POG340 Module: Innovation and Risk Management for Pint Energy Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of innovation and risk management strategies applicable to Pint Energy, focusing on a strategic framework. It begins with an introduction to the importance of innovation and risk management for business success, emphasizing the need for effective strategies to mitigate risks. The report then explores the energy sector in the UK, highlighting key players like British Gas and the impact of technological advancements. A detailed examination of British Gas’s innovation in smart home technology, specifically the Hive system, is included as a case study. The core of the report outlines a strategic framework for Pint Energy, including seven key dimensions such as managed innovation process, strategic alignment, industry and customer insights, core technology, organizational readiness, and disciplined implementation. Furthermore, the report discusses the stage-gate process for new product development, detailing the steps involved: generating ideas, screening, concept checking, business analytics, technical product development, testing, and product launch. The report concludes by summarizing the importance of adopting a systematic approach for launching new products and services within the energy sector, with a focus on driving business growth and competitive advantage.

Innovation & Risk Management
Module Code: POG340
Pint Energy
ID (40756)
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................................3
ASSIGNMENT ...................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES.....................................................................................................................................9
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INTRODUCTION
Innovation and risk management is assertive for gaining success of a business (Rothaermel,
2015). It is vital to make effective strategies for reducing the risks that are associated with the
business. Present report is based on innovation and risk management and critical evaluation of
seven dimensions within a strategic framework has been described in the report. In addition to this
significance of seven dimensions for launching a new product has been described in the report.
(Source- Singh, 2013)
ASSIGNMENT
RISK AND INNOVATION: - Innovation works as driver of company growth and supports in
adding new attributes and features in existing commodities of the enterprise (Reason, 2016). Risk is
assumed to me as crucial part of innovation and whenever new innovative concepts are added then
it is vital to incorporate risk management.
ENERGY COMPANIES IN UK :- Major energy supplier firm of UK includes leading firms
naming as BRITISH GAS , power, EDF energy, Scottish power and SSE. All the firms holds good
market position and share and millions of consumers residing in UK are provided services by these
energy companies (Kawada and Shiohama, 2016). Advancement made in technological fields have
influenced the working of energy sector also.
New attributes and features can be added in the amenities and clients can be rendered better
facilities. Innovations are adopted by existing corporations and new players are also adopting
innovative methods for rendering better energy facilities to consumers (Partain, 2014). It support
them in gaining big market share and gaining competitive advantage over rival firm.
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Illustration 1: risk and innovation

(SOURCE- Kapferer, J2012)
It has become vital for companies to add innovations in their gas and energy services so that better
quality amenities should be offered to the clients of business. However some risks are also involved
when new innovations are added and it requires that a systematic procedure should be adopted
while implementing innovations in business.
BRITISH GAS :- It is a leading energy and home service provider firm of UK which render
services to large number of consumers. It is market leader firm that contains biggest market share in
the United Kingdom (BRITISH GAS, 2016). It offers reasonable price services to its business clients
and it ensures it consumers about not enhancing price of the products offered by it. Gas and
electricity services are provided to clients of business. Tariffs of gas and electricity services offered
by the company are lowest in market (Iyer and Nicholson, 2015). Frequent innovations are done in
the existing services of company so that better assistance can be rendered to clients of business.
However making new modifications and innovations involves huge risks and due to that
overall execution of operating activities gets affected. Various services rendered by the organization
include gas and electricity services that is supplied to millions of consumers across UK. Company
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Illustration 2: Energy companies in UK

has adopted distributor network operator for operating their business. BRITISH GAS has launched
a new services known as HIVE for providing better amenities to consumers. Hive is a smart
thermostat that supports in controlling heating at home by making use of Smartphone, tablet and
laptops (Ward and Peppard, 2016). The system of hive works with existing heating system at home
and people no needs to change their existing system for installing new application new program.
In addition to these smart light bulbs, sensors and smart plugs are also included in the
category of smart thermostat which consumer can control from home. The initiative taken by
British gas supported in enhancing consumer base of the enterprise and due to that millions of
consumers started using the new innovative service that is launched by the corporation. PINT
ENERGY can also take crucial steps for making improvements in existing structure for rendering
innovative and technically advanced products to consumers. It is vital that at initial stage strategies
should be formulated in effective manner.
STRATEGY :- Under this element the plan formulated for adopting technically advanced system
and it is vital to build a effective action plan for accomplishing the objective in successfully manner.
Plans and strategies formulated in organized mode supports in gaining competitive advantage for
business. Long term and short term strategies needs to be formed for implementing the plans in
effective manner (Rothaermel, 2015). Strategic innovation framework assists in producing
diverse range of outcomes that lead towards growth of the enterprise. 7 dimensions for PINT
ENERGY are as follows:-
Managed innovation process: - It is the core process which aid in making new innovation in
required products of the enterprise. It is vital to identify market trends running in the industry and
assessing needs of consumers. Competitive analysis is also conducted for assessing strategies
adopted by rivals for gaining market position (Austin and Pinkleton, 2015).
Strategic alignment :- For doing strategic alignment stakeholders of business will be
included with objective to share vision. Internal and external alignment will be done for ensuring
growth and success of the business (Kawada and Shiohama, 2016). Significant contribution will be
taken from the stakeholders of business and their ideas and innovative recommendations will be
used for developing new innovative thermostat products for the PINT ENERGY.
Industry insight: - Trends going in energy sector will be assessed by making appropriate
approaches. It will aid in developing new thermostat product of PINT ENERGY in effective way
(Partain, 2014). For example British Gas has launched Hive which provides smart thermostat
amenities for consumers.
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(SOURCE- Grunig, 2013)
Customer insight :- Potential consumer base will be identified and needs and preferences
will be evaluated for making improvement in new product concepts. Market and online survey
provides effective tool for assessing requirements of potential consumers and existing consumers.
By adopting this methodology new thermostat product for PINT ENERGY can be developed in
effective manner (Reason, 2016). Core technology and competencies:-It is critical that effective
and advanced technology should be used for making innovations in new products. Three major
elements are included in that and it consist of assets, organization competencies and internal
capabilities.
Organizational readiness :- It is vital that necessary resources required for bringing
strategic innovation should be allocated in optimum manner (Iyer and Nicholson, 2015).
Disciplined implementation :- If discipline will be implemented in effective manner than all
the required task and activities will be performed in effective way. Positive efforts rendered by
manpower of PINT ENERGY will support in ensuring growth and success of business in efficient
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Illustration 3: 7 dimension framework

mode.
STAGE GATE PROCESS FOR NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT :- PINT ENERGY will take
initiatives for developing smart thermostat products. It is required that a systematic procedure
should be adopted for designing and manufacturing the new product (Kapferer, 2012). Stage gate
process supports in achieving this objective and major steps involved in this are as follows :-
Generating :- Current marketing trends will be observed for identifying new concepts that
are liked by consumer. It will aid in designing the smart thermostat product as per the needs of
buyers. Top management of PINT ENERGY should direct all the departments for working in
coordinating way for accomplishing desired objectives of business in successful manner. SWOT
analysis can be conducted for assessing strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for business.
It will support in identifying market trends (Luger, Moran and Rodden, 2013).
Needs of consumers, competitors of enterprise and requirements of consumers. There are
many ideas that can be taken from the staff members of organization. Open discussion session can
be organized in company in which engineers and employees from R&D department can be invited
for discussing new concepts and ideas so that better products can be developed in the enterprise.
Customers are also a significant source through which ideas can be generated as clients are ultimate
end users for commodities of business. Online and offline survey can be conducted for assessing the
needs and requirements.
Screening of idea :- particular criteria will be set for doing screening for whether to launch
the product or not. It will aid in removing ineffective projects and selecting the best ones. It is vital
that authentic and reliable sources should be used for searching new ideas and innovation concept
so that better commodities can be rendered to clients of business. PINT energy is planning to
provide smart tech thermostat products to the consumers and it is required that new and innovative
products should be added (Chowdhury, Kruczek, and Matsuura, 2013).
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(Source- Reason, 2016)
The major goal behind doing idea screening is to eliminate non feasible ideas and concepts so that
team can work on better ideas for making a good and innovative product. While process of idea
screening it will be checked that new product id technically feasible for launching in target market
( Waal, 2013). In addition to this it will also be assessed that whether consumer in target market will
get benefited from the new product. Irrelevant ideas and concepts will be removed at this stage and
work will be started on productive ideas.
Checking of concept :- analysis will be done for identifying whether consumers will be
needing the product that PINT ENERGY is trying to launch in market. The major objective for
doing checking of concept is to check suitability of product for it meets the every aspect of
consumer needs (Austin and Pinkleton, 2015). Target market and consumers of the product will be
identified and diverse benefits that new product will offer will be identified. Research and
development department will work on new concepts and feasibility and success rate of each new
idea will be assessed.
Business analytics :- measures will be done for identifying value of launched products and
in addition to this it will be assessed that what is the exact time required for product development
cycle (Slack, 2015). Evaluation of new ideas will be done on the basis of quantitative factors so that
success rate of product can be identified. Return on investment (ROI) for product will be identified.
It will aid in assessing profitability rate of each product and sales volume that can be offered in
market for recovering the investment cost will be evaluated while doing business analytics.
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Illustration 4: stage gate analysis for new product development

Technically product development :- under this step estimation of server resources is done
and moreover final database preparation is done for doing planning for logistics operations (Eden,
and Ackermann, 2013). all the ideas and concepts which were developed on paper are brought to be
designed and funds needs to be allocated for achieving this objective. Engineering operational
planning will be done for making new products and necessary resources that will be required for
making new thermostat product for PINT ENERGY will be allocated in optimum manner.
Testing :- Commercial experiments will be conducted for testing the feasibility of new
product in target market segment (Grunig, 2013). Testing of product will be done in typical usage
situations and it will support in determining customer acceptance for the new thermostat product
launched by PINT ENERGY. In addition to this interviews can be conducted for identifying
satisfaction level of consumers.
Launching of product :- effective promotional strategies will be formed for promotional
and advertising activities and product launch will be done in impelling manner so that more number
of consumers can be made aware about the product launch event of the enterprise (Hill, Jones and
Schilling, 2014). Product and place promotions will be done for informing consumers about new
product launched by the enterprise. Use of social networking sites can be taken for reaching to large
base of consumers and it will aid in gaining huge consumer base by selling big volume of products.
CONCLUSION
Present report concludes that PINT ENERGY can inject couple of products and services in
their existing portfolio for driving growth of business. It is required that management of company
should adopt a systematic approach for launching new product in market. 7 DIMENSION
framework supports in making appropriate strategies for developing a new product in effective and
advanced mode. It is vital that step by step procedure should be used under seven dimension for
launching a new product in effective manner. It is critical that all the elements should be included
while designing and launching the new product in innovative and impelling manner. For designing
new product stage gate procedure can be used which offers a systematic and organized method for
developing a new product in innovative and attractive way.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Austin, E.W. and Pinkleton, B.E., 2015. Strategic Public Relations Management: Planning and
Managing Effective Communication Campaigns (Vol. 10). Routledge.
Chowdhury, G., Kruczek, B. and Matsuura, T. eds., 2013. Polyphenylene oxide and modified
polyphenylene oxide membranes: gas, vapor and liquid separation. Springer Science &
Business Media.
Eden, C. and Ackermann, F., 2013. Making strategy: The journey of strategic management. Sage.
Galliers, R.D. and Leidner, D.E., 2014. Strategic information management: challenges and
strategies in managing information systems. Routledge.
Grunig, J.E., 2013. Excellence in public relations and communication management. Routledge.
Hill, C.W., Jones, G.R. and Schilling, M.A., 2014. Strategic management: theory: an integrated
approach. Cengage Learning.
Hitt, M.A., Ireland, R.D. and Hoskisson, R.E., 2012. Strategic management cases: competitiveness
and globalization. Cengage Learning.
Iyer and Nicholson, M., 2015. Behavioral issues in price setting in business-to-business marketing:
A framework for analysis. Industrial Marketing Management. 47. pp.6-16.
Kapferer, J.N., 2012. The new strategic brand management: Advanced insights and strategic
thinking. Kogan page publishers.
Kawada, A. and Shiohama, T., 2016. Structural Credit Risks with Non-Gaussian and Serially
Correlated Innovations. American Journal of Mathematical and Management Sciences. 35(2).
pp.143-158.
Luger, E., Moran, S. and Rodden, T., 2013, April. Consent for all: revealing the hidden complexity
of terms and conditions. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in
computing systems (pp. 2687-2696). ACM.
Partain, R.A., 2014. Gored by a Cornucopia: The Risks to Climate Change From Laws and Policies
That Incentivize Competitive But Divergent Energy Innovations. LSU J. Energy L. &
Resources. 3. p.433.
Reason, J., 2016. Managing the risks of organizational accidents. Routledge.
Rothaermel, F.T., 2015. Strategic management. McGraw-Hill.
Rothaermel, F.T., 2015. Strategic management. McGraw-Hill.
Singh, A., 2013. A study of role of McKinsey's 7S framework in achieving organizational
excellence. Organization Development Journal. 31(3). p.39.
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Slack, N., 2015. Operations strategy. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Waal, A., 2013. Strategic Performance Management: A managerial and behavioral approach.
Palgrave Macmillan.
Ward, J. and Peppard, J., 2016. The Strategic Management of Information Systems: Building a
Digital Strategy. John Wiley & Sons.
Online
BRITISH GAS . 2016. [Online]. Available through: <https://www.britishgas.co.uk/products-and-
services/gas-and-electricity/>. [Accessed on 21h November, 2016].
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