Innovation and Commercialisation Report: 4Com plc, Apple, Virgin

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of innovation and commercialization strategies, focusing on 4Com plc and drawing comparisons with Apple and Virgin Group. The report delves into the importance of innovation for business survival, competitive advantage, and customer satisfaction. It explores the role of vision, leadership, culture, and teamwork in shaping innovation and commercialization within an organization. The report then examines the 4Ps of innovation (Product, Process, Positioning, and Paradigm) and the use of the innovation funnel, followed by a discussion on frugal innovation and its practical applications. Furthermore, the report investigates the significance of the commercial funnel and the New Product Development process, and it includes a section on building an Innovation Business Case. Finally, the report concludes with an evaluation of tools for protecting knowledge and intellectual property, offering valuable insights into managing and leveraging innovation effectively.

INNOVATION AND
COMMERCIALISATION

Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
Task 1.....................................................................................................................................................3
P1 Innovation and its importance in the organization ......................................................................3
P2 firm’s vision, leadership, culture and teamwork shapes innovation and commercialization ......5
Task 2.....................................................................................................................................................6
P3 4Ps of innovation and the use of innovation funnel ....................................................................6
P4 Developments in frugal innovation and provide examples...........................................................7
Task 3.....................................................................................................................................................8
P5 Importance of the commercial funnel and the New Product Development process....................8
P6 Building an Innovation Business Case for the chosen organisation............................................10
Task 4...................................................................................................................................................11
P7 Evaluating the different tools for protect knowledge and intellectual property.........................11
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................................13

Introduction
Innovation is very significant for a business organization in order to survive in the market. It
can provide competitive edge over rival companies in the market which is too important.
Innovation is related with the new or creative idea which can be a device or service.
Innovation is a continuous process where including research-development and improvement
in existing product (Adam, 2014). The present report is based on 4com plc which is one of
the innovative business unit in the area of telecommunication. The purpose of this report is to
identify various issues in innovation and commercialisation in the references case of Apple
and Virgin group which are leader in such area.
Task 1
P1 Innovation and its importance in the organization
It is essential for a company to make their product and services different from its competitors
which can provide competitive position. Such product or services can be differing in terms of
design, advanced technology, improvement, colour, etc. (Bastalich, 2010). As the customer
needs are change over a period of time required new and innovative product which satisfy
customer demand in an effective manner. For this, a business unit is required that to conduct
information and utilise such data in design product and services.
There is huge difference between innovation and invention and used both differently in
according to the situation and scenario. These difference are given below:
Basis Innovation Invention
Meaning It refers to the implement an idea in to
reality for the very first time (Chun,
Chung and Bang, 2015)
On the other hand, invention
is related with the occurrence
of an idea which has never
made before.
Concept Development of original idea for the
first time.
Implementing an idea in to
reality.
Skill required It required scientific knowledge and
skills in order to implement the new
idea.
This required various skills
and information about
market, technical, and

strategic and operational.
Concerned with It is focused on a single product and
service.
This is concerned with the
combination of different
product and process
(Clausen,and Rasmussen,
2011).
Activities It needs a limited research and
development activities.
On the other hand, activities
are spread across various
department.
4Com plc is conducting their business in the area of telecommunication which is very
complex and competitive sector. There are large number of existing and new market players
in the UK market which provide tough competition for cited firm. For example, Apple Inc.
one of most innovative organisation in the world because of its advanced product features and
design. They introduced various product range like I pod, which design is too innovative, and
wide variety of features. There are already large number of music players in the market but
its size and quality not up to the mark (Cosh and Hughes, 2010). Therefore, Apple Inc.
achieving success in the market.
There is various advantage of innovation to 4Com plc and their employees given below:
 Increase idea generation environment within the organisation.
 Increase problem solving skills and capabilities.
 Building risk taking and decision making capabilities.
Benefits of business organisation
 Increase profitability and consistency in the market.
 Increase customer satisfaction level
 Provide competitive advantage in the market due to product differentiation.
Benefit for customer
 Easily meet its demand at the affordable price.

 Life become easier due to innovation.
Apart from that, there are also other advantage of innovation and commercialisation. It helps
to increase productivity and efficiency in the production and business process. Increase firm's
image in the market and build a brand which is too essential in the today's business
environment (Edison, Bin Ali and Torkar, 2013). On the other hand, it also required large
amount of capital for research and development process. It reducing firm's profitability and
increase cost of operation which is not good for a company. Therefore, cited firm required
that to conduct enough market research and then implement their idea in an effective manner
which meet its long term targets.
P2 firm’s vision, leadership, culture and teamwork shapes innovation and commercialization
A business organisation required that to set their mission and vision of their business which
provide them a long term direction. The role of vision statement is the answer of various
aspects such as reason for business, way of business and their objectives. It also related with
the stakeholder such as customer, employee's, suppliers, investors, government and society
(Fiedler and Welpe, 2011). In the context of cited company is to provide high quality services
in sustainable way. This is the responsibility of leader of the company is to communicate
their vision with their staff which helps in to attaining organizational goals and targets.
The role of leadership in innovation is having great significance which helps to provide guide
their employee's in order to solving complex problems in an effective manner. Innovation
required expertise and skilled workforce to improve their existing product and services. Such
task needs a visionary leader (Harman, 2010). They help to identify talented and skilled
employees and push them in to complex task which enhanced their abilities at the great
extent. Apart from that leader also motivate their staff towards achieving short and long term
targets in an effective manner. There are following factors and its role in innovation are
given below:
Vision The vision of 4com plc is related with the long term goals of the
company in the telecommunication industry. “Attaining the best
position and being an innovative firm in telecom sector.”
Mission This is related with ways in which a company can achieve its vision
in the telecom (Hemphill, 2014).
Leadership The way manager and top level of management to guide their staff

and promoting towards innovation. Democratic leadership style can
be used by the cited firm.
Culture This is related with the organisational culture and its impact on
innovation. Therefore, this is responsibilities of cited company is to
provide good atmosphere at the workplace.
Teamwork The manager is responsible for promote team work among staff.
Therefore, they need to design process and system where
employees work together in order to attaining their short term
objectives. It helps to increase idea sharing and solve a problem by
collective efforts (Ingemansson, 2010).
Apart from that, manager also try to use various tools and techniques in order to promote
innovation in the company. There are various approaches like open door policy, reward
system etc. For example, 4com can implement open door policy where employees can
discuss with manager about their idea related with innovation. It helps to increase confidence
level of the employees which leads to enhanced productivity and profitability (Kianto, 2011).
Task 2
P3 4Ps of innovation and the use of innovation funnel
The main aim of innovation funnel is to state about the whole process which promote idea
generation and innovation. The innovation is a systematic process from identification of
customer demand and generate idea for meet which meet such need. After this, the manager
of cited firm implements such plan to in order to transformation of an idea in to reality (Perks
and Moxey, 2011). For this, 4ps model can be used by the researchers in the innovation
development. These are:
Product: This is one of the key factor in the innovation process where organisation is required
to collect relevant information about the market and its various variables. 4Com plc is one of
the company who provide product and services which satisfy customer needs in an effective
manner. The major principle in innovation process is the product and its uniqueness and
provide competitive edge over rival companies. Therefore, the cited firm, needs to designed
their product which attract customer and increase demand in the market (Rasmussen, 2010).

For example, Apple Inc. is producing Tablet which having its own uniqueness and meet their
customer need due to design and technology.
Process: The next P's of innovation is related to the overall process and its various activities.
In this element a business organization is try ton increase effectiveness and efficiency in the
production process. There are various tools and techniques which can be used by 4Com in
which make their product at the minimum cost. For example, in the context of Apple, IPod
shuffle which is a music device (Sonne, 2012). They import various components outside and
assembling in the company. It helps to save their cost of operation and produce their product
at lower cost as compare to their rival.
Positioning: 4Com required that has to learn from various large corporation how to position
their product which attract customer. For example, Apple Inc. which produce IPod shuffle
provide good quality music and design also attractive for their target customers (Wang,
Vanhaverbeke and Roijakkers, 2012). The main target of such product is teenager and also
provide tough competitive to MP3 device market.
Paradigm: This is another aspects of product which provide extra benefits to the customer.
4Com needs to make such product and services which can help to provide additional benefit
to its customer. it also leads to provide product differentiation on their rival companies.
According to the case Apple, IPod shuffle is also having additional features like customer can
download music online, advanced software which upgrade in the near future. These all
features are lower cost as compare to other MP3 music devices (Theyel, 2013).
Therefore, it is the responsibility 4Com is to focused on research and development in order to
produce such product which having different from its competitor’s product. As a business
organization, they required that to thing advance which helps to meet future needs of their
customer. With the help of such product and services a company can provide consistent
growth to their business in the long run.
P4 Developments in frugal innovation and provide examples
A frugal innovation process is related to discovers new business approach, value chain and
improve product to serve customers. It provides a functional solution by using various
resources in an effective manner. The frugal innovation process is given below:
Identification of opportunities: This is the first stage of frugal innovation process the
company required to determine market opportunities. There are various tools and techniques
used by them such as conducting feedback, marker research, customer survey etc. (Wang,

Vanhaverbeke and Roijakkers, 2012). With the help of these approach a business
organization can knows the actual need of customer. apart from that they can also use
feedback approach in order to improve product performance. Therefore, 4Com required that
to identify such opportunities which provide long term success in the market.
Analyses of capabilities: This is another stage where the manager of the company evaluate
current capabilities and resources within the business unit. This is one of the crucial stage in
the frugal innovation process because it required creative idea and large number of resources
and knowledge in the field of innovation (Wonglimpiyarat, 2011). 4Com required that to
analyses their resources their own capabilities such as skills, financial resources, information
etc.
Finding out issues: In this stage the cited firm can scan their business environment which
can be internal and external and try to identify various issues. Because, frugal innovation
process required minimise such issue and make such process more effective (Ingemansson,
2010).
Adding supportive resources: It required various resources like human resource, finance
and information 4com can recruit skilled and innovative workforce which help to meet their
long term objectives. Financial resources can be managed by the external sources like bank
through debt. They also consult with experts regarding their frugal innovation process.
Re-plan: Strategic plan is redesign according to change in their innovation process (Kianto,
2011). It helps to upgrade overall process which help to meet their short and long term targets
in an effective manner.
Implementation: This is the responsibility of manger is to implement overall frugal
innovation process in an effective manner.
Follow up: In the final stage of innovation process effective monitoring and supervision
required for success. In this stage manager identity loopholes and minimise such errors in an
effective manner (Perks and Moxey, 2011). so that 4Com can attain their long term goals and
objectives effectively.
Importance of frugal innovation
The role of frugal innovation helps to a business in order to sustain in the market for a longer
time. This is one of the challenging task for a company to maintain the life cycle of its
product in the longer run. It will help to improve existing product and increase the LCP

which provide benefit for the company. In the context of 4Com, cited firm can improve their
design and add new technological features in their existing MP3 players which can leads to
increase competitive advantage in the market.
Task 3
P5 Importance of the commercial funnel and the New Product Development process
Commercial funnel is a system process to transformation of idea in to reality and transfer to
the end customers. On the other hand, new product development related with the creating an
idea and develop for the customer needs (Kianto, 2011). Therefore, this is the responsibility
of a cited firm is to focused on new product development process which provide competitive
advantage in the market. The stages of NPD for 4Com are given below:
Idea generation: This is the first stage of NPD where a company has to generate many ideas
in form their internal and external sources (Ingemansson, 2010). These can be employees,
customer, suppliers, distributors etc. For this, 4Com required that to promote idea in their
company by using various tools and approaches. For example, manager can put special
incentive program to their employees to create new idea at the workplace.
Idea screening: In this stage the top management of the cited firm is screening all ideas and
identity few concepts which have relative importance. They provide ranking to all idea and
then select an appropriate idea for concept development. for example, Apple Inc. come up
with IPod idea for the music player.
Concept Development: This is one of the crucial stage where a business organization develop
concept from their ideas (Hemphill, 2014). The production department is transform the idea
in tom product for their potential customers.
Figure 1New product development process

Marketing Strategy: Once concept development is completed, marketing department of 4Com
need to design marketing strategy. In this stage the three important part is required to
implement in an effective manner. first identify target market, planning positioning strategy
and prepare a budget for their proposed marketing plan. According to the Apple case study,
IPod music player target market are teenagers and young generation (Edison, Bin Ali and
Torkar, 2013). There is various marketing strategy which used by Apple to promote their
product and create awareness in the market. The marketing department of 4com required that
to make budget for their marketing campaign in advance. It helps to save their cost and time
and increase productivity and profitability which is the common goals of a business
organization.
Market Analyses: At this stage, business entity analyses the market by using various
approach in order to determine opportunities in an effective manner.
Product development: The role of research and development to produce a product concept
and transform in to physical product. It needs large investment for the full-fledged product
which satisfy customer demand.
Test marketing: This is one of the most critical stage of ned product development process
which needs to make careful decision making and test their product before large scale
production in to the market. The main aim of this stage is to overcome potential risk and
make their new product successful in the market (Cosh and Hughes, 2010). With the help of
test marketing 4Com can conduct feedback and improve their product performance as per the
customer demand. For example, Apple can conduct test marketing for their new IPod for a
selected market and analyses response of their customers.
Commercialization: In the final stage of NPD where a company needs to increase production
rate and provide their product in the market at the right time. The top management of the
cited firm also make sure that to provide all relevant resources to the company. It enhanced
its supply chain and provide long term growth to their business.
P6 Building an Innovation Business Case for the chosen organisation
It is essential for a business is that to analyses various issues involved in innovation and
provide appropriate solution. there are two major issue types of innovation and another one is
funding.
Types of innovation

Incremental innovation: This types of innovation is focused on small product and process
related idea which helps in cost saving and increase revenue for the company.
Open innovation: In this types a company gather idea from outside like customer, suppliers,
investors etc. (Clausen and Rasmussen, 2011). they can also improve their existing product
which increase satisfaction level of its customers.
Frugal innovation: It is focused on idea generation which having large impact with the little
resources. For example, a company can remove part from a machinery and make e new
version with small budget.
The another major issue in innovation which related to the fund and sources of fund. There
are following sources can be used by cited company to arrange their financial resources.
These are:
Debt financing: A small business unit can arrange their finance from private and public sector
organizations in order to develop their innovation (Chun, Chung and Bang, 2015). There are
various financial institutions and corporate houses can provide loan to them.
Venture capital: There are various private owned business enterprises which provide financial
assistance to small business as a return of shareholder in their business.
Angle investor: These are individual investor who invest their capital for innovation
exchange for equity or debt.
Innovation and technology having large impact in business and its future performance. today,
business environment is dynamic and change on regular basis. Customer taste and
preferences also changing which create challenge for business organization. Innovation only
way to sustain a company in the long run and meet customer expectation by providing
innovative products and services.
In the context 4Com where they need to conduct customer survey and identify their
unsatisfied need. Identification of demand is simple but converting in to realities most
changing task. They need to focused on their research and development and develop such
product. Now the another changing task comes in the picture to introduced this product in the
market. This is the responsibility of marketing manager to arrange all requirement and use
large number of promotion tool to build awareness in the market. so that customer wants to
wait their product. They need to fund enough financial resources to promote their product in
to the market. In the context of given case, 4Com required to launch a MP3 player in the

market. therefore, they need large number of amount to spending on marketing resources and
launch their new product in a successful way.
Managing finance one of the major issue for 4Com and its new product. Therefore, this is
responsibility of the company is to identify potential investors in the business. There are
following types of resources can be arranged by 4Com. These sources can be:
Internal sources: This is one of the major source where management can arrange its finance
from internally. For example, they can make a fund or take a loan from their friends and
family in order to arrange their fund and develop their business in the longer run.
External sources: There are various external sources such as bank loan, angel investors and
IPO to collect fund for their innovation development. For example, 4Com can take a loan
from the banking institutions in order to develop their products in an effective manner and
meet their set target.
Task 4
P7 Evaluating the different tools for protect knowledge and intellectual property
There are various tools and approaches which used by 4Com in order to protect intellectual
property right. It helps in enhanced innovation and retain the right of their development a new
product which can be enjoyed in the long term. Intellectual property right is a law where a
company is having exclusive access a using such product for a given period of time.
In the context of Apple Inc. having various intellectual copy right to keep their innovation
with them and use it for their advantage (Bastalich, 2010). It helps to earn profit for a longer
period of time and maintain their growth in an effective manner.
There are two types of intellectual property right which are given below:
Automatic:
Design right: This is another type of right where a company can get the right of their design
which can be any shape, art etc.
To be Applied:
Utility Model: This is a types of legislation which protect minor invention in the country.
The main motive of such tool is to protecting commercial use of “Minor invention” by