Innovation and Commercialization Report: Strategies for Essence Drinks

This report delves into the critical aspects of innovation and commercialization, utilizing Essence Drinks as a focal point. It explores the significance of innovation in business, emphasizing the need for companies to adapt and evolve to maintain a competitive edge. The report analyzes the differences between innovation and invention, highlighting the importance of product innovation, organizational culture, and vision in driving commercial success. It then examines various types of innovation, including the 4 Ps of innovation (product, position, process, and paradigm) and the development process within frugal innovation. Furthermore, the report discusses the processes required for commercializing innovation, including the commercial funnel and the establishment of an innovation business case. Finally, it evaluates methods for securing ideas and protecting intellectual property, offering insights into how Essence Drinks can implement effective strategies for long-term success. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges and opportunities associated with innovation and commercialization within a business context.

INNOVATION AND COMMERCIALIZATION

Executive Summary
Innovation and commercialization helps a business to bring changes in their corporate
strategies. A busies is able to gain profit with the introduction of technological
innovations or product innovation. It has been found that organisations are able to take
advantage of innovation for staying ahead of their competitors. A large number of
companies are trying to develop their products by motivating their employees towards
encountering a change. It was found that companies who have been able to implement
new and developed strategies. In the food industry, innovation attracts customers. This
study is going to deal with innovation in a business. The main focus of this study is
essence Drinks, a company that makes lassi. The business is incurring losses due to
competitiveness. In order to develop a competitive edge, this organisation is required to
innovate their product. Customers can be attracted with the use of innovative
preparation of lassi. There is an attempt to discuss about the tools that might be
implemented for addressing innovation in an effective manner.

Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................. 4
LO1 Explaining innovation and determining difference between innovation and invention.......4
P1 Explaining innovation and its significance to Essence drinks..............................................4
P2 Role of organizational culture and vision in commercialization and innovation...................5
LO2 Explaining kinds of innovation..............................................................................................6
P3 Explaining 4 Ps of innovation..............................................................................................6
P4 Development process in frugal innovation..........................................................................8
LO3 Discussing process needed for commercializing innovation.................................................9
P5 Significance of commercial funnel.......................................................................................9
P6 Establishment of innovation business case.......................................................................10
LO4 Evaluating methods for securing ideas...............................................................................11
P7 Tools used by essence drinks for retaining and developing intellectual property..............11
Conclusion................................................................................................................................. 11
Reference List........................................................................................................................... 13

Introduction
Innovation is an important aspect of a business organisation. In order to achieve a
competitive advantage, organisations need to bring change in their business strategies
and try to innovating their products. This study is going to shed light on the ways in
which organisations like Essence Drinks is able to innovating their drinks. The owner of
Essence drinks is finding it difficult to increase sales due to high competition. The study
focuses on the concept of innovation as well as commercialization in business firms.
There is an attempt to discuss the procedures that can be implemented for
commercializing innovation for businesses in general and for Essence Drinks in
particular.
LO1 Explaining innovation and determining difference between
innovation and invention
P1 Explaining innovation and its significance to Essence drinks
Innovation refers to exploration of ideas that results in development of new products.
Innovation in business could help it to flourish. Some organization tries to bring change
in technology by transforming them in accordance with the demand of business.
Akshay, the owner of Essence Drinks need to bring changes in his mango lassi and try
to bring a change to the taste buds of UK customers. It has been found that Akshay has
been able to increase sales with the help of innovation, however, with increased
competition in the UK market, Essence drinks is incurring loss. In order to stay ahead of
competitors, it is quite important to bring change in drinks. Akshay could add new
flavours to his lassi. Akshay need to identify taste of UK customers and try to invent new
ideas.

Figure 1: Sources of innovation
(Source: Strom, 2016, p.15)
It has been found that product innovation is able to introduce new range of products that
aims at enhancing business. Nowadays business need to implement strategic planning
through innovation. In most cases, innovation result in creation of wealth. New business
ideas can be generated by combining ideas that ensures revolutions in business.
According to Aarikka et al.(2014, p.366), established organizations might incur loss due
to lack of innovativeness. Organizations like Essence Drinks which is incurring losses
need to identify strategies and invent new ideas for gaining sales.
The basic difference between innovation and invention is that the former refers to
bringing change into existing ideas and the latter is creation of a new idea. As per the
case study, Akshay is required to innovate on his existing ideas for increasing sales. In
order to innovating existing drinks, the owner should conduct a market research for
identifying tastes of customers because preferences of customers change over time. It
is quite essential to innovating products by understanding preferences of customers.
There are number of sources for innovation. The baby boomers have been increasing
their sales and bringing innovation by understanding demographics (An and Ahn, 2016,
p.133). With time, changes occur in the demography of an area and Essence drinks is
required to develop their drinks by understanding tastes of customers. Process need is
another tool for developing products. Essence Drinks need to identify the weaknesses

in their business and try to develop that particular area. The organisation has been
selling mango lassi for year and now it is high time for them to introduce some new
flavours of lassi in the market of UK.
P2 Role of organizational culture and vision in commercialization and
innovation
Organization need to set goals and objectives in order to encourage their employees
towards innovation. There is a correlation between organisational culture and
innovation. As per the opinion of Boh et al. (2016, p.663), innovation should be an
inevitable part of organisational culture. This comprises of: innovative competence,
motivation related to innovation and innovative behaviour. Every organisation need to
implement strategies that encourages their employees to become a part of innovation.
Innovative culture can be defined as thinking process that enables a form to adopt
values and attitudes that lead to the path of innovation and thereby achieving success in
business. Organisations like Essence Drink could implement a clear vision for bringing a
change in their product and this can only be achieved through leadership and
development of an organisational culture. When an organisation tries to develop its
products or bring an organisational change then it has to face the challenge of conflict
between traditional and conventional behaviours.
Figure 2: Creativity in organisation

(Source: Song, 2014, p.10)
If Essence Drinks wanted to implement changes in an effective manner then owner is
required to encourage creativity, involve employee in innovation process, take risks and
give scope to staffs develop their skill in order to encounter organisational innovation. It
is the responsibility of leaders to establish a vision for innovation and encourage
employees to develop ideas that might help a business to flourish itself in the
competitive market. Innovation can be brought in an organisation by working in
collaboration. Both seniors as well as staff should work together and lead towards the
path of innovation through mistakes and downfall. This is because new ideas might fail
but it is the duty of leaders to continuously motivate their staffs for adopting new ideas.
Owner of Essence Drinks should bring a change in organisational culture and try to put
forward a vision that aim to bring new ideas so as to increase sales. Akshay should train
staff for allowing them to align with innovational changes within their organisation.
LO2 Explaining kinds of innovation
P3 Explaining 4 Ps of innovation
Innovation in any organisation should be properly implemented with the help of
procedures. An organisation like Essence Drinks could introduce innovation in their
business by focussing on the 4 P's of innovation. Like marketing mix, innovation mix is
way through which an organisation could select areas that needed to be innovative.
These four 4P’s of innovation are as follows:
❏ Product: It is an important part of any organisation's success (Choung et al.
2014, p.160). In order to develop a competitive edge, Essence Drinks is required
to bring changes in the quality, flavours, texture and colour if their lassi. In order
to prepare buttermilk, Akshay can bring fresh milks and try to intact the freshness
of the lassi. Presently Akshay is selling mango lassi but he need to bring

changes in the flavours. Essence Drinks should start preparing strawberry lassi
or mixed fruit lassi. This might help them to retain customers.
❏ Position: Position is associated with promotion. A business need to
communicate information regarding their innovative products to the customers so
that they are able to get access to products. Essence Drinks should change
perception of their customers regarding their products by improving its quality.
Position is quite valued in the market and so organisations like Essence Drinks
which is facing loss could attempt to improve their market position.
❏ Process: Process refers to product innovation. The process also involves
recruitment, supplying, accounting and selling. Process innovation could be
achieved with the help of bringing change in both external as well as internal
processes (Kolychev and Prokhorov, 2014, p.50). Essence Drinks could increase
their profits by implementing new ideas into their existing processes.
❏ Paradigm: A business has to shift in the paradigm of their business processes. It
could be achieved by identifying the way that can be adopted for changing
process for product innovation. Essence drinks might start introducing home
delivery of their products. They could also make changes in packaging
processes. They should bring changes as per the demands of their potential
customers.
Figure 3: Innovation Mix
(Source: Fombelle, 2013, p.18)

Many organisations are adopting innovation funnels for managing new products. The
innovation funnel model can be implemented by Essence drinks for examining
effectiveness of their new products. Some of the important concepts or principles
related to innovation funnel are as follows:
● Opportunity Assessment: A business organisation tries to analyse data that they
have gathered from the market. This is done for understanding demand for new
product.
● Benchmarking: It is an important concept of innovation funnel model because an
organisation is required to test new concepts over their target customers.
● Conceptualisation: At this stage of innovation funnel, new concept and ideas are
designed so as to conceptualise ideas (Mollick and Robb, 2016, p.73).
Innovation funnel can be applied to Essence Drinks for developing their new product
development procedure. It can be said that this organisation need to undergo stages of
innovation funnel for reaching at a desired goal. Adaptation of innovation funnel can
help this organisation to impact innovational activities in a more efficient manner.
P4 Development process in frugal innovation
Frugal innovation refers to cutting of costs for enabling customers belonging from low
income groups to get access to a company's product. Frugal innovation has proved to
open avenues for business that are trying to bring innovations in their products. In order
to survive in a competitive market, businesses are trying to lower down their prices for
reaching to lower strata of society. This type of strategies is working best in countries
which is suffering from financial cross. Customers can be attracted by aligning with their
price expectations. As commented by Paradkar et al.(2015, p.5), frugal products might
contribute to 18.4 percent to a country's GDP. It has been found that frugal products are
able to add sustainability to products with the help of process optimisation.
Cost can be reduced by applying certain strategies like focusing of reusable products
instead of disposable products. This innovative strategy tends to increase sales by
reducing costs.

The concept regarding frugal innovation is much debated. Some marketers are of the
opinion that frugal innovation is helping business while other are of the viewpoint that it
might only bring loss to a business. However, it can be assumed that this type of
innovation can exacerbate exploitation of the capitalist class.
Figure 4: Frugal Innovation
(Source: Slater et al. 2014, p.553)
Essence drinks need to implement frugal innovation by lowering prices of their products.
This might be helpful for their business because it has encountered decrease in sales. A
sudden decrease in the prices of lassi might grab the attention of several customers. It
might help an organisation to get access to mass market. There is a growing trend
among customers to buy products at a low price. Some of the distinctive features of
frugal innovation include low price, robustness, user friendliness and functionality
(Partanen et al. 2014, p.1028). Companies often undergo problem in the developing
countries due to limited knowledge regarding economic conditions of people. Launch of
high price product might not be accepted in developing countries where buying power of
people is low. In order to emerge in a developing country, a business organisation
needs to lower down their product prices for appealing to middle class customers. In
order to implement frugal innovation Essence drinks need to bring changes in their
business models and try to innovating their pricing strategies.

Innovation can be measured by getting a view of the total business environment.
Leaders are a vital part of bringing innovation in any organisation. An organisation like
Essence Drinks could develop by implementing following the innovation funnel. They
are required to update skills of their staffs by training them.
LO3 Discussing process needed for commercializing innovation
P5 Significance of commercial funnel
The increasing competition in the market has required business to adopt NPD for
bringing a change in their products. The preferences of customers are undergoing
changes and in order to develop new products by identifying potential risks that might
be faced by a business. A business has to understand the criteria related to risk and
balance of the investments. There is a need to identify the new product opportunities in
order to implement new products. Owners of a business might face challenges in
regards to launch their new products. There is always risk associated with launch of
new products in the market. A thorough market research is to be conducted for
understanding demand for new products among customers (Pellikka, 2014, p.92).

Figure 5: Commercial funnel
(Source: Hemert et al. 2014, p.426)
It is often found that mostly NPD processes tend to fail due to commercial success.
Some co panes are quite reluctant in providing resources in order to implement NPD in
their organisation. Essence Drinks need to set realistic objectives for obtaining
opportunities regarding product situation. A number of companies have understood the
significance of market segmentation for identifying opportunities for new products. In
UK, Essence Drinks has been facing losses due to increase in competitiveness and
therefore they should conduct a market research for achieving success on the market of
UK. Lassi is their product and they are trying to introduce new strategies for bringing
changes in their lassi.
This organisation needs to implement innovation strategies for developing their product.
Success of NPD requires adequate spending of resources.
The commercial funnel is one of the most important tools that is owned by any firm
(Smith and Vincent, 2016, p.60). Commercial funnels can be used for understanding
metrics that are helpful in creating opportunities for a firm. It is an important way for
forecasting as well as controlling sales of a business. Before implementing a change an

organisation need to identify any kind of leakages in their sake pipeline. After identifying
leakage in funnels, an organisation should measure or evaluate the changes that an
organisation is required to address. Some organisations try to put focus on recycling of
leaky prospects.
P6 Establishment of innovation business case
The Essence drinks need to adopt innovative ideas for developing their business. It has
been found that this organisation is unable to increase their sales due to lack of
innovation. The organisation is selling only mango lassi. In this competitive market, it is
quite essential to develop wide range of product. Essence drinks need to conduct a
market research for identifying preferences for lassi among UK customers. It might help
this company to identify their demands and innovating their lassi accordingly. They need
to introduce new flavours of lassi along with mango lassi. A new product can be
launched effectively with effective promotional strategies for disseminating information
regarding the new lassi range. Customers are unable to trust a new product and
therefore Essence Drinks is require to increase their brand awareness by using
promotional tools like social media as well as print media. The promotional activities
might be conducted by posting pictures of new range of lassi in an attractive manner so
that it grabs attention of customers. Packaging is another aspect that is to be
considered by the Essence drinks (Piller and West, 2014, p.22).
After developing their product quality, they need to select their target customers. They
should segment their market as per demographics. The bottles of lassi might vary with
age groups. Bottles meant for children might display pictures of cartoon characters in
order to make them more attractive. The bottle needs to contain a list of ingredients.
They need to emphasis more on quality of their lassi. Mangoes that are used for making
lassi should be fresh and juicy. The organisation will try to use money from their saving
accounts. Apart from bootstrapping, Essence drinks will also adopt crowd funding. This
type of funding will enable this company to get access to a large number of investors.

LO4 Evaluating methods for securing ideas
P7 Tools used by essence drinks for retaining and developing intellectual
property
Essence drinks need to change their product range by employing different tools for
innovation. After developing their strategy they need to execute their ideas on
customers. The organisation might understand the preferences of their customers by
taking feedbacks from them. A task force might be established by developing a team.
Essence drink might face problem while implementing a new concept and so they need
support a team. Before starting a new project, it is always advisable to work in
collaboration with employee. Akshay, the owner of Essence drink should take initiative
for developing a task force that will be held responsible for giving contribution to
innovational changes.
One of the biggest challenges faced by this company is that they are unable to cope up
with the competitiveness on the market. In order to gain a competitive advantage, an
organisation should try to develop their product by applying appropriate strategies
(Schmitz et al. 2017, p.390). There is a need to identify the ideas used by their
competitors and try to bring changes accordingly.
The intellectual property of Essence drinks can be developed and retained by
innovating on trademarks, the company need to ensure that they are not able to use
names or images that are already adopted by their competitors. Patent for new product
range is to be taken otherwise it might affect their business and can also lead to legal
actions. Intellectual properties can be protected or safeguarded by the establishment of
copyrights, trademark and patent. It might help Essence Drinks for gaining profit. A
company can safeguard itself from any sort of legal actions.
Successful innovations can be implemented only by abiding by certain legal procedures.
A new and innovative product is always associated with a number of challenges
(Sebastianski et al. 2015, p.10). Customers are unable to put their trust in a new

product and therefore it is quite essential for a company like Essence drink to build a
trust with their customers. A communication system between organisation and customer
will be going to create a significant change in the sales of Essence Drinks. Innovation
has to be accompanied with appropriate development and retention of intellectual
property rights.
Conclusion
After going through the above mentioned study, it can be concluded that a business firm
need to implement innovative strategies for grabbing attention of their customers. It has
been found that customers mostly prefer to buy new and initiative products.
Globalisation has resulted in increasing competition in the market. Commercialisation
and innovation has become an inevitable part of a business. Organisations like Essence
drinks are able to make use of innovative ideas and concepts for increasing their sale of
lassi. Innovation is craved for many organizations but few could implement it in their
business. Different organisation adopts unique kinds of innovative ideas for improving
their business and to develop a competitive edge. It can be said that Essence drinks is
required to launch new types of lassi along with the mango lassi. Innovation helps an
organisation to increase their chances of encountering profitability in the market.
Evolution of new innovative techniques might help this organisation to retain their old
position.

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