Innovation and Commercialization Strategies: 4Com Plc Report

This report delves into the critical aspects of innovation and commercialization within the business environment, particularly focusing on the telecommunications sector and specifically on 4Com Plc. It explores the significance of innovation, differentiating it from invention, and highlights the roles of vision, leadership, culture, and teamwork in shaping innovation within a Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) context. The report examines the 4Ps of innovation, the application of the innovation funnel, and the development of frugal innovation strategies. Furthermore, it analyzes the commercial funnel, the application of New Product Development (NPD), and the importance of a business case. The report also covers tools used to develop, retain, and protect knowledge and intellectual property, providing a comprehensive overview of innovation management and commercialization strategies relevant to the SME sector. The report also makes comparisons with Apple Inc. and Virgin group to provide a broader understanding of the subject.

INNOVATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1. Importance of Innovation and the way it is different from Invention .............................1
P2. Role of vision, leadership, culture and teamwork in shaping Innovation and
Commercialization.................................................................................................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
P3 4P's of Innovation and use of Innovation funnel in examining and shaping ideas...........4
P4. Developing Frugal innovation .........................................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
P5. Commercial Funnel and Application of NPD..................................................................6
P6 Business Case....................................................................................................................8
P7 Tools used to develop, retain and protect knowledge and intellectual property...............9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Innovation in today's business environment is one of the most crucial aspects. Innovation
refers to inventing new products or to find alternate uses of existing ones. The main purpose of
innovation is to meet existing as well as changing requirements of consumers. However,
commercialisation is a different concept which focuses on launching new product in the market.
Under this concept, a new product is introduced to the public. This report consists a brief about
the innovation and commercialisation carried out in Apple Inc. and Virgin group. This report
focuses on understanding the innovation strategies, leadership, and team work in 4com Plc. It is a
telecommunication company located in United Kingdom and the products and services include
handsets, call recording, call management and call reporting all over United Kingdom. The
various types and ways of innovation will be taken into consideration keeping in mind the SME
(Lindič and et. al., 2011).
TASK 1
P1. Importance of Innovation and the way it is different from Invention
Innovation is necessary if the organisation wants to survive in the industry for a long run.
Small and medium sized enterprises are under continuous threat from the mammoths in
telecommunication industry (Wong, 2011). The main competitors for 4Com Plc is Giffgaff, O2,
virgin and Tesco and to survive in the same industry it is essential to innovate. Innovation is
looking for an opportunity and acting upon it to gain a competitive edge over its competitors and
to successfully sustain in the market. Example: Revolution brought by Apple Inc. in the field of
MP3 players.
Here enlisting some of the benefits of Innovation:
 Higher Morale: A motivated employee is always an asset for the organisation thus helps
achieving targets personal as well professional.
 Better Means of survival: Innovation can help an organisation survive in the industry for
a longer period of time which means job security for employees.
 Competitive edge: It helps in achieving a competitive edge among its competitors which
will further help with financial gains and help promote financial stability in the
organisation.
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 Improved productivity: Employees are the one who brings the change in the organisation
so innovating things is also done by them can result in financial as well as non-financial
gains (Troshani, Rampersad and Plewa, 2011).
 Experimentation: During the course of process several experiments are conducted which
helps employees discover some untouched areas in his skills.
Key differences between Innovation and Invention:
Innovation Invention
Definition Improves something already
existing.
Confined to creating a new
product.
Need When existing product is not
fulfilling the present needs and
can be utilized better by
finding alternate uses of the
same..
Striking of idea
Skills Better understanding of the
market, opportunity
assessment and strategic skills
Scientific Expertise
Concerned Department The whole organisation can
contribute in innovating
things.
Research and development is
the only department concerned
Examples Steve job inventing iPod is a
perfect examples of
Innovation. Digital music
player who is smallest in size,
largest in memory.
Virtual Reality is one of the
latest invention in
contemporary times.
P2. Role of vision, leadership, culture and teamwork in shaping Innovation and
Commercialization
The role of vision, leadership, culture and teamwork are the indispensable part for a SME
if they desire to survive in the market for a long run (Inauen and Schenker-Wicki, 2012). In
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4Com Plc these factors stands vital not for the organisation but for the employees as well. Vision
refers to what the business wishes to achieve in coming period of time. It can also be referred to
as declaration of what the business aspires to achieve in the short term or long term. Having a
clearly defined vision is important for employees because it helps them to understand the reason
for existence of the company. It also provides them with a sense of connectivity with the
organisation and can provide ideas for improvement and which can further leads to innovation.
Leadership can be very well defined taking into account the Virgin Group's leader
Richard Branson who holds a superior position in company and leads it. Richard is known for
his aggressiveness and looking into the undiscovered areas of business which helped them to
explore the undiscovered market. The leadership of Steve Jobs is worth remembering as well.
Leadership is crucial for the future of company as well as for the employees. The leaders
in an organisation motivates the employee in the suitable manner to get results out of them. An
effective leader can help employees align their goals with the goals of the organisation and can
create a fair system of incentives and rewards in the organisation can further motivate employees
(Prenkert, 2012).
Culture of an organisation means the beliefs, attitudes, ideologies and principles existing.
A healthy work culture can have multiple benefits and the best among them is it leads to satisfied
employees and improved productivity. The mentality of employees of the organisation should be
work oriented they should work for betterment of self and of the organisation. For instance the
seniors form various department in Virgin Group come together and decide the corporate
priorities. This further helps company in innovation and finding alternate use of the existing one.
Teamwork can be defined as the integration and coordination of efforts of the several
people working for an organisation. 4Com Plc. gives special emphasis on teamwork as it is
known that it provides fruitful results. When an issue arises in company, teams come together to
look for alternatives which gives rise to innovation. Team efficiency can be developed rapidly
and efficiently which helps in generating more revenue for the firm. Virgin group promotes team
work and supports the idea presented by an employee if that is feasible and realistic (Kuratko and
Hoskinson, 2016).
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TASK 2
P3 4P's of Innovation and use of Innovation funnel in examining and shaping ideas.
The 4P's or innovation mix is a model which categorises the innovation process in four
important fields i.e. Product, Position, Process and Paradigm. It is a critical tool for analysis of
the new ideas presented.
Product Innovation
Product Innovation is one of the most appreciated form which focuses on creating a new
product or finding alternate uses of the existing one. IPod By Apple Inc. is one of the best
example of product innovation. 4Com Plc focuses on product innovation as well it aims at
providing the same functionality of product specifically handsets at cost effective prices. It began
with realising with the opportunity and understanding the requirements of the consumers. For
instance LG launched a washing machine that had inbuilt MP3 player (Libaers, 2014).
Process Innovation
Process Innovation puts its emphasis on the process from which the product created or
delivered to the end users. The ways by which a product or a service can be created in an
economical or efficient manner. It can also refers to adoption of new technology or methodology
for creating a product. The use of Mobile money is a latest technology of how money will be
transferred from one end to another.
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(Source: e-Business Strategy, 2013)
Position Innovation
Position Innovation is a type which focuses on re-positioning of a product which has
already been in the market. It focuses on changing the perception about the product and how they
are used by the end users. Positioning today is very vital how the people see and perceive about
the organisation is everything.
Paradigm Positioning
Paradigm Positioning is the last among the models of innovation which deals with
changing the mental models which shapes organisation. Innovation can sometime emerge when
we change the way we look at something. Steve Jobs was the person who had a different way of
looking at things which later helped him in developing the iPod which performed the same task
but in a different appearance and manner (Qian and Haynes, 2014).
Innovation funnel is a process describing the steps that take place starting from the idea
to launching of the product. The process starts when a company identifies a challenge and which
is being communicated to its employees, Virgin group has this culture of inviting ideas inn huge
numbers. The next step involves screening of ideas and filtering out the non-relevant ones.
Assessment of risk and returns is carried out on the selected ones and best ones are allocated
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with opportunities and resources. The last narrow stage of the funnel is for the ideas who can
deliver company's objectives (Audretsch, Falck and Heblich, 2011).
P4. Developing Frugal innovation
Frugal innovation focuses on reducing the inessential features in a product or service to
make it approachable for the people are financially weak. It focuses on minimal use of resources
to achieve the lower cost of production of products. The focus is on the developing countries
who do not have much access of these commodities. It stands different from innovation which
have richer clientele with high purchasing power. Innovation costs higher due to its R&D costs,
design and high manufacturing cost where as in frugal innovation the targets are lower classes of
the market and aims to achieve the profitability in that sector only.
4Com Plc relies its operation on frugal innovation. Apple Inc. and Virgin Group are
multinational corporations operating at a large scale carrying ample of resources in their pocket.
The products produced by these companies focuses in top to bottom approach which means the
target market are people who have a higher purchasing power and can afford innovation without
hesitation. When the products gets mature in the market, targets shifts to lower end by offering
huge discounts. Whereas, 4com deals with the lower end of market and offers bottom to top
approach. The technology used is the same between these two companies but the difference lies
in its operational expertise. The non-essential features are removed minimum use of resources
and manufacturing process. Which brings down the cost of production and the product is
accessible to the lower end of the market. If the company believes they have fulfilled the
requirement of the target market, they will launch certain products which are aimed at premium
segment of the market.
For business expansion the company also provides better technology at cost effective
prices so that there is a tremendous increase in the target market and boosting of sales for the
product. This can further provide company with the financial stability to compete with the giants
and to stay operational.
TASK 3
P5. Commercial Funnel and Application of NPD
Commercial funnel is a process of introducing a new product in the market. The launch
of the product is also the last stage in new product development. Commercial funnel refers to
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taking in account many ideas and coming out with the products having the capability of
surviving for a longer duration in the market. The tunnel in this context refers to the numbers of
people who are anticipated to buy the product and ends with a smaller number who actually buy
the product. Commercial funnel is divided into 4 critical steps. Awareness: this step focuses on solving the problem of the prospects which are large in
number. Marketing, email, social media marketing are ways through which people
become aware about an organisation (Westland, 2016). Interest: the number of people will fall and will engage with the organisation and ask
questions. Decision: now that they are familiar with the organisation. The prospects now have to
make a decision whether to buy or not to.
 Action: this final step includes prospect's action of buying the product.
NPD (New product development) is the need of the organisation because the market is
never static and in order to survive the organisation must launch new product to keep in pace
with requirement of the consumers. Productivity is the key factor in the process of new product
development (Wynarczyk, 2013). This process consist of 8 steps:
Step 1: Idea generation - This step invites idea for the new product or service to be
launched. As in case of Virgin Group where all the employee sat together for purpose of
brainstorming.
Step 2: Screening the ideas - There should be various grounds on which the non-
potential ideas to be dropped. Keeping in mind the consumer's expectations while idea
generation is necessary.
Step 3: Testing the concept - Concept testing is different from concept marketing which
takes into consideration patent, legalities, marketing messages etc.
Step 4: Business Analysis - Idea's feasibility and profitability will be analysed in this step
along with a detailed marketing strategy inclusive of positioning and target market.
Step 5: Product development - After Approval of the product in technical and marketing
areas. Prototype will be created and given to the employees for their feedback.
Step 6: Test Marketing - This step focuses on developing a marketing plan for the
product and validation of those concepts as well.
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Step 7: Commercialisation - Pricing of the product and Marketing strategies will be
finalised and the various channel of distribution to be adopted will be mentioned.
Step 8: Launch - After the development of the product its launch is to be finalised taking
into account the time and place of launch. Entertaining of feedback should be done as well.
P6 Business Case
Business Case is a process which focuses on investment decisions by the organisation. It
examines the opportunities in the market, various alternatives, stages and choosing the most
profitable alternative amongst all. It answers why, what, how, of the decision and determines the
ROI of a project (e-Business Strategy, 2013). This report will present business case of 4Com
company over the new technology upgradation in market.
Objectives - Understanding the objectives is a vital part. Objectives clearly defines what
the organisation wants to achieve in the coming future. 4Com Plc objective is to be the best
telecommunication provider in United Kingdom. The Innovative ideas are generally formed after
various market research and understanding requirement of the prospects. There can be number of
ideas such as building a new handset with alternative wireless technology. Building a plan needs
to describe what person to be included into this project.
Understanding the consumer perception, this plan will support in building strategies and
creating a budget for respected plan. It will not only help in decision making but also helps
company in estimating the success rate and the level of profitability.
Gather Inputs - The second stage is about gathering inputs from various sources. In a
small or medium enterprises the people who manage the organisation are allocated this job. This
step focuses on gathering the evidences from employees as well as outside to support the
product. 4Com'special emphasis on only those sources who are credible and have their interests
lies with the organisation. Research reports, competitor info, strategists and product marketing
team will be planned according the external environment and consumer preferences.
Analysis - This is third step in developing a business case in which the 4Com possess
with all the necessary data and will be able to innovate a business model for the organisation. As
in the case of iPod where it was evident that the MP3 is not in its best form and Apple Inc.
wanted to innovate which ended up as Apple Inc. highest selling product. According to market
analysis, 4Com can come up with the plan of including HiHi software in their new smart phones.
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Raising funds - The funds is an indispensable part of any business without it dreams will
still be dreams. Now the company is confident with the idea and should explore various sources
of gaining some capital for the organisation.
 Banks are a major source of finance which provides us with loan in exchange of a
security interest. There is a interest charged on the loan amount on either fixed or flexible
rate of interest.
 Bootstrapping is method of self-funding to the new tasks and projects with the help of
savings of the organisation (Dutta and Folta, 2016).
 Investors is another major source of finance in which a person will grants the funds in
exchange for a share in business. Venture Capital is one tricky route for generating finance which take share in equity and
control over the business.
Results - This is the last step in innovation business case . At this stage the company has
a idea, plan and funds to make what they thought of and launch it into the market. Monitoring the
process and compare the expected outcomes with the achieved ones.
P7 Tools used to develop, retain and protect knowledge and intellectual property.
Intellectual property is a unique value addition the intelligence that is an output of human
creativity or innovation. This can be termed as a legal idea which is protected under various
laws by the government. There are a certain guidelines which are to fulfilled to consider it as
Intellectual property. There can be seen numerous variation in the IPR in the last 150 years or so.
SME's such as 4com Plc can create such products which are inventive and never seen before and
the company can protect such products form imitation by it competitors through IPR. Sign,
trademark, copyright, patent are some IP which can be protected by the law and can help an
organisation in creating a brand name for them. IP plays a critical role in protecting the
inventions and innovations of the company. The new inventions refers to new ways of doing
business which helps in efficiency and competitiveness in the organisation
Categories IP protection style
Innovation: when a company innovates a new
product or a service (Abbasi, Attarand
Patent trade and utility model can be used by
4com to protect their inventions and
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