Southern Cross University: MNG93217 Product Innovation Research Report
VerifiedAdded on 2022/12/18
|3
|1258
|26
Report
AI Summary
This research project details a report on product innovation initiatives within the safe energy storage industry, focusing on industry partner X, a leading Australian battery manufacturer. The report identifies key problems such as competitive pricing, regulatory concerns, and a lack of standardization. The overarching aim is to examine inadequacies in X's marketing strategy related to product innovation, with the goal of maintaining market leadership. The research explores the effectiveness of manpower, processes, outreach, and financial aspects of product innovation strategies, posing the central research question: Are X's product innovation strategies appropriate? The report analyzes the significance of manpower competency, process integration, consumer perception, and financial effectiveness. The research utilizes keywords like energy storage and battery innovation for literature searches and includes references to relevant academic sources.

Assessment item 1 – Research Project Details
Report title
Product innovation initiatives by X to harness opportunities in the safe energy storage industry
Industry partner
X is one of the oldest and most reputed manufacturers of batteries in Australia. They are the
industry leaders in development, manufacturing, and supply of stored energy solutions across the
nation. The company featured amongst the top 2000 companies in the Australian continent. The
company’s main sources of earnings are from power automation products along with the
manufacture of other electrical equipment.
The company certainly focuses on research and development to improve upon their range of
products to keep up with the pace of changing customer needs; this is in sync with the need for
further research, related to phase changing materials (Chandel & Agarwal, 2017).
The company has employee strength of around 600 in 2019 which includes all its subsidiaries.
The total revenue generated in 2019 exceeded $280 million.
Research Field
Product innovation, as in the case of X can be identified with the field of research associated
with marketing management.
Research problem
In the safe energy storage industry, the flexibility of battery storage gives rise to for various other
value streams. The transition of clean energy calls for innovation for the emerging technologies
related to energy storage (Kittner, Lill & Kammen, D.M., 2017). Additionally, the backdrop set
with digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, blockchain, and
likewise makes it easier for start-ups to emerge with innovative models to provide the industry
leaders with tough competition. Thus, some of the noteworthy problems being faced by the
players in this industry include Adherence to competitive rates, regulatory concerns, and the
absence of standardization.
Adherence to competitive rates – The cost has gone down across the industry that for lithium-ion
batteries while their performance has gone up. Hence, manufacturing batteries at competitive
rates can be a major concern.
Regulatory concerns – The regulatory framework being outdated does not support the
deployment of energy storage. Such policies need to be updated else rate arbitration by storage of
electricity in its cheap form and sale of it when it is expensive cannot be facilitated.
Absence of standardization – Ambiguity related to the standardization of awareness, exists
amongst the consumers, regarding the applications of energy storage products. This hinders the
realization of the full potential of the associated battery storage products. The manufacturers
Report title
Product innovation initiatives by X to harness opportunities in the safe energy storage industry
Industry partner
X is one of the oldest and most reputed manufacturers of batteries in Australia. They are the
industry leaders in development, manufacturing, and supply of stored energy solutions across the
nation. The company featured amongst the top 2000 companies in the Australian continent. The
company’s main sources of earnings are from power automation products along with the
manufacture of other electrical equipment.
The company certainly focuses on research and development to improve upon their range of
products to keep up with the pace of changing customer needs; this is in sync with the need for
further research, related to phase changing materials (Chandel & Agarwal, 2017).
The company has employee strength of around 600 in 2019 which includes all its subsidiaries.
The total revenue generated in 2019 exceeded $280 million.
Research Field
Product innovation, as in the case of X can be identified with the field of research associated
with marketing management.
Research problem
In the safe energy storage industry, the flexibility of battery storage gives rise to for various other
value streams. The transition of clean energy calls for innovation for the emerging technologies
related to energy storage (Kittner, Lill & Kammen, D.M., 2017). Additionally, the backdrop set
with digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, blockchain, and
likewise makes it easier for start-ups to emerge with innovative models to provide the industry
leaders with tough competition. Thus, some of the noteworthy problems being faced by the
players in this industry include Adherence to competitive rates, regulatory concerns, and the
absence of standardization.
Adherence to competitive rates – The cost has gone down across the industry that for lithium-ion
batteries while their performance has gone up. Hence, manufacturing batteries at competitive
rates can be a major concern.
Regulatory concerns – The regulatory framework being outdated does not support the
deployment of energy storage. Such policies need to be updated else rate arbitration by storage of
electricity in its cheap form and sale of it when it is expensive cannot be facilitated.
Absence of standardization – Ambiguity related to the standardization of awareness, exists
amongst the consumers, regarding the applications of energy storage products. This hinders the
realization of the full potential of the associated battery storage products. The manufacturers
Paraphrase This Document
Need a fresh take? Get an instant paraphrase of this document with our AI Paraphraser

additionally need to cater to the non-standardized processes and policies especially for ‘balance
of charge’ concern.
The energy storage industry in Australia is very promising and fast-growing. It has the potential
to provide a huge employment opportunity for the nation in the coming years. X being an
industry leader, it is expected to enact a noteworthy role in being a top employer of the nation.
The health and source of sustenance for an organization in the present context, especially in case
of the safe energy storage industry, is much dependent on its abilities to keep pace with the
changing customer requirements while keeping in view the environmental impacts (Poizot &
Dolhem, 2011). Under such circumstances, staying updated with the insight in the overall trends
in the battery storage industry (Luo et. al., 2015) would enable it to adopt correct and timely
product innovation strategies adopted by X would directly impact its potential to provide
employment opportunities and thereby add on the nation’s GDP.
The research problem is significant for X as it would enable the roadmap for improvements
related to cost and product performance and help in tapping the new potential market areas in the
wholesale electricity market.
Overarching research aim
This research specifically aims to examine the existence of inadequacy in the marketing strategy
of X, related to product innovation. This would enable the organization to take the required steps
to make improvements as may be needed in advance to retain its market leadership through
competitive advantage. The main aim of the research would be to highlight the criticalities
related to manpower effectiveness, process effectiveness, outreach effectiveness and financial
effectiveness that can facilitate product innovation for future sustenance.
Research questions(s)
The research question for this research would be,
Whether the safe energy storage product innovation strategies of X are appropriate with regards
to effectiveness related to manpower, process, outreach, and finance?
Through manpower competency assessment, leadership potential assessment, mentoring
exercise, hand-holding exercise, loss due to poor quality products and cost inefficiency can be
significantly minimized. Secondly, horizontal flow across the hierarchy, vertical flow across the
hierarchy, adequacy of decision-making unit activities, process flow, process integration and
monitoring (Juster & Njine, 2019) add to the value of the end product, which creates competitive
advantage. Hence, process effectiveness plays a vital role in product innovation. Thirdly, product
innovation strategies need to consider outreach in terms of consumer perception and need gap
analysis. Lastly, the expenditure against the income, avenues that can help in cost reduction,
inventory turnover, and alternate sources of revenue generation can help in building the right
roadmap for financial effectiveness related to product innovation business model (Li et. al.,
2019).
Keywords used for literature search: energy storage, clean energy battery, storage devices,
battery product innovation, competency assessment for battery innovation.
of charge’ concern.
The energy storage industry in Australia is very promising and fast-growing. It has the potential
to provide a huge employment opportunity for the nation in the coming years. X being an
industry leader, it is expected to enact a noteworthy role in being a top employer of the nation.
The health and source of sustenance for an organization in the present context, especially in case
of the safe energy storage industry, is much dependent on its abilities to keep pace with the
changing customer requirements while keeping in view the environmental impacts (Poizot &
Dolhem, 2011). Under such circumstances, staying updated with the insight in the overall trends
in the battery storage industry (Luo et. al., 2015) would enable it to adopt correct and timely
product innovation strategies adopted by X would directly impact its potential to provide
employment opportunities and thereby add on the nation’s GDP.
The research problem is significant for X as it would enable the roadmap for improvements
related to cost and product performance and help in tapping the new potential market areas in the
wholesale electricity market.
Overarching research aim
This research specifically aims to examine the existence of inadequacy in the marketing strategy
of X, related to product innovation. This would enable the organization to take the required steps
to make improvements as may be needed in advance to retain its market leadership through
competitive advantage. The main aim of the research would be to highlight the criticalities
related to manpower effectiveness, process effectiveness, outreach effectiveness and financial
effectiveness that can facilitate product innovation for future sustenance.
Research questions(s)
The research question for this research would be,
Whether the safe energy storage product innovation strategies of X are appropriate with regards
to effectiveness related to manpower, process, outreach, and finance?
Through manpower competency assessment, leadership potential assessment, mentoring
exercise, hand-holding exercise, loss due to poor quality products and cost inefficiency can be
significantly minimized. Secondly, horizontal flow across the hierarchy, vertical flow across the
hierarchy, adequacy of decision-making unit activities, process flow, process integration and
monitoring (Juster & Njine, 2019) add to the value of the end product, which creates competitive
advantage. Hence, process effectiveness plays a vital role in product innovation. Thirdly, product
innovation strategies need to consider outreach in terms of consumer perception and need gap
analysis. Lastly, the expenditure against the income, avenues that can help in cost reduction,
inventory turnover, and alternate sources of revenue generation can help in building the right
roadmap for financial effectiveness related to product innovation business model (Li et. al.,
2019).
Keywords used for literature search: energy storage, clean energy battery, storage devices,
battery product innovation, competency assessment for battery innovation.

References: Two (2) sources of relevant literature
Chandel, S.S. and Agarwal, T., 2017. Review of current state of research on energy storage,
toxicity, health hazards and commercialization of phase changing materials. Renewable and
Sustainable Energy Reviews, 67, pp. 582-597.
Juster, N. and Njine, I., 2019. Staff Competence, Process Monitoring and Performance of the
Automotive Industry in Kenya: A Case Study of Associated Battery Manufacturers East Africa
Limited, Nairobi. nternational Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention, 8(2), pp. 20-
26.
Kittner, N., Lill, F. and Kammen, D. M., 2017. Energy storage deployment and innovation for
the clean energy transition. Nature Energy, 2(9), p. 17125-17126.
Li, X., Chalvatzis, K.J., Stephanides, P., Papapostolou, C., Kondyli, E., Kaldellis, K. and
Zafirakis, D., 2019. Bringing innovation to market: business models for battery storage. Energy
Procedia, 159, pp. 326-333.
Luo, X., Wang, J., Dooner, M. and Clarke, J., 2015. Overview of current development in
electrical energy storage technologies and the application potential in power system operation.
Applied energy, 137, pp. 510-537.
Poizot, P. and Dolhem, F., 2011. Clean energy new deal for a sustainable world: from non-CO 2
generating energy sources to greener electrochemical storage devices. Energy & Environmental
Science, 4(6), pp. 2000-2020.
Chandel, S.S. and Agarwal, T., 2017. Review of current state of research on energy storage,
toxicity, health hazards and commercialization of phase changing materials. Renewable and
Sustainable Energy Reviews, 67, pp. 582-597.
Juster, N. and Njine, I., 2019. Staff Competence, Process Monitoring and Performance of the
Automotive Industry in Kenya: A Case Study of Associated Battery Manufacturers East Africa
Limited, Nairobi. nternational Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention, 8(2), pp. 20-
26.
Kittner, N., Lill, F. and Kammen, D. M., 2017. Energy storage deployment and innovation for
the clean energy transition. Nature Energy, 2(9), p. 17125-17126.
Li, X., Chalvatzis, K.J., Stephanides, P., Papapostolou, C., Kondyli, E., Kaldellis, K. and
Zafirakis, D., 2019. Bringing innovation to market: business models for battery storage. Energy
Procedia, 159, pp. 326-333.
Luo, X., Wang, J., Dooner, M. and Clarke, J., 2015. Overview of current development in
electrical energy storage technologies and the application potential in power system operation.
Applied energy, 137, pp. 510-537.
Poizot, P. and Dolhem, F., 2011. Clean energy new deal for a sustainable world: from non-CO 2
generating energy sources to greener electrochemical storage devices. Energy & Environmental
Science, 4(6), pp. 2000-2020.
⊘ This is a preview!⊘
Do you want full access?
Subscribe today to unlock all pages.

Trusted by 1+ million students worldwide
1 out of 3
Related Documents

Your All-in-One AI-Powered Toolkit for Academic Success.
+13062052269
info@desklib.com
Available 24*7 on WhatsApp / Email
Unlock your academic potential
Copyright © 2020–2025 A2Z Services. All Rights Reserved. Developed and managed by ZUCOL.