An Innovative Business Case for Unit 8 Innovation & Commercialisation

This report examines the concepts of invention and innovation, highlighting their differences and utilities within a business context. It explores the significance of innovation for organizational growth, emphasizing how it fosters a competitive advantage, meets customer needs, and attracts talent. The report delves into various types of innovation, including incremental, disruptive, architectural, and radical innovation, and discusses the 4Ps of innovation (paradigm, product, position, and process). It provides strategic advice to Essence Drinks, suggesting the implementation of architectural innovation and product-directed approaches to develop a new range of drinks. Furthermore, the report outlines approaches for processing innovative ideas, such as the innovation funnel and frugal innovation, offering practical models for generating and selecting new product flavors.

Running head: INNOVATIVE BUSINESS CASE
Innovative Business Care
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Part A
1. The Context for Innovation and the difference between invention and
innovation:
The terms invention and innovation are often used interchangeably referring to the
creation of something novel or new, however there are subtle differences between the two
terms and their utilities (Powell 2017). Discussed below is how innovation differs from
invention:
While Invention is defined as the occurrence or emergence of an idea or a concept for
a process or a product for the first time, innovation is the implementation of a new concept or
idea for a process or a product. Invention usually leads to the creation of a new process or
product while innovation leads to the modification of an existing process or a product thereby
adding value to it. This shows that innovation requires the existence of a product or process
which needs improvement or change, while invention just requires a new idea that can be
developed into a new process or product.Individuals who invent new peocesses or products
are known as inventors and they can be scientists or engineers, while individuals involved in
the process ofinnovation are called innovators, who are involved in the development of new
ideas that can be used to improve something that already exists and can be either scientists,
engineers, managers or workers (Kelly 2016; Powell 2017).
In order to develop an invention, it is necessary to develop an original idea as well as
it’s a working theory around which the invention can be developed, designed and executed
while to develop an innovation, the new idea being generated needs to be practically
implemented on an existing process or product to make it better. Inventing a process or a
product requires a significant amount of technical acumen and scientific skills in order to
create a process or a product that is completely new while to come up with an innovative idea

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it is important to have strategic, technical as well as marketing skills that can allow the
implementation of the idea to an existing process or product. Invention can occur whenever
an inventor or scientist comes up with a new idea or concept while innovation can only occur
when the need for improvement for an existing process or product is felt. Moreover,
invention can be limited to only a few processes or products and involve the research and
development (R&D) department of an organization, while innovation can involve multiple
processes and products and can involve multiple departments within an organization
(McElheran 2015).
2. The value and importance of innovation to organizations and how this can be
embedded within the organizational leadership and culture at Essence Drinks.
Innovation is an important aspect for the management in any organization as it fosters
organizational growth by helping an organization to develop a competitive advantage in the
market, meet the needs of the customers through new approaches as well as attract talented
employees within an organization. It has been pointed out by few authors that an organization
that supports innovation and innovative ideas are more creative in nature (McElheran 2015).
The creativity and innovation can also help an organization to find new solutions to existing
problems thereby addressing the organizational challenges in a new way. Creativity also
helps to explore different kinds of opportunities for an organization, helping to acquire a new
market as well as keeping up with the current market trends.It has also been suggested that an
organization can ensure its sustainability through innovative ideas for business and helping to
incorporate continuous improvement and improve the business skills of the management.
Innovative strategies to rebrand or repackage existing products can be useful to attract new
customers and increase market share (Souto 2015). Strong innovative ideas can also help an
organization to reinforce the brand and thereby increase market penetration of the product. In
addition, through innovative ideas, it is also possible to improve the efficiency of the existing

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business or product, improve the profits and reduce the amount of waste. The strategy can
help an organization to retain skilled employees as well as attract new skills to their
organization thereby helping to maintain better productivity. Innovative strategies can also be
used to respond to market competition or market trends, helping the organization to ensure its
sustainability. Additionally, innovative ideas can also provide the organization with an
unique selling point that can add value to the product and attract more customers as well as
increase the positive exposure of the product or process (Jarchow and Röhm 2018).
Innovation as well as creativity can be embedded within the organizational leadership
at Essense Drinks using the following strategies:
 Effective communication strategies can be used for sharing information within the
organization as well as utilizing multiple communication channels such as
newsletters, webcasts, podcasts, visual signs and notice boards that can be used to
share innovative ideas from the employees.
 Providing rewards and recognition for employees who comes up with innovative
ideas for an existing product or a process can encourage them to continue
brainstorming on innovative concepts.
 It is important to ensure that the innovation efforts that are used in the organization
are cross referenced with the marketing efforts so that the innovative ideas and
achievements of the organization can be leveraged for better marketing of the brand.
 The leadership can also help to improve collaboration within the organization
between the different departments so that through the sharing of information, new
ideas and concepts can be developed to tackleexisting challenges of the organization.
 By ensuring diversity in workplace, the leadership can help to develop an inclusive as
well as creative work environment which can foster the development ofinnovative
ideas.

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 Taking feedback from the employees (regarding the challenges they face or new
ideas they might have) is another important strategy for collecting new ideas based on
which innovations can be developed.
 Implementing risk tolerance and failure tolerance within the organization can help
employees to come up and implement innovative ideas in the business to analyze
which ones has the most potential.
 By supporting the values of ownership, the management and leadership can also
foster a better sense of responsibility towards the growth of the organization which
can helpthe employees to come up with innovative ideas.
3. The different forms of innovation and the four directions of change an
organisation can take. The 4Ps of innovation and how this supports capability
and management of innovation. Advise to Essence Drinks on which form of
innovation they should engage in.
Types of Innovation:
Innovation in itself can have a very board context depending upon its source and its
influence. Within the dimensions of technology and market, innovation can be differentiated
into four types: incremental, disruptive, architectural or radical (Tavassoli and Karlsson
2015). The diagram below shows these four types of innovation across the dimensions of
market and technology which can provide the organization four directions for change in the
process of implementing innovation.

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(Figure 1- Types of innovation. Source: Norman and Verganti 2014)
Incremental Innovation: this is the most common type of innovation which uses existing
technology or knowledge in order to increase value for the customers (through new designs
or features) in the existing market. The process can also involve removing existing features
from a product or service thereby simplifying it. Value can also be improved through
enhancing the experience of the product or service.
Disruptive Innovation: This is also called the ‘stealth innovation’ in which new process or
technology is implemented in the current market of the business. This type of innovation is
usually stealthy in nature as the new technology can be inferior, more expensive, harder to
use and less pleasing aestheticallycompared to the existing technology used in the market.
However with improvements, the new technology can soon overcome the existing
technologies and therefore disrupts all companies who are using the old technologies as they
attempt to compete with the new technology.

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Architectural Innovation: In this type of innovation, the architecture of the innovation that is
the technologies, skills and knowledge from a specific market are applied into a different
market to create a new customer base. Since this type of innovation utilizes a tried and tested
idea, the risks of failure are generally low. This strategy can be used by Essence drinks to
implement different ideas for the product that are used in other countries.
Radical Innovation: This involves the creation of new or revolutionary ideas or technologies
and is conceptually similar to invention as it involves new technologies in new markets.
Additionally, innovation can be classified into additional types based on the type of
idea being generated, its source or its potential impact such as: process innovation, red ocean
innovation, service innovation, business model innovation, sustainable innovation, frugal
innovation, blue ocean innovation, open source innovation, experience innovation, user led
innovation and supply chain innovation (Norman and Verganti 2014)
4P’s of Innovation:
This is an innovation mix or a model of innovation developed by John Bessant which
can be used to identify the factors that can be improved through innovative ideas or processes
for the business. The mix involves four domains such as paradigm, product, position and
process (Drucker 2014). The diagram below shows the 4 P’s of innovation:

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(Figure 2- The 4P of Innovation. Source: Drucker 2014)
These four paradigms can help the management to understand the position of the
organization and how innovation can be used to improve the product, process, paradigm or
position of the brand.The Four P’s of Innovation can support the capabilities of managing
innovation within the organization by providing a strategic direction to the management on
the type of innovation, how the innovation can be used, the direction of the innovation (that is
process directed, position directed, product directed or paradigm directed). This can be useful
to understand the possible enhancement for the business (Wallace et al. 2016).
Advice on which form of innovation to engage for Essence Drinks:
In order to create an innovative new range of drinks, the company can implement a
‘product directed’ approach for innovation using architecturalinnovation type. This type of
innovation strategy can help the company to develop a new range of ‘lassi’ based on similar

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product ranges used in other markets, that can augment the existing the product line and draw
more customers to the brand. This can be achieved through the creation of new flavors of
lassi, adding on the to the existing mango flavor thereby increasing the product line.
4. The approaches that Essence Drinks can take to process innovative ideas,
including the innovation funnel and frugal innovation
Essense Drinks can implement the approach of ‘idea driven innovation’ to come up
with new ideas for lassiflavours. This can help the management to consider various
possibilities for the flavours from which the best idea(s) can be selected for development and
therefore being added to the product line. Two models that can be used to develop the new
flavours include the ‘innovation funnel’ and ‘frugal innovation’.
Innovation Funnel
In this model, multiple ideas are first generated that increases the knowledge base for
the product and provide concepts for the new product. This is represented by the wide mouth
of a funnel which is the first stage. These new ideas then flows through the narrowing
segment of the funnel which represents the screening process which is the second stage of the
model. The importance of this approach is that it can help to analyze whether the new ideas
matches with the goals of the organization and if they are related to the existing product line.
The best ideas can then be identified and resource allocated for its development. The third
and final stage of the model is the narrow exit of the funnel that represents the release of the
new product where the finalized ideas are implemented by the company (Zandoval Bonazzi
and Ari Zilber 2014). The diagram below shows the innovation funnel that can be used for
the development of new flavors of the product:

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(Figure 3- Innovation funnel. Source: Zandoval Bonazzi and Ari Zilber 2014)
New Product Development (NPD) Processing:
This approach uses a step by step approach for the development of a new product
thereby allowing the process to be segregated to individual processes which can then be
focused on by specific teams in the organization and helps to coordinate their effort in the
overall process. The importance of this approach is that it can be used to strategies the
development of the new product into multiple steps at the end of which the new product can
be commercially launched into the market. The diagram below shows the steps involved in
NPD

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(figure 4: New product development processing: source Zandoval Bonazzi and Ari Zilber
2014)
Frugal Innovation:
This is an approach for innovation that focuses on the reduction of complexity and
cost of a product. This can involve the removal of features that are not essential and
developing new products using lesser resources. This strategy helps a company to eliminate
non value added features, simplify the manufacturing process, and improve capital efficiency
as well as product development efficiency (Shibin et al. 2018). Essence Drinks can
implement frugal innovation by optimizing the usage of resources and minimizing wastage.

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Funding:
Funding for the manufacture of the product can be acquired through capital assets of the
company as well as through bank loans and investments from stakeholders.
Frugal Innovation
5. The steps Essence Drinks should go through to derive a new and innovative
drink.
In order to derive a new innovative drink, Essense Drinks can use the approach of a
product driven innovation using architectural innovation strategy driven by ideas generated
from other similar product lines the following steps can be used:
Step 1: Collecting ideas for various flavors for lassi from other similar product lines in
different countries.
Step 2: Screen the list of flavors, eliminating those not favorable in the UK market or which
might be unhealthy.
Step 3: Develop test batches for testing and screen for the best flavors.
Step 4: Start with the production of the new flavored lassi.
However, it is also important that the company takes adequate steps to protect its
intellectual properties such as recipe for the flavors and preparation of the product by filing
copyrights and patents.

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References:
Drucker, P., 2014. Innovation and entrepreneurship. Routledge.
Jarchow, S. and Röhm, A., 2018. Patent-based investment funds: From invention to
innovation. The Journal of Technology Transfer, pp.1-30.
Kelly, R., 2016. Creative development: Transforming education through design thinking,
innovation, and invention. Brush Education.
McElheran, K., 2015. Do market leaders lead in business process innovation? The case (s) of
e-business adoption. Management Science, 61(6), pp.1197-1216.
Norman, D.A. and Verganti, R., 2014. Incremental and radical innovation: Design research
vs. technology and meaning change. Design issues, 30(1), pp.78-96.
Powell, W.W., 2017. A sociologist looks at crowds: Innovation or invention?. Strategic
Organization, 15(2), pp.289-297.
Shibin, K.T., Dubey, R., Gunasekaran, A., Luo, Z., Papadopoulos, T. and Roubaud, D., 2018.
Frugal innovation for supply chain sustainability in SMEs: multi-method research design.
Production Planning & Control, 29(11), pp.908-927.
Souto, J.E., 2015. Business model innovation and business concept innovation as the context
of incremental innovation and radical innovation. Tourism Management, 51, pp.142-155.
Tavassoli, S. and Karlsson, C., 2015. Persistence of various types of innovation analyzed and
explained. Research Policy, 44(10), pp.1887-1901.
Wallace, J.C., Butts, M.M., Johnson, P.D., Stevens, F.G. and Smith, M.B., 2016. A multilevel
model of employee innovation: Understanding the effects of regulatory focus, thriving, and
employee involvement climate. Journal of Management, 42(4), pp.982-1004.

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Zandoval Bonazzi, F.L. and Ari Zilber, M., 2014. Innovation and Business Model: a case
study about integration of Innovation Funnel and Business Model Canvas. Revista Brasileira
de Gestão de Negócios, 16(53).