Innovation Management (UGB 269): Google and Open Innovation Analysis

This report delves into the concept of open innovation, examining its advantages and limitations within the context of Google. It begins with an overview of innovation management, highlighting the importance of adapting to a competitive business environment. The report then defines open and closed innovation, emphasizing the benefits of open innovation, such as cost control and expertise acquisition, while also acknowledging its limitations, including the risk of information sharing and increased costs. Through a literature review and case study approach, the report analyzes Google's adoption of open innovation, exploring specific examples and the impact on the company's innovation processes. The methodology section focuses on finding the right channels and the importance of transparency and rewarding participants. The report concludes with recommendations for Google and commercially viable solutions, providing a comprehensive analysis of open innovation's role in Google's success.

Module Title: Innovation Management
Module code: UGB 269

Contents
Title – Advantages and limitations of open innovation. .................................................................3
Abstract............................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Overview of the theme...........................................................................................................3
Literature review..............................................................................................................................4
Concept of open and close innovation....................................................................................4
Advantage of open innovation................................................................................................5
Limitations of open innovation.............................................................................................5
Methodology ...................................................................................................................................6
Finding the right channels................................................................................................................6
Open Innovation in context with Google...............................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
Commercially viable solutions........................................................................................................9
RECOMMENDATIONS...............................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

Title – Advantages and limitations of open innovation.
Abstract
This work reviews on the different articles on the concept of open innovation in which it is
summaries that what are the different positives and negatives of the open innovation to google.
As per the current business phenomenon innovation is found to be more important as survival is
possible in the market only if the organisations do adopt to the different opportunities that are
present in the external surroundings. The following work has range of examples where the
advantages and limitations of the open innovation are discussed along with many examples from
the Google company. Use of literature review is done to analyse the concept in more detail in
which themes are made through which better understanding of the same can be done.
INTRODUCTION
Overview of the theme
Innovation is the process through which change in the present commodities are made
which has capacity to produce and deliver better services. some modifications and changes are
done to them through which it becomes more effective. As the business environment is
continuously changing and becoming more competitive it becomes necessary for the enterprises
to innovate. Innovation management are the ways through which application of change in
company is done. It is because without proper planning for same can lead to great loss to the
business also (Biemans, 2018). For same under the concept of innovation management different
tools are used which includes formulating the strategies, analysing the capabilities forming the
structure accordingly and developing the culture of adopting change in the firm. With the help of
all these management of the organisation is capable of exploiting the different opportunities that
are present inside and outside the boundaries of the business.
Google is the chosen organisation for the following report. It is a well-known web browsing
platform which is used globally by unlimited users. It was initially started as a research project
and since then it became a significant example in innovation industry. In very few years of its
initial launch many companies joined hands with it such as Yahoo, Excites etc. Its research and
development team continuously focused on improving the search engine which shows the culture
of adopting change in the firm (Chesbrough, Lettl and Ritter, 2018).
Objectives

The following report will be discussing the different benefits and limitations of the open
innovation for google. For same it will be explored that how the chosen organisation is benefited
by the concept of innovation along with the various examples that shows the limitations of the
change in context of the same firm (Eckhardt, Ciuchta and Carpenter, 2018). Different examples
will be given in the discussion which will discuss how while applying the alterations in the
working of the firm different limitations were faced by the company. Therefore, the objective of
the following report are as follows:
 To understand the concept of open and close innovation
 To determine the benefits of open innovation
 To investigate the limitations of open innovation
 To discuss innovation in context of Google
Literature review
Concept of open and close innovation
Open innovation is the concept of applying and using the purposive inflows and outflows
of data to speed up change within the business boundaries. Through same the outside possible
opportunities to innovate increases. If from the initial stages organisation follows the concept of
innovation, it becomes free to explore and there are no boundaries of the business then as it can
adopt anything at any time. It is distinct from that of close innovation concept as in that case the
enterprises do not look for change options from outside eth organisations boundaries. In this case
the most important source of innovation is only the inside resources of the firm like the investors,
employees, stakeholders etc. Their views and suggestions are considered while making the
inventions in the current working and experiencing the growth. Contradict from that is the case
of external innovation in which there is more scope of making change in the existing systems
like taking assistance from the outside applications and also delivering the new ideas to other
organisations. If both the innovations are compared, then it can be found that open method of
innovating is more appropriate as this way the total scope of change further increases and hence
company can find out what is the best cost effecting option for the firm through which change
can be facilitated.

Advantage of open innovation
From the above discussion the concept of exposed innovation is clear. It is fond that how
it is used in the firm. It has various benefits from the company and the most common among
them is that it directly helps the firm in controlling the overall cost of business as the solutions
are well evaluated on various platforms. This way the company can found out that through using
what option company can get eth better results which is also competitive in the market.
Thereafter, the other benefit of this change is that expertise can be achieved through this way as
when different units are adopting the same approach then it can be found that what is the best
way of using the idea so that better results are achieved (Eftekhari and Bogers, 2015). Also,
when the idea is driven from outside, the total work pressure of the research and development
team reduces as they do not have to do the whole practice of how to innovate and can simply
examine how the possible option found can be implemented in own working. This way also the
chances of achieving the success from the tested model further raises.
Limitations of open innovation
Although the concept of innovation has range of favourable points but they do not come
all safe as there are lots of disadvantages which are associated with same. In order to innovate
through involving the outside parties increases the risk of sharing of such information of the
company which is not intended to be shared. It may affect the quality standards of the firm as
when the company is open to market for sharing the ideas it loses its self-capacity and delivering
new to the users and also the competitive advantage gets affected as a result of external
involvement with the intellectual properties of the business. Along with this the other negative
aspect that is associated with this concept of bring change I the firm is of the additional total cost
to the company (Greco, Grimaldi and Cricelli, 2015). When any application or new idea which is
taken from the market is applied in the business it demands more addition to the total resources
and leads to the cost of its application. It is due to the fact that employees need to be trained
regarding same which is a time as well as a cost consuming process. Other way in which the
expenses for the firm increases is because at the initial step when change is brought to the
company the chances of error further increases. Sometimes these mistakes are severe and can
affect much to the company. using the idea which is completely new.
Key success factors associated with open innovation

There are some key factors which are associated with the success of open innovations. If
business associations will follow these key aspects, they will be able to innovate right product for
customers due to which gaining competitive advantage over rivals will became very easier. Some
of these factors are stated below:
Transparency
Transparency is an unquestionable requirement in an open innovation association as open
innovation is straightforward by definition. Being open about your issues and difficulties can be
troublesome from the outset yet can arrange opportunities for unforeseen answers for them. By
incorporating transparency in their organisational work, Companies like Google can adopt open
innovation in a proper manner (Hannigan, Seidel and Yakis-Douglas, 2018).
Rewarding participants
One hazard with open innovation joint effort is that the members probably won't feel that
they receive something commendable in return. Understand that open innovation isn't an
approach to get something without parting with anything. This is really one of the focal
approaches to propel the members.
Methodology
Methodology is mainly termed as a theoretical and well as systematic evaluation of
methods that are applied to field of study. In addition to this, it mainly involves theoretical
evaluation of principles associated as well as body of methods with branch of knowledge.
Further it has been analysed that it is consider as a theory of producing knowledge via research
and offer rationale for the manner in which present research proceeds. By using open innovation
methodology, the management of google can engage large audiences. If the company want the
input to be as large as possible as the firm would for gaining insight on consumer buying habits
then it is possible to expand the audience without any apparent limits. If the company make
innovation then with the help of this innovation method the overall costs in open innovation are
likely to be smaller in relation to the amount of ideas and input which is especially profitable for
companies in the down turn. It is also essential to find out correct audiences other wise it may be
tricky and poses a risk of sunk investment if innovation done hastily or for the wrong reasons.

Finding the right channels
Open innovation may frequently be great to begin up via face to face interactions. This is
useful for the underlying pilot stage where various ideas and procedures are tried, however over
the long haul, conceptualizing and innovation eye to eye may be very incapable in taking care of
issues. Online coordinated effort then again, can truly open up numerous conceivable outcomes.
Open Innovation in context with Google
Google has been a pioneer in web administrations since its dispatch in 1998, and now 20
years after the fact it is at long last additionally an innovator in producing new technologies and
concepts to revolutionise the world. The Pixel 3 cell phone and its Google Home savvy speaker
mirror the development of Google's equipment business, conveying tastefully satisfying, happy
gadgets that enhances the services of Google (Kasemsap, 2017).
Google and their branches around the globe are known to be very satisfying to the
customers because they are additionally a hotbed of advancement and creative mind. Google and
its way of performing work is based upon high efficiency and productivity. Different
organizations in global context benchmark Google with regards to development and as it should
be. Google can chip away any type of innovation, to such an extent that company have a
subsidiary organization called Alphabet (which included Google) which is essentially the
entirety of their organizations set up together. This part of project repot will discuss about some
open innovations which are adopted and promoted by the company to make themselves as a
market leader and earns numerous profits (Munir, Wnuk and Runeson, 2016).
But Open source innovation can be destructive for any organization unless and
organisation offers assistance and service to their customers. As a service organization, those
companies are restricted on the grounds that there are significant number of hours in a day you
can sell and just so much scale you can accomplish. Maybe the open source innovation centre of
Google seeks effectiveness, however on the off chance that history is a guide the future may not
show up such scenario One need just to take a dig at the case of Sun Microsystems, which chose
in 2006 to make its Java programming stage an open source stage. Inside a couple of years Sun's
corporate battles developed on the grounds that incomes from services sold through open source
stages were restricted and the concept of concerned company to introduce open innovation fails
miserably (Nambisan and et., al, 2017).

For every one of the zones where Google is a pioneer, there are a lot of different markets
it desires. In 2016, it incorporated its equipment tasks and propelled its most goal-oriented and
innovative gadgets to date, including the Pixel telephone, Google Wi-Fi, Google Home brilliant
speaker, remote systems and Daydream View VR headset administration framework. It
additionally presented Google All, an interchanges application intended to rival Facebook's
Messenger and WhatsApp. Furthermore, it gave its undertaking bunch another name—Google
Cloud—and intensified its push to transform that suite of devices into an imposing adversary to
Amazon Web Services (Nambisan, Siegel and Kenney, 2018).
Examples of open innovations in context with Google
Google glass
Google Glass was created by Google X. The Google Glass model looked like standard
eyeglasses with the focal point supplanted by a head-up display. In mid-2011, Google designed a
model that gauged 8 pounds. By 2013, they were lighter than the normal pair of sunglasses. In
April 2013, the Explorer Edition was made accessible to Google I/O designers in the United
States for $1,500. Features of Google glass are discussed below:
Touchpad: A touchpad is situated at inside part of Google Glass, enabling clients to control the
gadget by swiping through a course of events like interface showed on the screen. Sliding in
reverse shows recent developments, for example, climate, and sliding forward shows past
occasions, for example, telephone calls, photographs, circle refreshes, and so forth.
Camera: Google Glass can take 5 Mp photographs and record 720p HD video. Glass Enterprise
Edition 2 has an improved 8MP 80° FOV camera.
Show: The Explorer variant of Google Glass utilizes a fluid precious stone on LED enlightened
display. The LED light in Google Glass is first P-captivated and afterward radiates through the
in-coupling polarizing shaft splitter (PBS) to the LCoS board. The board mirrors the light and
changes it to S-polarization at dynamic pixel sensor destinations.
This open innovation of google is highly appreciated by the people and company has
gained enormous advantages by innovating this product (Randhawa and et. al., 2017).
Driverless cars
Driverless cars are the enormous thing in the realm of cars and Google is taking this large
thought out to this present reality. A thought from Google's X Lab, driverless cars are at present
being tried by the organization in Nevada, Florida and California in the US. In this context one

example is Waymo LLC. This car is an example of open innovation which is carried out by
Google by collaborating with Waymo. Waymo is a self-driving innovation company which is a
backup of Alphabet Inc. Waymo started as a venture of Google before it turned into an
independent firm in December 2016. In April 2017, Waymo began a constrained preliminary of a
self-driving taxi service in Phoenix, Arizona. On December 5, 2018, the concerned company
propelled a business self-driving vehicle administration called "Waymo One"; with the help of
mobile applications, customers are able to request a pick up. This open innovation has
considerably changed the working dynamics of car manufacturing industry.
Google street view
Google Street View is an innovation highlighted in Google Maps and Google Earth that
gives intelligent displays from positions along numerous avenues on the planet. It was propelled
in 2007 of every few urban communities in the United States, and has since extended to
incorporate urban communities and rustic zones around the world. Roads with Street View
symbolism accessible are appeared as blue lines on Google Maps. Google Street View shows
displays of sewed pictures. Most photography is finished via vehicle, yet some is finished by
tricycle, vessel, snowmobile, and submerged device, just as by walking (West and Bogers,
2017).
CONCLUSION
As per this given report it can be concluded that under the open innovation worldview there
is a significant progression of outside information into an organisation. This outside information
is transforms into ventures in co-activity with outer accomplices and causes the buy and joining
of technology from external environments. Some disadvantage of open innovation for business
organisations are that initiating open innovation requires heavy investment and consumes large
time. Due to this, business can easily run out of money. If innovation is not appreciated by the
people, then useful resources of a company will waste and getting organisational objectives will
not be possible. But, if concepts and ideas behind open innovation is appropriate, business firm
can achieve high appreciation and profits due to which overall productivity of concerned
company will increase exponentially.
Findings
From the above content it can be find out that open innovation is beneficial to the
company for the growth and development of it. It also help in enhancing the productivity and

maximising the portability in term of fulfilling consumers needs. But it considers also some
drawbacks that affect the business of the company because when the company make innovation
the n it requires more cost and consume more finance. If the innovation is not able to fulfil the
consumer need then it negatively affect the company in term of capital and monetary value.
Commercially viable solutions
There are number of viable solutions with the help of which ventures can be duly
transformed into innovation. In this, it is essential to have best effective source where funds can
be duly collected for the purpose of investment. In addition to this, it is essential for company to
have well defined and appropriate form of ideas as well as concepts as these will guide business
to accomplish goals as well as objectives in best effective manner. Along with this, it has been
evaluated that it is important to research and development team to engage in the process of
continuously focusing upon making significant improvement in search engine that depicts that it
is essential for culture to undertake change in well defined manner.
RECOMMENDATIONS
There are some recommendations which can be given to the manager in Google so that open
innovations can be adopted and implemented in a proper manner. Some of these
recommendations are stated below:
 One recommendation that can be given to the manager of concerned company is to
formulate a specific policy and strict guideline while working with other organisations.
By this, it will be noticed that no confidential information can be revealed to other
organisations. By this, sensitive information of the company will be preserved and
Google can protect themselves from activities like leaking of information etc. This will
help the concerned firm to cooperate and work with another organisation in an efficient
way. By this, chances of developing right innovations will be more and attainment of
goals behind new innovation will be easier.
 Another recommendation for Google is that while carrying out open innovation, manager
of firm is required to adopt only those processes which will add value to the open
innovations. If a process does not add much value and brings high cost to the company,

then the firm is recommended to eliminate those process. By this, only required
procedures will take place and issue of extra costs and expenses will be reduced
considerably. This will help the company in managing their finances and budgets due to
which other organisational activities will not suffer.
 It can also suggest to the administrator of the company, when the firm make open
innovation in its business then it should effectively analyse the needs of the customers
that they are fulfilling in effective manner. If the creation is able to satisfy their needs
then it favourably affect the company. But when the needs of the consumers are not
saturating then it unfavourably influence the firm in term of brand images, customer base,
profit & productivity etc.

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