UNIT 8: Innovation and Commercialisation at Addison Lee, Apple, Virgin

This report delves into the innovation and commercialization strategies employed by Addison Lee, a UK-based private cab hire company, drawing comparisons with Apple Inc. and the Virgin Group. The report explores the distinction between invention and innovation, emphasizing the importance of organizational vision, leadership, culture, and teamwork in shaping innovation. It examines various types of innovation, including the 4Ps of innovation and frugal innovation, providing examples relevant to Addison Lee's context. Furthermore, the report discusses the processes required for commercializing innovation, highlighting the application of the commercial funnel and New Product Development (NPD). It also covers building an innovation business case, including methods for accessing funding. Finally, the report evaluates different methods for protecting ideas and intellectual property, offering insights into their advantages and disadvantages within the context of Addison Lee's operations.

UNIT 8
INNOVATION AND COMMERCIALISATION
(ADDISON LEE COMPANY, UK),
WITH REFERENCE TO APPLE INC. AND
THE VIRGIN GROUP
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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
1. Explanation of the context for innovation and determine the difference between invention and
innovation in Addison Lee:.............................................................................................................3
1.1 Explanation of innovation and determination of its importance to Addison Lee in
comparison with invention:.........................................................................................................3
1.2 Explanation of how organizational vision, leadership, culture and teamwork can shape
innovation and commercialization in Addison Lee, UK:............................................................4
2. Explaining the different types of innovation:..............................................................................5
2.1 Explaining the 4Ps of innovation and explain the use of the innovation funnel to examine
and shape innovative ideas in Addison Lee, UK:........................................................................5
2.2 Explaining developments in frugal innovation and provide examples of how it is used in an
organizational context of Addison Lee, UK:...............................................................................6
3. Discussing the process required to commercialize innovation in Addison Lee, UK:.................7
3.1 Explaining the importance of the commercial funnel and the application of New Product
Development (NPD) processing for commercialization of innovation in Addison Lee, UK:.....7
3.2 Building an Innovation Business Case for Addison Lee, UK including ways to access
funding:........................................................................................................................................8
4. Evaluating the range of methods for protecting ideas and understand their advantages and
disadvantages in Addison Lee, UK:................................................................................................9
4.1Evaluating the different tools that organizations can use to develop, retain and protect
knowledge and intellectual property in Addison Lee, UK:.........................................................9
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
Addison Lee is a private cab hire company located in London. This company operates its
services to the customers with a fleet of 4000 cabs that procures an annual revenue of around
£200 million. There are more than 20000 employees working under the company (Van Hemert,
et al., 2013). John Griffith is the head of the company as well as the owner. It works completely
with the help of technology, and also hires programmers in the organization. In this project, the
discussion is done in detail about how to increase the company revenue following certain
strategies related to innovation and commercialization.
TASK 1
1.1 Explanation of innovation and determination of its importance to Addison Lee in comparison
with invention
The term invention and innovation are completely different terms altogether. This is
completely true for any company. The term invention is actually linked with the creation of a
newbie product or technology that is completely unique to the market. The product would have
no link with any other products of competitors in that case (Cosh & Hughes, 2010). The success
related to the launch of a new product is completely proportional to the likeness of the same
product by the consumers. The likeness can be procured by increasing the amount of offline and
online advertisements. However, the concept of innovation differs a little. It means the same
product is made more attractive by means of innovation.
The innovation is most of the service of Addison Lee follows the VRIN strategy for
facilitating innovation. On the basis of this concept, it can be said that every innovation of the
known product should follow the criteria of being valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-sustainable.
This is while comparing the same innovative product with other competitors of the market
(Love, et al., 2011). Another method of creating innovation to any product is following the 4Ps
of innovation. This includes the process, paradigm, process and position pertaining to the entire
product.
A good example regarding the difference of invention and innovation can be cited by
taking an example from the Apple and Virgin Group. Apple designed an operating system that is
completely unique in the market. Other than the main competitor Microsoft, the Apple operating
system was very compatible to the layman, and provided an ease of access. This can be
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considered an invention as according to the Apple chief, Steve Jobs, the company always tries to
create a product that is unparalleled in the entire industry (Lee, et al., 2010). The Virgin Group,
on the other side, started campaigns to encourage new business ideas from the youth. It also
facilitates teamwork within the same organization to come up with entrepreneurial ideas. This
technique implemented by Virgin can be considered as an innovation.
There are many services provided by Addison Lee as well related to the luxury vehicles.
The office goers and the school students hire these vehicles during emergency. These vehicles
are also hired by couples when they want to go for a small trip throughout the city (Ganotakis &
Love, 2011). There are certain innovation that can be applied in this business as well. The
innovations are mainly the extra facilities that are accompanied with the ride. Some food or
drinks might be served to the clients just to boost up the mood, and increase the demands of the
services.
1.2 Explanation of how organizational vision, leadership, culture and teamwork can shape
innovation and commercialization in Addison Lee, UK
The mission of the company is enabling the business class cab facility throughout
London at cheap rates. The vision of the company is to go a lot ahead of its competitors in the
cab facility business. The work culture of the company is completely at par with the teamwork,
and the services are provided within a very small period of time (Walsh, 2012). The vehicle
services are tried to be made more innovative with every passing time, and the way improves the
services of Addison Lee. Innovation is also connected with the optimization of the websites. In
the age of globalization, SEO provides a permanent solution to the problem of online popularity.
The techniques of leadership pertaining to the organization is completely at par with the
systematic techniques used within the organization. The line managers of the Addison Lee are
always there to make the employees understand the mission, vision and other factors related to
the workplace experiences. The employees are trained by the line managers in such a way that
they all move towards certain goals of the organization (Schoeman, et al., 2012). The work
culture is great where the strengths and weaknesses of employees are improved over time within
a specific timeframe. The motivation of the employees are provided both by the intrinsic and the
extrinsic motivation.
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The Addison Lee works completely on the basis of a teamwork concept. There are many
teams within the organization. The line managers of different teams encourage the competition
between two or more teams. The healthy growth of competition increases the revenue of the
organization by competition. The increase of communication between the teammates are also
encouraged by means of a group discussion (Jagoda, et al., 2011). Many employees have a voice
even to talk about new entrepreneurial ideas that would be beneficial for the company. This
method also fosters a growth of team spirit within the company.
The innovative idea of the Virgin Group are also related with the innovation strategy of
Addison Lee. The Virgin Group provides innovation by encouraging the growth of every
innovative and unique idea within the organization (Owen & Goldberg, 2010). The new ideas are
valued, and more unique ideas are generated from the community by means of campaigning
among the public to gather new ideas. This idea that was incorporated by the Virgin Group was
truly innovative, and this sort of campaign can also be beneficial for the Addison Lee Company.
Providing more luxury vehicles, and imparting some songs and music within the vehicle can
boost up innovation standards of the company.
TASK 2
2.1 Explaining the 4Ps of innovation and explain the use of the innovation funnel to examine and
shape innovative ideas in Addison Lee, UK:
The main way to facilitate innovation within Addison Lee is to foster a proper
communication within the workplace. These steps for facilitating innovation might show a rapid
decline if a proper communication within several departments of the workplace becomes at
stake. If the objective for innovation is communication, then the choicest method to achieve the
communication within the workplace is by the method of innovation funnel (Wong, 2011). All
the organizations should follow the same method to ensure better communication. The
innovation funnel mainly talks about diverse ideas during inception. A proper investigation is
thoroughly necessary for understanding the customer’s perceptions for various types of jobs.
The investigation of the different parameters related to customer perception is the first
step towards an innovation funnel. Once the perceptions are identified, it gives the formation of
final products and services related to the same perception. The investigation is mainly done by
the marketing team within the organization (Robertson, 2010). After the same, the development
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of these services are done by the management team following the system that is manifested
within the HRM department. The 4Ps of innovation are also kept at the back of the mind while
deciding any new strategy within the organization, which consists of the product, process,
position and the paradigm. The product of Addison Lee consists of vehicles and luxury services
related to vehicles. It also consists of certain innovations related to the IT department of the
organization.
The Addison Lee also consists of several new services that can be understood by having a
complete look at its website. The innovative development of new services are promoted by
online methods to give it a more competitive edge in the market of globalization (Smith, et al.,
2014). The position of these services are somewhat at par with the online perceptions of
customers, which can be enhanced by means of optimization techniques. Implementing the
proper behavioral technique within the workplace can be considered as another important point
to achieve standards of innovation. The standard of vehicles should also be improved in order to
procure the innovation within the services.
The system of services can be further improved if an online or an offline survey is
conducted by the marketing department. It would also necessarily boost the optimization part of
the industry. The age of globalization gives more importance to the online advertisements, and
the success rates can be measured from an online survey (Kutvonen, 2011). Post that, the
feedback might improve the patterns of globalization related to the optimization of the Addison
Lee website. If data management becomes a huge problem to the organization, then some
programmers can be hired in the IT department to fix a big data system in the workplace to
enable cloud computing.
2.2 Explaining developments in frugal innovation and provide examples of how it is used in an
organizational context of Addison Lee, UK
Frugal innovation is a very commonplace term used for any sort of European business
when they try to sell their products in the global market, especially the Asian market. The price
at which the products are sold is comparatively lower than the actual price, and the products are
intentionally manufactured of a lower quality (Wang & Rafiq, 2014). It is made in that way
because the third world nations would then be able to afford the product. The frugal innovation
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related to the vehicle services of Addison Lee can be with cheaper vehicles in the Asian
countries along with a small tie up with other cab providing companies.
People of the first world nations are generally capable of taking financial risk just to
check if the services are genuine. They would not consider it as a fraud if they find the services
are not genuine. They prefer not to continue with the services anymore if the quality of service is
very bad. However, the people of third world countries are not willing to take any risk even
during the first attempt. They only spend money once they are sure about the product. It is only
possible because the GDP in the first world countries are quite higher as compared to the third
world countries (Harman, 2010). Naturally, the security factor including the price must be
considered while selling any service to the Asian nations.
The situation of frugal innovation can be again explained by means of the Apple and
Virgin Group. Though the product quality of Apple is excellent in standard, yet the products of
Apple technology that are sold in the Asian nations are quite inferior in quality as compared to
the products that are sold in the first world European nations (Micheli, et al., 2012). If the same
kind of quality was maintained by Apple even in the Asian nations, then the people would not
have been able to afford, and the business would have ceased to exist. The Virgin Group, firstly,
started an innovation of capturing the customers in the way of providing balance in incoming
calls. However, this scheme was abandoned as a part of frugal innovation in the Asian countries
because all the service providers were offering very cheap rate calls.
The business can be made global as far as frugal innovation is concerned for the Addison
Lee as well. Firstly, it needs to form a tie up with some other transport companies in the Asian
nations. After the formation of a tie up, there is no need of providing the luxury cars in the very
beginning because the people cannot possibly afford such costly rates. The services can be
promoted by the use of optimization techniques through websites.
TASK 3
3.1 Explaining the importance of the commercial funnel and the application of New Product
Development (NPD) processing for commercialization of innovation in Addison Lee, UK
The commercial funnel can be considered as a wonderful technique to inculcate
innovation in any organization. This process is also known as the New Product Development
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(NPD), and it is achievable by following the method of development funnel. The Addison Lee,
mainly provides a service related to vehicles and it can increase the luxury cars for facilitating
more innovation and services (Hughes, 2012). The considerable aspects related to this particular
tool are fourfold, which are known as the product interest, the awareness of the product, the
desire for purchasing the product and the innovation that is developed within the product. These
aspects should be understood very well for understanding the commercialization related to a
particular product.
Firstly, music systems inside the cars can be incorporated along with food and drinks
within the car system. This can give some kind of innovation to the business. Post that, an
awareness is required about this new development that is made regarding the product to its
consumers. This is only achievable by means of online promotion, and it is the best method of
spreading awareness in the global domain (Tran, 2012). The young people are also spending a lot
of time on the internet than on anything else, and so, the internet is the best tool to spread the
awareness about a new kind of service. The interest about the service can also grow if the
customers feel that they are gaining some kind of profit out of that service.
The motivation to get a particular service comes only when the commercialization related
to a particular product is done. It is only possible if the very close ones of the customers say that
the product is good. In order to achieve the closeness proximity of every customer, the social
networking sites can be considered as the best option (Hora & Dutta, 2013). These websites truly
enhance the motivation of the customers to procure the services. If the NPD is considered, then it
can be said that the development of a product depends mainly on the parameters called the time,
variables and the expense in relation to a particular product.
The commercial innovation of the Addison Lee can also be done by performing a survey.
The Apple reached the height of technology after doing a survey with the customers. After the
survey, it can be understood that most of the laymen and senior people find it difficult to operate
a computer as its design is very complex (Winskel & Radcliffe, 2014). This led to the formation
of the Apple operating system. So, a proper survey can boost up the innovation in Addison Lee
as well.
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3.2 Building an Innovation Business Case for Addison Lee, UK including ways to access
funding
In every business, the perception of the customers are always seen in the highest regard
for the organization. It is always believed that if the needs of customers can be addressed
properly, the business would never observe a growth related impairment (Ganotakis & Love,
2011). In the vehicle market, it is to be understand that the people would need the vehicle either
for saving time or for the purpose of comfort. It is better to ask the customers about their
intention of hiring the vehicle beforehand because that would make the services better and
exciting. Moreover, the customer segregation is also another tool that helps us understand the
differences of perceptions at various levels.
Firstly, there are office goers who would like to board a cab regularly for reaching the
office on time. Secondly, there are couples who would like to hire the cab for a day to go in a far
off place for enjoying themselves (Jagoda, et al., 2011). Thirdly, any family can also hire a cab to
go for travel purpose. Some cabs can even be hired for the purpose of celebrations, and more
creating an ease of travel to the guests. All these customers have completely different
perspectives. The customers who are regular and office goers would certainly not like the food
and drinks inside the cab but would like to reach the destination early.
The couples or the families are generally not so conscious about time, and they are more
concerned about the comfort related parameter while going out. These people can be served food
and drinks to cheer up the mood (Jagoda, et al., 2011). Once these customers are pleased, the
commercialization of the Addison Lee would be achievable. These customers are very important
for the company mainly because these customers spend a lot more at one instant than the regular
office goers.
TASK 4
4.1 Evaluating the different tools that organizations can use to develop, retain and protect
knowledge and intellectual property in Addison Lee, UK
As a CEO of Addison Lee, there are different tools which are used by Virgin and Apple
Inc. to develop, retain and protect knowledge in company. The intellectual property of the
Addison Lee are many. The main intellectual properties are the huge cloud computing software
that are prepared within the organization to manage the system and the websites (Robertson,
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2010). These properties are those properties that control the management system pertaining to
the employees as well as handle the big data concerned with the websites. As the virgin group
and Apple has applied the model which presents a situation where senior manager from different
department come together to establish corporate priorities, it helps in development and retaining
of knowledge. This can be applied in Addison also for the development. A virgin's company
structure can be followed by the company that helps employees to present different ideas that can
help in the protecting knowledge and property. With the employee commitment despite the anti
corporate and informal environment in Virgin, protection is high. This thing can also be applied
by the company which will help in protecting knowledge. Intellectual property consists of the
salary details of the employees, and their personal contact details, that can be protected by
applying the safety and protection methods which is used in Apple and Virgin, with the help of
which they secure their technology, this will help mentioned company in protection of
intellectual property. The intellectual property are protected by the use of various access codes
within the company, which is also used by Virgin and Apple. The data also consists of certain
personal information about the clients, which cannot be shared with others.
The business ideas related to the innovation can also be considered as an intellectual
property. All the ideas that are given either by the line managers or by the top rung of the
management falls within the purview of intellectual properties of the organization.
CONCLUSION
The entire report discusses about the theme of the company related to the equivalent
researches of the commercialization and how this can be applied to the innovation tools and
techniques used for the Addison Lee Company. There are many ways by which the innovation
can be fostered to the existing products and services, and the report exactly serves as a guideline
to the same (Micheli, et al., 2012). The report deals with the innovation funnel, the
commercialization techniques along with some special references to the Apple and Virgin
Group. It also discusses how a small scale industry like the Addison Lee can use the techniques
used by these two big multinationals to generate innovation.
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