Innovation & Commercialisation Strategies: A Report on Innocent Drinks

This report provides a detailed analysis of innovation and commercialisation strategies, focusing on Innocent Drinks, a UK-based company known for its smoothies and juices. It covers key aspects such as the importance of innovation versus invention, and how organisational vision, leadership, culture, and teamwork shape innovation and commercialisation processes. The report also examines the 4P's of innovation, the innovation funnel, and the role of frugal innovation within an organisational context. Furthermore, it explains the commercial funnel and the application of New Product Development (NPD) processing for commercialisation, including building an innovation business case and measuring its effectiveness. The report also discusses tools for developing, retaining, and protecting knowledge and intellectual property, culminating in an evaluation of innovation development and challenges faced by organisations.

Innovation and
Commercialisation

Contents
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY.......................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1.................................................................................................................................................3
P1. Explain innovation and determine its importance to organisation in comparison with invention.
...........................................................................................................................................................3
P2. How organisational vision, leadership, culture and teamwork can shape innovation and
commercialisation..............................................................................................................................5
M1. Analyze different source of innovation, and how Organisations can foster and develop an
environment and culture of innovation..............................................................................................6
TASK 2.................................................................................................................................................6
P3. Explain 4Ps of innovation and explain use of innovation funnel to examine and shape
innovative ideas.................................................................................................................................6
M2. Analyse and apply the innovation funnel in an organisational context.......................................7
P4 Explain the developments in frugal innovation and provide examples of how it is used in an
organisational context........................................................................................................................8
M3. Appraise the role of frugal innovation in an organisational context...........................................9
D1. Critically analyse how innovation is developed, embedded and measured in an organisational
context...............................................................................................................................................9
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.......12
M4. Build a detail innovation Business Case which includes how to measure its overall
effectiveness using appropriate techniques available to test, iterate and improve............................14
TASK 4...............................................................................................................................................14
P7. Discuss the different tools that organisations can use to develop, retain and protect knowledge
and intellectual property..................................................................................................................14
M5. Present supported evidence-based evaluation of these different tools in the context of the wider
business environment......................................................................................................................15
D2. Critically evaluate the nature of innovation and the context in which it is developed, providing
evidence-based judgements on how organisation can overcome challenges to develop successful
innovations......................................................................................................................................15
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................16
REFRENCES.....................................................................................................................................17

INTRODUCTION
Innovation refers to the procedure of launching new ideas, methodologies, products, services
or workflow by an organisation. Commercialisation describes the process of introducing new
goods in market. Innovation is very essential in market by companies as it provides them
opportunity to attract more customer base and enhance their profitability. Commercialisation
includes all important key functions that are used to accomplish success of new items in
market. The following report covers concepts of innovation and commercialisation through
Innocent Drinks which is a UK based company. The company was established in 1998 and
has its headquarter in London (Hu and Gholizadeh, 2019) The company deals in smoothies
and juices which are sold in various outlets such as supermarket, coffee shops in the market
of UK. The company is launching new product called “Probiotic Protein Smoothie” which is
in powder form and is based on Olly plant. The report explains the vision, leadership, culture
and teamwork of organisation which helped in shaping its innovation and commercialisation.
The focus has also been paid on the 4P’s of innovation along with importance of innovation
funnel and developments in frugal innovation. Furthermore, the prominence of commercial
funnel and application of New Product Development processing for commercialisation has
also been explained. The last section of this report defines business case of the selected
company and evaluation of various tools used by company to develop knowledge.
MAIN BODY
TASK 1
P1. Explain innovation and determine its importance to organisation in comparison with
invention.
Development of any new product or service in an organisation is described as invention.
whereas innovation is described as the modification done in an invented product or service.
For a business it is very important to bring innovative product in the market in order to save
money, time and provide competitive advantage in market. Whereas invention provides
patent to the organisation which give them rights to secure their invented product in market
and also identifies it as an actual invention (Bilovodska and et. al.,2020). For instance, the
selected organisation launched innovative product in market and accomplished increase in its
sale during first three years because of its innovation and distribution capability. However,
during forth year it faced decline in its sales because competitors entered in the market.

Hence, the company came up with the idea of introducing new range of innovative products.
The importance of innovation for the organisation is as follows:
 Competitive advantage:
Innovation means doing or producing different product or services from everyone else
in the market which provide a company competitive advantage over others. It helps an
organisation to stand differently in market from competition. It provides company a
better and new way to compete in market. It is a sustainable method to remain in
market for a long time and increase firm’s growth productivity for future.
 Attract top talents:
Organisations which introduce new and innovative products in market also get an
opportunity to recruit top talents. Establishing an image of innovative brand motivates
skilled and talented individuals to apply and remain in company for long time. This
provide a strong competitive edge to the firm.
Difference between innovation and invention
Basis Invention Innovation
Occurrence Invention occurs when an
individual or group of people
comes with idea of new
product or service that has
never been made before. It is a
theoretical implementation of
new idea,
Innovation occurs when a new
idea is executed on making
product or is being proceed
for the very first time. It is a
practical approach of
launching new goods in
market.
Skills required The skills required for
inventing new ideas are
scientific thinking, creativity
and unique ideologies.
Innovation requires wide set
of skills such as strategical
thinking, marketing, planning,
financing and technical.
Activities Inventing an idea requires
limited activities of research
and development department
of an organisation.
Innovating a unique product
in market requires a lot of
research and development
activities.

P2. How organisational vision, leadership, culture and teamwork can shape innovation and
commercialisation.
Innovation and commercialization provides an organisation a way to gain profit through
introducing new process, service or goods in market. In case of Innocent drinks, its vision,
leadership, culture and teamwork helps in shaping its innovation and commercialization by
following ways:
 Vision:
Every organisation has its own vision that explains which service or goods are
need to be introduced in market and in what ways commercialisation of that service
should be done. The vision of a frim decides its growth and innovations after which
commercialisation could be proceeded effectively (Liotard and Revest, 2018). In case
of Innocent drinks, company’s vision is to serve refreshing drinks which could satisfy
customer as well as are good for their health. This vision of company motivates them
to develop new probiotic protein smoothie which is a Olly plant based powder mix in
the UK market.
 Leadership:
In every organisation leaders play very important role in shaping behavior of
employees. There are various leadership styles such as autocratic, democratic,
participative and many other which help them to run organisation effectively. In
context to Innocent Drinks, leader implement democratic and participative leadership
style which help them in motivating their employees. It also assists them in providing
their workers an opportunity to put forward their opinions and creativity. This bring
more creativity and innovation in company as several minds bring new ideas.
 Culture:
Culture of an organisation reflects its values, attitude and standard. It is
described as overall shared beliefs, customs and behavior of whole employees
working in a company. It helps in improving workflow and also assist leaders to guide
workers in right decision making procedure (Pandey, 2021). In terms of Innocent
Drinks, positive culture helps in uniting employees to work together with same
motive. This positive cultural environment of company encourages its employees to
work with their full efficiency.
 Teamwork:

Teamwork plays a very prominent role in growth and productivity of an
organisation. It contributes in commercialisation of innovative goods and team
members bring new ideas which help them in producing unique products. In case of
Innocent Drinks, employees of the company work together for its growth. They work
hard by putting all their efforts and generate strategies together in order to provide
competitive advantage for company. The teamwork helps the company in generating
marketing schemes and ideas for commercialisation of their probiotic protein
smoothie in market.
M1. Analyze different source of innovation, and how Organisations can foster and develop an
environment and culture of innovation
The various source of innovation for companies could be due to changes in
demographics, outside modification, customer demands or failure in old products. Such as in
case of Innocent Drinks, company innovated its new product because the sales of earlier
product got reduced. The companies could develop a positive working environment by
engaging its employees in their decision making process. They should provide them support
to work as team and encourage them to give their opinions.
TASK 2
P3. Explain 4Ps of innovation and explain use of innovation funnel to examine and shape
innovative ideas.
The 4P’s of innovation model was purposed by two professors Joe Tidd and John Bessant
which could be used to manage and focus innovation efforts of an organisation. The 4P’s of
innovation in case of Innocent drinks are as follows:
 Paradigm: This P of innovation describes what modifications an organisation does in
itself and how it frames its process. In other words, it could be said that it is
concerned with the changes that are done in a company (Couch and et. al., 2017). In
case of Innocent drinks, the company has shifted its smoothies range from drinks to
powder mix which are healthier for customers. This innovation is highly drastic as the
firm is doing something different which has not been done by them earlier.
 Process: This step mainly focuses on the procedure of changes and is usually internal
to an organisation. It involves all the tools, technologies, techniques and planning
utilize in manufacturing product or service. In terms of Innocent Drinks, the company
is launching powdered probiotic smoothie for the very first time. Therefore, the

process of manufacturing and their recipe are very different. The process of
innovation is high for company as they already have smoothie flavours in their drinks.
 Position: This P of innovation refers to the positioning of new products or services in
market (Polova, and Thomas, 2020). It develops a change in context in which goods
are launched or positioned in market, thereby modifying the opinions of customers. In
terms of Innovation Drinks, the company is introducing its probiotic smoothies in
same market of UK targeting the same customer base.
 Product: This innovation deals with the development of new or making modification
in existing products or services that an organisation offers. In case of Innocent Drinks,
the company has executed product innovation by launching new Olly plant based
Probiotic powdered smoothie. This product innovation is highly radical as company
has not offered this smoothie earlier in the market.
Innovation funnel and its uses
Innovation funnel assist in explaining overall steps involved in manufacturing a
product. The main aim of innovation is to develop goods or services that could meet demands
of market. Initially a company collect unique or innovative ideas and refine them after which
only few designs are executed by them. The ideas that remain after refining are joined
together in order to come up with new concept.
M2. Analyse and apply the innovation funnel in an organisational context.
The innovation funnel consists of three stages which should be followed by Innocent
drinks so that it could bring best innovation and enhance their productivity. The three stages
are described as follows:
Figure 1 Innovation Funnel. 2016.
(Source: Innovation Funnel, 2016.)
Investigation:

The very first step while innovating a product is to gather as many ideas as possible
which helps an organisation to enhance its knowledge base. The more products a company
could develop if it has many unique ideas (Shin, Kraemer and Dedrick, 2017). In case of
Innocent Drinks, the company has collected information related to probiotic powdered
smoothie from market research and evaluating demands of customers. The firm explored that
idea and analysed its abilities to execute it which helped them in fulfilling market demand.
Development:
The second stage of innovation funnel describes the procedure of relating ideas with
the objectives of company in order to evaluate they relate to it or not. At this point companies
allocate their resources to promising ideas which could bring profit for them. In terms of
Innocent Drinks, the company screened potential ideas and select best out of them which
could increase their sales in market. The company selected this idea of introducing probiotic
smoothies as it was matching with its goal of enhancing sale in market again.
Shipping product:
This is the last stage of innovation funnel where the company is ready to deliver its
new product or service in market (Quartey, 2019). In terms of Innocent Drinks, the company
introduced their new product in marketplace through implementing marketing strategies. The
company aims to target large customer base and gain competitive advantage over other.
P4 Explain the developments in frugal innovation and provide examples of how it is used in
an organisational context
Frugal development refers to the procedure of decreasing cost of product’s
production. In terms of Innovation Drinks, the frugal innovation has helped company in
reducing the production cost of its new product ‘probiotic protein smoothie’. The frugal
innovation consists of six principles which are described below:
Engage and Iterate: This principle states that research and development models of
companies were time consuming, not environment friendly as well as inflexible. For Innocent
Drinks continuous customer engagement is necessary to understand their demands.
Flex assets: This approach could be applied to resources of organisations such as
distribution, production process, service and buyers (Hogan and et. al., 2018). In terms of
Innocent Drinks, the company needs to keep updating its resources in order to grab
opportunities available in market.

Develop sustainable solutions: This factor describes that companies should use ethical and
natural resources to conserve the environment. Innocent Drinks utilize recycled plastic bottles
for packing their smoothies.
Shape customer behaviour: Companies need to create awareness about reducing their non-
sustainable activities. Innocent Drinks provide their products in environment friendly bottles
and create their advertisement in such manner which motivates buyers to conserve
environment.
Co-create with consumers: According to this principle companies must give their customers
an opportunity to create their personalised product (Tajpour, Kawamorita and Demiryurek,
2020). Innocent Drinks is considering this factor to implement in future which will facilitate
their buyers to develop their own flavoured smoothies.
Make innovative friends: This principle suggests that companies should collaborate with
various partners such as government, suppliers or start-ups. Innocent Drinks along with Age
UK, The Big grow, The Big Knot and many others is serving as well as contributing in
society.
M3. Appraise the role of frugal innovation in an organisational context
Frugal innovation has helped the company in connecting more with their customers
and helped them in improving their services. This also assisted the firm in contributing their
part in society and environment. The company has become more responsible and achieved
success by partnering with various other firms to help needy people.
D1. Critically analyse how innovation is developed, embedded and measured in an
organisational context
The selected company innovated its new probiotic protein smoothie by evaluating
market demands and by investing in research and development which states that people are
becoming more health conscious. The organisation use various tools of innovation such as
4Ps of innovation, frugal innovation and innovation funnel in order to evaluate all risks and
profits company could face in market.
TASK 3

P5. Explain the importance of the commercial funnel and the application of New Product
Development (NPD)processing for commercialisation of innovation
A commercial funnel is marketing tool which is used by companies to discover,
succeed and sale its merchandise to potential customers (Agolla, 2018). It is a procedure of
attracting consumers towards their product and influence them to buy that. This funnel is also
known as Sales funnel which provides guidance to sales employees about where they need to
work to enhance sales in market. This funnel is consisting of four stages which are described
below that explains whole marketing experience of buyers of Innocent Drinks:
Figure 2 Conversion Funnel. 2021.
(Source: Conversion Funnel, 2021.)
 Awareness: The first stage explains the journey of potential buyers of discovering
new product or services offered by company. Innocent Drinks identifies its potential
customers and make them aware about their products through various platforms such
as social media.
 Interest: After creating awareness about their products the company maintain its
customer’s interest by offering them discounts (Beligatamulla, 2018). It also explains
them about the health benefits of probiotic smoothies such as it helps in balancing
microbial activities in digestive system.
 Desire: This is very crucial stage of sales funnel to commercialise product of
company. It provides information about the product of company and its advantages.
At this stage buyer think about whether they desire to buy that particular product.

 Action: This is the last stage of sales funnels where customers take their final action
of purchasing or not. In order to create more sales of its new product Innocent Drinks
organise nurture campaigns so that it can remain in minds of customers.
Application of New Product Development (NPD)processing:
New product development is the procedure of introducing new products in market
(Lamberti and et. al.,2017). The company has to engage in this process due to modification in
customer preferences, enhanced competition, advanced technologies or to capitalise on new
possibility. This process has seven stages which are mentioned below in detail:
Idea Generation: It explains the brainstorming sessions where people generate new ideas or
concepts that are being shortlisted to be discussed later. In terms of Innocent Drinks, the
company motivate its employees to give their ideas and out of which the idea of Probiotic
protein smoothie got selected.
Idea Screening: This stage describes the process of choosing potential idea that could
enhance profitability of company. The owners of the selected organisation saw potential in
this idea as it gives its customer more health benefits.
Concept Development: Before executing idea company needs to evaluate profits and
challenges it could encounter in market. The selected company with the help of finance
department evaluate the profit and loss this could generate.
Market strategies: This describes overall process of reaching to targeted customers through
implementing potential business strategies which could help in capturing large consumer base
(Wang, Wang and Jiang,2021).The selected firm make potential marketing strategies to
increase their consumer base.
Product Development: At this stage of NPD prototype of product is being shared with
company’s stakeholder. Innocent Drinks experimented its prototype with test audience to
visualize how product will perform or look in market.
Market Testing: This step helps in evaluating viability of new goods and assist in reducing
uncertainties occur in market. The company took feedbacks from people and updated its
product to decrease the risk of failure of product.
Market Commercialisation: This is the last stage where product enters in market and is
being commercialised (De Vries, and et. al., 2017). This includes its production, distribution,

marketing, sales and customer support. The selected firm introduced the product in market by
packing them in recycled bottles.
P6. Build an Innovation Business Case for an organisation, including ways to access funding
Company Overview:
Innocent Drinks is a UK based company that serves its market with its products of
smoothies and juices in various flavours. The company was founded by Richard Reed, Adam
Balon and Jon Wright in the year 1998. The company has its headquarters at London and
aims create healthy products for its customers.
Vision of Company
The vision of the company is to develop healthy smoothies and juices in responsible
as well as sustainable way to remain in market for long time.
Mission of Company
The mission of the company is to keep their customers healthy and help out other
communities in order to ensure that planet also become healthier.
Problem statement
The company launched its smoothie products in market and gain rapid growth in its
sales in the first three years. Because of its innovation and distribution capability the
company was able to enhance its profitability. However, in fourth year of trading company
faced a decline in its sales as lot of competitors have entered the market. This increased the
competition for Innocent Drinks and decrease their growth.
Innovative Idea
To remain in market every company has to execute innovative ideas in their product
or service. Innocent drinks also required to practically appliance of innovation in existing
products in order to enhance their sales and gain competitive advantage. During NPD
procedure the firm collected several ideas and from them it selected the concept of “Probiotic
Protein Smoothies”. This will provide an opportunity for company to further enhance it sales
and capture large customer base in market. This product will give organisation new buyers
who are concerned towards their health which would provide company an advantage over its
competitors.