Innovation in Coles Supermarket: A Strategic Analysis

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Innovation Report
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Corporate social responsibility........................................................................................................4
Sustainability...................................................................................................................................5
Industry challenge............................................................................................................................6
Demonstration of how sources of ideas influence the development of the innovation and creative
solution............................................................................................................................................7
The strategic innovation model.......................................................................................................9
Most appropriate leadership approach for the innovation response proposed..............................10
An innovation implementation approach that would give this innovation response the best chance
of succeeding.................................................................................................................................12
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................14
References......................................................................................................................................15
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Introduction
In today’s era, the world is full of new innovations. Basically, innovation means the creation of
new thoughts, new ideas or new imaginations. Or in economic terms, when the invention or the
idea is converted into a service or a good for which the customers pay, the process is known as
innovation. Through innovation, better opportunities are created. In this era of globalization,
innovation is very necessary as it is the times of advancement of technology. This assignment is
in reference with the organization Coles which is a supermarket in Australia. It will project on
the corporate social responsibility, sustainability and the industry challenge in need of an
innovation reaction. Later, the various ideas which encourage the growth of the innovation will
be discussed along with their creative solutions. The assignment will also project the strategic
innovation model. The proposed innovation will be suggested with the leadership approach
which is the most appropriate for it. The most appropriate innovation implementation approach
will be discussed in this assignment.
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Corporate social responsibility
Corporate social responsibility consists of the systems, self-regulating models and the norms
which are created in the organizations such as Coles for its business model so as to concentrate
on the environmental and social duty of the organizations such as Coles (Schwartz, 2017). The
organizations such as Coles are able to decide the behaviour and are able to take decisions
ethically with the help of the corporate social responsibility. Corporate social responsibility
ensures-
 Welfare and health of society.
 Adds to the sustainable development of society.
 The organizations such as Coles to be steady with the international standards of
behaviour.
 Implementation of the audit relations within the organizations such as Coles
In present times, the term corporate social responsibility and innovation go hand in hand. These
both are the foundations of any business organizations such as Coles. Innovation has slowly
emerged along with the corporate social responsibility in the last decade. Organizations such as
Coles are doing more to handle the poverty, social justice and the change in the climate. The
presence of successful and powerful brands in the market is seeing the challenges as
opportunities rather than a risk. Organizations such as Coles use the practice of corporate social
responsibility for achieving competitiveness and greater value. On the same note, one of the
biggest drives to overcome competitiveness is innovation. When the organizations such as Coles
use innovation in the area of products and services, it helps to fight the competition against the
competitors in the market (Schwartz, 2017).
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Sustainability
Sustainability is commonly known as sustainable development. Sustainability means using the
resources in such a way in the present so that most of the resources are saved for meeting the
demands of the future generation (Carley and Christie, 2017). The sustainable development
focuses on three aspects, that are, economic, social and environmental. The economic aspect
focuses on the profit-making, social aspect focuses on the people and the environmental aspect
focuses on the planet.
There is a huge importance of innovation in sustainable development. In this era of innovations,
more techniques can be used so as to promote sustainable development. Resources are of great
importance to society. It should be used wisely so that future generation is not suffering from a
lack of resources. New innovations can bring new modes and techniques so as to meet the
requirement of the present generation in a wise manner. Innovation can also bring new
technologies that can help in saving the rapid depletion of resources by using alternative methods
(Carley and Christie, 2017).
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Industry challenge
In earlier times, industries best asset was human resources (Carayannis, et. al., 2015). The
industries worked on the basis of labour instead of the machines. But gradually, with the
introduction of innovation in the field of advancement of technologies, industries are shifting to
capital intensive techniques from the labour intensive techniques. Innovation has led to many
replacements of the labourers from the industries.
It is important for the industries to adopt the latest technologies so as to compete with
competitors in the market. But industries faces tough challenges which are-
 Shortage of skilled labourers who knows how to operate the latest technologies and
machines.
 Because of the innovations in technology, the industries are facing new issues in the field
of cyber-crime.
 Innovation has increased the global competition and has made the market more
competitive (Carayannis, et. al., 2015).
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Demonstration of how sources of ideas influence the development of the innovation and
creative solution
There are various sources through which the development of the innovation and the creative
solution are influenced. Those sources are-
 Knowledge
 Creative thinking
 Motivation
Demonstration
 Knowledge- Knowledge is basically having and acquiring all the relevant data and
information about a particular thing (Cassidy, 2016). It can be acquired through a long
term experience by working in a particular area and getting the technical expertise in that
particular department. The complete knowledge about something influences in
developing a new advanced phase of that thing. All the information is applied to go to the
next stage for that particular thing. A better stage can only be created if the complete
knowledge and information are present with the creator.
 Creative thinking- Thinking is the biggest element for the process of creative thinking.
To bring new ideas and thoughts, it is primarily important to have a creative mind. The
person should have an aptitude to process its mind and can think about to bring a change.
For that, it is very important to have the complete knowledge and information regarding
the particular thing. Complete knowledge leads the person to process the mind in the
right direction and ultimately helps in bringing change. This is how creative thinking
helps in influencing the development of innovation and the creative solution.
 Motivation- Motivation is the self-driven force which helps in the development of the
innovation and the creative solution. It is said and accepted the fact that if the person is
satisfied, has interest and wants to face a challenge, he will drive himself to be more
creative. External pressures, on the hand, works in a negative way as it breaks the
motivation level of the individual. Therefore, when the person is self-motivated, it can
lead to the development in the innovation and the creative solutions (Cassidy, 2016). For
that, it is very important to have the complete knowledge and information regarding the
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particular thing and have creative thinking. Complete knowledge leads the person to
process the mind in the right direction and ultimately helps in bringing change (Cassidy,
2016).
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The strategic innovation model
Under the strategic innovation model, the focus is given on the changes in operations and the
products unlike in the traditional approach of total quality management. Various innovation
models refer to the breakthroughs and growths developed by the strategic innovation. A
framework should be created to support the strategic model for any organizations such as Coles
(Martins, et. al., 2015). The frameworks ensure the growth of the organizations such as Coles.
There are seven dimensions in the framework which are-
1. Managed innovation process
2. Strategic alignment
3. Industry foresight
4. Consumer/customer insight
5. Core technologies and competencies
6. Organizations such as Coles readiness
7. Disciplined implementation
All these seven dimensions have their roles in the strategic innovation model. The outcomes of
these seven dimensions are the growth of the new strategies, the outcome of the new products
and new services, the outcome of the new ventures, introduction to the new markets, the
introduction of the new business models, outcomes of the new partnerships, and adoption of new
business practices. Overall the seven dimensions of the framework of the strategic innovation
model lead to sustainable innovation.
Strategic innovation model is been used by many organizations such as Coles in today’s era. It
not only helps the organizations such as Coles to survive in the market, but it also helps the
organizations such as Coles to fight against the global competition and earn success. It ensures
that the organizations such as Coles use innovation to produce new products and services so as to
achieve faster success than the competitors (Martins, et. al., 2015). There is an increase in the
costs of the research and development department of the organizations such as Coles which has
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made it difficult for the organizations such as Coles to rely on this department for the new
innovations.
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Most appropriate leadership approach for the innovation response proposed
There are various forms of leadership styles which are as follows-
 Democratic leadership- This leadership style allows every member of the organizations
such as Coles to participate in the discussion on a project’s direction. Though the leader
takes the final decision it allows the input of every member. This leadership style allows
the lower level employees to use authority (Yahaya and Ebrahim, 2016).
 Autocratic leadership- This is opposite to the democratic style of leadership. Here the
lower level employees are not allowed to participate in any discussion on a project. The
leader only decides and his decision is implemented.
 Laissez-Faire leadership- The term laissez-faire means let them do. This approach limits
the growth of the organizations such as Coles and this leadership style is sometimes
effective.
 Strategic leadership- This leadership style ensures that the working of the organizations
such as Coles remains stable along with recognizing the new growth opportunities for the
organizations such as Coles. The strategic thinking helps many employees.
 Transformational leadership- Under this style, the leadership style always changes with
the change in the conventions of the company. Every member of the company has their
decided role and job. Under this leadership style, the leaders force the employees to come
out of their comfort zone. This leadership style is sometimes effective.
 Transactional leadership- This leadership styles rewards their employees for the work
which they have done. This encourages the employees (Yahaya and Ebrahim, 2016). The
leaders help in framing the responsibilities and the roles for each employee. Incentive
programmes are used under this leadership style. The leaders in this leadership style
ensure that whatever strategy they adopt, it should be consistent with the goals and
objectives of the organizations such as Coles. This leadership style is sometimes
effective.
 Bureaucratic leadership- Unlike autocratic leadership style, the leaders in this
leadership style tends to listen to the employees. But they are inclined to reject the input
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of an employee if its ultra vires of the policies of the organizations such as Coles.
Therefore, this leadership style is rarely effective.
All the leadership styles have one motive which is to lead the employees of the organizations
such as Coles to achieve one common organization such as Coles goal. But it is very important to
choose the correct leadership style according to the different style of working. In organizations
such as Coles whose working is based on the innovations should preferably choose the
democratic leadership style. This leadership style allows every member of the organizations
such as Coles to participate in the discussion on a project’s direction. Though the leader takes the
final decision it allows the input of every member. This leadership style allows the lower level
employees to use authority (Yahaya and Ebrahim, 2016). This is the most effective leadership
style. It encourages the lower level of management to do their work effectively. They are in a
way encouraged to analyse their future roles wisely.
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