Innovation Report: 4 com plc - Business Innovation and Strategy

This report provides a detailed analysis of innovation strategies for 4 com plc, a telecommunications company. It explores the significance of innovation compared to invention, emphasizing the role of organizational vision, leadership, culture, and teamwork in shaping innovation and commercialization. The report delves into the 4 Ps of innovation (product, process, position, and paradigm), the use of the innovation funnel, and developments in frugal innovation. It also examines the importance of the commercial funnel and the application of New Product Development (NPD) processing, including a discussion of an innovation business case. Furthermore, the report covers various tools that organizations can use to develop, retain, and protect knowledge and intellectual property, offering insights into how 4 com plc can foster and manage innovation effectively.

INNOVATION

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Innovation and determine its significance to organisations in comparison with invention. .1
P2 Organisational vision, leadership, culture and teamwork can shape innovation and
commercialisation.......................................................................................................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
P3 4Ps of innovation and use of the innovation funnel..............................................................3
P4 Developments in frugal innovation.......................................................................................5
P5 Importance of the commercial funnel and application of NPD processing..........................5
P6 Innovation Business Case for an organisation.......................................................................8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P7 Various tools that organisations can use to develop, retain and protect knowledge and
intellectual property....................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
.......................................................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Innovation refers to develop something new and unique. It is a procedure of converting a
though in producing services as well as products that develop some value for users. 4 com plc is
a small size business enterprise and it main motive is to give better services of telecom to people.
This company regular innovative new ideas to make its things better. In this present business
report mentions about the innovation and the evaluation of its significance in comparison to
invention (Lundvall, 2010.). With the help of vision, culture, innovation and teamwork, company
can give the shape to commercialization and also innovation. In this business report discuss
about the 4 important Ps of innovation and the main use of innovation funnel. The significance
of commercial funnel and applications of New Product Development are also discuss in this
report. To retain and protect business intellectual property 4 com plc uses some different tools.
TASK 1
P1 Innovation and determine its significance to organisations in comparison with invention
Innovation means to thing something new and then apply in to realistic way. With the
help of innovation, business industry can add some effective values in its products and services
to satisfying the demands of consumers. The though or can say idea should be economical and
also should fulfil the particular needs and preferences of consumers. It can be developed through
introducing advanced machineries or technologies, services, products, process and many other
things. 4 com plc provides telecom services and always try to think new to give some additional
services to its users. It also provides mobile phones service with some great features (Naphade,
and et. al., 2011). On the other hand invention refers to search some thing new which creates
some value to company. After discovering new and unique things, it is important to patent from
this the things will be keep safe and no one can use without permission. To give good
communication services 4 comm plc thinks innovative ideas and also do invention. This business
firm use new technology for satisfying needs and preferences of customers. The invention and
innovation are different from each other. Some differences are given below as above:
Innovation Invention
It means thinking some thing new and It refers to searching some thing different.
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different.
In this, two skills are required strategic and
also technical skills.
There is a necessity of only one skill and that is
scientific.
In it, there is a practical execution of new
thoughts.
In invention, there is a need of original idea
and it is theoretical concept.
In this, there is need of different departments
of company.
There is need of only Research and
Development department.
There is a case study of Apple Inc. and Virgin mobiles. Both companies are try to its
products innovative. Apple has many different products such as mobile phones, iPod, Mac book
etc. Innovation for this company is that it add some additional features in its products and make
them unique and invention is that it find out unique things which does not already exist. There
are some importance of innovation and invention given below as above:
Attracting consumers- From innovation, company can make changing in its existing
products and also introduce new goods and services (Bason, 2010). From this customers will get
attracted and sales will be increased. Apple and Virgin both continuously make changes in their
products and try to provide better services to customers.
Growth- If firm will make attractive and new products and also according to tastes and
needs of customers then in this case sales will be high and it also helps in increasing the
productivity of business.
Make improvement in communication- In 4 com plc, staff members are work in a team
for achieving the common goals and objectives. It is necessary that the communication between
all departments and every employee should be good and harmonious. The manager of 4 com plc
motivate its employees to work properly and Crete the work environment at workplace.
P2 Organisational vision, leadership, culture and teamwork can shape innovation and
commercialisation
Team work, culture, vision and leadership have necessary role in a business enterprise.
These all can change the shape of innovation (Naranjo-Valencia, Jiménez-Jiménez and Sanz-
Valle, 2011). All are important in making business activities and process successful. 4 com plc
is a small business company and there are small number of staff members are working.
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Vision- It is related to future means what business firm want to be in future. It is for long
time period. 4 com plc is a telecommunication business industry and the vision of this company
is to expand its business in to new sectors and also to be a leading company in telecom sector.
This organisation uses new and advanced technology to increase the calling as well as internet
services from which people will get connected with each other.
Leadership- The leaders of 4 com plc are motivate their team members to work
properly. Leaders guide and lead their members to work in a systematic manner. Their main role
is to find and suggest new ways to do work in easiest manner (Brown and Osborne, 2011). In
this business enterprise, the style of leaders is demographic. They involve their team members in
the decision making process. Leaders always do the right things. Good leader should always
have strong communication skills, innovative thinking, management skills and self confidence.
Leadership includes:
 Set the clear vision.
 To share the vision with other vision of organisation so that will work
accordingly.
 Make coordination and also try to resolve the conflict among team members and
also stakeholders.
Team work- It is a process of working together in a team for accomplishing the common
gaols an objectives of business firm. In 4 com plc, manager motivate its employees to work
together and for increasing the team building skills, manager provide training to its employees.
With the help of provide training, the morale of staffs increased and they will think positive. The
main advantage of team work is that it helps in doing achieving set targets in a given period of
time and also make strong and healthy relationship among employees.
Culture- Every business organisation have different culture and also different working
environment (Metrick and Yasuda, 2010). The culture norms, rules and regulations, policies are
different from firm to firm. Many different culture people are working in 4 com plc but they all
try to adopt a common culture company. Some times, it impacted on person because they are not
easily adopt different culture. It consists vision, beliefs, language, norms, systems, working
environment, habits, values, living standard and many other things.
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TASK 2
P3 4Ps of innovation and use of the innovation funnel
The 4 Ps of innovation are given below as above:
Product innovation- It refers to the introduction of new services along with products or
make improvement in the existing goods by adding some additional features and services. 4 com
plc conducts a market research on the tastes and also needs of consumers so that it can
modification in products according to them. The production, finance, operations, marketing all
departments are working together and think innovate idea to make product better and attractive.
4 com plc adopts advanced technology for making the quality of products better.
Process innovation- To improve in the quality of goods, firstly firm has to make
improvement in the process of production (Chiaroni, Chiesa and Frattini, 2011). From using
latest and advanced machineries and technology, company can increase quality of goods. It will
helps in enhancing the sales sand productivity of business.
Position- In this, it is required for 4 com plc to re- position the existing products,
technology, process etc. in an effective manner. In addition to this, make changes in the
particular manufacturing process and from this the products can be noticed.
Paradigm- It refers to the shape and structure of 4 com plc. If the structure of firm will
be good then it will be beneficial for business and staff members will work properly at a
particular time period.
Innovation funnel refers to some steps which are necessary in developing new products
or any kind of process. The main aim of innovation is to develop goods that can meet with the
demand of market or can satisfy the needs and preferences of customers. It provides a graphical
framework for the innovation regarding creating other alternative. In this , three steps are
involved:
Wide mouth of funnel- In this stage, 4 com plc maximize its information and the
knowledge base. Its main purpose is to gather many various ideas in a best possible manner. If
the ideas will be more then there will be easy in creating new products (Mairesse and Mohnen,
2010). This business enterprise collect data and information with the help of its competitors,
universities, business institutes, current partners etc.
Narrowing segment of funnel- After first stage, in this firm has to go with the process of
screening. From it, management can measure the ideas with the objectives of organisation.
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Company should always use the good resources. At this stage, it is necessary to test services and
goods with the consumers.
Narrow segment of funnel- It is the last stage and organisation assure that chosen idea
delivers on aims and goals that are includes at the time of starting of business. At this stage
company introduce its product at market pace in an effective and efficient manner.
P4 Developments in frugal innovation
It is a procedure of minimizing problems and the reduction in cost of manufacturing
related to goods and services. It is helpful in eliminating the non required specification from
durable products like mobile phones and also cars (Van Der Valk and Gijsbers, 2010). It is very
helpful in minimizing the extra cost in the production process. With the help of this 4 com plc
can develop qualitative calling services and also assessable in creating good and also limited
resources. The primary aim of this Frugal innovation is to removing the wastage from
manufacturing process. Like for an example Apple Inc. is a multinational technology company
and through innovative it always added new features in its devices to attract people.
From adopting advanced technology, 4 com plc can improve its production process or in
the quality of its products and services. It will helps in increasing growth of company and with
this the economic rate will be improved. Some of the following points are necessary in the
Frugal innovation development:
Cost reduction in production process- With the help of Frugal innovation, 4 com plc can
minimize its manufacturing cost and from this it can provide its telecom services to people at
minimum cost.
Some additional features- From this type of innovation, firm can makes some
modifications in its existing products by adding some additional features according to customers
needs and preferences.
P5 Importance of the commercial funnel and application of NPD processing
Commercial funnel is the procedure of purchasing under which 4 com plc company
suggests to its consumers to use its services (West and Bogers, 2014). It is like mapping that
display the present sales of an organisation. With the help of this, 4 com plc can make some
modifications in its present products and also produce new goods to attract users. Some
importance of commercial funnel given below as above:
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Improve quality- Commercial funnel is helpful in increasing the quality of goods and
from this 4 com plc business firm can give high quality communication as well as internet
services through which people will get connected with each other in all over the world.
Loss minimization- It is assessable in reducing the defects and also the unnecessary
production cost. If the additional cost will be reduced then from this company can give its
services at reasonable cost.
Doing research- With the help of research, company can know about marketing
strategies, about existing competitors and their policies, existing services and products etc. This
all will helps in manufacturing new products.
New product development refers to changing in current goods or services and also
modification in formulation of make existing products entirely new on the basis of customers
tastes and needs (Gawer, 2011). It is also a process of taking new goods at market place. For
introducing new goods, 4 com plc follow its process. In process of NPD involves:
Idea generation- It is first stage and in this firm continuously focus in developing new
ideas and also do the systematic research for adopting effective opportunities related to new
products. The idea can be used through creativity and innovation techniques and also developed
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Illustration 1: New Product Development
process
Source: Claessens, 2017

through internal as well as external sources of company. In internal includes staff members,
Research and Development. On the other hand, in external includes suppliers, distributors,
customers etc.
Idea Screening- After generation, in this stage need to screening all ideas in terms of
company's policies, financial viability, objectives and technical feasibility. From screening
management selects an effective idea which is beneficial for the business.
Concept testing- In this stage the product idea is transferable in the form of product
concept. From the concept testing company can find out that customers understand the idea of
new goods or not, will they accept and use new products? In addition to this, 4 com plc chosen
small groups of people and they also provide all information related to new products. Customers
tell their views about product (Schaltegger and Wagner, 2011). If in case some customers like
the new goods then in this case the determination of business is done in an appropriate manner.
Development of marketing strategy- For customers quality important a lot. At this stage,
4 com plc develops some marketing strategies and also policies for new products. Marketing
strategy consists:
 Understand consumers.
 Examine market
 Identify strong competitors
 Level of competition.
 Conduct research on distribution channel.
 Marketing mix.
Business analysis- At this stage, 4 com plc decide that the project is profitable for
business or not and analyse from finance to market point. In it includes:
 Analyse sales cost which is based on the review of consumers and also on
competition level.
 To estimate the volume of sales which is depend on the market size.
 To evaluate break even point, growth and profitability.
If in case these all points are match with the goals of an organisation then the concept
related to new product concept ion the stage of product development.
Product development- With the help of engineering and R & D , firm can convert the
concept of product in to physical form (Sosna, Trevinyo-Rodríguez and Velamuri, 2010). In this,
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organisation takes decision to launch new product in market. Bore launching, it is the duty of
production department is to make effective distribution plan of product. The advertisement
department is responsible for making attractive advertisement for new product. These all tests are
done at small level.
Test marketing- It refers to launch new product at small level in small market. If in small
size market, the product is launched successfully then company will launched at large scale. If in
case goods fails in test marketing, then company finds the reason behind it. It is important to
make changes and also launch again.
Commercialisation- After successful test marketing, firm launches its product in all over
country and invest huge money on that (Boons and Lüdeke-Freund, 2013). Organisation gives
advertisement through TV, newspapers, radio etc.
For an instance, 4 com plc wants to introduce new service in its mobile phones, then this
firm has to follow this over all process of new product development.
P6 Innovation Business Case for an organisation
4 com plc conducts it business at small scale and it gives telecommunication services and
also internet services to users. But, it faces many problems of resource using in process of
production. Some stages are involves in innovation business case:
Executive summary- It operates business at small scale and it provides phone services,
software and applications and broadband, internet services (Gunday and et. al., 2011). It main
motive is to improving telecommunication services at small scale level in United Kingdom.
Need- The need of this firm is to give high quality services of mobile networking by
using advanced and latest technology.
Solution- If solution is that 4 com plc can make plan and reduce the additional cost of
production and use advanced machineries to increasing quality of services. From this it can
provide its services at reasonable cost to consumers.
Consumers research- This business serpentine has to conduct research for finding new
customers who more internet services and also calling services and then target them
(Lichtenthaler, 2011). From conducting research, firm can make changes in its services
according to customers demand.
Designing and developing planning- At this stage, there is a need of prepare design
regarding new product and also develops it in to existence.
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Finance required- For doing all business process, company needs finance and it takes
funds from bank loan, bondholders etc.
TASK 3
P7 Various tools that organisations can use to develop, retain and protect knowledge and
intellectual property
It is necessary to keep invention safe. In addition to this, innovator or inventor use patent,
copyright and trade mark to keep their discovery safe. From all these, any person can not
use the intellectual property and it can be any product, things, services, process etc.
Patent- It is a authority of government and also a licence which provides right for a time
period. The licence is provided by government that provides the holder rights to process,
invention of new product, design for a set time period (Metcalfe and Miles, 2012). The patent
applicants are handled through the agencies of government.
Trade mark- It can be a word, symbol which is registered legally and show the services
and products of specific source. It can be located on the voucher, label, product and on package.
The time limit of protection trademark is for 10 years.
Copyright- It is an exclusive legal right which is given to owner for specific number of
years related to film, print, publishing etc (De la Mothe and Paquet, 2012). It is registered under
the law.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above report that through innovation 4 com plc make
improvement in its services and try to make its products attractive. In this report studied about 4
different innovation Ps and the use of funnel innovation. To introducing new products 4 com plc
use the process of new product development.
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REFERENCES
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organizations. Routledge.
Chiaroni, D., Chiesa, V. and Frattini, F., 2011. The Open Innovation Journey: How firms
dynamically implement the emerging innovation management
paradigm. Technovation. 31(1). pp.34-43.
De la Mothe, J. and Paquet, G. eds., 2012. Local and regional systems of innovation (Vol. 14).
Springer Science & Business Media.
Gawer, A. ed., 2011. Platforms, markets and innovation. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Gunday, G. and et. al., 2011. Effects of innovation types on firm performance. International
Journal of production economics.133(2). pp.662-676.
Lichtenthaler, U., 2011. Open innovation: Past research, current debates, and future
directions. The Academy of Management Perspectives. 25(1). pp.75-93.
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interactive learning(Vol. 2). Anthem Press.
Mairesse, J. and Mohnen, P., 2010. Using innovation surveys for econometric
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and case study analysis (Vol. 18). Springer Science & Business Media.
Metrick, A. and Yasuda, A., 2010. Venture capital and the finance of innovation.
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pp.32-39.
Naranjo-Valencia, J.C., Jiménez-Jiménez, D. and Sanz-Valle, R., 2011. Innovation or imitation?
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Schaltegger, S. and Wagner, M., 2011. Sustainable entrepreneurship and sustainability
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Sosna, M., Trevinyo-Rodríguez, R. N. and Velamuri, S. R., 2010. Business model innovation
through trial-and-error learning: The Naturhouse case.Long range planning. 43(2).
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Van Der Valk, T. and Gijsbers, G., 2010. The use of social network analysis in innovation
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West, J. and Bogers, M., 2014. Leveraging external sources of innovation: a review of research
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Online
Claessens, M., 2017. THE NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS (NPD) – OBTAIN
NEW PRODUCTS. [Online] . Available through: <https://marketing-insider.eu/new-
product-development-process/>. [Accessed on 20th September, 2017].
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