Innovation Report: Strategies for Innovation at Iceland Ltd.

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of innovation within the context of Iceland Ltd., a British supermarket chain. It begins by defining innovation and its importance, exploring how organizational culture and vision shape innovative efforts. The report then delves into the 4Ps of innovation (product, process, positioning, and paradigm) and the innovation funnel, illustrating how companies refine ideas. Frugal innovation is also examined. Furthermore, the report discusses commercialization strategies, including the application of New Product Development, and provides a business case study of Iceland Ltd. Finally, it addresses the crucial aspects of developing, retaining, and protecting intellectual property, with references to Apple and Virgin Group. The report covers various aspects of business innovation, offering insights into how companies can foster creativity and gain a competitive advantage.

INNOVATION

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1. Innovation and its importance ..............................................................................................3
P2.Shape of innovation through organisational culture, vision..................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P3 4P's of Innovation and innovation funnel .............................................................................6
P4 Frugal Innovation ..................................................................................................................8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P5 commercial funnel and application of New Product Development.......................................9
P6 Business case of Iceland ltd.................................................................................................10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
P7 Developing, Retaining and protecting intellectual property................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12
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INTRODUCTION
Innovation is the fundamental requirement of every organisation. It is that essential
activity which helps company to grab more customers and maintain their place in the market. It
is a process in which an idea is developed for bringing new features in their existing products or
inventing a whole new product. It is basically an aggregation of opportunities, identification,
marketing, sales, prototype, idea and production (Aarikka-Stenroos and Sandberg, 2012). It
refers that innovation helps company in gaining competitory benefit over challengers and gaining
more market share and customers. Here, a product is given with a new design, colour and size.
The firm which is chosen here is Iceland that is a British supermarket chain having 2.2% share of
UK food market. In this report, an overview of what innovation is about will be discussed and
also, various sources of innovation, commercialisation and management will be assessed. The
approaches of creating innovation culture in company and legislations of protecting creativity
will also be studied with reference to Apple and Virgin Group.
TASK 1
P1. Innovation and its importance
Innovation can be defined as a process of turning an idea into a product which is made
as per the customer’s preferences. In simple words, it can be said that innovation is the
application of concepts that can be reused by company and are novel. In order to bring
innovation in organisation, employees need to be creative and smart. They should be able to
understand which opportunities can bring innovation in company and which are useless. If
employees are creative then they will be able to give effective ideas to company and once all
these ideas are applied, then it leads to innovation. In Iceland Ltd., innovation can be achieved in
market share, its productivity, customer handling procedures, competitiveness and the most
important thing i.e. quality (Bogers and West, 2012). It also plays a complementary role in
maintaining Iceland organisational cultures. Innovation is highly required in that side of
organisation also because innovative activities helps in improving performance of employees. If
innovation is actively initiated in companies then their achievements and profits can be improved
and resources will be well used.
Invention – It means creating something different that has never been made before. It
includes embodying new technical and scientific skills in the product. It is adopted by company
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when they are losing their place in market and want to regain it by introducing something unique
and creative in market for the customers (Chun and et. al., 2015). It brings a fresh start for
company.
Difference between Innovation and Invention is given as below:-
Innovation Invention
Meaning Here, an idea which has been
evolved is implemented for
creating new products and
services.
Here, an idea has been
generated for the first time in
the mind of any person.
Skills Required Skills that are used here are
marketing, research and
management mainly.
In this, mainly scientific skills
are used.
Effect on company It always brings changes in
organisations.
It may bring changes and may
not.
Activities In this, activities are spread in
the whole organisation.
In this, main activities are
conducted by research and
development department only.
Importance of Innovation for the employees of Iceland Ltd.:-
 It helps in gaining new skills and knowledge which can help them in improving their
career.
 It develops a sense of creativity in the minds of employees which can further help
company by providing effective ideas.
 Improvement in efficiency and effectiveness of employees.
Importance of Innovation in Business organisation:-
1. It helps in developing business activities which will help in improving the quality and
efficiency.
2. It helps in developing entirely new and improvised goods which are prepared as per the
customer's preferences.
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3. They help in adding value to the existing products so that they will be able to maintain
their place in market.
The company Apple can be used as one of the best example for introducing progressive
opinion in market. Apple introduced I-Pod instrument which is so little in size but still has the
capacity to keep thousands of song into it. I-pod has modified the scenario of industries (Cui and
Wu, 2016). This change helped the company in gaining more customers and building a strong
image in the market.
P2.Shape of innovation through organisational culture, vision
If an organisation is planning to bring new and innovative products in companies, it will
be because of continuous demand of customers . It is not compulsory that all the innovation will
be successful . There are many cases where innovation is not successful in the market like when
”Lays” tried to bring new flavours for their customers but the same was not accepted by
customers and so, they had to stop supplying it .
In case of Iceland Ltd., they are using advertisements and commercialisation process for
bringing new products in market and also in bringing changes to the existing products. Both;
Apple and Virgin group use all the tools and techniques to innovate their product in the most
effective way and presenting them in front of customers like never before. They very well know
about the market trends and produces goods accordingly. These qualities have only made them
the market owner. For achieving this, Iceland Ltd. has to develop certain vision , mission and
leadership qualities . These all play an very important role in defining innovation in organisation.
1. Vision – In vision, generally long term goals of company is in included. This helps them
in developing the ideas about the work that will be performed by companies and which
will ensure its growth and development (Cunningham and Porter, 2011). While setting its
vision only, Iceland Ltd. Should try bring in some creative ideas so that when it will be
implemented it will ensure growth and success. Apple's is having a vision in which they
focus on motivating the employees so that they can bring changes in the company by
giving some creative and innovative ideas for achieving competitive advantage. It helps
in showing the direction to the staff so that they can contribute in achieving growth and
development.
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2. Mission – It is a short term goal which is set as per the vision of company. It helps the
firm in achieving its target objectives. So, if company wants to reach its long term goals
then it will have to work with focus.
3. Culture – Culture inside an organisation is directly affecting the innovation and
commercialisation activities (Drucker, 2014). In Iceland Ltd., There are so many
employees who have come from different culture but are now working together so that
culture should be properly maintained by indulging values, beliefs and code of conduct
inside company. Apple and Virgin group are maintaining it by initiating effective
communication.
4. Leadership – If there is effective leadership inside companies then all the activities of
companies will be managed properly. A leader will help the employees by giving them a
vision and also encouraging them to achieve goals of company. Both Apple and Virgin
group are having innovative leaders that are giving proper coaching to its employees so
that they are in a situation to provide good and effective ideas.
5. Teamwork – Teamwork is always beneficial in a company. Fabulous working of team
has increased the involvement of team members so as to utilises their strengths and their
weaknesses. This is very helpful in sharing the information the necessary information
which needs to be shared among the employees. This will help in increasing the skills,
knowledge which can be used later on for the benefit of the company(Eesley, Hsu and
Roberts, 2014). Apple Inc. and Virgin Group have good team leaders who can find out a
wide range of possible solutions for each specific problem.
TASK 2
P3 4P's of Innovation and innovation funnel
4P's of innovation were brought by John Bessant and Joe Tidd which helps in analysing
the needs of innovation in company. It helps company in knowing what are the changes that is
required by company and in which part. The 4p's of innovation are discussed below:- PRODUCT INNOVATION - It helps in providing something different and innovative to
the customers. This helps company in increasable their sales and profit as well. Iceland
Ltd. Is also required to introduce some new products so that more and more customers
come and visit their stores (Herath, Cranfield and Henson, 2010). Here product is
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innovated as per the wants and demands of customers. In case of Apple group, they are
making products that are highly innovative and are highly preferred by customers as well.
They include all those features in their devices that are required by customers. PROCESS INNOVATION – It basically focuses on the area through which the product
is reached till its ultimate consumer. Iceland Ltd. Should innovate all the products in such
a place which helps in minimising the cost of production. Apple I launching various
products in market which are very innovative but the actual procedure which is followed
by company to make the product is very long. When they came up with I-Pod, it was not
within a day, lots of team work and creative ideas of people were involved in it. POSITIONIONG INNOVATION – Iceland Ltd. Should take some learnings from their
competitors about how to place a new product in market and make it successful because
if product is not positioned in right target market then company will not be able to make
effective sales (Hoque, Chishty and Halloway, 2011). For ex. If Apple launches its new
series of I-Phone targetting the senior citizen , then they will not be successful but if it
targets the young generation then it will be every much successful.
 PARADIGM INNOVATION – This is all about creating mental models which tells about
how company will make plans to bring inn ovation in the organisation. Company requires
to consider all aspect and factor which used in developing innovation activity. A
complete analysis is needed for making plans for combining creation into business
process of organisation.
Illustration 1: 4P's of Innovation
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Source:- 4P's of innovation,2017
Innovating Funnel:
This is a very important funnel which is used in companies. This funnel performs the
work of refining the ideas and selecting the best for the company. Initially companies are having
so many ideas with them but they can not use all of them so by putting all these ideas in the
innovation funnel, they refine all the ideas and select those which is related with the objectives of
company. Companies generally emphasize on creating new and improved products which are
demanded by customers (Huizingh, 2011). These are designed by highly skilled individuals
present inside companies.
P4 Frugal Innovation
Frugal innovations are those types of innovations that are done in company to reduce the
complexities of products and services that are offered by companies to its customers. It helps the
company by reducing its cost of production and decreasing the cost of products. The products
that are prepared through frugal innovation are very effective and useful. They are generally
environment friendly and uses less resources for its preparation. These products are cheaper,
faster and better than rest of the products available in market. This is a risky project but now
every company is adopting it as a trend.
Various examples of frugal innovation that has come up in market are like Haier Washing
Machine in China, TATA Nano Car in India etc. For inventing these types of products, Iceland
ltd, will require a highly creative team which have a thought of doing something for the society.
Frugal innovations can be done in services and business models also and not only in products
only. These are also not much advertised in market because they don't need much promotion. If
customers are well aware of products that are entering the market are very much effective then
they will definitely learn about these frugal products themselves.
Principles of Frugal Innovation are:-
1. Engage and literate:- in this educated guess is done to know consumer needs and all this
starts by observing customers and then checking that how can same product be made
available (Jagoda and et. al., 2011).
2. Flex your assets: By using new tools and approaches, Iceland Ltd. can flex its
production, service , logistics to satisfy customers demand and make products available
to them.
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3. Create sustainable solutions: manufacturing managers and research and development
department of Iceland Ltd. Is having ability to develop self sustaining solutions that will
be helpful to both business and environment.
4. Shape customer behaviour: Iceland Ltd. should know how to shape behaviour of
consumers so that they feel more satisfied by purchasing less quantity.
5. Co-create value with prosumers: 'Prosumers' are those people who collectively design,
create , share the products and services they want from company. So, R&D department of
Iceland Ltd. will work to produce goods desired by prosumers.
6. Make innovative friends: Iceland Ltd. can do collaboration with its external partners in
order to develop frugal products in company and various other business models as well.
TASK 3
P5 commercial funnel and application of New Product Development
Commercial funnel can be defined as a process through which companies tries to identify
the best source through which they can deliver the products and services in target market.
Company's managers have to choose the best channel of distribution for distributing their
products . This will help them in increasing their sales and generate more and more profits. It is
very important for the companies to reach its customers because then only they will be able to
increase its sales and it is only possible because of the commercial funnel concept.
So, Iceland should use this concept whenever they think tom launch a new product in
market. Apple and Virgin group has changed the scenario of entire market by introducing
various new ways to reach out their customers like Apple has entered into agreement with
various other telecom companies and are regularly in contact with them .
The steps that are involved in new product development process are:-
1. Idea generation:-
In this step, an idea is generated in the minds of the employee. It is considered as the first
step because from here only, the company can start the process of developing a new product .
The idea which is generated should be creative and innovative so that it can turn into an
attractive product.
2. Idea Screening:
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In this, out of all the ideas generated , only the ones which suits with the goals of the
company is selected. Here, the managers selects the relevant ideas and rejects the rest of all
(What is innovation?. 2017). It helps in evaluating that will the customers in the competitive
market get benefit form the product or not.
3. Concept Development and Testing:
Here, the product idea which is selected in screening is then converted into a product and
that sample is presented to the customers for testing. Then, consumer's perception is known
regarding that product and attitudes as well as intention is also known at this early stage of
development.
4. Market strategy Development
In this step, a strategy is created in which the project manager will include what will be
the target market , how will the customers be tapped, how the product and sales will be
positioned in the market and how will the company make profits and gain market share.
5. Business and financial analysis
This step is done after making the strategies in which sales and volume is determined
based upon market size. Break even and profitability. Here, profits, sales and cost that the
company will use is estimated so that they can satisfy the customers.
6. Test marketing:
In this , the marketing team introduces the product in the market so as to test them and
know that the customers will accept it or not. The cost associated with it is high. Through this,
the company will come to know that the strategies they made to promote the product was
effective or not.
7. Commercialisation
In this last stage, product is finally introduced in market and being sold.. It implements a
total marketing plan and facing high costa for manufacturing , advertising and promotion.
P6 Business case of Iceland ltd
Innovation business case is prepared by company to know that how will they introduce
the new product in marketplace. Companies need a business case to:
 Justify the risk of investing in innovation,
 convincing the management to endorse your idea,
 ensure them that it is made by applying logic.
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Apple and Virgin group is have prepared various business cases before bringing their product in
the market (Lundvall, 2010). One of them is time gap policy in which they analysed that how
much time an average person takes to adopt a new product which has entered in market. Steps
that should be followed by cited company are:-
 Collecting inputs – In this , managers have to gather information which will be very
helpful in conducting organisational activities so that analysing them also becomes easy.
 Analysis:- All the collected data should be properly analysed and implemented inside the
company.
 Stating the conclusion – It is the stage in which the developed product is presented in
front of top level managers and their reviews are taken on it and final decisions are taken.
 Understanding the objectives:- Company needs to understand its goals and objectives
then only it will be able to select the ideas which is best for company and which will
further brings profits in the company.
TASK 4
P7 Developing, Retaining and protecting intellectual property
Intellectual property helps in boosting innovation inside companies. Normally a company
is filled with various types of ideas that can help them in growth but company cannot convert all
of these ideas into products. So, there is always a fear that these ideas may get stolen so it needs
security. Then, intellectual property rights comes as a saviour for the company. There arev
various tools that can be used by them to protect their ideas . These play a very important role in
gaining competitive advantage in market. These tools are:-
 Patents:- It is a tool which is used by companies when they bring in a new product in
market. It is done at the time of inventions. It is a exclusive right which is given to
companies when they invent some new way of doing work or a new techniques is
brought . The time period for which patent is allotted is 20 years. It can be extended
further.
 Trademarks: - These are the different signs that are assigned to as particular product and
then these products are identified by these signs only (Kutvonen, 2011). It can be in the
form of combination of words, signs, symbols, characters, diagrams etc. The initial term
of its ownership is 10 years and it can be renewed after that.
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 Copyrights: - It defined the right given to the person for their literary or artistic work. It
can be given for ant poem, film, song, music composition, acts and paintings as well as
drawings, photographs etc. Any ideas, recipes, facts and work that do not have originality
is not covered in these categories.
 Trade secret: - As all commercially viable ideas cannot be patented, it is suggested that
some ideas should be treated as trade secrets which will be patented at later stage.
All the products which are produced by O2 are patented and no one can make similar
products like them in the market. They have more than 121 products that are patented. Apple is
also having all of their products patented and trademarked and therefore no one in the market is
able to beat Apple which is leading in technological market.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that innovation and invention plays a very
important role in growth and development of company. It is adopted by company when they feel
that market is changing and they also have to bring in new innovation in their products to make a
place in market and to maintain it customer base. In this report, an overview of what innovation
is about is discussed and also, various sources of innovation, commercialisation and management
has been assessed. The approaches of creating innovation culture in company and legislations of
protecting creativity was studied with reference to Apple and Virgin Group.
REFERENCES
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productivity: An integrated propensity score matching and two-stage data envelopment
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Cui, A. S. and Wu, F., 2016. Utilizing customer knowledge in innovation: antecedents and
impact of customer involvement on new product performance. Journal of the academy
of marketing science. 44(4). pp.516-538.
Cunningham, S. W. and Porter, A. L., 2011, July. Bibliometric discovery of innovation and
commercialization pathways in nanotechnology. In Technology Management in the
Energy Smart World (PICMET), 2011 Proceedings of PICMET'11: (pp. 1-11). IEEE.
Drucker, P., 2014. Innovation and entrepreneurship. Routledge.
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Eesley, C. E., Hsu, D. H. and Roberts, E. B., 2014. The contingent effects of top management
teams on venture performance: Aligning founding team composition with innovation
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35(12).pp.1798-1817.
Herath, D., Cranfield, J. and Henson, S., 2010. Understanding the financing of innovation and
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Hoque, M., Chishty, M. and Halloway, R., 2011. Commercialization and changes in capital
structure in microfinance institutions: An innovation or wrong turn?. Managerial
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Jagoda, K. and et. al., 2011. Development and commercialization of renewable energy
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Online
What is innovation?. 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/innovation >. [Accessed on 1st November
2017].
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