HI6008 - Business Research: Innovation and Competitive Edge

This report investigates the significance of innovation and creativity in achieving business success, addressing the increasing need for companies to seek both cost-effective strategies and unique competitive advantages in today's dynamic marketplace. It outlines the project's objectives, including explaining the role of creativity and innovation, describing models for introducing innovation, and identifying concepts related to innovation in competitive environments. The literature review highlights the importance of innovation and creativity in organizational development, emphasizing their ability to analyze situations and provide sustainable approaches for performance improvement. The report further details the research questions and hypotheses, research design and methodology, including both qualitative and quantitative approaches, and acknowledges the limitations of the research, primarily related to time constraints. It concludes by underscoring the critical role of innovation and creativity in business processes and their impact on overall business conduction, noting the value of learning organizations in fostering continuous improvement and innovation.

Running head: HI6008- M1– Business Research
HI6008- M1– Business Research
Assignment 2
Submitted by – RUPIKA
Student id- ZME3076

HI6008- M1– Business Research 2
Table of contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................3
2. Project Objective....................................................................................................................3
3. Project Scope..........................................................................................................................3
4. Literature Review...................................................................................................................3
5. Research Questions/Hypothesis.............................................................................................5
Primary Question....................................................................................................................5
Secondary Questions...............................................................................................................5
Hypothesis..............................................................................................................................5
6. Research Design and Methodology.......................................................................................6
Qualitative research................................................................................................................6
Quantitative research..............................................................................................................6
7. Research Limitations..............................................................................................................7
8. Time Schedule........................................................................................................................7
9. Conclusion..............................................................................................................................7
Reference List............................................................................................................................9
Appendix..................................................................................................................................11

HI6008- M1– Business Research 3
1. INTRODUCTION
In the present day business scenario the development is largely evaluated on the basis of a
drastically changing operational perspective and huge development in the competitive
aspects. The increased need for customer oriented market is leading to some of the major
issues like growth of retail consolidation, enormous burden over the manufacturers as well as
suppliers and margin erosion. Coping with the negative impacts of these factors is one of the
most important concerns of the present day business structure. In order to develop a coping
mechanism the availability of creative and innovation based operational structure is highly
recommendable. It helps in developing solutions for the pre-existing issue and also facilitates
the development of new process that can be utilized in order to minimize the negative
impacts.
2. PROJECT OBJECTIVE
 To explain the role played by creativity and innovation in the success of a business.
 To describe different models of introducing innovation in a business.
 To identify the concepts related to innovation in a competitive environment.
3. PROJECT SCOPE
This project is related to some of the major aspects that are related to application of creative
and innovative aspects that are related to the development of an organisation. The concept of
innovation and its application process is of major importance in order to facilitate the
conduction of this research. The assessment of creativity and innovation based perspectives
are of major importance and thus its inclusion in different fragments of an organisational
operational system is largely discussed in this research.
4. LITERATURE REVIEW
Innovation and creativity are defined as ability of an individual or a group of individuals who
can perfectly develop proper measures in order to facilitate the overall developmental
implications that are related to a system. It helps an organisation to assess the profitable
aspects and determine the relative developmental possibilities that are related to smooth
business conduction and future oriented strategies assessment. The use of innovation is so

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intensely incorporated in the developmental aspects of a business that there perfect alignment
can be observed with a widely varying service area. According to the views of Sarooghi,
Libaers & Burkemper (2015), companies like Proctor & Gamble, Inc. and IDEO have
incorporated the use of creative and innovation based business conduction as it helps them develop
major possibilities that are largely important for future of the business. In the time frame of 20 th and
21st century, the availability of innovation and creativity has largely governed the overall business
operation structure around the world. Almost all of the major organizations have included these two
factors in their core organizational values and relay over them in times of crisis and thus facilitate the
overall development of an organizational operational structure. According to the views of Amabile &
Pratt (2016), a major reason that is related to the development of a huge consideration for creativity
and innovation is their ability to analyse the situation and provide sustainable approaches that can be
utilized for performance related result development. In order to facilitate the overall understanding of
inclusion innovation into a business process, assessment of production and manufacturing unit can be
largely taken into consideration. This segment of a business is incomplete with the inclusion of
innovation and creativity as production of a specific product is largely related to the developmental
opportunities that are associated with inclination of individual idea into the desired configuration and
proper implementation (Dentchev et al. 2016).
Design thinking is related to the application of individual creativity and innovative thinking in the
decision making process of an organization. It helps the business structures to develop major
possibilities that are of major importance in order to facilitate the overall developmental possibilities
related to an organization (Roth, Schneckenberg & Tsai, 2015). The inclusion of design thinking
helps an organization to extract innovation based ideas and by applying them it increases its
respective efficiency and orientation. The availability of major possible ways in which an
organization can assess the required creativity and innovative possibilities from its belonging
executives is an important factor that can be assessed in order to facilitate the overall development of
an organizational system. In majority of the cases there is a pre-developed understanding that
innovative and creativity skills are qualities that can be assessed only by birth. This is a major
misunderstanding as according to the views of Spieth, Schneckenberg & Ricart (2014), creativity
and innovative qualities can be developed through proper orientation of ideas and development of
individual learning. Increased use of practical applications is also considered as a major factor that
can be utilized in order to facilitate the overall developmental applications in terms of innovation and
creativity development.
The fact that, no one is perfect and everything needs to be replaced by the advanced version of it in
order to keep the pace with developmental possibilities and innovative aspects. This concept is also
important in order to facilitate the understanding that is developed by the organisations and such

HI6008- M1– Business Research 5
organizations are known as learning organizations (Coulson-Thomas, 2018). As the name suggests,
learning organizations are of major importance in order to facilitate the overall development that is
related to an organizational operation. These organizations are largely dependent over the
developmental applications that are related to an organisational perspective. According to the views of
Edwards-Schachter et al. (2015), learning organizations are the most efficient type of organizations
as they keep on developing their informational and operational perspectives in order to achieve the
required perfection. It also initiates the availability of functional as well as operational possibilities
related to product development and thus helps in achieving social as well as financial advantages that
are related to it. A major example that can be provided in terms of learning organizations is the
Clarence Saunders. This organization was even in its initial times largely related to the development
of innovation based models that were of major importance in the retail sector and its operations. It
was the first organization to introduce self-service concept for its customers. This development of
self-service perspective was a result of constant innovation that was being carried out on a regular
basis. This the reason that it contributed to one of the most important marketing factor related to
retails and supermarket operations (Hong et al. 2018). Similarly, the idea of assembling different
fragments of a personal computer and then selling them as a personal computer at Dell Corporation
was also a result of its structural association with learning organizations. These idea based business
approaches were a major part of the available operational structure and thus it helped these
organisations to achieve huge developmental results in the future prospects. In addition to the self-
oriented innovation and creativity prospects there is another kind of innovation in organizations which
is called as open innovation. This is often carried out by the fragmented and parentally funded
subordinate organizations (Forgeard & Kaufman, 2016). This method of innovation is helpful to
cover a major innovation area as it is not possible for a single organization to carry out innovation and
creativity based associations.
5. RESEARCH QUESTIONS/HYPOTHESIS
PRIMARY QUESTION
What is the role of creativity and innovation in the success of a business?
SECONDARY QUESTIONS
Which are the different models that are related to introduction of innovation in a business?
What are the different concepts which relate to innovation in a competitive environment?

HI6008- M1– Business Research 6
HYPOTHESIS
Research hypothesis is the majorly important factor that is related to the development of pre-
judgemental possibility that is associated with a research and its final outcomes. It helps in
developing a pre-qualified idea and thus provides result oriented goals in relation with the
respective design applications.
This research is related to development of two major research hypotheses:
H0: Creativity and innovation is important for business operation and success
H1: Creativity and innovation is not important for business operation and success
6. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
In order to justify the various perspectives that are related to overall development of
structural and effectiveness perspectives of a research, methodology plays an important role.
The researcher will be using explanatory researching techniques in order to facilitate the
overall development in terms of the operational perspectives that are related to this research.
This method of research is highly beneficial in order to analyse each and every perspective
that is related to a researching process in context of the subject taken into consideration.
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
In order to facilitate the understanding of subject oriented complications and relevant
possibilities, the researcher will be conducting qualitative research. This method of
researching is based on conceptual as well as theoretical implications and thus makes this
process a major important component for the developmental applications. A collection of 4-5
online journals, 2-3 books and some of the relevant websites will be used in this research in
order to facilitate the overall development of this subject’s understanding. An effective
management of information will be applied as it helps in constituting different operational
possibilities that are related to this research. The data collection process through the use of
these mentioned sources will be largely relevant to their respective association with subject
alignment.
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

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In order to facilitate the collection of most reliable and truth based data the use of quantitative
research possibility is largely required in this research. It will be concentrated around the
assessment of data collected through primary data collection methods in the form of
individual interviews and group surveys. As the reliability is a major factor that is associated
with this method of data collection there are several aspects that include various reality based
perspectives are of huge importance and are taken into larger consideration in order to
facilitate the development. In addition to this, the use of quantitative data collection and
analysis method also provides a huge impacted area and their respective responses that are
collected through surveys and interviews. This reflects the overall correlational perspective
that is associated with an organizational setup and functional perspectives. According to the
views of Lewis (2015), using quantitative data collection method in a major issue like
application of creativity and innovation in business applications is of major importance as the
subject is considerably large and it will require a huge amount of information assessment.
7. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS
The research has each and every prospect satisfied in terms of availability of resources and
prospects that can be used for concept development along with the availability of different
data collection method developing at an initial level as well as concluding perspectives. There
is one minor limitation that can be identified in this research and that is related to the
availability of time frames of research work. As the area of concern that is associated with
this research is relatively high the research time must be allocated accordingly so that a
proper coordination and association with each and every prospect that is related to the subject
can be analysed and discussed. In order to conduct an in depth analysis of the respective
research subject and other relevant areas in the provided time frame will be a major challenge
for the completion of this research.
8. TIME SCHEDULE
(Refer to appendix)
9. CONCLUSION
Apart from various other important aspects that are related to a business process innovation
and creativity are two most important factors. The impact and association of these factors in a

HI6008- M1– Business Research 8
business conduction process is largely depicted in this research. It also provides an
assessment of relevant information that is related to the association of innovation and
creativity in the basic framework of any business operation. It depicts the usefulness of
innovation and creativity for the basic operational possibilities as well as achievement of
future goals that are a major portion of the development in business. In order to develop, the
organizations need to assess a variety of developmental possibilities and thus for that a major
concluding perspectives are also described. Availability of collaborative thinking, network
approaches, application of design thinking are some of the major factors that depict the
availability of this association in order to facilitate the completion of this research and its
respective result achievement.

HI6008- M1– Business Research 9
REFERENCE LIST
Amabile, T. M., & Pratt, M. G. (2016). The dynamic componential model of creativity and
innovation in organizations: Making progress, making meaning. Research in
Organizational Behavior, 36, 157-183. Retrieved on: 01 October 2018, retrieved from:
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/71e5/a3a59227f12f08581bf8a2111608c6ce8f6b.pdf
Coulson-Thomas, C. (2018). Transformative leadership for fostering creativity, innovation
and business excellence. Retrieved on: 01 October 2018, retrieved from:
http://gala.gre.ac.uk/19552/7/19552%20COULSON-
THOMAS_Transformative_Leadership_for_Fostering_Creativity_2018.pdf
Dentchev, N., Baumgartner, R., Dieleman, H., Jóhannsdóttir, L., Jonker, J., Nyberg, T., ... &
van Hoof, B. (2016). Embracing the variety of sustainable business models: social
entrepreneurship, corporate intrapreneurship, creativity, innovation, and other
approaches to sustainability challenges. Journal of Cleaner Production. Retrieved on:
01 October 2018, retrieved from:
https://espace.curtin.edu.au/bitstream/handle/20.500.11937/15467/237256.pdf?
sequence=2
Edwards-Schachter, M., García-Granero, A., Sánchez-Barrioluengo, M., Quesada-Pineda, H.,
& Amara, N. (2015). Disentangling competences: Interrelationships on creativity,
innovation and entrepreneurship. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 16, 27-39. Retrieved
on: 01 October 2018, retrieved from:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/36672757/2015_Disentangling_c
ompetences_interrelationships_on_creativity_innovation_and_entrepreneurship.pdf?
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re=Qo%2FeWkWAwv0Ueo2tPx2ubVf9TD0%3D&response-content-
disposition=inline%3B%20filename
%3DDisentangling_competences_Interrelations.pdf
Forgeard, M. J., & Kaufman, J. C. (2016). Who cares about imagination, creativity, and
innovation, and why? A review. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts,
10(3), 250. Retrieved on: 01 October 2018, retrieved from:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/James_Kaufman/publication/284199867_Who_

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Cares_About_Imagination_Creativity_and_Innovation_and_Why_A_Review/links/
578047fc08ae9485a439bef9/Who-Cares-About-Imagination-Creativity-and-
Innovation-and-Why-A-Review.pdf
Hong, J., Hou, B., Zhu, K., & Marinova, D. (2018). Exploratory innovation, exploitative
innovation and employee creativity: The moderation of collectivism in Chinese
context. Chinese Management Studies, 12(2), 268-286. Retrieved on: 01 October
2018, retrieved from:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bojun_Hou/publication/323707054_Exploratory
_innovation_exploitative_innovation_and_employee_creativity_The_moderation_of_
collectivism_in_Chinese_context/links/5aa8e0e3a6fdcc1b59c6ac8a/Exploratory-
innovation-exploitative-innovation-and-employee-creativity-The-moderation-of-
collectivism-in-Chinese-context.pdf
Lewis, S. (2015). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches.
Health promotion practice, 16(4), 473-475. Retrieved on: 01 October 2018, retrieved
from: http://nategabriel.com/egblog/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/creswell2.pdf
Roth, S., Schneckenberg, D., & Tsai, C. W. (2015). The ludic drive as innovation driver:
Introduction to the gamification of innovation. Creativity and Innovation
Management, 24(2), 300-306. Retrieved on: 01 October 2018, retrieved from:
https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/110469/1/Ludic%20drive.pdf
Sarooghi, H., Libaers, D., & Burkemper, A. (2015). Examining the relationship between
creativity and innovation: A meta-analysis of organizational, cultural, and
environmental factors. Journal of business venturing, 30(5), 714-731. Retrieved on:
01 October 2018, retrieved from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267510586_Examining_the_relationship_be
tween_creativity_and_innovation_A_meta-
analysis_of_organizational_cultural_and_environmental_factors
Spieth, P., Schneckenberg, D., & Ricart, J. E. (2014). Business model innovation–state of the
art and future challenges for the field. R&d Management, 44(3), 237-247. Retrieved
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https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/radm.12071

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APPENDIX
Task Wee
k 1
Wee
k 2
Wee
k 3
Wee
k 4
Wee
k 5
Wee
k 6
Wee
k 7
Wee
k 8
Wee
k 9
Wee
k 10
Topic
identificatio
n
Design
literature
review
Data
collection
(qualitative
and
quantitative
)
Analysis
Accessibility
of sources
Data
analysis
submission