Managing Innovation in Business: A Case Study of Marks and Spencer

This report examines the importance of managing innovation in the business environment, particularly within the competitive retail industry. It focuses on Marks and Spencer (M&S) as a case study, analyzing the company's response to evolving industry trends and consumer preferences. The report highlights the need for innovation in areas like technology, specifically machine learning for demand forecasting. It details the process undertaken by M&S, including a comparison of industry trends and the company's capabilities, leading to the implementation of a nine-stage innovation roadmap. The report discusses organizational innovation requirements, building future innovation capabilities, and the planning and implementation stages of this process. It emphasizes the significance of technological innovation, particularly in demand forecasting, and outlines the steps involved in implementing machine learning solutions within the business. The report provides insights into M&S's strategic approach to adapting to the changing retail landscape, including the use of e-commerce and sustainability initiatives.

MANAGING INNOVATION
IN BUSINESS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Managing innovation in the business is the most essential thing in this highly competitive
world. The major reason for this fact is that there are many different changes taking place in the
business environment and the consumer preference. Thus, for coping up with the changes taking
place in the environment company has to make innovation in their product and services. This is
essential as this will assist company in managing the working and operations of company in a
great manner. For this Marks and Spencer has undertaken a research for analysing the trends in
the retail industry. This was necessary as company operates in the retail industry and if they will
not work in accordance with the retail industry trend must be followed. Further with help of
comparison of industry and capability of company the innovation was identified. The innovation
which was decided by company was implementing the machine learning for demand forecasting.
For this the nine stage process was used which was depicted in the roadmap provided.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
THE FUTURE OF INDUSTRY 2020 AND BEYOND.................................................................4
ORGANIZATIONAL INNOVATION REQUIREMENT 2020 AND BEYOND.........................5
Building future innovation capabilities for organization............................................................7
Devising plan of action or roadmap............................................................................................7
Planning and implementation......................................................................................................9
Outlining various steps................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Managing Innovation in Business can be understood as one of the most important
concept raising within global retail industry where companies are focusing to bring on wider
new functional innovation in order to bring diverse change. The retail industry within UK is
widely competitive, where M &S is one of the biggest growing fashion company serving
customers with best cloths of latest trends, services exploring within high varieties and new
specialised parameters. The report will be discussing key innovation requirements within 2020
for company to be competitively diversified and strongly bringing on new functional synergy by
technically exploring various new technology implementations. It will be analysing in detail
assessment of business capabilities of M&S within industry scope and for gaining consumer
goodwill onto wider levels by comparison of various technical elements with innovation.
There will be analysis of how current status of business versus new requirements pertaining
industry and consumers business market scenarios are highlighted for future improvements for
gaining stronger revenues in business. It will be focusing on how M&S can work on its
technology innovation among varied scenarios and how competitive growth within new
working scenarios can be actively planned within competitive industry levels. M&S business
capabilities in building various new future innovation capabilities for growth, within new
technical growth goals will be researched and analysis put forward for new strategies and larger
segments exploration (Crowle and Bourke, 2018.
THE FUTURE OF INDUSTRY 2020 AND BEYOND
Marks & Spencer operated in retail industry, where they manage their business functions
and operations in effective manner. Organization by following current trends is satisfying
customers successfully, which in return make them able to retain potential buyers for longer
period of time and gain attention of new consumers. It can be said that, by considering and
focusing on the future trends within industry, M&S will increase their profitability and sales
rather than before. It will help them to gain competitive edge and enhance customer’s base even
better. Usage of advanced technology is in trend, which make firm able to reach at target market
and drives their business towards gaining top position in whole industry. E-commerce is one of
the trends that company can use in context of selling products or services in market, where

millions of buyer are waiting to purchase quality goods from well known brand like Mark and &
Spencer.
Electronic commerce is selling and buying of items, and transmitting of data or funds,
over an electronic source, mostly through internet (Vishwakarma, 2019). This trend provides a
lot of benefits to firm in term of maximizing their sales and generating revenues rather than
before. Through this element, management can directly sell their range of products directly to
customers, without including other people. It enable firm to retain people and satisfy their needs
in effective manner. There are many companies in retail industry such as TESCO, Aldi and
Sainsbury’s, who follow trends to become global leader and gain all competitive advantages.
In order to achieve future objectives and goals, M&S efforts analysis current market
trends as well as tries to beat their competitors, which is actually very important for its business
success and excellent growth in the future. Many firms in retail industry are considering other
things as well which are quite beneficial for them in term of gaining attention of international
buyers towards. They moved to try other income sources such as providing finance services to
local people who needs money due to financial issues in his or her life. By providing this service,
company can provide benefits to individual as it help to enhance their living standards and make
them able to live lives happily. Along with this thing, organizations starts selling furniture and
home decor products along with existing products like apparel for men and women as well as
children.
Like TESCO, Mark and Spencer can sell house products that increase its profit margin
rather than before. With this trend company can generate brand awareness in effective manner
and drive new buyers towards purchase exchange of each item. In list of furniture, they can sell
dining table, computer table, and other key things.
ORGANIZATIONAL INNOVATION REQUIREMENT 2020 AND BEYOND
Retail industry is rapidly changing at very fast pace and also there are many different
opportunities and challenges because of these rapid changes. 2019 was the year which has
slowest rate of growth since 2010 mainly because of Brexit. Due to this there were many bad
things taking place many jobs losing, large number of stores being shut down and many other
difficult situations (Prange and Schlegelmilch, 2018). The major trend going on in retail industry
of UK industry are as follows-

 Sustainability paradigm shift- this is due to the reason that retail industry is the major
contributor in carbon emission and because of this company has become more conscious
relating to sustainability and corporate social responsibility. In addition to this the
consumer has also become more conscious relating to the environmental safety.
 Re-invention of retail to be continued- this is another trend going on in retail sector of
UK wherein consumer expect high quality services from retail companies both in online
and store. Here the retail sector is trying to provide an emotional connect to consumer
with help of their product and services.
 New digital age- this is the major trend going on in the retail sector which need to used
and adapted by all the retail companies. The major reason pertaining to the fact is that if
companies will not adapt to the latest technology then they will not be able to manage
their operations.
Organizational capability
Resources Value Rarity Imitability Organization
Financial
resources
   
Technology 
Distribution
network

Cost structure
and capital
   
Patent  
Research and
development
 
Communication
process and
system
 
Human
resource
 

From the above table it can be viewed that there are many different capabilities which are
of value to the company and some are rare and some imitable. Out of all the resources and
capabilities of the organization the most crucial area in which company need to bring innovation
is the technology. The major reason for this is that when the industry requirement of retail sector
was compared with the resources and capabilities of company then it was identified that
company need to work more on technology (Tidd and Bessant, 2018). This was majorly because
of the reason that in the industry the major trend going on is the use of latest technology and re-
invention of some innovative product and services for the consumers. Thus, with help of this
comparison it was seen that there is high requirement of Marks and Spencer to bring some
innovation in technological sector.
Building future innovation capabilities for organization
With help of the above analysis of capabilities of company and the industry requirement
it is clearly evident that Marks and Spencer need to bring innovation in the technological sector.
For this company Marks and Spencer is trying to bring innovation in the field of demand
forecasting. The major reason behind this is that due to the current pandemic situation the
business has faced many loss and ups and downs within the business (Nardelli and Broumels,
2018). Hence, for this Marks and Spencer is trying to bring innovation in field of demand
forecasting only. For this purpose, Marks and Spencer is planning to implement the machine
learning for the forecasting of demand within the company.
The machine learning is the new technique which allows the company in predicting the
amount or number of product or services which will be purchased by consumer during a
particular period of time (Biemans, 2018). Under the use of machine learning will used in order
to predict the demand with help of installation of software within the business. For the
implementation of the machine learning for demand forecasting the company will make use of
innovation roadmap. The innovation roadmap is a visual presentation of all the steps or stages
which are undertaken in order to implement the innovation into the business.
Devising plan of action or roadmap
The plan of action or the roadmap is the graphical presentation of the whole process
through which the innovation will be brought. This is very essential as when the person will have
a look at the image or picture then it will be automatically evident that what measures are being

taken by the company in order to implement the innovation in proper and effective manner
(Pellikka and Ali-Vehmas, 2016). For this the innovation roadmap is as follows-

Planning and implementation
This is the most important stage in the implementation of any type of innovation. The
major reason behind this fact is that if company wants to bring in any innovation then this
requires huge efforts and for this effective planning and implementation is required (Mousavi,
Bossink and van Vliet, 2018). The planning stage is the stage wherein all the decisions relating to
the innovation are planned that is how the innovation will be implemented in business, who will
be responsible, what steps will be undertaken to provide knowledge, cost of innovation, time
taken in developing innovation and other information relating to innovation. Further the
implementation stage is also very essential as if the planned steps will not be implemented in
proper manner then this will affect the working of innovation.
For purpose of planning to innovate in machine learning for the purpose of demand
forecasting is to plan which software need to be installed for the demand forecasting (Zaabi,
Singh and Ajmal, 2017). The major reason underlying this fact is that there are many different
types of software which provides machine learning for demand forecasting. Now Marks and
Spencer has to plan that with help of which software the company will have more benefits.
Further for the implementation of the machine learning for demand forecasting in Marks
and Spencer is very important as this involves many different stages. Firstly, the company will
have to install the software relating to the machine learning and after that brief data review will
take place. After that the software will set some success metrics and goals for the review of data
and after that the data is being prepared and understood relating to past information of demand.
Further in the end with help of machine learning the data will be interpreted and the demand will
be forecasted.
If there will not be any link between the planning and implementation of the innovation,
then this will not result in effective manner. The major reason for this fact is that when there will
not be any coordination between the planning and implementation of the innovation then this
will result in innovation not being implemented within the company.
Outlining various steps
 Determining purpose and content of innovation roadmap- this is the very first step in
making the roadmap wherein Marks and Spencer determines the purpose of innovation
and content of innovation in roadmap. Here in present study the innovation is use of
machine learning for forecasting of demand within company (Zeng, Hu and Ouyang,

2017). The purpose of this innovation is that this will assist company in managing their
operations in effective manner. The major reason is that after the pandemic many people
have switched over to online shopping and for this the most essential thing for company
is to effectively forecast demand of company.
 Identifying and analysing strategic issues- the next stage is the identification and
analysis of strategic issues which might be faced by the company while bringing this
innovation. When any new innovation is brought then this result in many different issues
being faced by company is providing of training to employees for use of machine
learning, doing market research, analysing trend as trends keep on changing, hiring
experts and many other strategic issues will be faced (Prokop and Stejskal, 2017).
 Specifying parameters- this is the next step in creating the innovation roadmap under
which company will specify the parameters which will assist company in identifying the
fact that whether company is able to implement the technology in same manner or not.
These parameters for implementing machine learning are like proper prediction of
demand for company, proper analysis of data and other things.
 Releasing commitment by management- this is the next stage in the process of creation
of innovation roadmap and the bringing innovation in business. under this stage before
proceeding with innovation it is the duty of manager of Marks and Spencer to take
approval from the top management in order to get implement the innovation into
business. if the top management does not provide for the permission then this innovation
cannot be brought in practical application. Hence, for this the most essential thing for the
company is to explain all the benefit of the innovation and then go for taking approval of
the top management.
 Visualize the innovation roadmap- after getting the approval for the innovation idea the
most essential thing for the company is to visualize the innovation. This is the most
important stage as in this stage the innovation team try to visualize the innovation in
actual with help of virtual reality or any other technology. This viewing of the innovation
in visual form will assist company in understanding in better manner that how the
innovation will work in future.
 Communicating innovation roadmap- further the next stage is the communication of the
innovation to the involved and interested parties. This is also very crucial stage in the

innovation roadmap as if the employees will not have knowledge relating to the
innovation being brought in business then this will be a failure (Tan, 2020). Hence, for
this communication is the most crucial stage as through effective communication the
innovation can be clearly made understood to the other employees and they can also
make use of innovation in increasing efficiency of business.
 Integrating operational innovation management- further the next stage for the
innovation is to integrate the operational innovation management within the innovation
roadmap. This is essential because of the reason that when the operations of company
will be working on further bringing creativity and changes in the roadmap. This is
particularly because of the reason that there are many different types of changes
frequently taking place in the business environment and these have to adapted if this
relates with the innovation being carried on. Hence, for this operational innovation
management will be integrated with the innovation roadmap (Barlow, 2016).
 Monitoring target attainment- under this stage the company will try to monitor the
roadmap that is whether it is undertaken in the same manner or not. This is of utmost
importance because of the reason that if monitoring will not be ensured then this will not
result in proper implementation of the innovation roadmap. Thus, the monitoring of
innovation roadmap is very essential for the company in ensuring the fact that whether
the company will be able to implement the technology of machine learning for
forecasting of demand in proper and effective manner or not.
 Reviewing the innovation roadmap- this is the last stage wherein the company tries to
review the innovation roadmap. Under this the manager or person responsible for the
implementation of the innovation reviews the fact that whether the innovation roadmap
has been implemented in the same and intended manner or not. If it is implemented in
same manner, then this will have a great and positive impact over working of the
company. But on the other side if the company will not be able to implement the
innovation in proper manner then with help of reviewing the company Marks and
Spencer can take some corrective action to develop and implement the innovation in
more effective manner.

CONCLUSION
The report can be concluded with detailed analysis of Marks and Spencer working
strengths and competitive future goals for strengthening its market position among various
competitors within retail industry domains. The analysis has explained that future of industry in
2020 and beyond is widely focusing to bring on diversified new innovation in technology
standards for producing best quality fashionable apparels based on consumer preferences.
Organisation innovation requirements are huge and focused onto sustainability paradigm shift, re
invention of retail which will be continued and new digital age which are the new segments
further growing operational focused synergy. M&S has also been investing in bringing on
various new technology metrics for reaching larger people and with various new marketing
parameters, there is shift to full digitalisation of promotional activities. The report concludes that
building future innovation capabilities for company can be done by machine learning which one
of the most advanced automatic working inventions. Implementation of new quality innovation
will not only bring on wider productive growth and new working synergy among various
horizons based on retail industry competitiveness, but also develop wider consumer goodwill.
The report has concluded that planning and implementation of new machine learning innovation
will generate wide working advancement at M&S, for growing technical functional operational
efficiency within global retail industry. Planning of machine learning is based on software
implementation where investments will be done on how various new goals can be framed onto
various new techniques. Implementation will be also focusing as concluded within report by
outlining steps and various parameters through which acceleration of growth will be enabled
among management goals. The report has also concluded that wide new programmed functional
synergy with high automation in production procedures, stronger data record operational goals
will be enabled to gain where M&S will be able to cater onto new functional working scenario
(Alexande and Joe, 2019).

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