Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship: MBA Case Analysis

This report provides an in-depth analysis of corporate innovation and entrepreneurship, emphasizing the critical role of creative thinking in fostering sustainable organizational growth. It examines the challenges faced by Match Box Architects (MBA), a prominent architectural firm in England, in maintaining customer satisfaction amidst issues like lowered quality and increased costs. The report advocates for embracing creative thinking within MBA, promoting a work environment that encourages staff innovation, and implementing training sessions to enhance critical thinking skills. It also addresses stumbling blocks that hinder co-development, and proposes the application of design thinking and the Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving (CPS) technique to systematically resolve organizational issues. The report concludes with a series of recommendations aimed at mitigating the challenges faced by MBA and fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.

Running head: CORPORATE INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Corporate innovation and entrepreneurship
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Executive Summary
This report intends to make in-depth discussion about creative thinking and innovation which
are extremely vital factor towards promoting sustainable organisational growth. Being one of
the famous architects in England, which is currently facing significant issues in terms of
keeping the customers happy and satisfied. It is true that, the skilful and professional
employees of the organisation are extremely committed towards designing the building as per
the requirements of the clients. Still, they are encountering with the issues, in terms of
lowered quality and higher cost of products. Therefore, creative thinking must be embraced
in MBA to explore the innovative ways of working. It is imperative to promote creative
working environment in which the staffs can work proficiently without any boundaries.
Training session must be introduced to improve critical thinking ability of the staffs. Such
training will also help to improve productivity among the staffs, which is highly required to
deliver high quality of products and thus keep the customers happy and satisfied.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
Analysis:.....................................................................................................................................3
Key issues faced by MBA:.....................................................................................................3
Systematic approach to promote creative thinking:...............................................................5
Define stumbling block and its role in diminishing co-development:...............................6
Design thinking & CPS structured technique:.......................................................................7
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................8
Recommendations:.....................................................................................................................9
Reference List:.........................................................................................................................11

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Introduction:
In the intense competitive business environment, running own entrepreneurial venture
is highly required. This is the key of coping up with volatile environment. Running own
entrepreneurial venture is one of the most emerging trends in market as it provides the
entrepreneurs with the freedom to pursue their own vision and thereby attain success from
business. With the assistance of entrepreneurship, people can also be able to explore
enormous opportunities to learn new things (Scarborough 2016). Creativity and innovation
are two of the most important factors in terms of running an entrepreneurial venture in an
effective manner.
Kirzner (2015) commented that innovation is the major factor, which helps in running
own business in a unique way. Innovation supports in producing exciting products by making
in-depth analysis of target market. This is the mode of keeping the customers happy and
satisfied. The risks, faced by Match Box Architects (MBA) in running entrepreneurship will
be discussed. MBA is one of the famous architects of England, committed towards providing
well-designed spaces and buildings. This is the way, through which the company can mitigate
the issues, through innovation and creative thinking will also be discussed in the paper. The
fundamental aim of this paper is to figure out the significance of creative thinking and
innovation on mitigating critical business related issues. Certain recommendations will be
provided to MBA in order to mitigate the issues, faced by them in recent times. Approaches
of adapting critical thinking and innovation will also be given.
Analysis:
Key issues faced by MBA:
Established in 2009, MBA is the famous Architects in England, who have executed
holistic approaches in order to provide sustainably-designed buildings to both domestic and

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industrial sector. The company have enjoyed a considerable growth over the past few years
by the hand of extremely skilled staffs. Their team is highly proficient towards making
extremely well-designed buildings that can provide brand value to the clients. The
fundamental mission of the company is to challenge the existing status quo with the
assistance of executing effective construction process (Matchboxarchitects.co.uk, 2018). The
company is highly committed towards developing multi-dimensional team who possess the
ability to change the building environment in future. However, as the UK business
environment is intensely competitive and highly volatile, MBA is facing certain issues in the
way of running their business with utmost proficient. Subsequent discussion will help to
uncover the issues and how it can be mitigated through innovation and creative thinking.
Over budget and lack of high quality products are one of the most significant issues,
being faced by MBA in recent times. It is true that, their team delivers well-designed building
in accordance with the requirements of clients. Still, excessive cost is the crucial issue, which
is generating dissatisfaction among the clients. Moreover, the quality of their building is also
not up to the mark which often leads them to redo their tasks (McGuire 2014). At the same
time, the company is also being criticised for not maintaining healthy communication with
the clients. It has been reported against the company that, they are not able to keep the clients
happy and loyal which is the key of accelerating the public image (Hitt and Duane Ireland
2017).
The excessive cost of their building is making it difficult for the customers to initiate
their decision making process. They are being intensely criticised by their customers
regarding their failure to work as per the commitment. In addition to that, they are also failing
to keep the customers in the track which is highly imperative to amplify the level of trust
among them. Blockage in process is a crucial issue, facing by MBA in recent times. As
discussed by Rawlinson (2017) this is the reason, for which customers are being constantly

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dissatisfied towards them. Such failure to keep the commitment is leading the clients to
complain regarding the cost and value of their product. At the same time, the process of
reimbursement is also very slow which is also diminishing the trust and resulting in lower
public image of the company. Such issues are becoming unavoidable day by day. Poor time
management is another vital challenge of MBA which is also leading the clients to complain
for not delivering products as per the proposed time (Sigala and Kyriakidou 2015).
Systematic approach to promote creative thinking:
Creativity is the key factor in mitigating critical organisational issues. Therefore,
MBA should embrace creative thinking throughout the organisation which is extremely
significant towards overcoming critical issues. The higher authority of MBA must put ample
stress on the significance of creativity (Runco 2014). The staffs must understand the
significance of generating innovative idea as the key of diminishing the criticisms of clients.
As opined by Amabile and Pratt (2016) through this way, MBA can also lessen the rate of
failure. Generating brainstorming ideas is a time consuming process. Thus the higher
authority of MBA must allocate certain time in order to emerge new ideas (Liedtka 2015).
For instance, they can slot a particular time at the end of meeting session. This can help the
staffs to get things done by making open discussion. A suggestion box can also be placed
around the workplace in order to allow the staffs to come up with a problem by generating
new ideas (Mittal and Dhar 2015).
Training is highly required to improve the level of productivity among the employees.
It is important to train the staffs in order to apply innovative techniques. This is the mode of
enabling the staffs to generate brainstorming ideas by applying mind-mapping strategy. Lack
of quality is the impending issue of MBA (Burns 2017). This means that, they need to change
their work process. Thus, the employees must be encouraged to explore new ways of
designing buildings. This can help to avoid the issues, related to lower quality of products

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(Anderson et al. 2014). The managers must be extremely supportive towards the ideas of
staffs which can generate a positive vive among the and thereby improve their productivity.
Certain risk must be taken in order to embrace critical thinking in an organisation. Thus, it is
important to allow the staffs to learn new things from mistake. This is the way, by which the
creative flow within a team can also be stimulated. Hjorth, et al. (2018) said that motivation
is one of the most important factor to keep a productive workforce and thereby deliver high
quality of projects to the clients. Thus, the manager of MBA must provide reward to the most
creative team. Awards scheme must be introduced to recognise the creativity of individual
employee (Weisberg 2006). Design thinking is a critical approach to organisational problem
solving. It supports in solving problem in a systematic way. Design thinking can be regarded
as the practical method of solving problem by executing effective strategies. This is the best
professional practice which deals with defining problems and generating ideas accordingly in
order to solve the problem (VanGundy 1988).
Define stumbling block and its role in diminishing co-development:
A stumbling block is regarded as a crucial organisational issues, which restricts in
attaining organisational goals and objectives. This is basically an obstacle in the way of
promoting sustainable development of a company. Such blocks create limitations for
companies to attain desired outcome from business. Lack of trust and mutual understanding
are the imperative outcome of stumbling block (Hong et al. 2018). Certain restrictions in an
organisation leads the employees to lose trust over the employers which results in a
conflicting situation in an organisation. This also hampers the bonding among the employees
and thus restricts them from co-development. Lack of trust among the employees also
restricts them to explore critical organisational issues. At the same time, the employees can
also show reluctant attitude towards following the instruction from upper management. This
hampers regular flow of organisational procedure (Ramos et al. 2018).

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One of the greatest negativity of stumbling block is that it affects the organisational
environment which in turn hampers the productivity among the employees. Such negative
organisational culture restricts the higher authority of an organisation to conduct training
session for the employees which affects the skill and competency level among them. Strong
team bonding plays a pivotal role in the way of attaining organisational goals and objectives
(Galindo and Méndez 2014). Therefore, lack of trust and mutual understanding impedes the
employees from sharing innovative ideas and working together to deliver project within the
dead line. This can have a firm impact on diminishing the co-development of the employees.
Mind-set, false assumptions and perception are some common mental blockage which
restricts critical thinking in an organisation. Mind-set is considered as a certain set of ideas
which hampers the ability of people to work beyond the conventional setting (Eghenter
2018).
Design thinking & CPS structured technique:
Design thinking is regarded as the process of utilising the principles of design and
thereby solve critical organisational issues. This, also can be regarded as the mode of
exploring the internal opportunities of an organisation and adapt innovation accordingly for
the sake of improving the business process. As MBA is facing crucial issues, in terms of
maintaining the quality of production, it is imperative for them to execute this design thinking
approach. This can help them unlock cultural change in the organisation and thereby create
innovative products and service and amplifying productivity among the staffs. Osborn-
Parnes Creative problem Solving (CPS) is a structured technique which has been invented
with the intention of solving crucial organisational problems in a creative way. There are
four different stages of CPS framework, which include clarify, ideate, develop and implement
((Liu et al. 2017).

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Figure 1: Osborn-Parnes Creative problem Solving (CPS)
(Source: Amabile and Pratt 2016)
Clarify is the initial stage of creative problem solving process. It is the prime
responsibility of the management of MBA to define the fundamental goal among the
employees. The challenges, faced by the firm, must also be defined among the staffs. This
can help them to have a clear understanding regarding the fundamental objectives of their
responsibilities. Ideate is the second step of CPS, which deals with identification of ideas.
The management of MBA should urge the employees to generate ideas that can help in
mitigating the challenges. Develop is the third important step of CPS (Del-Corte-Lora 2016).
In this stage, MBA should take necessary action in order to change those ideas into action
plan which is the key of creating high quality of buildings (Anderson et al. 2014). Implement
is the final step of CPS where, MBA must formulate a strong action plan and thus solve the
issues in a consistent manner.
Conclusion:
Based on the discussion, it can be concluded by saying that creative thinking and
innovation are two of the most important factors in terms of accelerating workplace

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engagement. This is the key of improving the morale and trust among the employees. MBA is
facing certain issues in terms of delivering high quality of building in a timely and cost
effective manner. This is resulting in dissatisfaction among the employees which ultimately
leading to negative public image of the company. Therefore, Innovation can be considered as
a precise activity of entrepreneurs which is very much needed in MBA to create new products
or modifying existing product line and thereby accelerate the statistics of profit. As they are
facing certain issues, related to improper quality of buildings, critical thinking will help them
to explore the opportunities which are essential for attaining a strong position in market.
Creativity, on the other hand, can be referred as the way of generating innovative ideas which
helps in maintaining consistency of business.
Recommendations:
The skills and ability of the staffs must be utilised properly to attain organisational
success. It is recommended for MBA to initiate relaxing working environment which can
support in diminishing the boredom among the employees. As delivering a project in a timely
and cost effective manner is a collaborative approach, it is recommended for MBA to
implement team building strategy. This can also help in strengthening mutual trust and
understanding among the employees. It is recommended for the management of MBA to
utilise the skill and competency level of the staffs. This is the key of mitigating organisational
challenges. It is imperative to allow the staffs in decision making process.
MBA should initiate innovation and creative thinking throughout their organisation.
This is the mode of generating commitment among the employees to fix an impending
problem. Through this way, the employees can be motivated to generate and share
brainstorming ideas which ultimately leads to fix impending problems. The employees must
take part in decision making process which can help them to share their own values and

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perception. The provision must be created for the employees to express their own perception.
This can support in accelerating the accountability among them. Meeting can be conducted in
order to allow the staffs to express their perception. This can act as a motivational factor for
the staffs to accelerate their commitment towards work.
Innovation, in the same way, plays a pivotal role in terms of satisfying the clients.
Integration of innovation in MBA will help the staffs to explore unique ways to fix the
problem. This is the mode of exploring multiple solution to a single problem. Therefore,
innovation can help the staffs of MBA to offer the clients with a range of solution. As the
clients are becoming dissatisfied by the company, innovation will help them to encourage the
staffs to generate innovative ideas and thereby come up with a strong solution. One of the
greatest benefits of innovative working ambience is that, it supports the employees to
diminish the distress of failure and thus try new technique to make effective design of the
buildings. It is the prime responsibility of the manager of MBA to consider the challenges of
trying new things to keep the staffs, innovative and productive.
As per Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving Process, creativity is one of most
important skills which can be learned or enhanced. It is imperative to make a certain balance
in between divergent and convergent ideas of the staffs. This means that the staffs must hold
the ability to figure out contracting thinking to overcome challenging situation. Open ended
questions must be asked to the staffs, which can help them to ask multiple questions, which
can help them to explore information and thereby get ideas to mitigate issues.

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state-of-the-science review, prospective commentary, and guiding framework. Journal of
management, 40(5), pp.1297-1333.
Burns, P., 2017. New venture creation: A framework for entrepreneurial start-ups. Palgrave.
Del-Corte-Lora, V., Molina-Morales, F.X. and Vallet-Bellmunt, T.M., 2016. Mediating effect
of creativity between breadth of knowledge and innovation. Technology Analysis & Strategic
Management, 28(7), pp.768-782.
Eghenter, A.S., 2018. Organizational creativity, play and entrepreneurship. Organization
Studies, 39(2-3), pp.169-190.
Galindo, M.Á. and Méndez, M.T., 2014. Entrepreneurship, economic growth, and innovation:
Are feedback effects at work? Journal of Business Research, 67(5), pp.825-829.
Giannopoulou, E., Gryszkiewicz, L. and Barlatier, P.J., 2014. Creativity for service
innovation: a practice-based perspective. Managing service quality: An international journal,
24(1), pp.23-44.
Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson.
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the Power of Whole Brain Thinking in Organizations, Teams, and Individuals. McGraw-Hill
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