Managing Innovation: Drivers, Role of Leaders, and Key Activities

This study explores the drivers of innovation, the role of leaders in planning for innovation, and the key activities for successful development of products. It also highlights the importance of organizational knowledge and cross-functional cooperation in driving innovation. The case of Samsung is used as an example throughout the study.

MANAGING INNOVATION

Executive summary
Innovation is main factor through which organizations are able to survive in this cut-
throat competition and this helps them to gain competitive advantage. The present study provides
the knowledge of various drivers of innovation through which the organizations are able to
innovate and provide it the right direction. The role of leaders and organization is profound in
planning the innovation and implementing it. There are various stages and key activities which
helps the organizations to successfully develop the new product. Besides this, an innovation
development audit helps the organization to explore their innovative capabilities and thus design
various strategies for using it to develop new products or services.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY..............................................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Innovation is basically the process of transforming ideas as well as invention into the
product or service which will create value for the customers and for which they are willing to
pay.
Samsung is primarily the multinational company being established in 1938 by Lee
Byung-Chul and headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It mainly deals in Samsung electronics,
Samsung chemicals, Samsung life insurance etc. and has its presence across the world.
This report gives a brief about drivers of innovation, role of leaders in planning for
innovation, importance of organizational knowledge, cross functional co-operation and
knowledge transfer in innovation, Key activities for successful development of products and
innovation development audit.
MAIN BODY
Drivers of innovation
Innovation requires the efforts of whole organization and does not become successful
from the efforts of a single person. Thus, there are various drivers which are present within the
business environment that endeavors to drive innovation in positive direction.
Team
This is the most important part of any organization without which organization cannot
sustain. The employees in company form the assets and thus help to drive the innovation in right
direction. The entre team in Samsung whether it is R & D or marketing, helps in managing
innovation a success (Tidd and Bessant, 2018). For innovating the product, multiple set of skills
are required thus numerous employees when join their hands consisting skills, talents, qualities
required for bringing innovation helps in boosting creativity. Involving the entire team in
innovation process will help Samsung to drive innovation smoothly and fulfilling the needs and
demands of customers.

Organizational culture
This is the another most important driver of innovation that exist within the business
environment and helps the organization to gain competitive advantage. Organizational culture
plays an important role not only helps in boosting the process of innovation but also motivating
employees towards their goals. When Samsung will have right organizational culture that fosters
teamwork, motivation, correct leadership them it will eventually encourage employees to present
their view on innovation and offer their creative ideas. The right organizational culture will drive
employees in correct direction and they will feel valued. This in turn will motivate them to
participate in the innovative strategy and provide the breakthrough suggestions.
Organizational policies
This has a remarkable contribution in stimulating the innovation and thus inculcating it in
each and every corner of organization. Each and every organization is known for its well-through
policy. Some have processes and policies which are in favour of the employees while some are
not favourable to the outcome of their mission and vision. Thus, Samsung needs to design
policies in such a way that it encourages innovation and creativity. Organizational policies are
one of the important drivers of innovation and therefore the appropriate policies motivate
employees to innovate every aspect of organization (Mao, 2017).
Leadership
Leaders play the significant role in managing the overall innovative process and thus are
one of the important drivers of innovation. Leaders are the one who encourages the employees
through adopting the correct leadership style (Biemans, 2018). When the leaders adopt the
correct leadership style then they are able to encourage employees to make their equal
contribution towards innovation and also provide them the training for successfully
implementing it. Hence, leaders as well as leadership style plays an important role in boosting
the innovation within Samsung. Having the appropriate leadership style within leaders of
Samsung will eventually help the company to bring innovation in their products and services.

Research and development
R & D department is the division which is mainly responsible for converting the seeds of
ideas into actions hence it is concerned with innovating the required products and services that
will fulfill the requirements of consumers. It is one of the major drivers in innovation that drives
creativity in the right direction. When Samsung will have the competent R & D department that
have the capability of giving image to the ideas and converting them into creative product then it
will eventually help the company to fulfill the demands of customers. R & D department will
help to give innovation a right direction and managing the overall process.
Leaders and organizations planning for innovation
Leaders as well as organization can play an important role in planning and preparing for
wide range of innovation and can lead this innovation in right direction. The role of leaders in
Samsung is imperative and thus can act as important part for leading and managing the
innovation effectively. The most important method and strategy which Samsung and its leaders
can adopt for preparing for innovation are
Open communication
This is the most proven method and strategy which leaders in Samsung can utilize in
order to plan for wide range of innovation (Poblete and Spulber, 2017). Establishing the
communication between management as well as employees will help Samsung to know the main
constraints of innovation. Leaders can communicate with the employees about various aspects
like where innovation is required, what degree of innovation is needed, which department will be
benefitted most from the innovation etc. This will help the company to engage all employees
within the process of innovation and will also increase their enthusiasm towards the process.
Developing innovation strategy
This is the another way which Samsung can adopt in order to successfully prepare for
wide range of innovation. The organization can develop a well-through strategy and objective of
innovation which will lead them towards exploring opportunities for innovation. This is the most
important and significant way through which Samsung can easily make the innovation a success
and can attract the customers. For example while bringing innovation in their iPods or bringing a

new Smartphone having innovative features, Samsung can at the beginning develop a structured
strategy which will outline the aims, objective, tactics which will be used for promoting at large
platform.
Providing training
Once the company has developed a structured and defined innovation strategy and has
communicated tall its advantages and benefits to the employees, next step which Samsung can
adopt for successfully planning the innovation is providing an effective training and development
to the employees. In order to make this innovation strategy successful and gaining a large market
share, Samsung can offer free training to the personnel regarding how to promote this
innovation, what tools and methodology to use while applying the innovation and how to make it
effective (Murthy, 2017). For example- Before launching a new Smartphone having
distinguished feature like eye lock, better storage booster, and company can provide training to
the employees regarding what will be the selling preposition and how to persuade customers to
purchase these phones.
Market research
This is the most defined way and step which Samsung can use for preparing and planning
for the innovation. For bringing any innovation in the product or device, first and foremost
method which Samsung can use is the extensive market research. The team of Samsung can
undergo an extensive market research which will help them to know the current market trends,
what competitors are offering, needs and demands of customers etc. This will help them to plan
for the innovation as they will come to know that what product or service needs to be introduced
which will fulfill customer’s expectations. For example- Samsung can adopt market research to
find out that what innovative feature customer wants in Smartphone and what level of service
they are searching for. This will help them to bring required innovation in their phones and can
easily plan the innovation.
Importance of organizational knowledge
Innovation capability is basically the framework which helps organizations to analyze the
different capabilities which will help them in leading innovation in right direction. On the other

hand, innovation blockages are the roadblocks which prevent an organization from innovating
and gaining competitive advantage (Kerzner, 2019). Organizational knowledge plays an essential
role in analyzing the various capabilities as well as innovation blockages that will impact their
operations in both positive and negative way. Through gaining the knowledge and information
on various aspects, Samsung can easily explore the various opportunities and exploit the
capabilities which h will help them in bringing innovation. On the other hand, it will also help
the company to define various blocks which will prevent them from making their innovation
successful and can design strategies to overcome these. Another importance of organizational
capability is that it will help Samsung to locate the stream of ideas through which they can bring
innovation. This stream and innovation funnel will assist the company to derive value from the
capabilities which will lead to innovation and filter out the roadblocks which will prevent them
from gaining competitive advantage (McPhee, 2016).
Importance of Knowledge transfer
This is basically the process in which knowledge and the information is being transferred
from one department to another and thus helps in solving a wide range of problems. This has a
profound impact on innovation and its management which helps the Samsung to exploit
innovation capabilities and cope up with the various blockages. All the departments within
organization are interlinked and help in knowing the level of innovation which will be required.
For example- the R & D department of Samsung provides knowledge to other departments let
say marketing department about the innovation being introduced. This will help the sales and
marketing department to easily persuade customers and make them purchase the product. This
knowledge transfer will help marketing department to know that what technological capabilities
are required for innovating the product. This will also help them to know what innovation
blockages the different department faces while bringing modification. Thus, through knowledge
transfer cross-functional departments comes to know their working for creating new product and
service.
Importance of Cross-functional cooperation
Cross-functional cooperation is basically the system within which teams from different
department’s works in collaboration for achieving the organizational goals and for stimulating

communication (Mendi and Costamagna, 2017). This has huge impact on innovation and helps
the organization to know the various pros and cons of innovation and creativity. When
departments works in cross functional then they become aware of the various difficulties faced
by that department and understand their working. This helps in exploring capabilities of
innovation and overcoming the blockages. For example when the production department and
marketing department in Samsung works in close cooperation then both understand each other
functioning. The marketing department comes to know that what capabilities are required for
producing new product and production department comes to know that what capabilities are
required for promoting the innovation. They also come to know the problems faced by
departments like shortage of raw materials in production division and persuading the clients and
customers in marketing department. Thus, it ultimately helps in exploring and analyzing the
innovation capabilities along with the blockages.
Identification of New product
Samsung is actively engaged in bringing new products and services to the markets are
considered as one of the well-known company to continuously bring new products for the
customers (Saunila, 2017). Through the new product development strategy, company is able to
launch the products which are highly innovating to suit the needs and wants of customers. The
latest product which is being launched by the company is smart televisions. This is one of the
most significant creativity by Samsung in which customer can easily access to various
applications and shown simply by connecting their phones to the television. This has enabled the
customers to easily do their office work even at the home by simply connecting with the wifi and
projecting the work on the TV screen. Another new product which is being launched by
Samsung and has transformed the lives of people is the latest Samsung note10+. This is one of
the most innovative models among all their phones and has replaced them with its exciting
features like greater storage booster, increase RAM. It has the advanced operating system along
with triple camera. Its 12+12+16MP camera enables the customers to take the selfie in wider
mode and thus provide high amount of clarity. Besides this, another new product which is being
introduced by the company in the year 2018 is Samsung Galaxy S10+. It uses the operating
system of Android 9 which allows the customers to easily store a large amount of data’s within a
click. It also prevents the hanging of phone which has been reported a s a complaint by many

Samsung users in past few years. Besides this, it has storage capacity of 128/512GB and 1TB
which is not provided in other Samsung phones.
Key activities for development
There are mainly five activities which are required by Samsung to develop their new
product
Idea generation
This is the first activity wherein Samsung need to look for various ideas and apply
brainstorming to develop new product. Like for developing new Smartphone, it needs to analyze
competitor’s products and create various ideas fir making it success (Alderman and et.al.,2015).
Research & Development
This is the another activity which Samsung need to carry out for the successful
development. It mainly involves the cost that will be incurred in the development along with the
various tools. For example- in developing new Smartphone, the company need to first assess that
what will be the cost that will go in producing it, how much cost market research will incur and
what resources will be required.
Testing
This is the another activity in which the company need to initially develop prototype of
specific product before launching the original product. For example- before launching
Smartphone in market, Samsung need to test its prototype by giving free sample to customers.
This can also be done in customer's group or focus group (Ottosson, 2018).
Analysis
This is another main activity for the successful development of product and service. In
this, the company will generate relevant data after testing product which will help them in
decision-making. For example- After testing, Samsung need to analyze the data which is built
from testing like 30% customers loved the Smartphone etc (Tiwari and Buse, 2019).

Rollout
This is the final activity which will help in successful development of product. In this,
company finally decides to launch product in market and promote its feature. For example-
Samsung finds out that more than 60% customers liked product thus it will finally release
Smartphone in market.
Innovation development audit
Innovation audit is basically the in-depth analysis and assessment of various capabilities
of the innovation in organization along with its procedures as well as processes. The first step in
the innovation audit includes assessing the capability of company to innovate. Samsung is well-
known for its wide innovation strategy where it is continuously engaged in bringing creativity
and innovation in each and every product and service (Larsson and Larsson, 2017). Samsung has
the proven record to innovate to a great level and thus have innovated by changing its product
life and product mixture. For example in 2012, Samsung decided to shift its focus from
Smartphone to smart TV and various home appliances and thus innovated to suit the fluctuating
needs and wants of customers.
Opportunities
There are various opportunities which are being available to the company for innovating
to a great extent. These are
Increasing awareness of customers
Customers have become now more and more aware of the technology and thus demands
technology in each and every product. This is the golden opportunity which is available to the
company where it can invest a large amount in Research & development for bringing innovation
in their products (Lind, 2017).
Sustainability
In this modern era, consumers have also become environmental friendly along with
health conscious and hence want products which are purely sustainable and reduce
environmental pollution. In this changing needs and demands of the customers, there is wide

range of opportunity with the company to produce products which are environmental friendly.
For example- company can produce Smartphone or Ipads using recyclable materials.
Factors
There are various factors which might affect the innovation capacity of Samsung and thus
can have a direct impact on its operations. These are
Leadership
This is the most important internal factor which will affect the degree to which Samsung
is deciding to innovate. Having an effective leader who not only encourages employees to
participate in innovation but also makes their equal contribution towards this process will
eventually help the company to effectively implement the innovation process and become
successful.
Attitudes
This is the another internal factor which affects the level of innovation. When the
attitudes of employees towards innovation are favorable then they will work more productively
and with enthusiasm to bring creativity in each and every aspect of the company. Thus, this is the
most important internal factor that will affect innovation capacity.
Competitors
This is the most remarkable and significant external factor that will ultimately affect the
innovation capability of Samsung and thus will help them to assess their position in market. How
strong is the position of competitors in market like Nokia, Apple and how much differentiation
they provide in their product will affect Samsung. For example- Apple came up with the
innovative strategy of face unlock feature thus this will affect Samsung and they would have to
come with more innovative strategy that will entice customers.
Implementation and monitoring
Once Samsung has gone through all the factors that will impact its innovation capability,
it will finally implement it and after the implementation monitoring becomes necessary. There

are various tools that are available to Samsung for measuring the effectiveness of innovation like
Innobarometer. In this, Samsung will gather the feedback from customers and general public.
Thus will show that how much customers have adopted innovation and how many have not
(Mousavi, 2017).
CONCLUSION
It has been summarized that innovation is highly essential for any organization to survive in
the competitive world. There are various drivers of innovation like team, leadership etc which
helps to give right direction to innovation. The role of leaders and organization is imperative in
planning for the innovation. They are highly engaged in designing various strategies for
successful implementation of innovation. There are various key activities that are required for
successful development of product and services like generating new idea etc. The innovation
development audit helps the organization to know the capabilities required for innovation along
with factors that might impact this capability.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Alderman, N and et.al.,2015. Managing Hidden Innovation.
Biemans, W., 2018. Managing innovation within networks. Routledge.
Kerzner, H., 2019. Innovation Project Management: Methods, Case Studies, and Tools for
Managing Innovation Projects. John Wiley & Sons.
Larsson, J. and Larsson, L., 2017. Success factors for managing innovation projects in
production. International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management
(IJMTM).
Lind, J., 2017. The role of accounting for managing innovation processes when relationships
matter. IMP Journal.11(1). pp.7-24.
Mao, Y., 2017. Managing innovation: The role of collateral. Kelley School of Business Research
Paper, (17-25).
McPhee, C., 2016. Managing Innovation. Technology Innovation Management Review.6(4).
pp.3-4.
Mendi, P. and Costamagna, R., 2017. Managing innovation under competitive pressure from
informal producers. Technological Forecasting and Social Change.114. pp.192-202.
Mousavi, S., 2017. MANAGING INNOVATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY.
Murthy, J.J., 2017. Managing Innovation and Developing Intellectual Property Strategies for
Firms. SIES Journal of Management.13(1).
Ottosson, S., 2018. Developing and Managing Innovation in a Fast Changing and Complex
World: Benefiting from Dynamic Principles. Springer.
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Saunila, M., 2017. Managing continuous innovation through performance measurement.
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Tidd, J. and Bessant, J.R., 2018. Managing innovation: integrating technological, market and
organizational change. John Wiley & Sons.
Tiwari, R. and Buse, S. eds., 2019. Managing Innovation in a Global and Digital World: Meeting
Societal Challenges and Enhancing Competitiveness.