BUS705: Innovation and Creativity Report - Woolworths Case Study

This report presents a comprehensive analysis of innovation and creativity, focusing on a strategic solution for Woolworths to address its competitive challenges. The report begins with an executive summary outlining the key findings and structure. It defines the problem of Woolworths' lack of competitive advantage in the Australian market, particularly in relation to Coles Supermarket, and identifies long customer waiting times as a significant issue. The report then explores how creative problem-solving and various sources of ideas can influence the development of an innovative solution, including the application of closed innovation and open innovation methods. It details the seven stages of the creative problem-solving process, from problem identification to implementation. The report also applies a strategic innovation model to redesign Woolworths' corporate strategy, emphasizing value creation and competitive advantage through technological advancements like self-scanning devices and digital payment methods. Furthermore, it discusses the leadership approach necessary for successful innovation implementation and concludes with an innovation implementation strategy. The report emphasizes the importance of adapting to retail trends and improving customer experience through technological solutions.

Running head: INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY
INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY
Name of Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
Innovation refers to generation of a new idea, new imagination or creative thoughts that results in
an innovative method or device. Therefore innovation helps in proving better solutions to
existing needs or the unarticulated needs. Innovation within an organization helps in providing a
competitive advantage of the company as it helps in meeting the needs of the customers in a
better way. The Company selected that had been selected for the purpose of this study was
Woolworths. Woolworths is facing a problem related to lack of competitive advantage over its
competitors and therefore the company has decided to undertake an innovation for gaining a
competitive edge. The main aim of the paper was to provide an innovative solution to a
challenge being faced by the organization. The paper discussed about the problem being faced by
the chosen company, the way creative problem solving and sources ideas influenced the
development of innovation and a creative solution, the paper also discussed about a strategic
innovation model and the leadership approach for the implementation of the innovative strategy
within the organization. The paper lastly discussed about the innovation implementation strategy.

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Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................2
Discussion............................................................................................................................3
Definition of the problem in the selected company that needs innovation......................3
The way creative problem solving and sources of ideas influence the development of
innovation and creative solution..................................................................................................4
Application of the strategic innovation model.................................................................6
Innovation action plan.................................................................................................7
Reviewing business.....................................................................................................7
Reviewing market........................................................................................................8
Review market offerings..............................................................................................8
Perceived value to customers.......................................................................................8
Implementation............................................................................................................8
Leadership approach for innovation................................................................................9
Innovation implementation approach for the proposed innovation...............................10
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................11
References..........................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
Innovation refers to generation of a new idea, new imagination or even new thoughts as
a new method or device. Innovation helps in providing better solutions for meeting certain
requirements or overcoming a certain problem, unarticulated need or even an existing need of the
market. Moreover by carrying out innovation within an organization, they will be able to add
value and therefore become successful for a long period of time (Akinola et al., 2019).
Innovation is also important in the workplace because it can help in providing a competitive edge
to the company and helps them in penetrating the markets in faster and therefore improve their
sales. Innovation can further be open or closed innovation (Ali Taha, Sirkova, & Ferencova,
2016). Closed innovation means organization takes the help of people within the organization for
creating an innovation and on the other hand, open innovation takes place when an organization
takes the help of people who are working for other organization and through external R&D.
There are different idea sources for closed and open innovation (Cai, 2018). On the other hand,
creativity includes- the process of transforming ideas into reality. It helps people in perceiving’s
things in a new way and it also helps in looking at a problem from different perspectives (Chen
& Hou, 2016). And therefore creativity within an organization helps it in generating a number of
alternatives for dealing with a particular problem or issue within the organization. The
organization selected for the purpose of this study is Woolworths and the issues that have been
identified in the organization includes- lack of competitive advantage. The main aim of the paper
is to design a strategic innovation solution for overcoming the problem being faced by the
company. The paper will discuss about the problem that the organization is going through in
details, identification of the ways in which creative problem solving will be undertaken for

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development of a suitable innovation, the paper will also discuss about the strategic innovation
model and identify the suitable leadership approach for the innovation being proposed.
Discussion
Definition of the problem in the selected company that needs innovation
The problem that has been faced by Woolworths for quite a long time includes its rivalry
in the Australian market with Coles Supermarket. In fact, these two supermarket chains enjoy a
monopoly over the market and therefore Coles needs to innovate techniques and tools for gaining
a competitive advantage over Coles supermarket (Dedahanov, Rhee & Yoon, 2017). One of the
major problems at the big supermarkets includes the long waiting lines for customers and it is a
more difficult problem for those who either buy small amount of products as they have to wait in
lines for their turn even when they want to purchase a chocolate and bottle of water. This fear of
standing in long queues often drives the customers away from the supermarkets and as a result
the sales of the supermarkets gets affected. Moreover there are several customers who are
impatient because they may be getting late for some other work or who have children because as
long as they are required to stand in the queues their children will do different tantrums for
purchasing toys or even chocolates and therefore it becomes difficult for parents to stand in long
queues with their children and therefore this segment of the market is also driven away
sometimes due to the idea that they will have to stand in long queues with their children
(Sözbilir, 2018). Moreover there can be people who are old aged and may have difficult in longer
queues for their turn due to the slow check-out scanning processes which increases the anger of
people (Garcia, 2018). Most of the customers these days are impatient and therefore they want
such checkout processes where too much of time will not be consumed and therefore they will be

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able to save much time and invest it somewhere more useful (Ezzat, Le Masson & Weil, 2017).
Therefore Woolworths is required to develop such an innovative solution by which it cannot only
help it in overcoming the problems that is being faced by the customers but will also help the
company in gaining a competitive edge over its market competitors. Moreover another major
trend prevailing in the retail industry includes- the diminishing role of notes and coins because
the customers prefer making payment through electronic modes (Fetrati & Nielsen, 2018).
Therefore the company also needs to develop such a solution that will be in accordance with the
major retail trends. The innovative solutions will help the company to become successful in the
longer period of time as compared to its competitors.
The way creative problem solving and sources of ideas influence the development of
innovation and creative solution
Whenever a problem is identified in an organization it becomes necessary to solve the
same by converting the problem into an innovative problem, then critical thinking is carried out
within the organization for the purpose of collaborative idea generation, challenging the
colleagues forgetting creative ideas and various other information sources will be analysed for
gathering different creative ideas and then all the ideas are combined and evaluated for
identifying the most suitable ideas and implement the same successfully within the organization
(Phillips & Phillips, 2017). Some of the major sources of ideas includes both closed innovation
sources. In case of closed innovation sources, the process of innovation is internally controlled
and all the activities of research and development are carried out within the organization. The
main sources from which ideas can be generated for Woolworths company that is facing the
issue of lack of competitive advantage includes- being open to new knowledge, carrying out in-
house research and development, scenario planning, through continuous improvements,

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benchmarking, suggestion system, specialist innovation teams and various others. Creative
problem solving includes refers to the process of identification of a previously unknown or
original; solution to a particular problem. Therefore it is a special types of problem solving
approach where a solution is reached independently and not through any assistance. There are
seven main stages in the creative problem solving process which includes- identification and
clarification of a particular problem, researching that problem, formulation of creative
challenges, generation of ideas and combing all the ideas and evaluation of the same, drawing up
an action plan and finally implementing the action plan. Identification and clarification of the
problem includes- identification of the actual problem and not the problem that an organization
may feel is the problem. For instance Woolworth may feel that the major problem it us facing is
that it lacks competitive advantage however it lacks the competitive advantage because it does
not have creativity within the organization that can help it in identifying different solution for the
identified problems. For identifying the actual problem the organization may carry out the five
why’s. Then the next step includes researching more about the problem for developing a better
understanding about the same. Then the next step includes formulating the creative challenges in
form of questions such as Woolworths can carry out this step by asking “how can we improve
our competitive advantage for overcoming competitors and meeting the needs of the customers?”
Then this question will further be divided into several questions in order to simply the same and
think critically. Then in the fourth stage of the ideas generation stage brainstorming activities are
carried out within the organization for generating a number of alternatives. At this stage, all the
employees will be asked to think creatively such that all the ideas can be recorded and the
colleagues also need to be challenged at this stage such that they can think differently. Therefore
different brainstorming methods will be used to ensure that everyone participates in this ideas

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generation process and to ensure that everyone is given equal opportunity to discuss about their
ideas without the fear of rejection or fear of judgement. Employees of Woolworths may think of
different ideas for improving its competitive advantage such as making use of technology for
improving its existing processes, identifying all those techniques that can help the company in
reducing its environmental impact and also there may be ideas related to improving the quality of
goods and services by making changes in the value chain. Moreover ideas can be generated for
overcoming the long waiting time for customer in check-out’s for improving the customers
experience. The fifth stage includes combining all the ideas and evaluating the ideas to identify
the most suitable one. That ideas will be selected that is the most cost effective and two or more
ideas can also be combined. For instance, Woolworths can innovate such a technology which can
save the customers from standing in long queues at the checkout point. The technology may
include self-scanning device for the customers with the help of a mobile application such that
they can scan their products by themselves and only at the exit it will be rescanned. This can help
the customers from standing in long queues and waiting for their turn. Moreover this technique
will also make use of digitalised payment methods and therefore will be in alignment with the
latest trends of retail industry. The next step will include drawing up an action plan and the last
stage of the critical problem solving will include implementation of the new innovative idea.
Therefore from the above discussion, it is clear how critical problem solving and sources of idea
influence the development of innovation and a creative solution. As in the case of Woolworths
company also, it is understood that through critical thinking and identification of different
sources of ideas new innovative ideas can be developed and implemented in the organization.

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Application of the strategic innovation model
The strategic innovation model includes- redesigning and reinvention of the organizations
corporate strategy for the purpose of driving growth in business, generating value for the
customers and the company itself, and for the purpose of creation of a competitive advantage.
Therefore strategic innovation needs adaptation to technological changes. For the purpose of
carrying out strategic innovation, it is not necessary for a company to change it product and
service offerings rather it can simply make changes in its process used by the organization.
Therefore a similar strategic innovation has been recommended for Woolworths company that
makes use of technology for easy scanning of the goods the customers intend to purchase such
that they do not have to wait I long queues and for improving their overall shopping experienced.
Moreover this strategic innovation can also help in providing a competitive advantage over its
competitors of the market because customers will be able to purchase the goods and services
without having to wait in long queues and also they need not worry if they are not carrying cash.
This is so because the new application that has been recommended for the company can help the
customers in making payment and scanning for their goods and services through the mobile
application of the customers. This will help in saving a lot of time of the customers. In order to
apply the strategic innovation model several steps needs to be followed by the company
Woolworths and these includes- identification of an innovation action plan, reviewing the
business, requires market review, reviewing the offerings of the market, creation of value for the
customers and finally implementation of the strategy.

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Innovation action plan
The innovation action plan includes reviewing the actual situation being faced by the
company and requires the senior management to create such a climate that encourages
innovation and the strategy itself (Zuraik & Kelly, 2019).
Reviewing business
The company then needs to review the business in terms of switching its strategic goals,
challenging the existing capabilities or skills and challenging the assumptions of their industry.
For this purpose, Woolworths will have to change its strategic goals to achievement of
competitive advantage by improving the customers experience, with the help of the scan and go
application.
Reviewing market
In order to review the market, Woolworths will have to understand who are the customers
of the company, why do they buy from Woolworths, and the type of customer need that can be
served with the innovation. Therefore with the help of the scan and go application the customers’
needs can be served more easily (Thompson, 2018).
Review market offerings
In this the company needs to understand what is the problem that the customers are
facing, and what are the technologies that can be sued for meeting those customer requirements.
The customers are presently facing a problem on standing in long queues for making purchases
however with the help of the scan and go application the same can be overcome (Olsson et al.,
2019).

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Perceived value to customers
The company needs to understand the customers perceived value by reviewing the cycle
if buyers experience. For instance, how quick can they purchase the goods and services, and
others. Therefore the application will be able to improve the overall customers experience
(Mokhber, Khairuzzaman & Vakilbashi, 2018).
Implementation
Once the strategic innovation has been identified by the company then it needs to be
implemented by having a proper culture and climate within the organization, structure need to be
a collaborative one, processes needs to be fast enough, systems should enable collaboration and
people need to be managed through effective leadership (Thiruvenkadam & Kumar, 2018).
Leadership approach for innovation
Innovative strategy in any organization needs to be led by the senior leaders within the
organization. Moreover leaders play very important role in implementing a strategic innovation
within an organization (Leopoldino¹, González & Júnior, 2016). The change leaders can help in
creating a common vision for the company that will be shared with the employees of the
company and leaders can also help in providing a particular direction to the employees, inspire
trust within them and finally energize the groups towards achievement of common objectives.
Moreover an effective change leaders has the know how for making the strategic innovations
successful through its appropriate implementation (Hussain et al., 2018). One of the most
effective leadership style that needs to be adopted by the leaders for carrying out the
implementation of the strategic innovation within the organization is transformational leadership
style. A transformational leader can help in creating trust by developing a sense of purpose in the
employees, they are skilled communicators as they can help in communicating complex

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information in a much easier way that can be easily understood by others (Meinel et al., 2017).
Therefore a transformation leader can help in carrying out the strategic innovation within the
company by efficiently managing the employees of the organization (Lahlou & Beaudouin,
2016). They can easily manage the employees because they communicate about each and every
decision of the company to the employees, take their responses to the same and resist the mind-
set for maintaining a status quo by explaining how a particular organizational decision can
benefit all organization as a whole and by also showing the bigger picture to them (Prasad &
Junni, 2016). With the help of such leaders, the employees are able to understand how their work
contributes to the overall business performance and achievement of objectives.
Innovation implementation approach for the proposed innovation
The success of any innovative ideas depends upon its implementation and therefore it is
necessary for Woolworths to formulate an implementation strategy for its successful and
appropriate implementation (Jaussi, 2017). There are four essential tasks that need to be
undertaken by the senior leaders for the purpose of creation and application of innovative
strategy and these includes- questioning the way the company is going to create and add value
for its customers and then explain the same to the employees within the organization (Hatum,
2017). Then the resources of the organization needs to be allocated appropriately for
implementation. Tradeoffs between the different functions within the organization needs to be
managed by the senior leaders because they are the ones who think for the benefit of the
organization as a whole. Moreover the senior leaders should make sure that the innovative
strategies need to be evolved. The change leader can help in implementation of the strategic
innovation by creating such a culture and climate within the organization that supports its
employees and therefore employees are allowed to make mistakes, they are able to openly