Innovation and Commercialization Strategies Report: Unicorn Grocery

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of innovation strategies, focusing on Unicorn Grocery, an England-based grocery store. It begins by differentiating between innovation and invention, emphasizing innovation's significance for business growth and competitive advantage. The report then explores how organizational vision, leadership, culture, and teamwork shape commercialization and innovation within the company. Task 2 delves into the 4Ps of innovation (product, process, position, and paradigm) and the application of the innovation funnel. It further examines frugal innovation, outlining its stages and benefits. Task 3 discusses the significance of the commercial funnel and the application of new product development. The report also evaluates methods for protecting ideas and commercializing innovation, along with their respective advantages and disadvantages.

Innovation

INTRODUCTION
Innovation is identified as a process of making goods, services, processes and
workflows of business more effective and efficient . In present competitive business
environment, it is very essential for every business organisation to bring innovation within firm
or its products. Innovation means executive new ideas, developing dynamic goods and services
or make improvements in existing products of company in order to gain competitive advantage
in market over Rivals (Rosenbusch, Brinckmann and Bausch, 2011). It acts as a catalyst in growth as
well as success of an organisation. It also supports business in adapting and growing as per the
market needs and requirements ineffective way. The present assignment is based on Unicorn
Grocery which is the grocery store of England. The report includes difference between
innovation and invention as well as various steps of innovation. It also includes process needed
to commercialize innovation in market and range of methods are evaluated for protecting ideas
as well as understanding their advantages and disadvantages.
TASK 1
P1 Innovation and its significance to employees in comparison with
invention
Innovation is the term which means converting a productive idea into concept on
effective goods and services that creates some value for customers or for which they are willing
to pay. Generally, it means come up with creative ideas and doing similar things in Unique way.
Innovation concept is different from invention and covers several aspects that assists company in
attaining its objectives it through and structured manner. It arise in the form of changing
processes of business and adapting with environmental transformations in order to administer
better quality of goods and services to customer which effectively meets their requirement.
Innovation needs to be considered by every organisation in order to get high growth and success
in market. Firm considered it as a part of inbuilt strategy which generate innovative culture
within company and promotes creative and strategic thinking. An organisation which constantly
undergo innovation, creates more effective and efficient work process as well as chances of
accomplishing high productivity increases very fast. In order to beat the competition that is
prevailed in market, it is very essential for company to come up with creative and unique idea
which distinct their goods and services from competitors.
The firm Unicorn Grocery wants to introduce their mobile application so that they can
easily sell their goods online (Wilson, 2014). This innovation makes the firm distinct from other
small medium enterprises in UK bye launching their mobile application. Main cause behind
bringing this innovation is to get competitive edge in market. It a sister company in making
strong consumer base and gain their loyalty. They also emphasize on embed sheer layout that
makes easy for customers to find out their goods as early as possible. Below mentioned are some
advantages of innovation that Unicorn grocery get:

 Innovation assist the company in capturing large market share as well as attaining high
competitive advantage in overseas market.
 Helps in developing good brand image.
 Facilities in generating high revenue and profits.
 Effective innovation is the way by which business can easily create its unique selling
proposition for particular good, service or processes (Wolin, 2016).
 Satisfaction level of consumers is increased very rapidly.
 Overall productivity as well as performance of company is enhanced.
 Assistant improving motivation of employees and retain them for long period of time.
 Helps in generating higher sales.
Invention is a different term from innovation as in invention, offerings are completely new but in
innovation, modification are done in goods and services which are already exist in market and
are offered to customers.
Difference between invention and innovation:
Innovation Invention
 It deals with modernization and
novelty.
 Innovation refers to an idea that can be
implemented to existing situation.
 It is a consolidation of various goods,
services or processes.
 It requires managerial as well as
technical skills.
 It is concerned with creating
something that is completely new to
market.
 It can only be evaluated or assessed by
potential buyers.
 It deals only with single good or
service.
 Scientific skills required in invention.
P2 Way in which organisational vision culture leadership and teamwork
can shape commercialization and innovation
Vision: To deliver high quality product to customers in minimum price and satisfy them
as well as retain them for longer period of time. It is the vision statement of Unicorn grocery.
According to this statement, it is interpreted that companies more focused towards fulfilling
needs and wants of customers in most effective way. In present competitive market, likes and
dislikes of people are changing frequently and it becomes essential for company to administer
search products and services that creates some value to customers (Strayer, 2012).
.

Leadership: Earlier autocorrect leadership style is followed by company but now they
has changed its style and use participative leadership style in which then involve there manpower
in process of decision making. It creates a sense of satisfaction among them which makes them
feel important and valuable like others. This will help in getting high competitive advantage in
market. This will assist in increasing participation of workforce in firm's activities and also helps
in increasing productivity of both firm as well as manpower.
Culture and Teamwork: As the business is fully control operate and manage by their
members which depicts that all the functioning and activities of business is handled by their
work force. Only 70 employees are working in the firm but still it is managed in proper way and
rank themselves as best independent retailer as well as best local food dealer. Effective culture of
firm as well as teamwork assists in promoting innovation within company. Firm needs to
maintain a healthy work environment so that strong organisational culture can be developed
within firm. It also assists in increasing productivity of firm as well as its manpower.
TASK 2
P3 4P’S of innovation mix & use of innovation funnel
4P's innovation concept was given by John bessant & Joe Tidd. Firms taken this
framework into account in order to examine innovation in process, product, position and
paradigm. The detailed description of 4 P's of innovation are defined below:
Product: it includes any change embedded in products and services why companies in for
their target customers (Rosenbusch, Brinckmann and Bausch, 2011). It beans transforming the
existing characteristics of products or adding new feature in order to improve product and satisfy
needs and demands of customers in more effective and efficient way. For instance, company
unicorn grocery has identified requirement of online purchase so they decided to introduced its
on mobile application which allow clients to go through all the necessary product details.
Process: It it is the way through which goods and services are deliver to customers.
Scenes Ancient days, companies are selling their products and services bhaiya stores only but
now is there change in technology as well as increased market competition, it is required by firm
to develop their on mobile application. Why such kind of innovation it becomes easy for
enterprise to meet demand of customers in proper way and taken high competitive advantage in
Marketplace over there rivals.
Position: It defines the manner through which goods and services are communicated to
potential customers. Generally, it depicts the way in which good are grasp by buyers. Firms sell
their products by the outlets only but now they has decided to sell them online as well.
Paradigm: It refers to the change in model of business that provides shape to object and
vision of company. Amalgamation of innovation mix Unicorn grocery has decided introduced
their online application which change the perspective of customers in terms of buying the
product.
Above mentioned 4P's of innovation are used by Unicorn Grocery in order to understand
where the firm is and how it can innovate to enhance process, product, paradigm and position. It
administers direction to management that where they needs to go & in which area business
requires to innovate.
Innovation funnel:

It includes various steps needed to develop a new product, process or services. Main
purpose of using this funnel is to meet needs and requirements of customers buy administering
them such product and services that create some value for them in an effective way (Jiménez-
Jiménez and Sanz-Valle, 2011).
Use of innovation funnel: It is used in order to analyse innovative product and ideas. Apart from
this, it helps in managing new product development process as well as its application in proper
way. Needs and requirement of customers can easily be determined and appropriate action are
taken in order to fulfill them appropriately.
P4 State development of frugal innovation
Frugal innovation defined as the process through which firm try to lower down the
complexities regarding production process and cost of goods sold. It is required by innovators to
consider represent resources as opportunity rather than treating it as liability. Frugal innovation
of the concept that is not interlinked with selling of sophisticated goods and services but, the
concept deals with rendering high quality solutions to clients which deliver them high value at
lower cost (Lee and David, 2016). Several companies are there which not only change their
model of business but they also alter their mental model. Various stages that are included in
frugal innovation are defined below:
Finding out opportunity in adversity: Existing problems that are prevailed in market or
in an organisation is reframed by employees in this stage. Work force of Unicorn grocery have
the ability to transform this threat into opportunity in and effective and efficient way so that high
competitive advantage can be gained in market.
Do more with less: Under this stage, it is required by employees to first assess the present
resources and then try to utilise them properly in effective way (Jain and et. al., 2013). It assists
in reducing cost of company as well as high quality products are manufactured by them.
Think and act flexibly: As per this phase, rather than being rigid, it is better to
improvised. Firm needs to improve their goods and add some new features in them on constant
basis so that, targets can be attained effectively.
Keep it simple: Various complexities are exist in Marketplace that may hampers overall
operations and functioning of business. So it is better to have less choices instead of having
many choices. This make innovation process more easy and simple.
Include margin: It is necessary for every business organisations to be aware of distinct
needs and wants of customers and filled them promptly. They also need to take feedback as well
as suggestions from their target audience which assist them in taking future decisions.
Frugal Innovation alludes to the procedure by which organization lessen the multifaceted
nature of complexities and cost of manufacturing. Here the trailblazers consider assets not as a
risk but rather as an open door that tends to build their general effectiveness and profitability. It
doesn't mean offering actually complex products yet it manages creating great quality
arrangement that conveys awesome incentive to the end-clients at insignificant cost. There are
numerous business venture who fundamentally change their plan of action as well as change the
psychological model of their manpower in order to install frugality into organisation.

Today, the majority of the organizations works direct Value chain in which products are
created, outlined, devoured, sold and end-ups in landfills. Anyway this model is expensive, earth
unsustainable and inefficient. Along these lines, entrepreneur have chosen to re-evaluate their
Value chain which implies they will work in round way by grasping new supportable strategies
like C2C or modern advantageous interaction. With the assistance of this round procedure,
organizations can reuse their segments, material, parts or even waste. Taking the benefit of this,
Unicorn Grocery is likewise following this practice of business in their activity.
TASK 3
P5 Significance of commercial funnel & application of new product
development
Commercial funnel: It is a cost effective process through which businesses try to
determine several sources that assist them in administering innovative goods and services to their
target customers in effective and efficient way. Employees and team members play crucial role
in this as they are responsible to select proper distribution channels which assist in yielding high
profits and revenues. Unicorn grocery decided to develop their own mobile application which
makes easy for customer to purchase goods by simply sitting at their home or from anywhere
(Huizingh, 2011). Firm undergo new product development process as they want to introduce new
product or process in market which enables them to satisfy needs of customers effectively.
Venus steps are included in new product development process which are defined below:
 Idea generation: it is initial step in which ideas are generated. These can be developed
from anywhere. There are different ideas by which manager of Unicorn grocery deals. At
this stage, firm has a lot of ideas.
 Idea screening: there are many ideas but very few of them are good. In this step, all the
ideas are evaluated and the best one is select. Manager of Unicorn grocery is responsible
to select the idea which is feasible and viable for business.
 Concept testing and development: under the step, prototype of product is developed and
is tested at small area of market (Wilson, 2015). Information that gets from target
audience assist firm in analysing the effectiveness of Idea. Feedback of customers also
play crucial role in determining whether the product is successful or not or like by
consumers or not. Before introducing any product in market, it is required by manager of
Unicorn Grocery to check the feasibility and viability that whether the product is
profitable or not.
 Strategy and market development: after getting satisfactory or positive results from
testing, effective strategies are formulated by manager which assist in gaining high
competitive edge in market over competitors. Profitability of product is also anticipated
in this step.

 Financials and business analysis: at this stage, managers assess sales of product and
compared it with predetermined sales objectives. This helps manager in attaining its
targets successfully.
 Commercialization: it is the final step where company introduced their product and
services in market. Customers are now enable to get benefits of products.
By the use of commercial funnel, firm can easily commercialize their new product in market
and generate high revenues from it.
P6 Innovation business case for Unicorn grocery
Companies use business cases in order to identify the risk that is associated with
investing money in innovation. It is required by firm as well as its employees to think logically
and practically about each aspect of innovation. Unicorn grocery decided to introduce their
online mobile application for maximizing overall sales and profits. Steps include in this are:
 Executive summary: it is the last page that includes company overview and administer
snapshot of whole business case (Goldberg, 2013).
 Need: it is initial stage in which need of innovation is identified. It depicts the reason for
which firm wants to innovate their products or services. It can be possible only when
company is aware about prevailing issues. For instance: it is figured out by manager of
Unicorn grocery that their sales are falling as people now preferred to buy goods online
where the see description of product. This is the main reason behind launching online
application.
 Your solution: it depicts about the solution that weather it is effective or not. Reason
behind decline sale is evaluated by manager of Unicorn grocery and decided to introduce
online mobile application which helps is beating existing competition easily.
 Why it is Innovative: for getting high competitive advantage, solution needs to be
innovative which creates high value for consumers and encourage them to pay willingly.
The idea of Unicorn Grocery is innovative as no small grocery store adopt that idea first.
It makes easy for customers to buy products from any corner of world by using online
mobile application of company.
 Customers research: a mini research is conducted by company in this step in order to
determine likes and dislikes of customers. Can be done by questionnaire, interview,
survey and Focus Group. This research assists managers of firm in developing products
according to the needs and preferences of customers.
 Investment requirement: various sources of funds are determined by company in the stage
so that adequate funds can be arranged for innovation (Drucker, 2014). Internal and
external are the two sources of funding by which firms maintain adequate finance within
the company. In order to get high growth and success in market, it is very essential that a
firm should have adequate amount of funds so that all the activities and operations are
carry out effectively.

 Expected benefit: benefit of innovation is interpreted in the stage on society, environment
and customers. Managers ensures that product will be such that it administers benefits to
all.
 The ask: it is the final stage where customers feedback are taken after executing
innovation. It determines about the success of innovation (Boudreau and Lakhani, 2013).
TASK 4
P7 Evaluation of different tools used to develop retain and protect
knowledge and intellectual property
Intellectual property rights are the rights letter given to owner for their work in order to
protect their invention from others. In this, exclusive rights are provided to owners for their
innovation. Recognition as well as monitor benefits can be gained for investors by using this
tool. For protecting their intellectual property, various tools used by owner are:
 Copyrights: it administers exclusive right investor for their musical, Artist and dramatic
work. With assistance of this tool, owner can create exclusive rights regarding copy,
modify, display, perform their work.
 Patent: these rights are provided to an individual for their invention. It allows patent
holder to eliminate or remove from selling, making and using their invention without
their permission.
 Trademark: these are provided to an individual in the form of symbol, word, design or
phrase which assist in differentiating their goods and services with competitors. Selected
mark should be distinctive from others (Baldwin and Von Hippel, 2011). Main objective
of Trademark is to develop good brand image in Minds of customers so that they enable
to distinguish their goods and services from competitors who are selling similar products
in market.
CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned report, it can be said that innovation is an essential aspect that
needs to be considered by every firm in order to attain high growth and sustainability in market
for longer period of time. In current scenario, high competition is prevailing and market which
enables business Enterprises to distinguish themselves from their competitors by keep innovating
their goods and services. Several Tools and strategies needs to be considered by firm while
introducing innovation. Various intellectual rights are provided to owner so as to protect their
inventions from being copied by others. Implementation of innovation mix assists company in
enhancing its process, product, position and paradigm as well as provides direction to manager
that where they need to go and in which field they require to bring innovation.