Product and Service Innovation

The report discusses an innovative service prototype to prevent homelessness among young people and empower them to thrive and contribute to society. It explores the key drivers of homelessness, barriers faced by homeless youth, consumer trends, past campaigns, and ethical issues. The report concludes with a summary of the main points.

Running Head : PRODUCT AND SERVICE INNOVATION
Product and Service Innovation
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1PROUCT AND SERVICE INNOVATION
Executive Summary
The report was aimed at an innovative service prototype which could support Kara and
other young people between the age group of17-24 who were at risk of becoming homeless. The
aim of the service was to prevent the young people from becoming homeless and also empower
them to thrive and contribute too to the society. The key driver of homelessness is the
unaffordability of housing in Australia. Apart from this, another critical problem is the
inadequacy of existing housing stock, the domestic violence, people’s discharge from the
institutions that do not have proper, stable, safe homes to go to. The report suggested that the
homeless youth and Kara too could earn their livelihood by opening a small café or restaurant as
a small business. There might be barriers such as lack of place to open the café/stall, lack of
proper attire to look presentable, lack of crockery and cooking appliances too. The report
targeted the behavior of browsing online for a place on minimum rent to start up the café. The
trends such as Everyone’s is an expert, I want to now, digitally together were the consumer
trends used over here. As the past campaigns, the KIK coffee shops, the Street, the Street 2003
have been used. It also highlighted an ethical issue that could impact the initiatives taken was
that these people were subjected to exploitation and violence to a greater extent in comparison to
the rest of the population. This led to the problem of lesser number of jobs offered to them. The
report finally concluded with summarizing the main points.

2PROUCT AND SERVICE INNOVATION
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
The problem statement....................................................................................................................2
Behavior...........................................................................................................................................2
Trends..............................................................................................................................................3
Past efforts/Campaigns....................................................................................................................3
Ethical and legal issues....................................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5

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Introduction
Through the past few years, it has been found that the rate of homelessness around
Australia has increased upto 4.6 %. The rates of homelessness are highest in Queensland with an
increase of 14 % in the last 8 years. On an average, in every 100 young people in Australia, 1 can
be found to be homeless (Wood et al., 2015). The target age is 19-24 years. Reports from the
year 2006-2016 also suggest that in New South Wales, the increase of homelessness was the
highest which was followed by Victoria and Queensland (Conroy et al., 2016). The key driver of
homelessness is the unaffordability of housing in Australia. Apart from this, another critical
problems is the inadequacy of existing housing stock, the domestic violence, people’s discharge
from the institutions who do not have proper, stable, safe homes to go to. The issue of
homelessness does not constitute rough sleeping (MacKenzie, 2018). It is also a lack of
appropriate accommodation. The three most common categories of homelessness are rough
sleeping, temporary/unstable accommodation and inappropriate/overcrowded accommodation
(McNamara, 2015). In the case study of the second persona that is Kara’s Story, it can be seen
that her reason for homelessness with two babies is domestic violence. In this report, an
innovative service prototype will be develop which might support Kara and other young people
between the age group of17-24 who are at risk of becoming homeless. The aim of the service
will be to prevent the young people from becoming homeless and also empower them to thrive
and contribute too to the society.
The problem statement
How might we reduce the problem of joblessness among the Australian Youth that is a
major reason behind their homelessness? (this problem statement relies on establishing that the
joblessness and lack of work is the cause behind the Australian youth’ failure to afford homes)
How might we help the Australian youth get a suitable job in the economy of low wage and
society of discrimination? (this problems statement relies on establishing that the social
discrimination and lower wages are behind the issue of joblessness)
Behavior
The barrier to obtain work for the low income earners can be the lack of appropriate work
attire, the lack of access to the reliable transport. The homeless youth and Kara too can earn their
livelihood by opening a small café or restaurant as a small business. There might be barriers such
as lack of place to open the café/stall, lack of proper attire to look presentable, lack of crockery
and cooking appliances too (Lusch et al., 2015). In such condition, they can search online for

4PROUCT AND SERVICE INNOVATION
free clothes and book outfit to borrow. In order to have cooking appliances, they can opt for
refurbished utensils which will save huge money. In order to have place to open the stall, they
can explore and find out how they can have a small place on minimum rent (Booth et al., 2018).
The behavior which is being targeted here is browsing online for a place on minimum rent to
start up the café.
Trends
As per the reports of the Euromonitor International’s report, in the year there will be
some unprecedented changes in the consumer trends (Lusch et al., 2015). There is also high
political upheaval in the developed markets and the unprecedented changes in the developing
economies. Several trends which may provide an opportunity for addressing the problem are as
follows :
Trends Opportunity
Everyone’s an expert
( The previous shoppers relied
mostly on a particular brand
but now every company has
something new to entice the
consumers)
Online advice group to provide advice about how to prepare a job wardrobe for
free or on a budget.
Digitally together
( The rise of the digital
capabilities and the comforts
has led to the rise of potential
to create and experience at the
same time)
This trend will help in connecting people together during marketing through the
social media. The growing comfort with sharing will enable people to share the
experience of the café and bring them over here.
I want it now
( There are some types of
customers who seek instant
gratification which matches
with their lifestyles. It allows
them to give more time to
their social and professional
lives.
These type of customers lead efficiency driven lifestyles. They seek for the
frictionless experiences which can mesh with their specific lifestyles. The café can
be a short-break refreshment or these types of customers.
Finding my JOMO
( There are some types of
customers who desire to
protect their mental wellbeing
having disconnected from the
technologies and prioritizing
what they enjoy doing.
These types of customers are try to protect their mental wellbeing and more
intentional with their time. They are more reliant on what they want and enjoy
doing. They can be driven by the quality of the service if it pleases them once.

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Past efforts/Campaigns
Campaign name Outline of Campaign Outcomes
The KIK coffee shops The aim of this campaign has been
employment of the young people.
Over 90% of the employees have
secured employment that has been
lagging behind the ladder of
development due to the
unavailability of work. the campaign
is aimed at developing the loves of
the individuals who are left out of
school and are mostly homeless.
This has collaboration with number
of alliances and joint initiates with
list of NGO’s based in Australia in
order to deal with the issue of
homelessness and poverty.
The positive outcome of this project
is number of employment of the
youth people. As estimated one in
every three employee at this café are
people are below the age of 25 who
are mostly homeless or striked by
poverty. Their effort has been able to
drive over 1000 young people in the
ladder of development by offering
them employment.
The Streat This campaign has been largely
successful in Melbourne.
This was started with the
motto of offering
employment to the homeless
people of Australia. This
campaign offers employment
to over 1000 amazing young
people who can positively
contribute to changing their
own life and contribute to the
society at the same time. This
also contributes to the
development of cooking
skills and other employability
skills through their course of
work (StartSomeGood, 2019)
It has helped number of young
people suffering from some or the
other social and economic issues like
homelessness and mental illness to
come out of their situation in their
effort of offering employability to
them. Most of their employees
belong to one of the socially
disadvantaged class of people, for
example, people from the LGBTQ
community who have lacked to the
equal employability due to their
gendered identities have found their
respite here.
Street-smart 2003 Established in 2003, this campaign
has been aiming the development
and empowerment of the homeless
people of Australia by helping
smaller enterprises in fundraising
efforts. This has also initiated
number of projects, amounting to
1400 new projects for the homeless
people from the fund raised through
their number of projects
(Streat.com.au, 2019)
This project has helped the NGO’s
and organizations working for the
homeless people. It has also reaped
benefit for tackling homeless people
at the grassroots level. This café has
also been able to successfully enlist
number of joint ventures for the
smaller enterprises. Form the fund
raised, it has offered number of free
services for the people who are
homeless to have healthy and
hygienic practices, for examples it
has started a free laundry service.

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Ethical and legal issues
There are number of ethical and legal issues related to homelessness and it is essential at this
juncture to consider them in order to understand the issue. Since the homeless people are often
found with backpacks and found sleeping on the streets, they are discarded and discriminated in
many public areas as they are considered to be troublesome (Pollard et al., 2018). Another ethical
issue that can impact the initiatives taken is that these people are subjected to exploitation and
violence to a greater extent in comparison to the rest of the population. This leads to the problem
of lesser number of jobs offered to them (Wilson et al., 2019). Moreover, there is other issue like
mindset of the pole that bothers the rest of the society. This is also associated with the mentality
of the people that homeless people are those who are unable to take the advantages of the social
welfare schemes. Another issue associated ion working with the homeless people is the level of
acceptance by the people since they are largely discriminated in society.
However it is to be mentioned that working with the homeless people in the above mentioned
project do not need much considerations of ethical and moral dilemmas. There have been
number of previous initiatives in the past which ahs positively contributed to the empowerment
of the homeless people and it the level of acceptance accepted form the society have been higher
in mostly of the situation (Witell et al., 2016). However it is not to deny that that bringing the
homeless people in the mainstream is indeed a challenging task and it required effective analysis
of all the factor of the issues and nuances of the same.
Conclusion
The issue of homelessness is growing at a higher rate in case of Australian. Every one out
of three youth have been faced with the issues of lack of job opportunities which is responsible
for aggravating the issue of poverty and homelessness. This in addition to the issue of
homelessness, there are issue acceptance of these people in the mainstream society. What is
important at this juncture is that there is lack of product or service development that can drive
positive change in society and bring these people in the ladder of development. This paper aimed
at analyzing the service development in case of café restaurant in Australia that can positively
contribute to higher employment of the homeless people. This service is expected to bring
changes in lives of homeless people since it will be helpful in providing employment opportunity
for these people. However it is not to deny the fact that there are number of moral and ethical
considerations in the process of including these people since there are number of stigma attached
to their acceptance in society.

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