Business Innovation Strategies for Essence Drinks: A Detailed Report

This report provides a detailed analysis of innovation strategies applicable to Essence Drinks, a beverage company. It explores the importance of innovation versus invention, emphasizing the need for adaptation to market changes and competitive advantage. The report delves into the 4Ps of innovation (product, process, position, and paradigm) and explains the use of the innovation funnel to evaluate and implement new ideas. It also discusses frugal innovation and its application in an organizational context, highlighting cost-effectiveness and resource optimization. Furthermore, the report outlines the importance of the commercial funnel and New Product Development, culminating in the creation of an Innovation Business Case, including potential funding sources. Finally, it examines tools for developing, retaining, and protecting intellectual property within the company.

INNOVATION
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Contents
Contents...........................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Innovation and its importance to employees in comparison to invention.........................3
P2 Shaping of innovation and commercialisation..................................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P3 4Ps of innovation and explain the use of the innovation funnel.......................................5
P4 Developments in frugal innovation and how it is used in an organisational context........7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
P5 Importance of the commercial funnel and the application of New Product Development8
P6 Build an Innovation Business Case for an organisation, including ways to access funding
................................................................................................................................................8
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................9
P7 Different tools that organisations can use to develop, retain and protect intellectual
property...................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
Innovation is an important concept that helps an enterprise to grow. In order to develop and
experience higher scale in business it is required that change is brought in the enterprise so that
interest of customer is maintained. Innovation is a process through which the development of
existing product or process is done which increases its capacity to produce. By implementing
same it becomes easy to raise the customer satisfaction level without doing any compromise with
the total cost of business as it remains controlled (Hemert,Nijkamp and Masurel,2013). Invention
on the other hand is a separate system in which an entirely new product or service is produced
which is a result of a need identified in market. it is a broader concept and require high scale of
investments. Essence drinks is a known brand in the beverages industry and is famous for using
best ingredients which are available in the market to create final product. The following report
will talk about how innovation and invention needs to be practiced in referred enterprise so that it
can do better business in long run. Various concepts associated with the same will be discussed
that will further help in implementing it in business.
TASK 1
P1 Innovation and its importance to employees in comparison to invention
Essence drinks is dealing in an industry which has a great number of customers belonging
to different age group and class. Beverages belong to the food category in which it is required
that change is maintained as users get easily attracted towards same and response positively to
same. By innovating the existing drinks or the process through which they are produced there are
chances that business may become capable of improving its existing scale of operations. In order
to understand better that how innovation helps the referred enterprise the importance of same is
discussed below:
Facilitates adaption of black swan events – Business surroundings are dynamic in nature
and keeps on getting effected by the changes that take place on regular basis. To maintain
survival and manage to earn minimum returns it is of great importance that the enterprise is
capable of responding to the change that occur due to alterations in internal or external factors of
the company. Organisation which is capable to innovate its existing system are more skilled to
respond the sudden changes (Aryal and et. al., 2016).
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Helps in achieving the competitive advantage – there is tough and close rivalry existing
in the drinking products industry. it is important that each brand dealing in same has the capacity
to compete with the other beverages which is possible only if innovation in the same is
maintained on regular basis. This way a particular enterprise develops a brand name and
influence the choice of its users. Alterations in the existing offerings helps in developing
curiosity among the users that what next will be launched and hence this way the targeted sales
are achieved.
Makes the global existence more effective – To increase the market share it is first
important to satisfy the needs and wants of the domestic customers. This is done by providing
the consumers with range of beverages on continuous basis so that they feel content after
spending a particular amount on their purchase. Once the home customer is made happy with a
brand it become easy to go at global level. this way innovation can further assist the referred
enterprise to increase its scale of operations and will hence develop its business (Breznitz and
Etzkowitz, 2016).
Invention is an entirely different concept from innovation as the process how they are
practised and resources involved are different from one another. To analyse how they vary from
one another a comparative study of both is given below:
Innovation Invention
It is a process through which alteration in the
existing system of an enterprise is made with a
view of raising the existing efficiency of
operations.
This is a different model in which an entirely
new system is launched which has the
capacity to take business at next level.
Investment in order to innovate is made in less
amount as only some change is brought by
altering the current systems.
This on the other hand is an expensive
concept which demands adaption of an
entirely new technology.
It increases current customer satisfaction level. Through invention a new segment of
customer is attracted towards the brand.
The above discussion shows that both invention and innovation are two separate concepts
and are implemented in a distinct manner.
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P2 Shaping of innovation and commercialisation
In the referred enterprise or any other commercial unit innovation is influenced by the vision
mission and objectives of business. Whenever a change is made it effects the vision of the firm
and therefore it is necessary that whenever organisation wish to innovate it takes care that its
vision do not gets much effected. It is important that innovation is planned in a way that it can
assist the management in achieving the altered mission and objective following the same vision.
Apart from this leader also perform a crucial role in shaping the changes for an enterprise.
Leaders encourage the work force to adopt change which is very important as without their
contribution no firm can lead with innovation. It is required that proper training is provided and
according to the skills of the work force level of innovation is set. Essence drinks has wide scope
for change as it can add more variety to its product type and can hence attract the customers
(Chun and et. al., 2015)
TASK 2
P3 4Ps of innovation and explain the use of the innovation funnel
Product innovation – This type of promotion is done by making changes in the design,
material, size or some other component of the product. Essence drink understand that if they will
introduce new taste in their soft drink then it will help them in attracting more number of
customers. With the assistance of innovation funnel management can evaluate the various
options through which it can bring change in the present products and hence can improve total
sales.
Process innovation – Every product is made by following a fixed procedure. This kind of
innovation focuses on making changes in the process of producing or selling goods. Essence
drink use different procedure in their warehouse at the time of making soft drinks and they can
improve it by making essential changes in production process. They can think about adopting
automation. In this with the help of innovation funnel investigation of different possible options
to select the best process is evaluated and then development of same is done. Thereafter, finally
it is implemented in business t experience growth.
Position innovation - This a different type of innovation where present product is
repositioned by the company in different section or segment. Essence drink is currently selling
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soft drinks, they can project same product as a health drink and attain more market share by
using position innovation. By examining the different positions in the innovation funnel it can
be identified that what is the best possible option for the business so that accordingly planning
for future change can be done.
Paradigm innovation – Among all the types of innovation, this is the most different and
complicated. Paradigm is related to changing the way of thinking. It is related to imagination of a
person and can be known as a mental model. The mind-set of essence drink in present scenario is
to sell soft drinks in the market. If Essence drink launch a new feature like ''make your own drink
by using the components which is sell by company'' then it will be a perfect example of paradigm
innovation (Datta, Mukherje and Jessup, 2015).
Innovation funnel is used by many companies at the time of developing a new product or
service. It mainly contains three steps which assist company in making right decision. Key focus
of innovation funnel is to ensure that an idea see becomes reality. In first step, company try to get
as more and more information about different ideas which they get from employees or some
external source. This part of innovation funnel helps in taking out all of the irrelevant ideas
which are not related to the mission and vision of company. Next part of this process is to find
evaluate all the risks which is connected to the execution of idea. Return of these ideas is also
identified in this procedure so company can choose best one from available thoughts. Essence
drink have to evaluate their resources and move forward towards execution of selected idea. Last
part of innovation funnel focuses on implementation of the idea i.e. bringing idea to the ground.
This step plays crucial role in attaining desired results.
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P4 Developments in frugal innovation and how it is used in an organisational context
Frugal innovation can be described as a process which facilitates simplicity, cost of
products and their manufacturing in an organisation. It is necessary to remove extra factors
which are utilising resources and they do not have any meaning. To reduce non-essential features
from organisation helps to save time, money and efforts of employees which can be utilised for
desired task. Essence drinks can gain several benefits through frugal innovation that are given
below:
Identify fresh opportunities: - This refers to determining new opportunities that are
brought by fresh trends of market so that they can grab at correct time to gain desired outcomes
in an organisation.
Reduce wastage of resources: - It is necessary to reduce wastage of resources as they
can be used in future which help to save time and money both. Essence drinks have to make sure
that procedures can be analyzed to reduce waste in company (Dutta and Folta, 2016)
Innovation funnel: - This funnel is helpful to determine an appropriate desire of
innovation which is beneficial for an organisation. This can be utilised by Essence drinks to
improve image of product in market to grab more market share.
Steps of frugal innovation Create concept for innovation: - This refers to create several innovative or unique ideas,
thoughts and concepts that can be implemented in Essence drinks to improve market
share. Screening of new idea: - It is an important process which provide support to determine
best one alternative choice between several ideas to be applied for attaining desired
outputs. Idea screening: - This refers to carried out an appropriate observation of positive or
negative impacts of innovative ideas through effective analysis of desired concept in
Essence drinks. Testing: - It can be described as to observe and study the trial implementation of a
creative thoughts to know about actual results. Testing analysis: - This is all about to carrying out effective testing analysis to expand
benefits of particular concept.
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 Market analysis: - The term market analysis can be explained as to identify needs and
demands of clients so that an appropriate creative idea should be applied in Essence
drinks. It is necessary to analyse that a concept is suitable as per requirements of
customers, nature of business and current trends of market (Ge and et. al., 2016) Commercialisation: - In this case, it refers to apply an attractive or innovative idea to
manufacture desired product or service to complete needs and wants of customers.
 Review market: - This can be defined as to conduct an effective as well as efficient
market research by Essence drinks to know about present fashion and demands of people.
TASK 3
P5 Importance of the commercial funnel and the application of New Product Development
In order to first understand the importance of commercial funnel it is first important to
understand what a funnel is. It can be considered as a whole way that different prospects go
through in order to become a final customer of a product. Before becoming the final long term
buyer of a particular commodity clients go through different stages in commercial funnel. It
starts with being a stranger. At this level client are not aware about the product and are totally
new for the same. Organisations with the help of effective strategies work towards attracting the
new people so that they can be taken at the next step where they are made visitors of the brand. It
is important stage as this way chances of ensuring sales increases and hence it becomes more
possible to raise the total range of sales. At this level the stage clients are made familiar with the
products offered by the organisation and hence they are taken to the next step where they are
converted to leads of the firm (Hossain, 2015). The process of product development involves
different steps which are as follows:
Step 1: Generating – First step where the need for development is identified
Step 2: Screening The Idea – Once the idea is selected it is evaluated
Step 3: Testing The Concept – After finding the selected option worth the idea is tested to
find its suitability.
Step 4: Business Analytics – At this stage the opportunities associated with the chosen idea
are identified.
Step 5: Commercialize – Marketing channel is selected which can offer maximum returns
to business.
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Step 6: Post Launch Review and Perfect Pricing- it is important to fix the right price of
product so that it can create demand for itself.
P6 Build an Innovation Business Case for an organisation, including ways to access funding
Business case refers to an appropriate case which involves several factors such as
resources, funds, efforts, methods, equipment’s, technology and many more. It is necessary to
conduct proper allocation of these elements in correct direction which helps to achieve better
productivity as well as profitability of Essence drinks. An effective business for is given below:
Executive summary: - The Essence drinks is an effective drink manufacturing company
that provides varieties of drinking products and it is known for its incredible quality. They have
efficient team of work force having appropriate skills or abilities to render services to customer
properly. This company has a good market share in front of various competitive organizations.
Target: - The term target refers to goals or objectives of company that are mandatory to
be set as it provides correct direction to employees. It facilitates an appropriate way to carrying
out different activities so procedures to attain desired targets. Through making targets, Essence
drinks can implement efforts properly and perform with focus to gain required results.
Mission Statement – Essence drinks wish to become a leading brand in the beverages
industry (Ke and et. al., 2015)
Problem statement – Due to excessive rivalry in the field of beverages industry it becomes
difficult to manage change on continuous basis as there is a limit to motivate a particular
product.
Solution Options – By doing effective market research the referred enterprise can get the
different ways through which it can modify the products it is offering in the market.
Cost analysis – At this stage the cost needs to be incurred in order to implement the change
needs to be determined so that accordingly arrangements can be made.
TASK 4
P7 Different tools that organisations can use to develop, retain and protect intellectual property
Due to increase in close rivalry and competition level it has become important for the
organisations to protect their crucial assets. It is due to the fact that advancement in the
technology has taken place which has made it easy for competitor to copy or steel the idea of
other in same field. There are range of tools which are available for the organisations through
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which they can protect their inventions etc. Some of the most commonly used tools are discussed
below:
Patents – It is an effective measure through which an entrepreneur can protect the
invention made by him by securing it through mentioning same in the patent. After getting patent
over a particular product or service it restricts other to use, sell, import or making the patented
design. Through patent a deal is made between the inventor and the society. In context of the
inventor patent assist in securing the invention made from getting copied by other rivalries.
Trademark – These days there are variety of entrepreneurs who are dealing in a particular
business type. It is important that each one of them distinguish their product or service from
other in the field so that a clear and different image among customer can be established (Ke and
et. al., 2016). A trade mark can be a distinct sign, words or marks which are allotted against a
business dealings and hence it is recognised through the same. This way with a passage of time
customer starts recognising the brand from the trade mark which further has a long term effect in
the minds of customers. While fixing on the trademark for any business it has to be given care
that it is unique and does not give misleading image of a company. Once a trade mark is
registered with a legal body it cannot be copied by any other unit and in case it is found than
lawful action can be taken against the party at fault.
Design – It is concerned with the appearance of a particular product. This may include the
colours, lines or patterns of products that how does it look like (Khan and et. al., 2015). With the
help of design rights, a particular entrepreneur can protect his article from getting cheated by
some other in the same business. A series of steps needs to be followed in order to get the design
registered which is applicable for a certain period of time. after the maturity entrepreneur needs
to get the design register to enjoy the power of ownership. The time limit for the design
ownership varies from country to country which is common to 5 – 25 years in most of the parts
of the world.
Copyright – This is another tool which can be used by the creators of music, literary, or
artist against their invention and creation of an entirely new work. This is done so that effective
monitoring over the use of same can be made. There are range of particulars that can be
protected by purchasing the copyright against same such as software, drawings, photographs,
sound recordings etc. (Koirala and et. al., 2016)
CONCLUSION
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From the above report this has been summarised that in order to grow and maintain the
desired level of revenues Essence drinks needs to manage innovation on continuous basis. It will
help in leading towards a healthy competitive business world as an enterprise having capacity to
alter the operations or products on regular basis can give a tough rivalry to other in the same
field.
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