced by organisation. For this, it is important for them to acknowledge
needs of their customers and accordingly render services to them.
 Rivalry among existent competitors: This implies the existent competition which
prevails within market if intense rivalry prevails then profitability of industry will be
declined. Impact of this factor on Revolut Ltd is high as there are many strong players
like TransferWise, Monzo, Green Dot and WeSwap within the market. For this it is
crucial that firm should develop sustainable differentiation and develop a large scale by
which they can compete in an effectual manner.
Porter’s five force model provides Revolut Ltd with an option to explore different aspects
associated with the market and formulate strategies accordingly (Bouncken, Kraus and Roig-

Tierno, 2019). This will lead firm to have enhanced profitability and captivate more number of
individuals towards their services.
Conclusion
From above it can be concluded that, it is important for firms to bring in innovations within
market but along with this they have to be managed in an effectual way. This will lead to ensure
their sustainability within marketplace for longer duration of time. 4Ps has been used to identify
the existing services that are provided by them and their existent innovation performance as well
as capabilities has been evaluated. This is done to identify possibilities for growth and being
sustainable in market. Porter’s five forces model is used for analyzing the market which will aid
firm to formulate strategies accordingly.

References
Books & Journals
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Online
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