Business Innovation Report: Strategies for Austin Fraser's Growth

This report provides a comprehensive overview of innovation in a business context, focusing on key aspects such as the advantages of innovation compared to invention, and the impact of mission, leadership, vision, teamwork, and culture on fostering innovation. It delves into the 4Ps of innovation (paradigm, process, product, and position) and the practical implications of the innovation funnel, specifically in the context of Austin Fraser, a recruitment consultancy. The report further explores the development of frugal innovation, highlighting cost-cutting measures, simplification of processes, and elimination of unnecessary steps. It emphasizes the importance of a commercial funnel and new product development, including a business case study. Finally, the report discusses tools to support and protect a company's intellectual property, offering valuable insights for business development and strategic planning. The report uses Austin Fraser as a case study to apply the concepts, providing real-world examples and practical recommendations.

INNOVATION

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................1
P1 Major advantage related with innovation and a comparison with invention.........................1
P2 Impact of mission, leadership, vision, team work and culture in formulating innovation.. . .2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
P3 4Ps of innovation and implication of innovation funnel in context of Austin Fraser...........3
P4 Ways by which frugal innovation can be developed. ...........................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
P5 Major importance of commercial funnel and new product development..............................6
P6 Innovation business case........................................................................................................7
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................8
P7 Major tools that can support and protect company's intellectual property. ..........................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
.......................................................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Innovation is one of the key element with the help of which any product or service can
get recognised by the customer. It is related with bringing new ideas into the market. In context
of any product and services, it is necessary to find ways by which specific company can make
distinct products with maximum number of features (Cardillo and et. al., 2011). In this context,
organisations now a days are fully concern about making innovative plans and ideas so that they
can shine in the market. In context of this report, Austin Fraser is one of the leading company
though come under small business. They are expanding gradually in the market. It is a major
recruitment consultancy company and responsible for delivering best services to their clients. On
the basis of this report, there will be a great understanding about the concept of innovation in
organisation.
TASK 1
P1 Major advantage related with innovation and a comparison with invention.
Innovation can be understood as a means by which companies introduced new features in
their product and services. In recent years, it has been noticed that innovation plays a major role
in determining the success rate of organisation. This is because, companies are seeing the
importance of this concept. In context of Austin Fraser, there is a need of introducing and
adopting those criteria which can ensure innovation in their services. As it is a consultancy firm,
that means they need to offer more attractive services to their client in order to attain a level of
suitability in the market. Given below are the basic importance of innovation in relation with
employees:
Employees will get interest in working- As innovation always come up with some new
and innovative technique or method of work, therefore employees feel motivated. This is
because they would not get bored with the previous older method of their working style as they
are now working on a new innovative idea (Hoegl, Lichtenthaler and Muethel, 2011). This keeps
their morale up and hence their work efficiency will also increase. There will be full utilisation
of time and resources. That is why, it is important for mentioned company to be updated with
innovation.
They might get extra benefit due to the positive impact of innovation- AS innovation
ensures that customer are still willing to buy their product and services. It indicates that the
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company will surely earn profit and maximum number of market shares. Due to high profit,
employees will also get extra incentive, perks and bonus. Due to their tremendous effort, they
might get recognition in the market. Thus, they feel motivated towards their work as company is
giving extra benefit to their employees.
In context from the given case study of Virgin, it can be concluded that company can
attain a level of growth in the market due to its continuous efforts in exploring new and
innovative ideas (Rosing, Rosenbusch and Frese, 2010). They are working on the concept where
each and every single employee can present their idea on a business venture.
Innovation and comparison can be evaluated on two different platform. Major difference
between these two term are given below-
Innovation Invention
1. It is a very simple concept which is related
with introducing some king of modification in
existing product or services.
2. This comes after invention.
3. The idea of innovation can be understood by
the example which is given in case study. As
apple is offering new features in its existing
cell phones.
1. It is related with introducing entirely new
product or service for the first time.
2. It comes before innovation.
3. In reference to invention, apple is planning
to launched a totally new product for the first
time. It comes under invention.
P2 Impact of mission, leadership, vision, team work and culture in formulating innovation.
In order to determine set of criteria for the purpose innovation, it is necessary to consider
factors some such as mission, vision, leadership, team work and culture. In other words, these
factors are responsible for giving shape to innovation. As employees of Austin Fraser should
know the impact of these factors on innovation which is discussed below:
Mission- As on the basis of mission, cited company have to decide the most effective
innovation technique (Alam, 2011). Mission, objective or goal of the organisation should be
considered first. This is because as per the mission, company can choose the best innovative
technique.
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Vision- Every company established on the ground of some long term vision in the
market. They must have some vision according to their objective. Austin Fraser is concern about
providing quality of recruitment consultancy services. Thus, it directly affect the idea behind
introducing any innovation in the company.
Leadership- As per the leadership approach, the quality of innovation depends. This is
because leadership style decides the authenticity and efficiency of any innovation. A leader is
responsible for leading its team and therefore management of mentioned company have to ensure
their approach in order to implement their innovative plan successfully (Winkler and Bouncken,
2011). This will surely decides the effectiveness of introducing any new innovative idea into the
organisation.
Team work- Formulation of innovation is not enough, it must be implemented in order
to get its impact in the organisation. Team work helps to achieve the objective of introducing any
innovation in the company. If a company is having dedicated staff and they are efficiently
working in a team that means the chances of achieving target of the company with the help of
innovation also increases.
Culture- This can be defined as the way by which certain lifestyle, value and beliefs are
prevailing in certain area. This leaves a major impact on the life of an individual and thus the
way by which a person is conducting its business will be influenced by culture.
As per the above description, it has been noticed that there are certain factors that are
responsible for shaping innovative criteria (Bosch‐Sijtsema and Bosch, 2015). As per the above
case study, the leadership style is so motivating that employees were getting full right to suggest
ideas for the new venture.
TASK 2
P3 4Ps of innovation and implication of innovation funnel in context of Austin Fraser.
Just like 4Ps of marketing, there is similar concept of 4Ps in innovation. This can be
elaborated as Paradigm, process, position and product.
Paradigm- It is the concept where a company change its perception about all those things that
they are doing and hence, this will change their current approach of performing any task.
Process- This can be evaluated as altering the existing technique in order attain a level of
efficiency in the market.
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Product- This can be defined when organisation decides to make some changes and
modification in their product and services in order to meet customer demand.
Position- It is the idea of re- positioning perception related to existing product. This is
normally to make change in which a product is perceived.
In context of Austin Fraser, it is necessary to use the idea behind innovation funnel in
order to introduce innovative plans. Given below is the brief discussion on the importance of
innovation funnel:
Innovation funnel is divided into three major parts which determine its working.
First step
This is the very first phase of innovation funnel. This step is mainly aims to maximize its
knowledge base. Management identify ways to collect so many plans and ideas. It is very well
said that with the more number of ideas, company can develop so many products and services. In
context of this stage, it is estimated that company must have a crystal clear perspective of their
mission, vision, goal and objective. This is because on the basis of these objective, organisation
can generate ideas.
Second step
As it can be clearly seen from the above diagram that second stage is narrow in nature.
This step mainly focuses on screening those ideas with were generated in step first. In the
screening phase, it is evaluated that weather ideas are matching with the target of the company or
not. Another every important element of this step is to determine the risks and returns and then
on the basis of this, best idea is selected for the company (Hoeber and Hoeber, 2012). After
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Illustration 1: Innovation funnel.

evaluating all the factors, it is now estimated that all the resources are allocated towards most
attractive opportunities.
Third step
This is so far the last step of innovation funnel. It is narrow in nature. At this final phase
company finally implement its plan in the market. Company can finally see the impact of their
ideas and plans in the market. This stage finally decides the effectiveness of above two steps as
well. If company is able to achieve its objective that means, main purpose of using innovation
funnel have been achieved.
As per the given case study, it can be seen that Virgin group is following innovative ideas
and plans. This will surely help this company to attain tremendous level of growth in the market.
P4 Ways by which frugal innovation can be developed.
Every organisation established in the market to active a set of objective. There can be
several goal associated with different companies. It is also estimated that getting maximum
number of market shares and attaining profit are the two major aim of most of the organisation.
Frugal innovation is one of the major concept that is being used by organisation. This states that
company needs to cut down their cost of goods and production. This aims to decrease the
complexity of process which involved in any business unit. In order word, this concept can be
understood by the means of eliminating non essential features from any goods or services. In
context Austin Fraser, it can be said that the company can use idea behind frugal innovation by
following ways:
Cutting down the cost of production: One of the very major way by which frugal
innovation can develop as to give attention towards minimizing the production cost (Keskin,
Diehl and Molenaar, 2013). By reducing all unnecessary expenses, organisation can also
decrease its overall production cost. The objective behind reducing the cost can also be achieved
by making an estimation of all possible expenses.
Decreasing the level complexity in production process: Mentioned company should make
sure that there process and techniques must be simple in use. There should be no complex
method. This will help the company to maintain all their business operations. It also help
organisation to save their time and hence most of their time will be utilised in the most effective
manner.
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Eliminating unnecessary steps and methods- This is again a very important way by which
cited company can apply the concept of frugal innovation in their organisation. Company have to
make sure that process and methods adopted by them are giving best output. In case, any
process is not up to the mark, management immediately replace that technique with another one.
By this way, company can improve efficiency of their work.
In context of given report, it has been noticed that the companies are fully adopting frugal
innovation techniques in order to attain tremendous growth in the market (Katzy and et. al.,
2013). By using this concept, a company can reduce all those unnecessary techniques which are
hampering the entire growth of the organisation. This is the reason, companies like Virgin have
attained tremendous level of success in the market.
TASK 3
P5 Major importance of commercial funnel and new product development.
commercial funnel is one of the major concept of any organisation with which they can
achieve a level of suitability in the market. It plays a vital role in the context of innovation and
commercialisation. This concept is mainly focused towards determining and evaluating ways by
which consumer purchasing power can be determined. There are total four steps that are
involved in this concept. These are awareness, interest, desire and action. According to the first
step customer should be very well about all basic features of prevailing product and services. In
the bases of awareness, consumer should know their interest in buying that particular product. At
the third stage customer should have desire in purchasing product and at last they must take
proper actions in order to buy it. Given below are the major importance of commercial funnel:
Development of innovative products- With the help of commercial funnel, company can
actually find so m,any ways by which innovative ideas can be generated. As innovation in
product and services must be there s that it can attract a large number of people in the market.
Profit maximization- This is the second most important benefit out of commercial funnel.
It directly helps the company to increase profit margin (Mahr, Lievens and Blazevic, 2014). If
organisation is able to achieve tremendous level of profit in the market that means the chances of
their expansion in the market also increases.
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Reduction in cost of production- With the wider application of commercial funnel, it can
be evaluated that the company can reduce its production cost. That is why, company find cost
control methods.
Efficiency of work increase- If company is able to reduce unnecessary expenses, that
means there will be no wasteful efforts. This further improve the overall efficiency of the
company by producing correct result.
Apart from commercial funnel, new product development also needs to get full attention
from the top management of the mentioned company. Austin Fraser is focusing towards better
implementation of process that is used in new and innovative product development. Given below
are basic steps that are applicable in the development of new product.
determining new idea- This is the very first phase of product development. In this step, there is
Emergence of new ideas,. All the possible ideas are collected under this head.
Screening- In the second step, company eliminate inappropriate idea (Tushman, 2012). In this
way, a screening step is conducting under which most effective idea is selected and rest get
eliminated.
Evaluation and development of idea. After screening phase, organisation gives their full
attention towards evaluating the ideas and finally from the chosen one, the whole concept behind
that idea is generated.
Business analysis- This is concern about having a analysis of business. This may includes
the way by which efficiency of work can be evaluated. Finding core competencies and market
trend are all related with business analysis. It may includes all the major issues and their
preferred solution.
Development of product- At last, product is developed. The success rate of product
development depends upon the efficiency with which all the above mentioned work have been
done. By following an appropriate business plan company can earn maximum number of profit
and market shares.
P6 Innovation business case.
Company uses several innovative plans for attaining success in the market. They can
achieve a level of growth by developing and implementing innovative business plans. Given
below are the basic innovation business case of Austin Fraser:
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Executive Summary- Austin Fraser is a recruitment consultancy firm (Rothwell, 2010).
Their business is not very broad but with tremendous strategies, this company is gradually
achieving growth in the market.
Requirements- As each and every organisation established in the market with one or the
other objective. In the same manner, mentioned company have some set of goal and mission. For
example, providing best consultancy services to their client. Other objectives may includes
getting maximum number of market shares and profit margin.
Solutions- For the purpose of attaining their goal, company is adopting best strategy with
the help of which They can fully focus towards giving best services to their customer.
Reason behind innovative product/service- This is because the company is having high skilled
staff.
Customer research- Innovation business case plays a vital role in conducing market
research so that needs and wants of the consumer can be determined.
Design and development phase- As per this case, customer can effectively analyse the quality of
services offered by the company.
Capital need- For making this plan, company can actually take assistance from
government ( Bruns and et. al., 2010). They can also arrange funds with the help of various
financial sources.
Expected benefit- With the help of this innovation business case, company can help the
customer in giving various benefit.
TASK 4
P7 Major tools that can support and protect company's intellectual property.
In order to understand the concept of intellectual property of an organisation, it is
suggested to know the fact that it gives an environment where concept of creativity and
innovation can grow rapidly. There are several methods to protect company's intellectual
property. Some of them are given below:
Patent- In case of any extraordinary invention, patent is taken into consideration. This is
so far the best way by which tremendous invention can be protected.
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Copyright Trademark- This can simply be understood as the way by which a person can
ensure its right on a particular work. This can includes copyright of books, novel, music and so
on.
Geographical indications- It can be understood as when products needs to get legal
support in a particular region (Krishnan, 2010). There has to be some geographical legal
proceeding.
Industrial design- This can be defined as the way by which decorative articles are made. This can
be in form of various shape, feature and pattern of articles.
On the basis of above factors it can be concluded that company needs to ensure its
intellectual property in order to successfully run their business.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of given report it can be concluded that innovation is one of the key factor in
any organisation which determine the popularity of product and services. It is very important to
know the advantage of innovation so that its positive impact can be successfully obtained. It is
also very well said that vision, mission, leadership and team work can shape innovation. On the
other side, commercial funnel is also a major tool with the help of which company determines it
success rate.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alam, I., 2011. Exploring cross-national differences in service innovation process and strategy in
developing and developed nations. Journal of Service Management, 22(5). pp. 586-606.
Bosch‐Sijtsema, P. and Bosch, J., 2015. User Involvement throughout the Innovation Process in
High‐Tech Industries. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 32(5). pp. 793-807.
Bruns, E and et. al., 2010. Renewable energies in Germany’s electricity market: a biography of
the innovation process. Springer Science & Business Media.
Cardillo, A and et. al., 2011. Computer-aided embodiment design through the hybridization of
mono objective optimizations for efficient innovation process. Computers in Industry,
62(4). pp. 84-397.
Hoeber, L. and Hoeber, O., 2012. Determinants of an innovation process: A case study of
technological innovation in a community sport organization. Journal of Sport
Management, 26(3). pp. 213-223.
Hoegl, M., Lichtenthaler, U. and Muethel, M., 2011. Is your company ready for open
innovation?. MIT Sloan Management Review, 53(1). p. 45.
Katzy, B and et. al., 2013. Innovation intermediaries: a process view on open innovation
coordination. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 25(3). pp. 295-309.
Keskin, D., Diehl, J.C. and Molenaar, N., 2013. Innovation process of new ventures driven by
sustainability. Journal of Cleaner Production, 45. pp. 50-60.
Krishnan, R.T., 2010. From jugaad to systematic innovation: The challenge for India.
Bangalore: Utpreraka Foundation.
Mahr, D., Lievens, A. and Blazevic, V., 2014. The value of customer cocreated knowledge
during the innovation process. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 31(3). pp.
599-615.
Rosing, K., Rosenbusch, N. and Frese, M., 2010. Ambidextrous leadership in the innovation
process. In Innovation and international corporate growth (pp. 191-204). Springer
Berlin Heidelberg.
Rothwell, R., 2010. Towards the fifth-generation innovation process. International marketing
review, 11(1). pp. 7-31.
Tushman, M.L., 2012. Special boundary roles in the innovation process. Administrative science
quarterly, pp. 587-605.
Winkler, V.A. and Bouncken, R.B., 2011. How does cultural diversity in global innovation
teams affect the innovation process?. Engineering Management Journal, 23(4). pp. 24-
35.
Online
Innovation management. 2013. [online]. Available
through<http://www.innovationmanagement.se/2013/08/08/how-to-innovate-the-
innovation-process>. [Accessed on 28th July 2017].
5 stages of innovation process. 2017. [online]. Available through<https://online.rivier.edu/5-
stages-of-the-innovation-process/>. [Accessed on 28th July 2017].
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