Managing Innovation in Business

This report examines Apple Inc.'s innovation management strategies. It provides an overview of Apple's history of innovation, highlighting key products and their impact. The report analyzes Apple's current innovation performance and capabilities, focusing on its iPhone product line and its features like 3D touch, Retina display, and the A9 chip. It then explores the consumer electronics industry in 2016, predicting future trends and opportunities for Apple, such as the potential for waterproof iPhones, improved processors, and new product lines. The report also looks at the future of the industry beyond 2020, projecting continued growth and identifying areas where Apple can focus its innovation efforts, including wearable technology and smart home devices. Finally, the report discusses how Apple can build its future innovation capabilities by investing in advanced technologies, developing a skilled workforce, implementing sustainable energy programs, and conducting thorough research and development.

Managing Innovation
In
Business
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................4
TASK ..............................................................................................................................................4
The organization and industry overview .....................................................................................4
The organizations existing innovations performance and capabilities........................................6
The industry in 2016....................................................................................................................8
The future of the industry in 2020 and beyond............................................................................9
Building the Future Innovation Capabilities for the Organization............................................10
The Organization innovations Requirements 2020 and Beyond...............................................12
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................14
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Innovation management is regarded as way of introducing new ideas into business so as
to attain leading position in market. It is also considered as important factor in economic
progress of entity. Innovation management enable company to initiate new offering, process and
ideas into industry. The objective of innovation management within a enterprise is to develop a
appropriate environment to stimulate innovation. With the help of innovation management,
company can outperform than its competitors. It further enable use of techniques like,
brainstorming, TRIZ, portfolio management, product planning or life cycle management etc.
therefore, innovation management facilitate change in the organization processes, products etc.
By managing the innovation, company can improve timing for introduction in market.
Thereafter, organization can use innovation as way to access new buyers and market and thereby
enhance market share. There are many benefits of innovation management such as, it help in
enhancing the competitive benefits that last for longer duration. Further, innovation management
is important for increasing customer satisfaction by providing improved products with better
quality.
In this report, learning has been show regarding innovations done by Apple in consumer
electronic market. Therefore, it has been identified that, major innovation of brand is in terms of
its product iPhone and its range. The report showcase, that major innovation of Apple are, 3D
touch, Retina 3D display, A9 chip etc. Further, description of innovation done by Apple in past
is provided. Therefore, it has been identified that, Apple II, Macintosh personal computer, iPod
are some revolutionary products introduced by brand in past times. With the increasing
dependency of individual on electronic product it can be stated that there are ample number of
opportunities available for organizations in future. Apple can use its strong and competent
research and development team to continue designing innovative products in future. In this
report, description is provided regarding innovations that can be done by brand in 2016.
Therefore, iPhone 7 and 7 plus are new products that can be introduced by brand. From the
analysis of consumer electronic industry it has been identified that it is expected to witness
growth of 15.4% by 2020.
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INTRODUCTION
Innovation refers to process of initiating new ideas, concept, device or methods in
business. It is viable tool that is used by organizations to stay ahead of its rivals. In present
frequent changing business environment, it has become viable for organizations to manage
innovations in best manner so as to stay competitive (Drucker, 2014.). Innovation has become a
necessity for business which further determines its long term sustainability. Therefore, it is
becoming important for company to make best use of its innovation resources to meet a
continuously modifying market and business environment.
Innovation management is important term that relates to administration of innovation
techniques and processes. It also determines the decisions, functions and practices that help in
changing creative thoughts to reality for the objective of enhancing business worth (Davenport,
2013.). Innovation management can also be refereed as administrating the investment in
developing new possibilities for providing customer worth that is essential to retain and growth
the business.
In this report, various aspects of managing innovation will be studied in the context of
Apple Inc. It is US based multinational technology corporation that is rendering qualitative
service and products since 1976. At present, company is providing services to more than 17
nations with around 475 brand stores (About Apple. 2016). In this report, discussion about Apple
and its innovation history will be provided. Also, description about present innovation
performance and capabilities will be provided. Further, explanation regarding the innovation
requirement of organization in year 2020 and beyond will be provided.
TASK
The organization and industry overview
Apple Incorporation is among leading technology company at present. It is recognized as
largest IT (information technology) company of globe measured by profits. In addition to this, its
also leading technology entity as per the total assets. Thereafter, Apple is known as second
largest cell phone manufacturing organization of the globe. The vision of company is to become
most loved and appreciated entity in the globe and the most adorable brand that people prefer ans
use. Further, company opinions that they are on the planet to render prime quality products
(Managing innovation. 2016). For this aspect, organization assures to have strong consideration
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on innovation. The motto of business is “ Think Different”. It further states the strong earnest
efforts of company to think innovatively while delivering the products to customers. Further,
cited corporation is the first firm of US that has calculated worth of over 700 billion US$. It is
stated that Apple offbeat all its rivals and lead the market due to its core competence in
innovation (Rampersad, Quester and Troshani, 2010). Also, cited firm possess human inventory
of over 115000 employees who further support entity in developing creative products, methods
etc. According to the views of top executives of brand, inclusion inspires innovation. Therefore,
company assure it appoint competent, knowledgable and efficient candidates from diverse
backgrounds so that their creative ability can be employed in business (Pan, 2010).
The Boston Consultancy company has recognized Apple as best innovative organization
of world. It has revolutionized technology market by introducing creative cellphones, personal
computer etc. The major innovative products of brand are, iPhone, iPad, iTunes and iPad. To
facilitate innovation, company use systematic integration innovation as a tool that determines its
long term success. For example, the credit of success of iPhone and iPod is because they are
aligned with Application store and iTune. Apple enjoys prominent history in terms of innovation
(Lundstedt and Colglazier, 2013). It introduced Apple 1 computer in year 1976 which became
the highest selling personal computer in past. Its another innovative product Apple II was the
first successful microcomputer of globe in year 1997. It had advanced attributes like, colour
graphics, home device of 8-bit and Disk II which was floppy drive. It was most liked product for
children and was used in many schools. Oregon Trail was a effective educational video which
was installed in Apple II. Thereafter, in year 1984, Apple introduced Macintosh personal
computers. It was creative product that had attributes of graphical user interface and a mouse
along with user friendly design (Landsperger and Spieth, 2011). Therefore, the hardware and
software components were integrated in single product Macintosh became introductory bulk
producing desktop having all such features. The features provided in Macintosh were not offered
by any of the rivals which provided leading position to brand in market. Further, brand
introduced iPod classic in year 2001 which unique attributes like, LCD screen (black and white),
memory of around 5GB (Kelley and Lee, 2010). The product also had innovative feature of click
wheel which worked as navigating interface. It was most loved product for the music passionate
customers.
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The organizations existing innovations performance and capabilities
Apple Inc has maintained consistency with its past performance by keeping up the
innovation aspect high and introducing more improved products and services. As per the view of
company, innovation begins from inside. The creative features in products has made brand leader
in market. The company is able to build high amount of brand loyalty among its customers by
designing technically equipped and highly creative products. At present, there are around 1
billion actively used products of brand. The core competence of brand in terms of innovation and
technology has facilitated brand to earn annual profits of around $233 billion as of 2015 (Kay,
2011). According to the reports of Interbrand Best Global Brands published in 2014, Apple is
among the most valuable brand of world with worth of $118.9 billion. In terms of present
innovation performance and efficiency of brand there are wide range of product having advanced
feature are introduced by brand. The cellphone introduced by Apple in year 2007 brought
revolution in consumer electronic market. Apple introduced Iphone and its series which is also
regarded as most flourishing product of brand so far (Jaw, Chen and Chen, 2012). The iPhone
had attributes of user interface that depends majorly on a capacitive touchscreen. Therefore, the
first generation iPhone had installed with wide range of features like, voice activated
individualized supporter Siri. The another product of iPhone had attribute of Touch ID
fingerprint sensing technology. This feature provided more privacy to customer regarding the
personal data, images etc. that are stored in cellphone. The cellular phones provided by Apple
have many attractive features like, faster processing, prime quality camera etc. The brand also
made innovation in its iPhone devices by introducing 3D touch which enable intuitive new ways
of using features and interacting with content in faster and effective manner. Thereafter, product
innovations of brand also include the use of High definition Retina 3D display. The display
provided by Apple in all its cellphone are made of best quality and finest glass (Isaksen and
Ekvall, 2010). With this feature, customers can have supreme brightness, wide range of colours
and low reflection. The company initiated new aspect of using aluminium and alloy in designing
the iPhone products. The latest products of Apple, iPhone 6 plus and 6 are more big in size with
display size of 5.5 and 4.7 inches. On the other hand the initial iPhone products had size of 4
inches only. The latest product of Apple are offered in wide range of colour and combinations
like, Rose gold, gold, silver, space grey. The organization use tailor made 64 bitA9 processing
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chip in its new product iPhone 6S. With this feature mobile phone can perform like desktop
computers. This feature has increased the performance of CPU to 70% fast and 90% quicker
GPU performance (Dickins and Germaine, 2014). Therefore, users can access their favourite
games and applications more quickly. Along with this, company incorporated M9 motion
coprocessor into A9 chip. It further help in increasing the life of product , increasing battery
usage duration etc. The picture quality of camera of iPhone is also great which enable user to
capture videos upto 4K. Another feature of live photo is provided to customers which help them
in reviving the old memories. This attribute enable camera to captivate moments just prior and
after taking image and set it in motion (Christensen, 2010). Thereafter, feature of touch id is
provided to users which enable use of extremely advanced fingerprint sensing technology. Also,
ultra fast Wi-Fi technology is supported by the new devices of iPhone. Therefore, customers can
be easily connected with high speed networks in various locations around he world. Capacitive
sensor is also new innovation that is used in iPhone by Apple which enable company to evaluate
the microscopic modification in pressure.
Other than this, innovation of brand also include iOS app store. It is attractive feature that
enable the iPhone users to purchase and download applications, games etc on their devices. The
Thereafter, Apple also introduced Macbook Air which is advanced laptop with unique features.
The company made innovation in laptop by making thinnest laptops. The company also offered
display of 11 to 13 inch (Brown and Osborne, 2012). Further, Apple fabricated the tablet class in
its laptops by introducing iPad in year 2010. The touch screen feature was introduced in tablet
with display of 9.7 inch . In addition to this, entity also introduced iPad mini with 7.9 inch.
Recently, in year 2015, Apple introduced smart watch for its customers. It have many innovative
features inbuilt such as fitness tracking and health focused efficiencies with incorporations with
iOS and various offerings of brand. At present, company offers many new features in its Apple
tablets that are also offered in its mobile devices like, retina display, fingerprint sensing
technology, front camera etc (Andriopoulos and Lewis 2010). Further, brand provide facility of
Facetime to its customers which enable users to share audio and video simultaneously with
another user of iPhone device. Therefore, it can be stated that innovation is main tool used by
Apple to attract maximum customers and increase the brand loyalty and recognition in market.
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The industry in 2016
The number of users of consumer electronics is significantly increasing. The individuals
cannot imagine a life without a cellphone, laptop and other technology. Therefore, it can be
stated that there are ample number of opportunities for organizations dealing in consumer
electronics. However, for this aspect, it is important for Apple to do continuous research and
development which will help company in developing new products as per the latest market
trends, changing customer taste and preferences (Christensen, Anthony and Roth, 2013).
According to the market research, it has been identified that its expected that there will be more
than 2 billion customers demanding smartphones in present year. Therefore, its is possible that
Apple can introduce new iPhone 7 plus. Therefore, company is likely to increase the product
range so as to meet the upcoming demand of improved products. Considering the present needs
of customers, company will design new product as fully waterproof (Rice, 2013). This feature
will prevent device from getting damage that is caused by contacting with water. Thereafter,
company can change the A9 processor that is used in present products with A10 processor. Also,
modifications can be done from fully metallic chassis used now with integration of antenna in
the process. Since, most of the customers at present prefer compact devices considering this,
Apple can design its products more thin (Goldberg, 2013). This is further possible by removing
the headphone jack of 3.5mm. Further Apple can introduce new phone which supports 2 sim
card. Thereafter, its is alleged that in 2016, company can increase the product line by introducing
new device iPhone 6c. This device will be suitable for those customers that prefer small devices.
Hence, company can design product lower than 4.7 inches with improved features like, camera,
processor, storage and battery with larger longevity; 1642 mAh battery.
Other than this, brand can introduce a new product in 2016, Apple Watch 2. With the
increasing craze of smartwatch among young customers, company will introduce new features
like, more batter, colors, installed health applications etc. The studies reveal that wearable
technology is like to boost growth of consumer electronic industry in year 2016 with worth of
approximate US $ 12.6 billion. On the other hand, the industry witnessed growth of 1.2% in last
year; 2015 (Huberman and Miles, 2013). The overall functionality of Apple watch can be
improved. Furthermore, Apple can introduce, iPad Air 3 as new product in 2016. in this device,
improvement can be witnessed in terms of increased size up to 9.7 inches. In addition to this,
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many other features can be incorporated like, Apple Pencil, A9X processor, front camera with
flash, Smart connector support etc (Chesbrough, 2013). Overall, it is expected that there will be
increase in demand of smartphones, wearable electronics, tablets etc which will lead to increase
in growth of consumer electronics industry. Further, it has been identified that International
Consumer Electronic show will be organized in Las Vegas. With the help of this event,
industries working in consumer electronics can introduce their innovations in market and
communicate their worth to large number of attendees. Therefore, it is viable opportunity for
Apple to introduce the new offerings.
The future of the industry in 2020 and beyond
The future of consumer electronic industry is perceived to be very bright and prospering.
There are large number of products that are involved in consumer electronics such as digital
camera, watch, smartphones, television, tablets and home devices etc. There are many market
research and surveys that predict that consumer electronic market is supposed to witness growth
of 15.4% in its CAGR with the duration of 2015-2020 (Huberman and Miles, 2013). Thereafter,
it has been identified that major contribution in revenue generation in consumer electronics will
be from wearable technology, consumer electrical devices and smart home device etc. Further, it
can be stated that it is important for company to focus on producing such products that are likely
to generate maximum revenue to business. In this respect, the demand of LCD and LED
television will continue to enhance therefore, Apple can take initiative of designing prime quality
television for its customers till 2020 (Goldberg, 2013).Further, it is anticipated by Consumer
Electronics Association that consumer electronics market will hit the worth of $400 billion in
coming times. Other than this, it has been anticipated that consumer electronics industry can
witness demand of new and improved products like, 3D printers, smart watches, Ultra HD
television, health and fitness devices etc. Further, the demand of tablets, smartphone, gaming
consoles and Bluetooth wireless speakers is also expected to increase with around 5% and more.
Consideration to this aspect, Apple can plan to develop new products and enter intro new
markets that are capable of generating more revenues (Rice, 2013). Therefore, brand can plan to
design 3D printers to capture the market in year 2020. The new and improved version of smart
watch can be introduced in market having features like finger print technology, improved
connectivity with WIFI, waterproof etc.
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Building the Future Innovation Capabilities for the Organization
The Apple is doing several innovations such as it has brought iPhone in the market and
the smart watch that is Apple watch is the biggest innovation of this company. Therefore, it can
be inferred that the company has many capabilities for bringing future innovation (Rampersad,
Quester and Troshani, 2010). Thus, company can bring many new innovation in the future by
building many new capabilities within and outside the organization. The latest innovation which
the company an bring is the waterproof iPhone, more durable phones, battery integration, gesture
control in the phone, iPads and watches.
In order to bring many new innovations company is require do build inner capabilities so
that future can be made secure and this way organization can excel in the market. Moreover, to
carry out this task, managers is require to provide technical training to the staff members. This
way the new technologies can be brought in by the organization (Kelley and Lee, 2010). Along
with that, management must comply with the latest changes prevailing in the market and this can
be done by commanding research and development department to carry out deep research on this
project. As it is known that the research department of this company is altogether separate and
the employees of this department are not allowed to interact with the staff members of any other
department (Andriopoulos and Lewis, 2010). For building innovation capabilities, the manager
must allow the employees of research and development department to have interaction with the
other workforce. This way many new ideas can be generated. This way, many new alternatives
can be gained and the identification of innovation capabilities can be done which will help the
company to bring high innovation in the market. After doing the deep research in the inside and
outside market, research and development employees can find out the possibility of bringing new
technologies in the country and this way future innovation capabilities can be built (Landsperger
and Spieth, 2011).
Moreover, the managers can take the aptitude and other related tests of the employees
where they can identify the hidden talent of the existing employees of the Apple company. By
recognizing this, organization can take several suggestions from them about the development of
new and unique feature in the existing phone and watch. Along with that, the company can also
ask them to search about the latest change (Jaw, Chen and Chen, 2012). Furthermore, after
identifying the hidden talent or capabilities, the organization can provide effective training to
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them. Moreover, in that training, employees are provided with the training of how to think more,
how to carry out market research, how to evaluate the alternatives, how to become different from
others, how to grab the opportunities prevailing in the market and how to measure the quality of
innovative ideas (Brown and Osborne, 2012). Along with that, the manager an also teach about
the usage of latest technologies to bring capabilities among them.
Furthermore, the Apple has the policy of recruiting the people. The company only recruit
those people who have in built capabilities of getting innovate. This is the best policy adopted by
them. Therefore, the organization has to expand its recruitment search. The organization must go
global and attract many new talent from the pool of candidates (Christensen and et.al., 2010).
The firm should open up its recruitment agency in different countries to find out the best,
talented, qualified, capable and innovative person for the vacant post. Along with that,
organization must also hire the innovative plus diversified personnel to carry out the task. This
way, organization can have the pool of talented employees and this way competitive edge can be
created by the organization. This will help in surviving the company in the market. This way,
organization will have pool of innovative ideas out of which the firm can bring the innovation in
the future (Lundstedt and Colglazier, 2013).
The most important task for building innovation capabilities and to make it as a core
competence in the future, the manager must make the substantial degree of internal consistency
among the processes, metrics, reward structures and behaviour of top management. This
synchronisation must be build within the firm by the manager so that organization can build
future innovation capabilities in an easier manner (Kay, 2011). Moreover, the behvaiour of each
individual must be identified by the manager so that the negative attitude of the employees can
be changed by them. Furthermore, this will be easier for the organization to implement change in
the company for the purpose of building future innovation capabilities among the staff members.
Along with that, organization should also identify the barriers and hurdles of innovation which
are based on the past success and failure. This way, the firm can overcome those barriers at the
time of bringing innovations and this will help in building innovation capabilities of future.
These barriers can be removed by instilling new behaviours and culture which can change the
old culture of the organization (Isaksen and Ekvall, 2010). During this stage, employee's
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behaviour can also be known that would help in identifying the resistance which are done by the
employees during the change process.
Moreover, the managers of Apple company can also examine the current innovation
system of the firm. This will help in identifying the loopholes of the existing system. This system
includes the proper management of the employees and their capabilities (Dickins and Germaine,
2014). This will help in knowing the management of physical resources, financial resources and
human resources. Furthermore, the integration of these three resources are also done under the
innovation system so that better and efficient innovation can be brought up by the Apple Inc.
Through this loopholes would be identified and these loopholes could be overcome by making
the system more advanced and efficient. Thus, future innovation capabilities can be built in an
effective manner (Pan, 2010).
By analyzing these factor and aspects, organization would be able to implement change
in an effective manner (Kelley and Lee, 2010). Further, firm would easily assess the current
innovation system and can engage the employees and innovation team who posses the innovative
skills. Moreover, the firm will provide extra incentive to satisfy the employees and allow this
capabilities to function and get enhanced over the time. Furthermore, the processes, systems and
structures of the organization which support innovation will become effective (Kay, 2011). This
is how, Apple would be able to build future innovation capabilities among the employees of the
firm.
The Organization innovations Requirements 2020 and Beyond
As Apple is a powerful brand among the electronics so it will bring the innovations in the
their products and services through many customers will gets attracted. For this, the organization
will needs innovative requirements which are as follows: Advanced technology: For innovative and creative innovations, the company should
introduced new technologies in their products through that will able to attracted large
number of customers and which the company should innovative technologies to diversify
its products. The new technology should be effective that will be able to give positive
results (Rabosky, 2014). This will be the best aspect for any innovative requirements like
Apple because it is making customers life easy as for this function, many of the target
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