Impact of Innovation and Technology on Britvic PLC and Economy

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Britvic PLC, a soft drink company, focusing on its innovation and technological advancements within the business environment. The study explores various types of innovation, including incremental, disruptive, architectural, and radical, and their impact on economic growth. It examines Britvic's implementation of new technologies, such as wood fiber packaging and artificial intelligence, and their effects on sales, revenue, and brand contribution. Furthermore, the report delves into corporate governance, its history in the UK, and the responsibilities of the Board of Directors of Entertainment One Group, alongside an overview of CSR practices. The report concludes with a discussion on the benefits of corporate governance and its role in maintaining investor confidence and ensuring balanced economic growth. The report highlights the importance of innovation and technology in driving business success and contributing to economic development.

Business environment-
Innovation and technology

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1. Types of innovation and technology and impact on economic progress................................1
2. Impact of innovation on economic growth- ...........................................................................2
3. Innovation & technology done by Britivic and its impact on its organisation........................2
4. Comparison of sales and profit before and after implementation of new technology............3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
1. Corporate governance ............................................................................................................3
2. History of Corporate governance in UK.................................................................................4
3.Responsibilities of Board of directors of Entertainment One Group.......................................5
4. CSR ........................................................................................................................................5
5. Carroll's CSR pyramid............................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Innovation is defined as creative thoughts, new ideas and new imagination of doing
things to meet new requirements. technology is a method, skill, process that is used in the
process of production for optimum utilization of scarce resources to achieve desired objective.
The present study is done on Britvic PLC, a soft drink company, originally known as British
vitamin Company. It was established in 1930 by an entrepreneur who used to deliver vitamins
through his drinks to people. In addition to this brief discussion is done on Entertainment One
Group, a studio that is specialised in acquisition, financing, production, sales and distribution of
entertainment content (Armstrong and et.al., 2015). it is diversified expertise across films, music
and television production and sales. In addition to this Corporate governance and its history in
UK has been discussed in detail. There are CSR practices carried on by companies on different
level has been described in detail. Apart from that a brief discussion is done of innovation and
technological effect of the company on economy of the country. In addition to this a briefing is
done on new technologies used by Brexit (Armstrong and et.al., 2015).
TASK 1
1. Types of innovation and technology and impact on economic progress
Innovation- It means something that adds value to the product which should be unique
and new. It is something which was never created earlier and will make work simpler and better
so that efficient results can be achieved.
Technology- It is the small part of the innovation. The current technology is the
innovation from the previous that helped in making lives of people better. Technology is
something that one adopts for the betterment that makes a human multitasker (Armstrong and
et.al., 2015).
There are following types of innovation and technology-
Incremental innovation- It is the type of innovation that increases value to the customer
by using existing technology. it is the most common type of innovation that is also used by
Britvic. It includes adding new features to the existing product. Disruptive innovation- it includes
applying new technology to the current product or process in current market. This new
technology is generally an expensive that is difficult to use and has less feature. For ex. I phone
disruption of the mobile phone market. Before launching of Apple, I phone. most popular phones
were focusing and relied on the keypad, scroll wheels and buttons for the purpose of inputs to
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the user. But apple has disrupted the whole market by launching touch screen phones (Evans and
et.al., 2017).
Apart from this there is Architectural innovation which means taking skills, learning and
the whole technology ad launching it to the different markets. This innovation helps in attracting
new potential customers. This technology involves less risk due to introduction of proven
technology. For example, NASA attempted to add on more on safety of aircraft cushions, so they
have created new foam, which is already introduced in the market that was used by the people as
spot equipment and medical equipment table pads and also used for mattresses. in addition to this
there can radical innovation, actually a new innovation that gives birth to new technologies, such
as Air plane is the new revolutionary innovation (Evans and et.al., 2017).
2. Impact of innovation on economic growth-
Innovation and technology have major impact on the economic growth of the country by
increasing the productivity and brings citizens new and better goods and service that improves
their standard of living. Economic growth on a macro level has increased GDP per capita,
productivity and labour productivity. A strong indicator of economic growth through innovation
is spending on research and development. Recently economists have been trying to analyse
growth through innovation by four main methods, that are learning by doing, human capital,
research and development, and public infrastructure. Some innovation methods and
developments cannot always be kept by the original company, due to technical spill overs,
imperfect patenting, and movement of skilled labourers to other firm (Grayson and Hodges,
2017).
3. Innovation & technology done by Britivic and its impact on its organisation.
Britvic has introduced new technology with new wood fibre packaging that formed a part
of Rea search and development for the purpose of sustainability. Apart from this research
process in fibre and pulp has provided information Britvic’s R&D team for finding out various
alternative solution for packaging in the future. It was essential because of negative impact of
plastic packaging on the environment (Grayson and Hodges, 2017). Britvic has recently invested
£240 m for the purpose of reducing waste and improving environmental footprints (BRITVIC
INNOVATORS DEVELOP A BOTTLE MADE OF WOOD FIBRE IN R&D CHALLENGE TO CHAMPION
SUSTAINABILITY GOALS,2017).
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Apart from that Artificial intelligence has been used by the companies for completing task on time or
faster than the manual labour. Artificial intelligence thus, refers to taking characteristics of humans and applying it
on machines. It generally includes robots, mobile apps, computer hardware chips etc. It is used by Britvic for
operational planning, strategic planning and solving various other problems faced by it due to manual labour.
Apart from this Britvic also use Enterprise resource planning which is software that allows an
organisation to use system of integrated application to manage a business that automates operation functions
related to HR and technology (Grayson and Hodges, 2017).
There are various changes that has occurred due to effect of innovation in the Britvic
PLC. It has expanded its product line. For ex. now it is offering mixers, fruit shoot, drench and
also acquired brands such as Tango, Purdey's, Robinsons for carrying its operation at large scale.
Natural drinks were the major point of attraction towards its drink, that has increased its demand
among health-conscious audience. Its vitamin drinks are also supplied in health care centres to
fulfil the vitamin needs.
4. Comparison of sales and profit before and after implementation of new technology
Apart from this bringing innovation has increased its volume of production from 42.6M
litres to 43.8 M litres from year 2016 to 2018 at international level. Net revenue has increased
from 133.9 £M to 174 £M in Ireland. Also, it has increased brand contribution from 48.4 to 57.1
from 2016 to 2018. Thus, these statistics shows the positive impact on sales and also on revenue
of the Britvic. Innovation has also increased its brand contribution in various countries. For ex.
brand contribution in France has also increased from 76.0 to 81.4 £M from 2016 to 2018(Ittner,
and Keusch, 2015).
TASK 2
1. Corporate governance
The word corporate governance the way a corporate is governed. It is the way by which a
company is directed and managed. It refers to carry a business operation ethically and legally so
that it does not affect the interest of stakeholder negatively. The main aim of corporate
governance is to provide benefits to the stakeholders which includes customers, investors,
employees, financial institutions etc. it is conducted by Board of directors to balance individual
and societal goals.
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Corporate governance of Entertainment One group focuses on finding ways to take
effective decision related to company's strategy. Thus, it gives authority to board of directors to
take strategic decisions. The need of corporate governance is arising due to market oriented
economy. Due to expansion of businesses throughout the globe the need of corporate governance
has been increased. It is also essential for adding value for the stakeholders. Apart from this
Corporate governance ensures transparency that results in balanced economic growth and
development. It also ensures to safeguard the interest of the stakeholders of Entertainment One
group. In addition to this there are several benefits of Corporate governance - It maintains
investors’ confidence because of which company can rise capital efficiency that also decreases
the cost of capital (Ittner, and Keusch, 2015). A strong Corporate governance increases positive
impact on the share price.
2. History of Corporate governance in UK
The word Governance comes into existence 20 years ago Now along with companies it is
commonly used by universities, local authorities, national health trust and charities. The
revolution of history of corporate governance started with Cadbury report on its financial
corporate governance. to adopt best corporate practices in the Cadbury company. The Cadbury
has gradually adopted Cadbury codes and accepted by all the listed companies as a benchmark of
good boardroom practice.
Another example of good corporate governance is the Greenbury Report added a set of
principles on the remuneration of executive directors and the Hampel Report in 1998, brought
the two together codes and produced the first Combined Code among all, covering areas relating
to structure and operations of the board, directors’ remuneration, accountability and audit,
relations with institutional shareholders, and the responsibilities of institutional shareholders. .
In addition to this, the Turnbull Report focussed on risk internal controls and management. Apart
from all an investment banker Derek Higgs build comprehensive code.
Thus, governance is good for business. It is identified that companies with good
corporate governance have higher profits as a result of which companies can afford time and
effort to make sure that they are following best practices (Schrempf-Stirling., Palazzo, and
Phillips, 2016).
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3.Responsibilities of Board of directors of Entertainment One Group
Following are the responsibility of Board of directors-
Organisational planning- BOD spend the most of their time in organisational planning.
They monitor and control products, program, policies and services of its organisation. Apart
from this it is the responsibility of the board members to keep up to date on developments in the
organisational field competitors. Also, board members review strategic plans and other goals that
are to be meet.
Assessing and developing skills- It is the responsibility of each member to develop his or
her skills for seeking various opportunities. Board members should develop skills in various
fields of organisational cultivating' knowledge, recruiting board members. Board members may
take benefits of seminars and workshops to enhance their skills.
Serve committees- The major responsibility of BOD is to serve committees task force
and giving special assignments to the task group. Board member should lead their members on
how to manage a committee and present committee reports to rest of the board (Mian, Lamine,
and Fayolle, 2016).
Recruiting new board members- Board of members are also responsible for recruiting
new members to bring additional talent, experience, knowledge in Entertainment One group
PLC. It is the responsibility of Board members to educate the members about the work of board
of directors and inviting them for the meeting and other organisational activities.
Maintaining integrity- Responsible board members follow conflict of interest policy. In
every organisation there are chances of occurring conflict because of lack of integrity and
difference in perception. So, it is the responsibility of the board to actively listen and always be
ready to answer objections and questions while decision making and discussions.
Monitoring and managing financial resources- BOD are also responsible to go through
the financial statement for that they should have a brief idea about money which is going out and
coming in. they have to monitor funds and spending in the organisation because they have
responsibility for fiscal expenditures to their shareholders (Crowtherand Seifi, 2018).
4. CSR
It refers to the responsibility of the company to do welfare of the society, environment
and economy of the country. Its main aim is to sustain business in the long run to create good
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brand image. CSR programs helps Human resource in recruiting best candidate and aids to
achieve. It also improves the perception of the people towards company. It also helps in
increasing employee loyalty and reduces employee turnover as CSR make a good reputation of
the company in the market (Crowtherand Seifi, 2018).
5. Carroll's CSR pyramid
Carroll’s CSR pyramid model is the simple framework that helps to understand CSR
responsibility of an organisation. This model explains four different kinds of responsibilities:
economic, legal, ethic and philanthropic.
Economic responsibility
It is considered as one of the major responsibilities of Entertainment One group as it has
to generate profit so that it can pay tax to government and this tax amount is further utilised for
the social development or infrastructure development of the country. There are many big
companies such as Entertainment One group which is fulfilling its CSR responsibilities……hires
many people across the world and offer them employment opportunities. This supports business
in improving GDP rate of the nation and contributing well in economic development of country.
Furthermore, Entertainment One group company has to contribute well in social economy
development Entertainment One group always ensure to improve living standard of the citizens
by offering them income sources. Furthermore, company give them respect and treat them well
so that they can retain in business for longer duration. In this manner Entertainment One group
company fulfil its CSR responsibility significantly (Tricker, 2015).
Legal responsibility
It is another part of this model in which firm has to ensure following all legal norms and
conducting the business operations as per the legal guidelines Entertainment One group follow
all legal norms carefully, it has maintained equality at workplace and also provide heath security
to all its workers. This aids the business in gaining trust of its employees and retaining skilled
people in business for longer duration. As competition is very high and many companies apply
wrong practices in order to gain competitive advantage but always ensure that it create healthy
completion and obey the laws carefully (Schrempf-Stirling., Palazzo, and Phillips, 2016).
Ethical responsibility
this aspect of CSR refers to society's perspective of a good behaviour. There is some code
of conduct which is to be followed by each member of Entertainment One Group when carrying
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a business operation. Furthermore, it includes expectation and norms that are not written in law
for example- moral values and rights.
Philanthropic responsibility
It is the responsibility of the corporates to give back to society. the responsibility is
optional at the part of the company but still important to sustain in long run. The word
philanthropy generally means the love for humility, so it is the desire of the company to promote
the welfare of others by donations or charity. For contributing in CSR companies focus on
quality of life of the people (Schrempf-Stirling., Palazzo, and Phillips, 2016).
CONCLUSION
From the above study it can be concluded that innovation and technology play important
role in the growth of the economy. It is an aid to the increase the GDP growth of the economy. In
addition to this Artificial Intelligence and ERP helped organisation in making work easier and
better, it has overcome with the disadvantages of manual labour. Furthermore, it can be
identified that good corporate governance helps in protecting interest of the stakeholder and
contributes to increase in profits. Apart from that it can be found that Archie Carroll model, has
focussed on legal, ethical, economical and philanthropic responsibility of corporates that should
be fulfilled by every organisation to create good brand image of the organisation. Apart from this
there are several responsibilities of BOD which can is important for smooth running of the
organisation.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Armstrong, C. S. and et.al., 2015. Corporate governance, incentives, and tax avoidance. Journal
of Accounting and Economics. 60(1). pp.1-17.
Christensen, C. M., Raynor, M. E. and McDonald, R., 2015. What is disruptive
innovation. Harvard Business Review. 93(12). pp.44-53.
Crowther, D. and Seifi, S. eds., 2018. Redefining Corporate Social Responsibility. Emerald
Group Publishing.
Evans, S. and et.al., 2017. Business model innovation for sustainability: Towards a unified
perspective for creation of sustainable business models. Business Strategy and the
Environment. 26(5). pp.597-608.
Fernández-Gago, R., Cabeza-García, L. and Nieto, M., 2016. Corporate social responsibility,
board of directors, and firm performance: an analysis of their relationships. Review of
Managerial Science. 10(1). pp.85-104.
Grayson, D. and Hodges, A., 2017. Corporate social opportunity! Seven steps to make corporate
social responsibility work for your business. Routledge.
Ittner, C. D. and Keusch, T., 2015, March. The Influence of Board of Directors’ Risk Oversight
on Risk Management Maturity and Firm Risk-Taking. AAA.
Lerner, J. and Stern, S., 2019. Innovation Policy and the Economy: Introduction to Volume
19. Innovation Policy and the Economy. 19(1). pp.xi-xiv.
Mian, S., Lamine, W. and Fayolle, A., 2016. Technology Business Incubation: An overview of
the state of knowledge. Technovation. 50. pp.1-12.
Schrempf-Stirling, J., Palazzo, G. and Phillips, R. A., 2016. Historic corporate social
responsibility. Academy of Management Review. 41(4). pp.700-719.
Tricker, B., 2015. Corporate governance: Principles, policies, and practices. Oxford University
Press, USA.
Yermack, D., 2017. Corporate governance and blockchains. Review of Finance. 21(1). pp.7-31.
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Online
BRITVIC INNOVATORS DEVELOP A BOTTLE MADE OF WOOD FIBRE IN R&D CHALLENGE TO
CHAMPION SUSTAINABILITY GOALS.2017.[Online].Available
throuhgh<https://www.britvic.com/media-centre/corporate-news/2017/23-03-2017>
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