Innovation and Commercialisation Report: Strategies and Analysis

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This report provides a comprehensive analysis of innovation and commercialization strategies, focusing on their significance for business success. The report begins by defining innovation and differentiating it from invention, highlighting the importance of organizational vision, leadership, culture, and teamwork in fostering innovation. It then explores the 4Ps of innovation (product, process, position, and paradigm) and the use of innovation funnels. The report further examines the commercial funnel and the application of new product development, including building an innovation business case. Finally, it discusses tools used by firms to retain, secure, and protect intellectual property. The report uses Oak Cash & Carry Ltd as a case study to illustrate these concepts, providing practical insights into how businesses can leverage innovation for competitive advantage and sustainable growth. The report also provides a comparison between invention and innovation, and explores the importance of leadership and teamwork in driving innovation and commercialization.

Innovation and
Commercialisation

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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................ 1
P1: Innovation and its significance as compared to invention...............................................1
P2: Contribution of organisational vision, leadership, culture and teamwork in innovation and
commercialisation...................................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................ 4
P3: Explain 4P's of innovation and use of innovation funnel.................................................4
P4: Development in frugal innovation and its uses................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................ 8
P5: Significance of commercial funnel & application of new product development.............8
P6: Building an innovation Business case..............................................................................9
TASK 4.......................................................................................................................................... 10
P7: Tools used by firm to retain, secure and protect intellectual property...........................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES.............................................................................................................................. 12

INTRODUCTION
Innovation is essential requirement of every organisation which drives ahead than their
rivals and achieve competitive advantage as well. For this, the management itself encourage
employees as well bring new and innovative ideas that can be implemented in business
operations in order to get maximum positive result. Innovation refers to a new thing or a new
method of doing something which increases efficiency and productivity (Bianchi and et. al.,
2010). In modern era, where the needs and preferences of customers are changing more
frequently, it is required for an organisation to make innovative changes in their products and
services as well as technologies used in execution of business functions. Oak Cash and Carry Ltd
which deals in food and drug stores is selected for the purpose of preparing this report. The
project includes the brief description of innovation along with their comparison with invention.
The project also explains the contribution of organisational vision, leadership, culture and
teamwork in innovation and commercialisation, 4P's of innovation, use of innovational funnel,
importance of commercial funnel along with the application of NPD, innovation business case,
tools required to use to retain, secure and protect intellectual property.
TASK 1
P1: Innovation and its significance as compared to invention
Innovation is described as a process of conversion of new and innovative idea and
thoughts into products or services to maximise the satisfaction level of customers. It is
compulsorily required for an organisation to encourage its employees to bring new and
innovative ideas so as to implement in business operations in order to achieve better possible
result. It drives an organisation to achieve competitive advantage and bring company ahead than
their rivals in competitive market.
The concept of invention is much different from the innovation, as invention refers to
creation of something which cannot be developed by anyone earlier whereas innovation refers to
the process of developing the existing process of business functions with the help of unique and
innovative ideas. Culture also play a significant role within the workplace thus it is important for
Oak Cash and Carry to build and develop organisational culture which motivates employees to
develop their thoughts and ideas while performing allotted task. On the other hand,
commercialisation is the the process of managing or running something principally for financial
gain. For this, Oak cash and carry introduces new app for selling and communicating with
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targeted customers. Oak Cash and Carry is privately owned company which is operating business
activities at small scale. In the modern business environment, there is high competition at market
place which requires Oak Cash and Carry to adopt innovative ideas and innovative methods to
make their products and services more effective. For an example, Oak Cash and Carry may
decide to launch a new mobile application through which they can receive orders from customers
and supplied them at their place. It reduces extra efforts and time of employees as well as
customers through restricting them to reach at their physical stores (Camisón and Villar-López,
2014). Importance of such innovation for employees as well as customers are briefly explained
under the below:
 Adoption of tools and techniques in various business functions reduces physical efforts of
employees. For example, launching of new mobile application requires less efforts and
time of employees to achieve targeted sales.
 Innovation is much effective in increasing motivation, staff retention and flexible
recruitment.
 It drives an organisation to achieve competitive advantage through improving their
existing products and services.
 It allows customers to receive products at their own place without visiting at physical
stores.
Comparison between Invention and Innovation:
Basis for comparison Innovation Invention
Meaning It refers to the implementation of
the idea for very first time.
It refers to the occurrence of an idea
of product that has been never made
before.
Generalisation Adding something with existing
products.
Creation of new product.
Skill It requires marketing, technical
and strategic skills.
It requires scientific skills.
Concern Combination of multiple number
of products.
Single product or service.
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Activities It requires support from whole
organisation.
It requires support from R&D only.
P2: Contribution of organisational vision, leadership, culture and teamwork in innovation and
commercialisation
Organisational vision, leadership, culture and teamwork in innovation plays an important
role in achieving growth and success of an organisation with the help of their direction and
support. A vision statement is made to guide management and employees to perform in right
direction so as to achieve in future period of time. Oak Cash and Carry is a small-UK based
company which deals in providing groceries products and services. Due to operating business at
small scale, the vision statement of Oak Cash and Carry is to expand its business to a large scale
and achieve strong market position. It can be further understood in detailed manner under the
below:
Vision: It is a pre-determined statement which act as a motivator for the members of an
organisation to perform allotted roles and responsibilities in desired manner. The vision
statement of Oak Cash and Carry is “To achieve strong existence in market and huge customer
strength”. It can be achieved through offering quality products and supply on time in bulk
quantity which help in gaining loyalty and trust of targeted customers (Casadesus‐Masanell and
Zhu, 2013). This will help in achieving growth and huge sustainability in competitive market.
Culture and teamwork: Oak Cash and Carry is operating business at small-scale due to
which it is required for company to create a positive environment at workplace so to bring
motivation among employees to work hard and contribute maximum efforts in achieving desired
goals and objectives. Culture refers to the norms, beliefs, value which are exist in an organisation
with an aim of guiding employees to perform in better and ethical way so that it become easy for
company to achieve loyalty of employees and retain them for longer period of time. For
example, limited working hours for employees and giving time for relaxation during working
hours creates healthy atmosphere at workplace. Through proper communication and coordination
with employees, it minimises the chances of conflicts among employees and motivate them to
work in a team which directly makes huge impact on the productivity and profitability of
company (Cooper, Seiford and Zhu, 2011).
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Leadership: It also plays a major role in driving business organisation to achieve its
desired goals and objectives within pre-determined time period. A leader is one who have
sufficient skills and knowledge to guide and motivate employees to perform in right direction.
For this, there are different leadership styles which are essential to adopt in order to maximise
the working behaviour of employees and achieve loyalty of employees. For example, Democratic
leadership style provides full freedom to employees to make decision on their own without
consulting with management. It increases thinking capacity of employees and encourage them to
bring new and innovative ideas to complete allotted work so as to achieve profitable outcomes.
Therefore, leadership also contribute maximum towards introducing of innovation within an
organisation (Damanpour and Aravind, 2012).
Commercialisation: The management is responsible to identify and analyse major issues
related with production, marketing, finance etc. which are having more impact on the business
operations of Oak Cash and Carry. Thus, it is important to resolve such issues to maintain the
appropriate flow of operations. After analysing the issues, it is essential to determine different
sources to develop best solution for issue. After receiving information from such sources, the
process of developing or modifying existing products will be done. After this, the management
carefully test such innovative product and identify its reliability as well. Therefore, receiving
responses from the prototype, the management of company is in position to decide whether to
introduce such product into market or not. This will help organisation in achieving huge
customer strength and huge sustainability as well.
TASK 2
P3: Explain 4P's of innovation and use of innovation funnel
Innovation is an important term which supports maximum to an organisation in achieving
desired goals and objectives. Due to dynamic environment, needs and preferences of people have
also changed which requires company to cope up with as soon as possible. It can be possible
through bringing continuous innovative changes in their existing products and services according
to the desire of targeted people (George, McGahan and Prabhu, 2012). The concept of innovation
consist of 4P's which includes product, process, position and paradigm that supports in
maximising the quality in process of executing business operations. These elements are briefly
discussed under:
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(Source: 4 P's of Innovation Mix, 2010)
Product: Product is considered as the representative of firm as it play a major role in
building strong brand image for company in competitive market. As a small-sized business, Oak
Cash and Carry is required to make continuous innovative changes in their offerings. For
example, Oak Cash and Carry start to produce organic food products and also engaged in selling
organic vegetables and fruits. Through this, the business operations of company are expanded to
a large scale and achieve huge customer strength as well.
Process: It is another important element of innovation mix which includes the procedure
of executing business operations. Oak Cash and Carry deals in offering grocery products to the
people of UK therefore to increase sales of their product, it is required for them to bring
innovation in their process of distribution. For example, launching a new mobile application
which provides an opportunity to customers to purchase their grocery product through online
using such app. It reduces time and efforts of employees as they are free from dealing with
customers at their stores which having different cultures and backgrounds (Guan and Chen,
2010).
Position: This is the element which mainly consist with the position of firm in present
competitive market. It can be developed through maximising the satisfaction level of targeted
people and achieve their loyalty as well. Therefore, it can be possible for Oak Cash and Carry to
invest more in adoption of innovative marketing tools so as to reach the information about their
products to different market segments. For example, social media marketing is an effective
platform to reach maximum number of targeted people.
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Illustration 1: 4 P's of Innovation Mix

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Paradigm: Oak Cash and Carry has employed 70 employees having different perception,
opinion and ideas for companies growth. As sometimes, views of people are not essential to
consider as the employees have more knowledge and skills than the people. This element of
innovation is connected with mental model. As small business firm Oak Cash and Carry has
integrated innovation in terms of developing own mobile application as to keeping in view the
ideas and thoughts of people (Ke, Fang and et. al., 2015).
Innovation Funnel: It is such concept which is applied to develop existing products
through adding extra value which maximises the overall value of product. It is most applicable to
analyse the stages which are followed to develop process or product. The major purpose of
innovation is to improve the process of execution of business activities so as to produce new and
innovative product which can help in meeting market needs in economic or manufacturable
forms. It includes some stages which are given as under:
The wide mouth of the Funnel: It is the first stage of innovational funnel in which the
new and innovative ideas will be collected through conducting research or survey in which
rivals, employees and customers took participate. It will help management in giving ideas about
introducing new product into market which can easily achieve success in competitive market.
Selection of Idea: In this stage, the best idea or method will be opt among various ideas
collected from different people. It can be selected after analysing the effectiveness and result that
company may achieved from market in near future (McCoy and et. al., 2010.).
Implementation of idea: This is the last stage in which the selected ideas will be
practically implemented so as to generate the opportunities for company to gain high competitive
advantage. It require employees efforts and time of employees thus the management of Oak Cash
and Carry should appoint skilled and experienced employees for such implementation.
P4: Development in frugal innovation and its uses
Frugal innovation: It is defined as the process or an activity of minimising the
complexities and cost of production through removing unwanted features currently exist in
products offered by company into market. Eliminating non-essential elements from the
production which are not that much important for the growth and success of an organisation is
called as frugal innovation. According to such concept, the management tried to minimise the
issues and conflicts that may arises in the operations of firm. This concept mainly introduce to
develop a better and optimum solution to the buyers through maximising the value of products at
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minimum cost. In today's business environment, large as well as small-medium sized
organisation such as Oak Cash and Carry are more concerned about the transformation of their
business models and mental models in order to implement innovation within an organisation. For
example, recruiting skilled employees who are having knowledge about utilising available
resources in an optimum manner. Frugal innovation consists of different stages which are briefly
described under the below:
Finding opportunity in adversity: This is the first stage in which the existing issues are
properly reframed by the employees through analysing them with the past issues. In the Oak
Cash and Carry, issues are first identified and gives maximum efforts by employees to convert
such issues into an opportunity through handling organisational operations in more effective and
efficient manner. For example, conflicts among employees regarding their allotted roles and
responsibilities can be resolved through exchanging work according to their skills and
knowledge.
Do more with less: Under this stage, the available resources are determined through
workforce and make efforts to utilise them in an optimum manner so as to achieve profitable
outcomes to company.
Think & act flexibly: Under this stage, the management itself motivate employees as
well as create flexible ideas so that it can be implemented in process of business functions more
effectively.
Keep it simple: Under this stage, Oak Cash and Carry focuses on resolving the employees
issues and conflicts through giving them optimum solution which bring smoothness in business
operations of an organisation.
Include the margin: The main focus of small scale organisations such as Oak Cash and
Carry is to achieve huge customer strength which can be possible through providing them quality
products and services. It can be done through communicating with targeted people and ask them
for their feedbacks and suggestions about the required changes that want in company's existing
products. It will help management in making an effective decision for changes through analysing
the responses of customers properly (Vishnevskiy, Karasev and Meissner, 2015).
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TASK 3
P5: Significance of commercial funnel & application of new product development
Commercial funnel: It refers to an activity which is performed to manipulate the mind
and buying behaviour of customers in favour of products and services offered by company. It
tried to restrict customers from shifting towards rivals company's products and services. This can
be possible through setting up an effective distribution channel which is more effective in
increases the sales and revenue of company. As Oak Cash and Carry is small-medium sized
company which has decided to launch a new mobile application so as to make easy for
employees for selling as well as customers to buy products and services. It act as a online
marketing tool which can easily affect and influence the buying behaviour of targeted people in
favour of buying company's products and services. This invention plays a major role in achieving
desired goals and objectives within pre-determined time period. Oak Cash and Carry is deciding
to launch a new mobile application which gives a platform to its customers to order products
from their home. There are various steps which can be followed to develop new product such are
given as below:
Idea generation: It is the first stage in which the Oak Cash and Carry focuses on
generating new ideas so as to create benefits for firm. For example, launching a new mobile
application or discount offers to customers who are visiting at their physical store.
Idea screening: It is the second stage in which the ideas has been screened through
verifying the feasibility and affordability of the idea. Under this stage, the best idea has been
opted among various available ideas. For example, launching a new mobile application is
selected to deliver product to the customers at their preferred locations. It help company in
maintaining the loyalty of customers whereas it involves huge cost which affects the company's
profitability.
Concept testing and development: Under this stage, selected idea i.e. Launching a new
mobile application is being tested so as to analyse the effectiveness and result that can b achieved
by the company in near future. In this stage, idea is tested on the chosen group of people and data
is gathered through conducting interviews so that perception of people can be easily identified.
From the data collected from the research, mostly people are in favour of such mobile
application as it make easy for them to buy grocery products without visiting at their physical
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store. Apart from this, people from rural areas are not showing much interest to use their mobile
due to having lack of knowledge about using of internet.
Market development and strategy: After idea is tested and outcome are satisfactory then
the management are further make strategies accordingly. Different variables are though about in
this stage, for example, marketing methodologies are created, gainfulness is foreseen and
showcasing blend are connected. Pricing strategies are additionally formulated by organization in
this stage. For example, company has reviewed target markets of rural areas to evaluate
numerous issues and barrier that can emerge while executing marketing activities. For promoting
mobile technologies, Oak Cash and Carry will use different promotion techniques including
advertisement, public relations, sales promotion etc. to persuade urban as well as rural people to
use the technique.
Business and financial analysis: Under this stage, the actual sales after launching a new
mobile app into market of firm are analysed so as to identify whether an organisation can
successfully achieve targeted sales within given time frame. Relevancy and viability of products
are properly analysed under this stage. For example, to launch mobile app, the company will
determine standard sales and prepare proper product development and marketing budget.
Commercialisation: This is the last stage of new product development at which the
company finally decide to launch a new mobile app (New Product Development Stages, 2017).
To launch a new mobile app, the company first organise a launching event so as to aware the
customers about its benefits. In such event, the company shall invite journalists in order to spread
the information about new app into market. This will help targeted people in acquiring
knowledge about company's new mobile application which can influences their buying
behaviour in favour of company's products and services.
P6: Building an innovation Business case
In order to analyse the essential aspects of an organisation, application of business case is
must required. In the current report, Oak Cash and Carry is the chosen organisation which has
decided to launch its own mobile application for creating higher revenue and profits. The major
steps of business case is determined as below:
Executive summary: Oak Cash and Carry deals in food and drug stores. It provides
cash and carry services. The Company offers a wide range of food and drug products in bulk for
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retailers, caterers, offices, off licences, newsagents, and other local businesses. It deals and
operated in the United Kingdom.
The need: Under this stage, Oak Cash and Carry analyse the current issue which is
presently existing within working environment. Basically, it evaluate that what is the accurate
need of implementing innovation within an organisation. To expand its business operations, the
company must required to bring innovation which can grab an attention of large number of
customers. For example, Launching a new mobile app easily grab an eye of targeted people i.e.
urban and rural citizen of UK and also influences their buying behaviour in favour of company.
Solution: It is important to find an optimum solution for the issues and conflicts faced by
the company in market related with their products and services. In Oak Cash and Carry solutions
are created by the management so as to reach to targeted goals and objectives. Launching a new
mobile application makes easy for company to communicate with the targeted people and
resolve their queries through offering them optimum solutions.
Why it is innovative: After solution has been framed by the management, the next step is
to identify the effectiveness of innovative ideas and make decision accordingly. As mobile
application assist company to reach its products and services to the targeted people in more
convenient manner so that it can make easy for them to influence buying behaviour of customers
and achieve their loyalty as well. It allows customers to order food products through using
mobile app which restrict them to visit at company's physical store.
Customers Research: Before en-grafting innovation and advancement, it is mostly
important to conduct mini research for estimating what are the current needs and wants of
customers, so that firm can produce products accordingly. It can happens through focused group,
interview, survey, questionnaire etc.
Investment Requirement: In this stage, the management of Oak Cash and Carry is liable
to arrange funds from different sources so as to invest them further in implementation of
innovation. Such sources includes, financial institutional, banks, owners capital etc. Having
sufficient amount of capital enable company to make suitable and innovative changes in their
process of executing business functions without any interruptions.
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