Innovation and Commercialization Analysis: A Heinz Case Study Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Heinz's innovation and commercialization strategies, focusing on the company's approach to product development and market positioning. It begins by differentiating between innovation and invention and explaining their importance to organizations. The report then explores how organizational vision, leadership, culture, and teamwork shape innovation and commercialization within Heinz. It delves into the 4Ps of innovation (product, process, position, and paradigm) and utilizes the innovation funnel to examine and shape innovative ideas. Furthermore, the report examines frugal innovation and its application in an organizational context, followed by an explanation of the commercial funnel and the use of New Product Development (NPD) processing for commercializing innovations. A business case is built, including ways to access funding, and the report concludes with an evaluation of tools organizations can use to develop, retain, and protect knowledge and intellectual property, providing a holistic view of Heinz's innovation journey.

Unit 8- Innovation and
Commercialisation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1. Explain innovation and determine its importance to organisations in comparison with
invention......................................................................................................................................3
P2. Explain how organisational vision, leadership, culture and teamwork can shape innovation
and commercialisation................................................................................................................5
P3. Explain the 4Ps of innovation and explain the use of the innovation funnel to examine and
shape innovative ideas.................................................................................................................6
P4. Explain developments in frugal innovation and provide examples of how it is used in an
organisational context.................................................................................................................9
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................10
P5. Explain the importance of the commercial funnel and the application of New Product
Development (NPD) processing for commercialisation of innovation. ...................................10
P6. Build an Innovation Business Case for an organisation, including ways to access funding.
...................................................................................................................................................10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
P7. Evaluate the different tools that organisations can use to develop, retain and protect
knowledge and intellectual property.........................................................................................10
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Innovation and Invention are the phenomena's bringing revolution in the industries and
business practices. Both the concepts are separate form one another but commonly used
interchangeably as the difference is not clearly mentioned. These two concepts provides a
company a pathway in a direction of development and growth by adapting according to the
world and most significantly according to the needs and requirements of customers. Innovation
and invention processes are adopted for introducing change by addressing customers needs and
offering them something creative that will keep them satisfied. The report is constructed on a
most loved and cherished brand of UK and that is Heinz. One of the largest food and beverage
producing company founded in 1869 and located in United Kingdom and Ireland. The
assignment acknowledges the difference between innovation and invention concepts along with
their impacts over the operations of firm (Cao and et. al., 2020) . Moreover, 4P's of innovation
and innovation funnel is examined as well as the concept of frugal innovation is evaluated as
well in organisational context. Furthermore, significance of commercial funnel and its
application covered with most appropriate use of New product development process as well. At
last, a business case is developed for which funding options are explored and also few tools
which can help in protecting the intellectual property of the brand.
TASK 1
P1. Explain innovation and determine its importance to organisations in comparison with
invention.
Innovation is a process of developing a new offering for the consumers according to
their preferences and in relation to addressing their needs. A innovative or creative offering is
extracted form the existing products and by adding new features to the new offering. Innovation
process involves the creativity of individual who is undergoing through the whole phenomena
about how they can change an existing offering into an entirely new one and fulfil the needs or
requirements of potential consumers and keep them attracted to the brand (de Jong and et. al.,
2019). Heinz is a well known and renowned brand who's brand image is huge enough that it can
easily survive on its existing product offerings and product goodwill. But the firms image of
being the best in the field needs to be maintained and reached to the higher level which motivates
people to bring change and innovate in accordance to market raise to new heights.

Invention on the other hand is an idea which of bringing in new and fresh products in
market which do not exist or expected by the users who are basically customers. Innovation is a
concept that enables the experts and professionals to experiment and research for offering a good
that adds up to the society expectations and keep them satisfied. Invention takes place when a
new need arise which is fundamental and necessary for the public to fulfil. For instance, recycled
goods earlier people were unaware of the fact that things can be recycled on large scale and
effective use can be made of the available resources (Dias and Ferreira, 2019). But with
changing and deteriorating environmental conditions developed the need for recycled goods and
invention took place in technological and other related industries.
IMPORTANCE OF INNOVATION FOR HEINZ
Every expert with professional and appropriate knowledge of the innovation concept
knows the vital role innovation plays for the respective company and developing a competitive
edge through offerings. Thus, significance of innovation for Heinz is represented below:
 Induces the growth of company- According to research's and evaluation its is
determined that for company to grow and expand innovation is needed. Heinz is a large
organisation which was founded many years ago and without innovation it would not
have reached to the successive lengths in the market at which it is standing today.
Customers are attracted towards the brand with its new and creative offerings and best
quality products.
 Provides competitive advantage- Innovation brings in a competitive value for the
organisation as well as develops a new competitive standards for rivals to compete with.
Innovation automatically develops a Unique selling Point (USP) for the brand offering it
higher power over market and better market share (Davies, Roderick and Huxtable-
Thomas, 2019) .
 Keep the firm updated and follow trend- Innovation is basically experimenting with
existing offering and developing a new one. The reason behind it is only to address the
customers needs and follow trends. Thus, innovation keeps Heinz updated and trendy.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INNOVATION AND INVENTION
BASIS INNOVATION INNVENTION
Concept The concept if innovation is of
practical implementation of
On the contrary, the idea
behind invention is to work

plans and new ideas
developed.
over an entirely new and fresh
thinking.
Skills needed In order to innovate Heinz
needs specific skills which are
strategic thinking, technical
and efficient marketing.
For invention company needs
those experts who are filled
with scientific skills and
knowledge.
Idea Behind Innovation's idea is to add
value to existing products of
Heinz.
Whereas, invention is creation
of a new product adding it to
product portfolio of Heinz.
P2. Explain how organisational vision, leadership, culture and teamwork can shape innovation
and commercialisation.
Organisation is a broad term holding many operations, functions, activities and aims
under its umbrella. For a company to be a success and work progressively it has to innovate and
develop further (Grace, 2019). Heinz is a large organisation operating in the market from
multiple decades and its goodwill is dependent upon its offerings either the physical products or
intangible customer services. But there are number of factors which exist in surrounding of firm
which affects its functioning. In the same manner few factors do affect and shape innovation
with in the firm and make it commercialise further. Some of those major elements are company's
vision, its leadership approach, culture and lastly teamwork. These are elaborated underneath in
context of Heinz and its innovative approaches.
ORGANISATIONAL VISION
Vision is a statement which every company produce in the very beginning when
operations are being setting up. Developing a vision statement is part of creating the entity and
launching it for business in the marketplace. The vision statement is a document holding the long
term objectives of Heinz and all the functions work in accordance to the vision for attaining the
ultimate goal and maintaining it. The vision statement of Heinz represent the company's aim of
offering new, tasty and best quality product to consumers. The vision statement binds or
encourages the firm to be innovative and bring in new offerings for people according to the
market trends and evolving preferences of customers.
LEADERSHIP

The concept of leadership is unique and inspiring, referring to a skill people have for
influencing others and make them work willingly in order to pursue with the organisational
ultimate goal. Leaders of Heinz has the role and responsibility to guide and instruct employees in
a direction that is most efficient and productive for company. Moreover, leaders has a role to
keep staff motivated as well. Thus, for bringing and shaping innovation the leadership style
adopted by leaders play a vital role. Leaders has a characteristic of being creative and working
innovatively and in the same manner they have to integrate their leadership styles with
innovative approaches for making staff work in the respective manner (Montonen, Moilanen and
Eriksson, 2019). The leaders of Heinz make use of transactional and transformational leadership
styles helping them in leading the workforce towards change and adopt creative ideas to work
within the changing and developing environment in the most productive ways.
ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
The culture of an entity is indicates to the background, values, language, beliefs,
assumptions, opinions and rules of the firm which guides the staff and develops their behaviours
in a professional business setting. In context of Heinz, the top level management make sure to
keep staff satisfied by fulfilling their requirement and providing them job satisfaction. This
approach motivates workforce to render their 100% potentials in work while performing tasks on
behalf of Heinz. The integrated efforts of management to keep staff happy and employee
performance automatically bring innovation as employees work for attaining goals in the most
productive and beneficiary styles.
TEAMWORK
Last but not the least, is teamwork a key factor that shapes innovation and bring success
to company. Form past experiences and data it is found out that innovation is shaped and
promoted in a better way by combined efforts rather than individual efforts. Teamwork referring
to many expert mind working for adding value to one particular product of Heinz and offering
something new to existing buyers and new potential consumers that is matching with their needs
and satisfaction levels (Hou and et. al., 2019).
P3. Explain the 4Ps of innovation and explain the use of the innovation funnel to examine and
shape innovative ideas.
Innovation is a process of bringing change and upgrading the existing offerings by adding
value to them and keep customers attracted to the brand and its products. Innovation process is

basically redesigning the past products and services and selling them as new in market. For
adopting and easy implementation of innovation processes Heinz can make use of 4P's of
Innovation.
4P'S OF INNOVATION
Illustration 1: Model 4 Ps of innovation , 2020
(Source: Model 4 Ps of innovation , 2020)
The elements of the model are described below in context of Heinz:
 Product innovation is the first form of change which comes to mind while making
changes and adding value to customers experiences. Product innovation that is being

introduced by Heinz is a new “White and Dark Chocolate Syrup”. Many companies make
caramel and chocolate syrup but none of them produces dark and white chocolate syrup.
 Process innovation is making changes in the processes of manufacturing and distribution
of goods. In refers to Heinz, process innovation needs to be undertaken for implementing
more productive manufacturing processes (Ellwood and Horner, 2020). As well as supply
chain management also needs to be undertaken.
 Position innovation is referring to the marketing and promotional changes company
needs to and should undertake for showcasing their new offering that is “White and Dark
Chocolate Syrup”.
 Paradigm innovation is connected with the methods adopted by top level management
and leaders of Heinz for bringing in change and implementing it efficiently. Heinz
management will make use of systematic innovation to gain knowledge about the small
innovation tools to be introduced at different levels
INNOVATION FUNNEL
This is a model or a tool used by organisation for determining the stages or steps they
need to go through for bringing in change and implementation of innovation in their processes
and products. Heinz will make use of innovation funnel as well which has three stages that are as
follows:
Illustration 2: Innovation Funnel, 2016
(Source: Innovation Funnel, 2016)
 Investigation is the first step where R&D department of Heinz will collect ideas for
innovation from internal or external source whichever is favourable. Heinz will conduct

research to known the exact condition of market and accordingly chose a potential idea
for innovation.
 Development stage is started once ideas are gathered, now they will be screened and one
particular idea is developed that is integrating with organisational goals and vision. Heinz
is innovating in chocolate syrup flavours by bringing “White and Dark Chocolate Syrup”.
 Shipping Product is the final step where the end product is prepared and ready to be
launched in the market. This is major stage as it will defined the success and failure of
product therefore, Heinz will adopt aggressive marketing techniques for launching the
product in the most productive and attractive manner.
P4. Explain developments in frugal innovation and provide examples of how it is used in an
organisational context.
Frugal Innovation is a procedure of discovering and exploring new business model and
value chain for designing of products and services and render the best valued and quality goods
to consumers most specifically to those facing affordability issues. Frugal innovation is adopting
for finding out a way to remove all non essential features form the offerings and reduce cost for
rendering more value to people and most prominently to the lower segment of the society. The
best example of frugal innovation is Indian Markets, Frugal Innovation states “How to do more
with less” and in today's era of resource shortage and highly empowered customers raised the
need for companies to grow and develop in sustainable manner (Mazzarol and Reboud, 2020) .
There are few principles of Frugal Innovation provided by experts which and these are as
follows:
 Principle 1: Engage and iterate states that old models and ways of R&D are time
consuming and inefficient and therefore, companies needs to move to more developed
options such as social media and customer relations.
 Principle 2: Flexibility is a feature of Frugal Innovation technique as it is applicable to
wider asset chains as well. For instance, BMW make use of light-weighting materials for
its electric car models instead of steel.
 Principle 3: Development of sustainable solutions is the need for today's businesses as
resources are diminishing. For example, Chillies Bottle a SME of UK make use of
recyclable resources in manufacturing their products.

 Principle 4: Shape customer behaviour in positive manner is difficult but possible
through spreading awareness and educating them by rendering all related information.
For example, Tesco reducing its carbon footprint and using it as a marketing strategy for
their customers to known about their functions.
 Principle 5: Make innovative trends by hyper collaboration and connectedness with
suppliers, government, competitors for better delivery of products and reducing
overlapping of products and imbalance the demand and supply curve.
TASK 3
P5. Explain the importance of the commercial funnel and the application of New Product
Development (NPD) processing for commercialisation of innovation.
The term commercial funnel is defined as a marketing term that is used for completing
the journey of potential customer towards the method of purchase. In the context of Heinz,
commercial funnel is divided into three aspects that are bottom, middle and top. It results this is
easy for organisation to complete work according to sales model of business (Donegan, 2019) .
Along with this by improving company model it is easy to work according to buying process of
customers in order to retain skilled employee's for longer period. Some stages of commercial
funnel are mention as follow:
 Awareness- This consists about individuals who perform work according to decided
idea of product. Along with this for generating more awareness, manager of Heinz utilise
social media applications such as Instagram etc. as it helps to attract more number of
customers towards products.
 Interest- In the interest section an organisation focuses on those persons who visit the
website of business for analysing the interest level of individuals among organisation.
Moreover, interest section also increase sales of organisation by providing effective
offers to potential customers (Kalantaridis, 2019).
 Decision- This determine about individuals who show their interest for taking
organisational decisions related with purchase of product. This is also important for
Heinz to provide discount for offering final buying aspects to customers.

 Action- This section offer the actual buying that take place and it add a new customers
for increasing the number of customers. It also enhance profitability for business through
implementing effective decisions among organisation.
According to above decision it is analysed by Heinz management that commercial funnel plays a
vital role to deliver company products effectively in market. It is also used for generating better
sales and profits from organisation operations. Along with this sales procedure of company is
also improved by use of commercial funnel in company.
NPD
New product development process is defined as a step to step process which aids to
launch new company products. Stages of NPD process is mention as follow:
 Idea generation- This is defined as a first step in which organisation formulate plans for
developing a new idea that is aimed to attract more number of individuals towards
company brand (Thomas and Maine, 2019).
 Screening- The reliability of idea is checked and analysed in screening stage to ensure
that idea of organisation is practical or not.
 Development of concept- Under this step, test related with particular concept is
implemented to focus on technical feasibility of business.
 Marketing strategy- With an appropriate marketing strategy it is easy to promote
company products among organisation market. Social media application is developed to
aware individuals about Heinz products.
 Business analysis- In the stage of business analysis an organisation evaluate about ideas
which exists in market to complete work with use of essential resources.
 Development- This stage is placed to test the idea of organisation in proper manner
which also leads business for managing work according to innovative idea.
 Test marketing- As per this stage products of organisation are test to analyse the
innovation added value in Heinz products.
 Commercialisation- This is consider as last stage in which new product of the
organisation is placed in a proper manner.

P6. Build an Innovation Business Case for an organisation, including ways to access funding.
The idea which is bring among market is used to implement effective strategy which
leads to use squeeze vessel rather than glass material for storing ketchup (Easter, 2019) (Clarke,
2019). Now management of Heinz also focused to develop idea which is used to store products
with pocket friendly aspect. Innovative idea to enhance sale and profits of organisation are
mention as follow:
Steps Description
Summary With the innovation perspective of modifying Heinz product
packaging it is analysed by organisation that pocket friendly
Ketchup leads management to increase number of customers by
entering into new market segment. Like, change in the packing of
products make convenient perspective for customers to carry
Heinz products.
Objectives The objective of Heinz is to enhance market area with 10% within
3 months. Another objectives of organisation is to enhance sales of
products with 5% in each quarter.
Mission Mission statement of organisation is “To match products with
requirements of customers with analysing their preferences and