London Churchill College: Innovation and Commercialisation Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of innovation and commercialization, using Samsung as a case study. It begins by differentiating innovation from invention and highlighting the value of innovation for businesses. The report then explores the roles of culture, teamwork, vision, and leadership in shaping innovation and commercialization. It delves into the 4Ps of innovation, the innovation funnel, and frugal innovation, providing practical examples. The commercial funnel and its application in the new product development process are also discussed. The report includes a business case for accessing funds and concludes with a discussion on tools for retaining, developing, and protecting intellectual property. The assignment covers key concepts like frugal innovation, new product development, and the commercial funnel, providing a holistic overview of innovation and commercialization strategies.

INNOVATION AND
COMMERCIALISATION

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Mention about innovation and identify its value for a business firm as compared to
invention .....................................................................................................................................1
P2 Define how culture, teamwork, vision and leadership in an organisation shapes innovation
and commercialising ..................................................................................................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
P3 Mention about 4Ps of innovation and define the usage of innovation funnel in shaping and
examine innovative ideas............................................................................................................3
P4 Define developments of frugal innovation and discuss examples of using it in
organisational context ................................................................................................................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
P5 Define the value of commercial funnel and applications in context with new product
development process for commercialisation...............................................................................5
P6 Prepare an appropriate business case for a business firm, involving methods to access
funds ...........................................................................................................................................7
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................8
P7 Discuss about various tools that can be used by a company to retain, develop and protect
intellectual property of an organisation ......................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Innovation is referred as the tactics to introduce new services and products in
marketplace so that changing needs and requirements of customers can be tackled in a proper
manner. Innovation assists in improving the existing features of a product due to which varying
needs of customers are satisfied efficiently (Bagno and et. al., 2017). Commercialisation is
defined as the procedure to popularise a service or product in front so customers so that
maximised sales can be earned. This also involves timely manufacturing and delivering of goods
in market so that high advantage can be gained. This project is prepared in relation with
Samsung which is a South Korean company, headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. At present,
company is successfully operating in global context and employs around 321,000 employees.
This assignment is going to cover about differences among innovation and invention along with
role of culture, teamwork, leadership and vision in shaping commercialisation & innovation.
Concept of frugal innovation, commercial funnel, New product development is discussed so that
an innovative product can be produced. At last, Innovative business case and ways to retain
knowledge in an organisation are discussed.
TASK 1
P1 Mention about innovation and identify its value for a business firm as compared to invention
Innovation is referred as the application of new concepts and thoughts that are essential to
a company so that wide advantage against rivals can be attained properly. By adopting
innovation, an organisation can achieve high profits and advantages by offering unique products
to their customers (Bianchi and et. al., 2012). Invention is stated as production of a product for
the first time by any business organisation or individual person. Inventive products are never
used by any person before but innovative products are new only for a company. People may have
use them under different brand name or trademark. Benefits of innovation to Samsung are stated
below:
 By innovation, attention from maximum number of people can be achieved so that high
profits and revenues can be earned.
 Innovation assist in differentiation of products by which a firm can gain high advantage
over rivals in retaining customer base.
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Difference in innovation and invention
Innovation Invention
 It is referred as adding a new aspect in
existing product line of company.
 It is concerned with manufacturing of a
new product which is never produced
by an organisation or people.
 Innovation requires multiple skills like
technical, marketing and technical
skills.
 To invent new products, only scientific
skills are needed.
P2 Define how culture, teamwork, vision and leadership in an organisation shapes innovation
and commercialising
Aspects like organisational culture, teamwork, leadership and vision have a major role in
shaping up commercialisation and innovation for a business firm. These aspects in context with
Samsung are stated below:
 Culture: According to Handy, there are four kind of culture i.e. task, role, power and
person culture. These cultures have their own merits and demerits. In case of Samsung,
appropriate cultures like task culture or role culture will benefits the employee of
company to work as per their expertise so that productive results can be gained. This will
help the employees of Samsung to work comfortably due to which they will be able to
innovate new concepts and ideas properly (Block and et. al., 2016).
 Leadership: Innovation in an organisation depends upon the guidance and direction of a
leader or manager. In case of Samsung, if leader will be supportive in nature and allows
the employees to share their ideas, it will benefits the company in generating new ideas
on a regular basis due to which carrying out activities like innovation and
commercialisation will be easy. In this context, leader of Samsung can adopt democratic
leadership.
 Teamwork: With the help of teamwork, complex situations can be simplified and new
ideas can be developed so that innovation of new products and their commercialisation
can be carried out in a proper manner. In this context, with the help of models like
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Tuckman and Jensen's model, an effective team can be formulated at Samsung which will
be capable to innovate new products and ideas in efficient manner (Boudreau, Lacetera
and Lakhani, 2011). Also, efficient team will adopt new ways to promote innovation so
that commercialisation can be carried out properly.
 Vision: Appropriate vision will benefits the employees of a company to acknowledge
their ultimate goals and targets in a proper manner. Having a clear vision will benefits the
firm in getting long term advantages. In hope of getting advantages, employees of
company will generate new ideas and concepts that will assists in shaping up of
commercialisation and innovation.
TASK 2
P3 Mention about 4Ps of innovation and define the usage of innovation funnel in shaping and
examine innovative ideas
There are four Ps of innovation which allows a business firm to understand the main
areas where they can improve so that high revenues and profits can be earned. These aspects are
stated below:
 Paradigm: It defines the manner in which a company can carry out required innovation
in their offerings. In this context, manager at Samsung can use Mental model that
specified what and how a company can do to innovate products. For example, in case of
Samsung Electronic Notepad can be formulated by recycling E-waste so that company
can save their extra costs and innovate new product in bulk (Casadesus‐Masanell and
Zhu, 2013).
 Process: By improvements in their internal production processes, operational and
production costs will be reduced. This will help Samsung in earning expected profits and
revenues so that high sales can be earned.
 Position: This depicts the market segment that a company is going to focus so that their
aims and targets can be attained. By positioning, Samsung will be able to identify which
customers are interested in their new product and how much they will be able to earn by
sales of concerned product.
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 Product: This is the last P of innovation which will benefits Samsung in acknowledging
the manner by which a product can be introduced or modifications can be carried out in
existing products.
Innovation Funnel: This is described as those stages which helps a company in
developing new products or processes to fulfil the changing needs of customers in a proper
manner. By using this process, Samsung can prepare a realistic and innovative action plan so that
best idea for innovation can be generated and an appropriate product can be innovated
(Damanpour and Aravind, 2012).
P4 Define developments of frugal innovation and discuss examples of using it in organisational
context
Frugal innovation is the procedure to reduce the complex situations associated with
finances while manufacturing of services and goods. It is carried out by avoiding waste materials
and those aspects which do not add value to a service or product. Procedure associated with
frugal innovation are stated below:
 Seeking opportunities: It is concerned with the conversion of problems into opportunity
so that appropriate outcomes can be attained from complex situations. For example,
Samsung is innovating Electronic Notepad so that voice conversations can be converted
into text. This will help the company in gaining wide success and advantage over rivals.
 Achieve more with less resources: It means using limited resources in an optimal
manner so that organisational requirements can be catered in a proper manner. In this
context, Samsung can use e-waste in preparation of Electronic Notepad so that overall
expenses can be reduced (Eberhardt and et. al., 2017).
 Think in a flexible manner: It means manager at Samsung is not required to be rigid
while formulating policies and procedures. This will help them in changing their policies
as per changing needs of consumers.
 Keep it genuine: This step states that, operations of a firm are needed to be simple so
that any changes or modifications do not impact the working of company in negative
manner. By this, innovation of Electronic Notepad can be carried out efficiently.
 Involve appropriate margins: This means inclusion of both employees and customers
while innovating a product so that overall satisfactory product can be prepared by an
organisation without any confusion.
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 Follow your heart: This is the last step to develop frugal innovation in which a company
can follow their heart and passion while adding new feature to their product
(Ghahramani, 2016). By this, they will be able to manufacture a unique product which
will be highly appreciated by customers and benefits a firm in improving customer
satisfaction and revenues of firm.
Illustration 1: Frugal Innovation. 2019
(Source: Frugal Innovation, 2019)
TASK 3
P5 Define the value of commercial funnel and applications in context with new product
development process for commercialisation
Commercial funnel is also known as revenue funnel which benefits a company in
converting their potential customers into their loyal customers so that business objectives can be
gained in a proper manner. With the help of commercial funnel, organizations like Samsung can
manage their pricing strategies by target specific section of people. By this, company will be able
to innovate and popularize new products so that high revenues can be earned. This will help the
concerned company in gaining competitive advantage over rivals in a proper manner (Hossain
and Kauranen, 2016).
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New product development
It is a procedure through which a business organization introduces new product or service
in marketplace so that expected goals and targets can be attained properly. This process helps in
creating right product which is capable enough to serve customers in a proper manner. In context
with Samsung, procedure for NPD is mentioned below:
 Idea generation: It is the first stage in which different ideas with new concepts are
generated so that an advantageous product can be prepared. These ideas will help a
company in producing a right product which can helps in attainment of organizational
objectives.
 Idea screening: At this stage, generated ideas will be screened and most appropriate
ideas will be selected. These ideas either individually or collaboratively will be used to
develop new product. Out of all the ideas, Samsung has selected the idea to innovate
Electron Notepad (Jahn, 2016).
 Development concept: During this stage, the selected idea will be converted into a
concept so that product development can take place in an appropriate manner. Here,
company will formulate a concept so that idea of producing Electronic Notepad can be
transformed into a real concept.
 Marketing strategy: At this stage, pricing and marketing strategy, promotional tactics,
target market of company will be decided so that new innovative product “Electronic
Notepad” can be popularized at marketplace.
 Business analysis: In this stage, feasibility of product is analyzed in detailed manner so
that it can be acknowledged if new product is capable to achieve organizational aims or
not. Here, opinion of customers about Electronic Notepad will be acknowledged via
surveys and interviews.
 Product development: When business analysis will be carried out and it will be assured
that innovative product have capability to fulfill the needs of business, manager at
Samsung will initiate product development. If results will not be satisfactory, product will
not be developed.
 Test marketing: At this stage, manufactured product will be tested in market and
response of customers are recorded. If customers are highly satisfied by the product then
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activities like customer targeting and positioning are performed (Ke, Fang and et. al.,
2015).
 Commercialization: This is the last stage in which activities like advertising, promotion
and distribution takes place so that maximum number of people can purchase the product
and company can attain high sales.
P6 Prepare an appropriate business case for a business firm, involving methods to access funds
Innovative business case is referred as a formal and structured document that carriers
important information about an innovative product. With the help of a business case, manager of
Samsung will be able to gather important facts and information about an innovative product at a
single place (Kerschke and et. al., 2015). In case of Electronic Notepad which is innovated by
Samsung, business case is mentioned below:
 Background: Samsung is a business conglomerate which is successfully operating in
worldwide. Main products offered by company are apparel, automotive, consumer
electronics, telecommunication equipment, home appliances, mobile phone, Laptops etc.
Company has the target to earn 400 billion USD in the year of 2020 due to which they are
introducing new concepts on regular basis.
 Executive summary: At present, company is innovating Electronic Notepad which is
capable to transform voice data into textual information. This business case will cover all
the knowledge and information associated with new innovation (Kuratko and Hoskinson,
2016).
 Mission and vision: Samsung has the mission to produce Electronic Notepad which can
change voice notes into text. Vision of company is to achieve their sales target for 2020
i.e. 400 billion USD.
 Need of innovation: This innovative product will help business organizations in
reducing their workload as Electronic Notepad will be able to convert business related
verbal information and data into texts that can be easily shared with other devices.
 Opportunity in market: Business organizations, college students and youngsters can
use this device to save their time while studying or performing business activities
(Molnar, 2018).
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 Competitive edge: This type of innovation is not performed by any company yet due to
which Samsung can became market leader by introducing it. This product will
exponentially increase their sales.
 Growth and size possibility: This innovative product will enhance the sales of company
by 40% due to which attaining expected sales and profit will be easier.
 Target market: For this innovative Electronic Notepad, company is mainly going to
target, business persons, college students and youth generation.
 Pricing and promotional Strategy: To popularize their product, company is going to
use economic pricing so that maximum number of people, irrespective of their financial
background can buy them. To promote their product, digital marketing and traditional
marketing like advertisements, hoardings will be used (Rasmussen and Eliason, 2017).
 Funding: There are multiple ways by which Samsung can manage their funds so that
product innovation can be carried out in a proper manner. Different ways to arrange
funds are bank loans, crowd funding, angel investment, loan from family or friends. Out
of all the option, manager of Samsung can manage their funds via bank loan. Advantage
of bank loan is that it will be available for three to ten years due to which Samsung will
have sufficient time to pay it back. Disadvantage is that to take a bank loan, company will
have to give some security or personal possession as a guarantee to pay loan back.
TASK 4
P7 Discuss about various tools that can be used by a company to retain, develop and protect
intellectual property of an organisation
In order to gain competitive advantage over rivals, it is essential for an organisation to
preserve and protect their knowledge or intellectual property. Preserving, retaining and
developing their knowledge will help a business firm to became a market leader due to which
attainment of organisational goals and objectives will be very easier (Rosca, Arnold and Bendul,
2017). There are different tools which can be used by the manager in Samsung to retain their
knowledge and intellectual property. These tools are stated below:
 Patents: It is defined as an intellectual property which provides legal right to the owner
to restrict others from selling, importing, copying or producing an innovation for limited
time. With the help of this tool, Samsung can protect their innovation from being sold or
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copied due to which they will be market leaders for that product. Disadvantage of patent
is that, it is very expensive and it has to be renewed after limited time. This can increase
the costs of company in a considerable manner.
 Trademarks: It is a symbol, design, sign or any recognizable aspect which helps in
distinguishing the services and products of a firm from rivals. By using this tool,
Samsung can easily differentiate their offerings from competitors so that a unique brand
image can be formed. One demerit is that to get trademark, Samsung will have to pay
heavy amount every 10 years which will impacts the revenues for that year in a negative
way (Wang, 2017).
In context with Samsung, manager of company can use patent so that their intellectual
property and other knowledge can not be copied, used and sold by rival companies. Trademark
will provide unique identity to products of company but rivals can still copy the innovative
aspect and create their same products with their trademark. Hence, manager in Samsung is
recommended to use Patent to preserve their Electronic Notepad from competitors.
CONCLUSION
In accordance with above discussed report, it has been concluded that innovation and
commercialisation has an important role in success of a business firm. By innovating new
products on regular basis, a company can gain competitive advantage over rivals in a proper
manner. Innovating helps in satisfying the changing needs of people in a satisfactory manner.
Aspects like culture, vision, leadership and teamwork makes an organisation effective due to
which carrying out innovation became easier. Different Ps of innovation and commercial funnel,
process of NPD helps in innovating right product. Innovation business case includes all the
information which is needed to carry out innovation. With the help of copyright, trademarks and
patent, intellectual property of a company can b e preserved.
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REFERENCES
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Bianchi, M. and et. al., 2012. Enabling open innovation in small‐and medium‐sized enterprises:
how to find alternative applications for your technologies. R&d Management. 40(4).
pp.414-431.
Block, J. H. and et. al., 2016. Commercializing user innovations by vertical diversification: The
user–manufacturer innovator. Research Policy. 45(1). pp.244-259.
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innovation contests: An empirical analysis. Management science. 57(5). pp.843-863.
Casadesus‐Masanell, R. and Zhu, F., 2013. Business model innovation and competitive
imitation: The case of sponsor‐based business models. Strategic management journal.
34(4). pp.464-482.
Damanpour, F. and Aravind, D., 2012. Managerial innovation: Conceptions, processes and
antecedents. Management and organization review. 8(2). pp.423-454.
Eberhardt, A. W. and et. al., 2017. A Project Course Sequence in Innovation and
Commercialization of Medical Devices. Journal of biomechanical engineering. 139(7).
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Ghahramani, F., 2016. University innovation and commercialization ecosystem: Promoting
pathways for women in STEM innovators. University of Pennsylvania.
Hossain, M. and Kauranen, I., 2016. Open innovation in SMEs: a systematic literature review.
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Jahn, B., 2016. The cultural construction of international relations: the invention of the state of
nature. Springer.
Ke, W., Fang. and et. al., 2015. Low-temperature solution-processed tin oxide as an alternative
electron transporting layer for efficient perovskite solar cells. Journal of the American
Chemical Society. 137(21). pp.6730-6733.
Kerschke, P. and et. al., 2015, July. Detecting funnel structures by means of exploratory
landscape analysis. In Proceedings of the 2015 Annual Conference on Genetic and
Evolutionary Computation(pp. 265-272). ACM.
Kuratko, D. F. and Hoskinson, S., 2016. Technological innovation: Generating economic
results. Emerald Group Publishing.
Molnar, A., 2018. Giving kids the business: The commercialization of America's schools.
Routledge.
Rasmussen, T. E. and Eliason, J. L., 2017. Military-civilian partnership in device innovation:
Development, commercialization and application of resuscitative endovascular balloon
occlusion of the aorta. Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery. 83(4). pp.732-735.
Rosca, E., Arnold, M. and Bendul, J. C., 2017. Business models for sustainable innovation–an
empirical analysis of frugal products and services. Journal of Cleaner Production .162.
pp.S133-S145.
Wang, J., 2017. Structuring innovation funnels for R & D projects under uncertainty. R&D
Management .47(1). pp.127-140.
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