Innovation Report: 4Com Plc's Innovation Strategies Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of innovation strategies within 4Com Plc, a telecommunications SME in the UK. It begins by defining innovation and its importance compared to invention, then explores how organizational vision, leadership, culture, and teamwork are shaped by innovation. The report delves into the 4Ps of innovation (Product, Process, Position, Paradigm), the use of innovation funnels, and the developments in frugal innovation, highlighting its benefits. It also examines the importance of commercial funnels and presents an innovation business case. Furthermore, the report discusses tools for protecting intellectual property and concludes with a summary of key findings. The report underscores the significance of innovation for achieving competitive advantage, increasing ROI, and adapting to market changes, using 4Com Plc as a case study to illustrate these concepts.

Innovation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1. Innovation and its importance in company in comparison with invention......................1
P2. Organisational vision, leadership, culture and teamwork can be shaped by innovation..2
M1...........................................................................................................................................3
D1...........................................................................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
P3. Explain 4Ps of innovation and the use of innovation funnel............................................4
M2...........................................................................................................................................5
P4. Developments in frugal innovation in an organization....................................................5
M3...........................................................................................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
P5. Importance of commercial funnel in the context of an organization...............................7
P6 & M4. Innovation business case.......................................................................................7
D2...........................................................................................................................................9
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................9
P7. Different tools which helps in protecting knowledge and intellectual property of firm. .9
M5.........................................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Innovation plays an important role in every business organisation. As it helps in making
new and innovative ideas for better performance of company. In simple words, it is based on the
concept of betterment in which firms innovate something different and better (Aarikka-Stenroos
and Sandberg, 2012). Generally, its main function is to develop new product, also helps in
improving existing strategies, procedures, technologies, designs. It provides various solutions of
different problems so that company can increase and attract new potential customers. To sustain
in competitive market place every enterprise have to produce effective products and services in
some interval and it can be done only by innovation existing goods, services and strategies. This
project report is based on ''4com Plc'' which is a small and medium enterprise, located in United
Kingdom (Abou-Ras, Kirchartz and Rau, 2011). It provides telecommunication services across
all cities of UK. In this report, concept of innovation and vision, leadership, culture of this
company has been explained.
TASK 1
P1. Innovation and its importance in company in comparison with invention
Innovation is a set of actions which involves new ideas, methods, strategies and tools to
improve existing products and services within organisation. It helps companies in using unique
and new ideas and concepts to enhance quality of existing goods and services. 4Com plc also use
innovation concepts to develop its current strategies so that it can accomplish its goals and
objectives in a better way. Invention refer as improvement in machineries, it also creates new
processes for effective results (Bogers and West, 2010 ). Both innovation and invention is
different from each other which can be defined with the help of following comparison chart:
Innovation Invention
It is a procedure of improving current products,
services and process for first time.
It is a process creation and introduction a new
product which has never been made before.
It includes technical, marketing and strategic
skills.
It involves only scientific skills.
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Moreover, by evaluating above mentioned table it is come to realisation that innovation a
and invention is different concepts. There are also some core importance of innovation for 4com
plc which are following as under:
 With the help of innovative management company can innovate and implement effective
strategies and techniques, which will help in creating competitive advantage (Bogers and
West, 2012). If organisation will use new ideas then it can easily compete its different
competitors.
 It also help enterprise in selecting appropriate method to accomplish various
organisational goals and objectives.
 Innovation leads business organisation as higher level. For example, Apple Inc. have
launched its I-pod which can play near about 900 songs, through this innovative
technique this company have lead to higher success (DAtta, Jessup and Reed, 2011).
 Innovation also helps in increasing return on investment for different stakeholder of
company.
 Through this, 4com can analysis its different competitors and can also make more
effective plans to compete its contenders.
P2. Organisational vision, leadership, culture and teamwork can be shaped by innovation
Innovation can be defined as a process which is used by business enterprise to improve
current products, services and methods. Whereas, commercialization can refer as introduction of
new products, services and methods into commerce or making it available in market.
Vision of a company determines its main objective or for which reason it has been
established. Generally, it involves different goals which a organisation wants to achieve with the
help of its stakeholders. In simple word. vision is consist of some specific organisational
objectives which is fulfil by employees employed in organisation. On the other side, culture of
organisation is relates to its different costumes and beliefs (Datta, Mukherjee and Jessup, 2015).
Through analysing vision and culture business owners can shape innovation of its different
organisational products and services.
4Com plc is a telecommunication company which also innovate its goods and other
services as per its organisational vision, culture, leadership and teamwork. This company
determines its goals and objective with the help of innovation and invention. In simple words,
this organisation accomplish its different goals and objectives by generating new and effective
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ideas. Moreover, teamwork is also most essential element which play an important role in
delivering creation and commercialization of goods and services. Through evaluating case study
of Virgin Group this is come to consideration that clear vision and mission of a company helps in
taking initiatives regarding improvement of existing products and services. According to
manager of Virgin Group for effective results company needs huge contribution of efficient
groups and their team members. Success and failure of a company lies upon its human resources
(Eesley, Hsu and Roberts, 2014). If organisation have well skilled employees than company can
achieve higher growth. Along with this, organisational culture also important for innovative
products, services and methods. 4Com can accomplish its innovative goals and objectives by
various methods which are following as under:
 Improved strategies of human resource management.
 Through making appropriate strategies and procedures.
 Innovation measurement tools.
Hence, these are the some point through which company can measure different ways to
achieve innovative goals and objectives.
M1.
Innovation is the core concept of all business organisations. To innovate different
products and services company needs to find various sources of innovation, some of its sources
are following as under:
Demographics: Most of innovators innovate their ideas as per the demographical factors.
Generally, it involves variation and changes in population. Business mangers should innovate
their products and services to consider different aspects of demographical areas.
Process need: In this company tries to solve different problems of people. In simple
words, innovators should try satisfied all needs of individuals (Gibson and Naquin, 2011).
It is very much important for organisation to innovate their business otherwise it can not
get higher success. For this, company can use various sources. Enterprise can bring innovation
by making changes in its market structure as well as in its industry. Mangers can also innovate
his firm by modifying his perception. New knowledge and unique ideas can also be effective
source of innovation. Apart from this, there are also some points through which business
mangers can develop or foster innovation within workplace. By experimenting risk and
considering inside-out & outside-in dynamics company can foster culture of innovation.
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D1.
According to (Roberts), innovation is the most important integral part of every
organisation. With the help of this companies can achieve higher success in market place.
Innovation can be developed by generating new and innovative ideas for existing products and
services. Along with this, hard work of team members also results in better innovation of current
strategies, methods, products and services.
TASK 2
P3. Explain 4Ps of innovation and the use of innovation funnel
Innovation is broad concept which helps in improving existing products and services of
business organisation. With the help of this, company can get better and improved results. In
simple words it can be said that, innovation is a term which helps enterprise in achieving high
financial growth. There are four P's of innovation through which 4com can increase its growth
and development and those are following as under:
Product innovation: In this, business organisation improve its different products so that
it can increase profitability. Company can also achieve its predetermined goals and objectives
with the help of product innovation. If 4com will produce effective goods and services than it
will be able to attract more customers which results in higher growth of company. In simple
words, it is advised as most important part of product revolution, which modifies whole material,
item or services. This kind of innovation is used to enhance huge number of customers.
Process innovation: Procedures are the most essential aspects of every business
enterprise, as it helps in each and every function of organisation. Without appropriate processes
no company can survive in competitive business environment. Enterprise can increase achieve its
different goals and objectives by improving existing procedures (Hausman and Johnston, 2014).
Well improved procedure helps managers of 4com to accomplish predetermined organisational
results.
Position innovation: It is the third P of innovation, in this business mangers provides
high qualifies products and services to its customers to enhance its performance in competitive
market place. Through innovation 4com can improve its performance and compete its
competitors in marketplace. Good position of company also helps in attracting more potential
customers which helps in maiming financial profit.
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Paradigm innovation: it defines the mental model of company which shape what is an
enterprise is all about. This is known as last P of innovation.
Moreover, innovation funnel defines the main aim of improving particular goods and
services. In simple words, it helps business enterprise in knowing the actual need of creating and
innovation existing strategies, methods, processes, products and services (Huizingh, 2011).
M2.
Innovation funnel helps organisation in converting plans into reality. Through this,
business enterprises can increase quality of its products and services. Managers of 4com plc are
also wishing to apply this concept to improve its performance and also its different goods and
services. There are various stages which are involved in innovation funnel which is following as
under:
 Appraisal of future opportunities
 Conducting market research with the help of creating healthy environmental
 Formulation of activities of innovation process.
Hence, innovation funnel plays a vital role in business organisation and in its growth.
Through applying this, company can minimise its extra cost which is occurred in manufacturing
process. The core objective of innovation funnel is to evaluate all activities of production so that
it can be determined that what is cost of raw material and how can be they reduced.
P4. Developments in frugal innovation in an organization
Frugal innovation plays an important role in every business enterprise. It is a wide
concept which helps organisation in sustaining innovative products, services and methods. In
simple words, it is very much related to substantial innovation of a specific service, reverse
creativity or frugal engineering (Inauen and Schenker-Wicki, 2012). The main motto of
redesigning the products and services is to minimise extra cost of them. 4Com use this concept to
develop its existing materials in a cheap way but without minimising product quality. Frugal
innovation is a major aspect which is used by organisational management to construct new goods
or other services.
There are various benefits of applying frugal innovation in business enterprise, it is
beneficial in various ways which are following as under:
 Its most important benefit is to manage organisational resources internally and
externally.
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 With the help of this, 4com can provide proper satisfaction to its potential customers.
As improved product and services gives higher gratification.
 It also help business enterprise to identify various future organisational opportunities.
In the context of the company namely 4com can exercise frugal innovation by giving
central attention to following points:
 Minimisation of cost
 Accurate information about customer preferences
 Other customer groups which helps in cost decrement
Hence, these are the some important elements which should be considered by business
mangers while exercising frugal innovation.
M3.
If the expenses would be higher than margins, the company will fall into loss
economically and financially. Frugal innovations prevent the organisation from the financial
crisis, 4com always trust in fugal but effective plans and programmes more creative and effective
which can draw the attention of the shareholder, sponsor as well as the users.4com has adopted
many frugal strategies which has been turned into successful one (Kutvonen, 2011). Such
innovation not only increase the capital profits but enhance the creativity and ability to see
widely and make it more effectual. These savings and creative innovation made the 4com one of
the leading and innovative organisation in U.K. Frugal innovation is a core concept which help
organisation in its growth and development. Through this company can focus on their customer
needs and wants, as it address different demands of clients. With the help of this 4com can co-
operate with innovative partners. It also helps in utilisation of available resources in most
effective manner.
TASK 3
P5. Importance of commercial funnel in the context of an organization
In resent time, customers are becoming more demanding, Which force business
organisations to innovate existing strategies, products, services and organisational structure. But
while innovating existing elements company should consider that innovation process must not
become too expensive. Commercial funnel is a process by which company innovate new
products and introduce them in available market. Apart from this, commercial funnel helps in
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changing current strategies to modify existing products so that, company can increase number of
its customers. It plays an important role in 4com plc which is described below:
 It helps in profit maximisation and cost minimisation.
 It leads business enterprise at higher level.
 Through commercial funnel company can enhance its profitability
Moreover, new development process also helps in innovating existing products and
services, it involves various steps which are following as under:
 Generating new ideas : this is the first step in this company generates various ideas to
develop existing products and services(Makri and Scandura, 2010).
 Screening of ideas : After generating ideas in second step organisation evaluate them in
systematic manner to identify that they are appropriate for company or not.
 Examination and improvement :After emerging and screening ideas, in this step
enterprise use various techniques and tools to examine those ideas.
 Business evaluation : In this step, company ascertain that generated ideas are favourable
for organisational culture or not.
 Product development : In this last step business mangers of organisation finally develop
their products to satisfy different needs of customers.
Furthermore, with the help of above mentioned points 4com can increase its
performance in market place and also can provide better products to its customers.
P6 & M4. Innovation business case
To innovate current strategies, products, services and methods company needs to make
innovation business plan which helps organisation in innovating existing organisational structure
and culture. Followings are the key points of innovation business case of 4com plc:
 Executive summary : 4com Plc is a telecommunication company which provides
various networking and communication service, it is situated in United Kingdom.
 The requirement : This company is established to fulfil its objectives such as high sales
volume, high productivity, customer satisfaction, employee retention and so on.
 Why product/services is innovative : This organisation provides high communication
services which is result of its innovation management.
 Customer research : With the help of market research this company can make effective
innovation business case.
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 Design and development programs : Innovation plans includes effectively designed
and developed programs to innovate current products and services.
 Need for capital : For innovation process company needs a huge amount of capital so
that it can enable its funding requirements (Thore, 2012).
 Expected benefits : Innovative products and services helps in attracting more customers
which directly influence higher performance of company in market place.
Hence, these are the some essential points which are required in making effective
innovation business plan. It is a method through which 4com can show its efficiency in
innovating new products or services. There are various tools by which this company can
evaluate its innovation business case that its is effective or not.
Idea screening: As per this technique 4com can evaluate its thoughts which are used in
innovation business plan. It should be reliable and appropriate so that products can be innovated.
Testing: In this, company can conduct a testing plan through which it can be determine
that planning process is operating in best manner or not.
Strategies development: It is very much important to implement different strategies
after testing innovation business plan. Through this organisation can improve quality of its
products or services.
After evaluating above mentioned points, it can be evaluate that how much effective
business plan can be. This program also helps in determining effectiveness of tools that are used
in measuring outcomes.
D2.
Innovations has helped in improvement of the company while in the crisis and in the
problems. 4Com is the best example of the innovation based development to get over from
hurdles came in the way of improvement. Best example of this is “Stress Awareness Month”
which has been started by James Newton, talent Acquisition director of 4com, which offers to
share their stress and problem to the 4com in worldwide in the month of April and opens up all
the suggestions of everyone which possibly can solve their problem. This Innovative concept
will offer people to be helped and stay calm with sharing of their problems (Walsh, 2012).
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TASK 4
P7. Different tools which helps in protecting knowledge and intellectual property of firm
Intellectual property refers to idea of innovation that was developed by an organisation or
businessman that needs to be protected. Idea protection is today's demand in the world of harsh
communication. Competition is getting tougher everyday. This property refers to a product that
was innovated so as to get market benefits. Legal advisors and attorneys of intellectual property
helps in protection of ideas. Application filling can be a costly process if not filed properly and
may lead to wastage of time. Few things must be taken care of while protecting an idea:
 under what category your idea comes.
 Filing early to avoid risk.
 International patents needs to be watched before filling.
There are some methods which is used by 4com Plc to protect its property and these are
following as under:
Copy rights:- copyright protects all data like music composed, software, artistic work,
written work etc. from getting used by others. Copyrights grants creator exclusive rights to
modify, create, display, perform and copy their work.
Patents:- patents gives authority to inventor that making, selling of patented product is
only the right of the concerned person and no other is given permission to do so. Patent can be
filled by an application to the US Patent and trademark office (Wonglimpiyarat, 2010).
There are three kinds of patents:
1) Utility
2) Design
3) Plant
In Process, machinery and manufacturing of an article comes under utility. New or
innovative design of manufacturing product comes under design patents. Plant patent is done on
asexually produced plants. 4com plc comes under communication industry which has a large
number of equipments or technology that needs to be protected.
Trademark :- It is symbol or sign that distinguish a companies product. For example,
Nike has a woosh sign (Shahid and et. al., 2011). Before filling clear representation of sign is
necessary. And while registering sign with USPTO it must be checked that whether trademark is
already in use or not. 4Com plc has a trade mark of HIHI.
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Trade secrets:- It is companies secret that an businessman or organisation keeps to hide
it from its competitors, Example formulae used in creation of any beverage item. Unlike other IP
protection techniques is not done by any registration. It is done by hiding information to best an
organisation can.
M5.
At the National Business Award this year, 4com has been nominated for the Customer
Focus Award for the fastest communication provider enterprise of the industry in U.K. Perfect
example is The used communication techniques by 4com is high standard and adopted from
Apple and Virgin inc which are the best selling enterprises in the market. 4Com provide scalable
software in their systems which prevent errors (Yin and et. al., 2014). Connection via TAPI and
VoIP are used in software which redirect processes such as calling and access a quick
networking to the customers. Such different tools together make product better among all and
lead to a scenario of successful business and great margins.
As 4com comes in digital industry, so it is very much important for it to use different
tools so that it can protect its knowledge and intellectual property. It involves various methods
such as Trademarks, copyrights, patents and so on. This techniques help different business
organisation in protecting their properties and also differentiates it from other companies.
CONCLUSION
Through concluding this project report, it is come to realisation that innovation is a
essential element for organisational growth. If invention is done in a systematic manner than it
can bring huge success for business enterprises. Company can enhance its performance by using
new ideas and methods. This concept includes innovation funnel which helps organisation in
removing complication from creativity procedure. This report is based on 4com plc which is a
telecommunication enterprise of UK. In this project research, importance of commercial funnel
in given organisation has been described. Along with this, procedure of new product
development has been explained to improve performance of 4com pc.
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