Managing Innovation: George Weston Food Product Development Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of product innovation within George Weston Food, a prominent Australian food manufacturer. It examines the company's approach to innovation, particularly focusing on the development of processed meat products with reduced sodium content. The report identifies key drivers of product innovation, including inventors, entrepreneurs, extreme individuals, and super mentors, and discusses the processes involved in product development and implementation. It further evaluates the positive and negative impacts of product innovation, considering factors such as increased sales, enhanced brand image, and the potential for higher production costs. The consequences of product innovation are also explored, emphasizing the need for market research, strategic planning, and technological advancements. Ultimately, the report highlights innovation as a dynamic process that affects organizational culture, systems, and overall business growth. The analysis includes a look at how the company plans to introduce new products, such as sodium-free processed meat, and the market research needed to ensure success, including an estimated investment of $45 million for the new product development.

Running head: MANAGING INNOVATION
Innovation is not Business as usual
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Introduction
Innovation management is a process that is associated with the change management.
However, innovation is not only a business it refers to the improvement of the existing idea and
knowledge of the individuals (Dangelico et al. 2017). On the other hand, by providing innovative
idea the business owner is not able to get success. However, besides innovation, other elements
like market analysis, competitors' analysis and demand of the target audience are necessary for
any business. Therefore, for a successful business innovation, there should be the resemblance
between the new and existing product and the innovation should be customer oriented. This
literature review will focus on the innovation in the context of George Weston Food in Australia.
This organization is a well-known food manufacturer in Australia. Hence, the purpose of such
study is to understand the proper innovation process and the consequences of the innovation
process associated with this organization. Moreover, the drivers of product innovation will be
critically analyzed in this literature review.
Identification of the business context and drivers of product innovation
George Weston Food Limited is one of the popular Australian food manufacturers and it
is associated with the development of British food and diversified international foods. However,
they offer the high quality product to the customers. Processed meat is one of the innovative
items of such organization. They have started to provide processed meat to the customers on
special occasion. Providing fresh and processed meat is a new innovation of such organization
(Weston.ca 2017).
Four key drivers are associated with the business innovation including inventor,
entrepreneurs, and extreme individual and super mentors. However, the inventor brings the new

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idea for the product innovation in an organization. Hence, by using the natural talent the inventor
absorbs information and nurtured it. Entrepreneurs manage the creativity that is associated with
new ideas. However, the team members come with the new ideas to their managers and the
manager encourages them by accepting their ideas and by providing them reward that leads the
employees to develop more innovative ideas (Zaefarian et al. 2017). On the other hand, the
extreme individuals are associated with the building relationship with the team members in an
organization.
A strong relationship between the employees in an organization boosts the creativity of a
team associated with some new ideas (Rodríguez et al. 2017). Moreover, the super mentor
creates a good culture for the innovation as cultural change leads the innovation to be more
regular within an organization. However, in the context of George Weston Food super mentor is
required to give shape their innovation by establishing a good culture in this organization. This
will allow the organization to gain success by offering the processed meat during the occasion,
which is their new innovation.
Development and the implementation of the product
Development and implementation of a new product consisting of various stages that need
to follow and maintain properly by an organization. In the context of George Weston Food, they
are going to innovate processed meat by reducing the sodium from the meat. According to the
WHO it is essential for the food industry to reduce sodium content from the food and make it
healthy (Zaefarian et al. 2017). In order to give shape their new idea, it is important to use the
latest technology to design the new product according to the need of the target market. Best
practices should be incorporated to develop the new products (Hu and Zhou 2017). Apart from

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this establishment of the collaborative learning culture within the organization is crucial for the
development of the product. In order to develop and implement a new product involvement of
strategy is essential.
Definition of the product features and development of the pricing is necessary for the
implementation of the innovative product. Different groups are involved as for example both
internal and external stakeholders are associated with the implementation and development of the
new product (Zhan et al. 2017). Internal stakeholders refer to the employees and external
stakeholders refer to the clients and the audit agency. In the context of George Weston Food,
they want to offer processed meat thus the external agency needs to carry out an inspection about
the reduction of sodium from the meat as processed meat should be sodium free. Therefore, the
internal stakeholders that are the employees are associated with the development of the new
products by creating the proper strategy. On the other hand, George Weston Food want to
innovate their product during the Christmas occasion thus a proper market research is required in
order to identify the current demand of the target market during this occasion. The cost of the
entire innovation process is $45 million as the development of processed sodium free processed
meat requires high investment.
Positive and negative impact of the product innovation in context of George Weston Food
Product innovation is associated with the business growth for any industry. However,
innovation may bring positive and negative effect on the business performance (Mamun 2017).
In the context of George Weston Food Ltd., they are going to innovate sodium free processed
meat for the Christmas Eve. This innovative idea will lead the business organization to maximize
their sales revenue generation during this occasion. However, people are health conscious in the

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recent years and they want to get ready and healthy food materials that are easy to cook (Wu and
Wang 2017). Hence, sodium free processed meat can satisfy the target market in the context of
George Weston Food Ltd. Such innovation in the product feature will attract the customers
towards this product and leads this organization to gain competitive advantages in the global
market. On the other hand, development and implementation of the new product will improve the
brand image of such organization and customer loyalty as well as it also increases the customer
numbers in this particular occasion.
Innovation often leaves the negative effect on the organization if the operation during the
innovation is not maintained properly (Cui and Wu 2016). In the context of George Weston Food
Ltd., they are going to develop sodium free processed meat. However, reduction of sodium from
the food is associated with the increased cost that may enhance the production cost of such
organization. Hence, high cost during the production leads the organization to face loss in their
business. For every business organization, it is important to develop the specific innovative idea
that is cost effective otherwise it may hamper the growth of a business. Therefore, innovation
should be current market oriented (Zaefarian et al. 2017). However, if George Weston Food
innovates their product without detecting the demand of the current market then it will be too
hard to them to achieve success through this innovation. This organization will face huge loss
through their innovation due to lack of proper market research. Apart from this high cost of the
processed meat during the Christmas can decrease the sale of the organization as people want the
quality product with low price. Hence, due to high production cost, it is difficult for this
organization to give the discount in their product sale, which affects their business.
Identification of the consequences during product innovation

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Product innovation leads the organization to face major changes in their production.
However, both negative and positive outcomes are generated during the innovation of the
product (Jean et al. 2014). In the context of George Weston Food Ltd., they want to innovate
processed meat that is completely sodium free in nature. This innovation is associated with the
high production cost. As a result, such organization needs to invest more in such innovation,
which brings changes in their budget plan for production cost. Hence, it can be demonstrated that
innovation is not a business as to give shape an innovative idea a huge investment is required in
the production. Therefore, the proper market analysis is another vital area related to the
innovation (Mamun 2017).
George Weston Food limited is going to launch sodium free processed meat during the
Christmas Eve. Hence, it is important for such organization to develop new strategy and skills to
carry out a proper market research to understand the current demand (Ngo and O'cass 2013). For
this reason, this organization needs to incorporate new strategy and recruit newly skilled staffs
for market research and the existing staffs also try to improve their skill to generate the
innovative idea. This leads the organization to achieve competitiveness in the market and high
sales revenue. Therefore, use of modern technology brings changes in the existing system and
the operation cost for the innovation of new products. From the above consequences it can be
justified that innovation of a product is not a business it is the creativity and it triggers changes in
an organizational culture and system that influences the existing process and growth of an
organization.
Conclusion

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The current piece of work reveals a brief overview regarding the product innovation in
the context of George Weston Food Ltd. According to me, innovation is not only a business
strategy but also a creative work that is done by the employees through improving their existing
skills. On the other hand, innovation makes changes in the existing system and strategy of an
organization by encouraging the staffs towards the product development. Hence, it can be said
that innovation is a process of improvement of the business, product and the skill of the
employees. Regarding me, innovation may leave the positive and negative effect on the
organization. However, proper maintenance of the each stage of innovation leaves the positive
effect on the organizational performance while poor market research during innovation affects
the organizational growth.

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