Innovation Management Report: Just Eat's Evolution and Theories

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Just Eat's innovation management, tracing its historical development from its inception in 2001 to its current status as Just Eat Takeaway.com. The report delves into the application of innovation theories, specifically disruptive innovation theory and the technology adoption life cycle, evaluating their benefits and limitations in the context of Just Eat's evolution. It examines how Just Eat has adapted to market changes, expanded its services, and integrated new technologies to maintain a competitive edge in the online food delivery industry. The report also discusses the challenges and opportunities faced by Just Eat, providing insights into its strategic decisions and future development, supported by relevant references and examples.

Managing Innovation.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Explain the historical development of one or more product or services in context to
organisation...............................................................................................................................3
Evaluation of innovation theories with their benefits and limitations......................................4
Application of technology adoption life cycle theory in the future development of Just Eats. 7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Innovation refers to the actual and practical implementation of ideas that can create future
product or services into reality and helps the company to improve their current offerings of
goods and services. Innovation is the practical possible implementation of invention. In order to
differentiate the products and services of a company from competitors the company adopt
innovation that can help them to be ahead in the marketplace. From Global innovation Index
2020, United Kingdom was on 4th place in innovation. In context to the company, Just Eat is an
online platform for ordering food and getting that delivered to customer’s doorstep. The
company was founded in the year 2001 in Kolding, Denmark. After its merger with
Takeaway.com in February 2020, the company is now known as Just Eats Takeaway.com. Their
are a theory of innovation namely technology adoption life cycle. The theory was introduced by
Davis in the year 1985 as technology acceptance model. The model focuses on two things first,
how easy it will be for the company to adopt, learn and implement innovation in their workings
and second, the potential usefulness of the innovation which means the degree of benefit that a
innovation can provide to the company.
MAIN BODY
Explain the historical development of one or more product or services in context to organisation
Just Eat history begins in August 2001, when it was founded by Jespher Buch, Per
Meldgaard, and Hernrik Ostergaard, and they began offering services. In the years 2007 and
2008, they extended their company internationally in the Netherlands and Ireland with the
support of their technical partners. Furthermore, organizations have grown their businesses in
India in order to expand their activities and operations. They are investing a significant sum to
buy a business in the future, and they have earned £30 to spend in the coming year. In April
2012, the company purchased filmybelly.com, and in the coming month, Just Eat will receive an
additional £40 in funding. They promote their goods and services by conducting a marketing
campaign in the United Kingdom called Don't Cook, which sets them apart from their Spanish
competitors and leads to a rise in sales and revenue.
They listed their company on the London Stock Exchange in April 2014, allowing them
to increase their stake in Alloresto to up to 80%. Manager of Just eat has formed a joint venture
together with their rival, iFood, in which they own a 25% portion of the company or organization

Following that, they expanded their operations to Canada and sold their online food delivery
services. During the year 2019, Just Eat and Takeaway.com agreed to combine their enterprises
in order to improve profitability and competitiveness, and the transaction was valued at £9
billion, allowing them to expand their market share. On February 4, 2020, the Competition and
Markets Authority issued a merger order, however they do not have completed their
investigation, so they have declared themselves to be a separate entity until and until they
conclude their investigation.
Just Eat partnered in McDonald's in the United Kingdom in January 2020, allowing both
companies to compete with Uber Eat and break their dominance in the online food ordering
industry. However, owing to certain problems in the inquiry, the Competition and Market
Authority in the United Kingdom did not authorize the merger of Just Eat and takeaway.com. In
the United Kingdom, restaurants must pay £699 to enter Just Eat, and orders placed through the
website or mobile app are subject to a 13-14 percent surcharge. Payments accounts for more than
90% of the company's revenue. Despite the fact that just Eat requires restaurants to show
evidence that their local councils are licensed for operation, a 2017 audit discovered 35
unregistered restaurants with no hygiene rating.
The Food Standards Agency in Manchester, Bristol, and London claimed to have a
hygiene ranking of 0.5 of the takeaway chains in England, according to a BBC report published
in October 2018. Although When Eat enlarged their company, they used an approach to resolve
all of the companies in the market, each of which had its own distinct development.
Evaluation of innovation theories with their benefits and limitations.
DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION THEORY:
This theory is enormously popular and influential in the business circles from the Past 20 years
as it is a powerful tool and method that can analyse and predict about new entrants and their
success. However this theory is also widely misunderstood as people apply the tools whenever
new entrants shake up the market without any research and knowledge which will not provide
them correct information and they blame it on the theory (Chan and et. al., 2020.) . The idea
behind the theory is to develop a process which can analyse the success of small and new firms
with fewer resources against large firms of the industry with greater resources. As large
businesses focus on improving their products and services on the basis of large segments of

audience which can give them the most amount of sales they ignore some of the small segments
of the market and focuses on only one segment that provides most amount of sales. The ignored
segment of the market are free to adopt any new product or service that can suit their demands,
needs and wants. This segment are the people that are easily encouraged and influenced in order
to use new products and services and give another company a chance to enter the market. These
ignored segments are the opportunities for the new entrants to target these segment and provide
them more suitable products at lower costs. The new entrant can prove that disruptive begins by
capturing these small segments and providing them the products and services that are more
suitable for their demand and wants (Chesbrough, H., 2017.). By doing so the new entrant can
capture the market share that is ignored by the large companies of the industry. The new entrant
can now target the main segments of the large companies by delivering them products and
services according to their requirements and specifications and when the segment of large
organizations started to adopt the products of new entrant that will be the phase where disruption
has occurred.
Advantages of disruptive innovation theory:
The company will expand their market and discover its niche: The company must find its
opportunity in the behaviour of potential customers towards traditional companies and their
reaction towards new companies. The company might feel that their opportunity is shrinking and
they are not expanding their market share as they expected but its normal. Lower gross margins
and simpler products looks unattractive to larger companies which will provide the benefit to
new company to secure their place.
The improvement the own processes of the company along the way: The company
entering from the very first level of the market will get a chance to look at their mistakes and
closely observe the market (Cook, M. and Van der Veer Martens, B., 2019.). With the help of
this study they can improve their own processes and mold them according to the needs of the
market which will help them to work effectively and efficiently in the market place.
Disadvantages of disruptive innovation theory:
Separate strategy process: This theory does not focuses on the actual situation that what
works for a company and what not but focuses on unanticipated opportunities, success and
problems that are less relevant for the companies. This theory requires its own strategy process

which can indulge extra cost and may also not provide actual information that the company
wants.
No fast profits: As new company takes their investments from venture capitals and they
are highly impatient and want faster return but the company following disruptive innovation
theory will not be able to make good profits very fast (Cortés-Robles and et. al., 2018.) . They
are slow and steady and takes some time in capturing the amount of market which can provide
them profits.
TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION LIFE CYCLE:
This is a sociological model that describes about the stages from adoption to acceptance of a new
product or service in the market. They describe these stages on the basis of the defined adopters
group’s psychological and demographic characteristics. The theory is defined in the bell shaped
curve which indicates five stages through which a product has to go. First stage is innovators
where the product is used by the people who are the first group to use the company’s product.
They are generally educated people and can give constructive feedback to the company about the
potential changes which can improve the product and make it more suitable for larger audience.
The second stage consists of early adopters, these are the people who likes to use innovative
things and wanted to try new things for experiment. These people like to try new things are are
less prosperous and more educated (Dürr and et. al., 2017, May.). The third stage is early
majority, this is the stage where the product of the company has achieved fame in the market and
is now trending. This can be the highest stage in the life cycle of the product. These people are
conservative but are open for innovative ideas. They have the power to influence the society and
are active in community. The fourth stage in the product life cycle is of late majority, these
people are a little hesitant towards the new innovative product and like to try them only when
someone else is tried and is happy with the product. They are conservative people and are not
open to new ideas, they are generally older people and can be less educated as well. They are not
socially active as compared to early majority people. The last stage in the life cycle of the
product is the laggard stage where the people are extremely conservative and does not like to try
new thing. These people are generally aged people who are less interested in new technologies
and like to have and use their same old products as they are attached to them.
Advantages of technology adoption life cycle:

Helps in getting competitors advantage: The company that are early adopters of the
technology are always gets the benefits of first users as it will enjoy competitors advantage as
other competitors still doesn’t have the technology that the company already have (Gaynor, G.,
2017.). This will help the company to make their task easier and to attract audience on the basis
of technology.
Helps in achieving wider audience: The company can reach wider audience in small time
as technology will help them to reach and attract potential customers. The new technology will
be able to fulfil the needs and wants of the customer more effectively and efficiently which
attract customers towards the products. The product will be able to attract the tech savvy segment
of the market as well.
Disadvantages of technology adoption life cycle:
Complexity in workings: the new technology if not implemented correctly can create a
mess in the workings of the company as the worker may not be able to understand the
technology and may resist to change. Also the technology may not have that much influence on
the customer which is expected by the company (Hinings and et. al., 2018.). Training and
development of employees are necessary in this type of innovation which will involve cost as
well as time.
Upgradation involves high cost: involving new technology in the company for the first
time may involve huge cost and may be difficult for the company as funds are limited and are
also needed for the workings of the company. Investing huge amount in a technology whose
future is unpredictable can be harmful for the business.
Application of technology adoption life cycle theory in the future development of Just Eats.
The company has various new ideas that can influence the future of food delivery services via
online and the technologies includes Augmented reality, robotics delivery carries and artificial
intelligence. The future plans of Just Eats is to bring a revolution which can change the ways in
which customer order their foods (Johansson, F., 2017.). They wants to involve artificial
intelligence in their workings through involving Amazon Echo and Alexa which is a voice driven
device and can take orders only by listening to the voices of the customers. These devices will
place orders on the behalf of customers and the customers just need to speak whatever they
wants to eat and the specific place or restaurant from which they want their food. The Alexa will
repeat the order and tell the customer to select payment option and place the order. Just Eats will

take those orders take the food from restaurant and deliver it to the doorstep of the customers. As
amazon echo is widely popular in countries such as US and has approximately 8 million devices
in US itself it helps the customers to play music, get news, sports scores, weather reports etc with
the help of Alexa which is a voice service and now the customers will be able to order foods as
well by Just Eats App especially designed for Amazon Echo users. Just to give this service a nice
touch the Alexa will congratulate the customer when they are finished ordering and also say
“ordered like a boss”.
Just Eats through its research find out that the customers would like it if they can make the
ordering process and services more easy and delightful which can save their time as well as make
the application of Just Eats more popular which will increase the sales and higher profit margin
in the industry (Karlsson, A. and Björk, J., 2017.). The task that can be more delightful and easy
are:
Repeating the orders: if the customer wants to repeat their previous made order then they
can simply say “ Alexa repeat my last order” that it and the system will automatically repeat the
order without much hassle and without asking more questions which is a delight for the
customer.
Checking order status: the customers are just need to ask Alexa that “Alexa, ask Just Eats
where’s my food?” and the Alexa will give this message to the representative of Just Eats and
will tell you if the order is received by the restaurant or if it is on the way and expected time of
delivery. This information will be enough for the customer.
A new system is being launched for the Alexa voice which will manage the interaction of the
customer with the device. Some of the company's policy is that Alex will ask concise questions
with only two options, make specific and descriptive re-prompt, and test the understanding with
the help of speech text. Many people are interested in this app because of their ease and
usefulness and the effective application will help the company to retain its customers (Petkova,
I., 2018.) . It is analyzed that this application will make the business of just eats strong as the
influence of customers is more towards the voice based interfaces as compared to touch based
interfaces. The company can adopt the technology in their system by giving the drone delivery
service to the customers as it will be contact less services and it will be much more faster that
any other means of delivery. In this situation the company can reduce their delivery expenses and
will be able to make a best use of drones. People will feel free to get their products on their doors

without worrying about the security issues related to delivery persons. The drones can land on
not so stable surfaces and will also be able to work 24/7 efficiently without any extra expenses of
fuel, salary, and reimbursements. The model of technology adoption life cycle will be in between
the innovators and early adopters as the product is new and are also liked by the customers. It
will definitely provide a competitors advantage to the company and will also help the company
to increase their profits and reduce their costs (Sanchez-Herrero and et. al., 2019.). The company
will be able to reach a wider audience and will be able to attract tech savvy and innovation lovers
as their customers. People would love to order from services that are hassle free and are easily
available just with the speech. This model focuses on two concepts that is ease of use and the
potential benefit to the company from the innovation. In both the cases the product is successful
as they are popular among the customers because of their easy use and are providing benefits to
the company by helping them in retaining the customers and by increasing their reach also by
giving them competitors advantage.

CONCLUSION
Adoption of innovation can be itself challenging as involving innovation in the workings and
operations of a company is not easy. Some of the innovation theories may overlap each other in
some aspects and contradict in the others. The technology adoption theory is so broad and
flexible that it may causes problem sometime while involving them in real life situations where
as disruptive innovation theory is about thinking a way of innovation which can help the
company to achieve innovation driven growth. These theories helps the company to involve
innovation in their workings so that the company can have the fuller benefits of the technology.
These theories helps the company to analyse the effects of innovation on their business whether
in positive term or in negative term. Innovation is necessary for all the organizations but it is also
necessary to understand that innovation alone cannot bring success but the right implementation
of innovation can bring success to the company and will also make them best in the industry. The
implementation of invention is known as innovation and the company needs to make sure that
they understand the innovation and its effects which can impact the business of the organization
after implementation. It is a risky way for companies to be the early adopters of innovation but if
goes in the right direction it can bring the most favourable outcomes for the company which can
increase a significant amount of their share in the market and make them leaders of the industry.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
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and managing the R&D workforce for a national innovation ecosystem.
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Chesbrough, H., 2017. The future of open innovation: The future of open innovation is more
extensive, more collaborative, and more engaged with a wider variety of
participants. Research-Technology Management, 60(1), pp.35-38.
Cook, M. and Van der Veer Martens, B., 2019. Managing Exploratory Units in Academic
Libraries. Journal of Library Administration, 59(6), pp.606-628.
Cortés-Robles and et. al., 2018. Managing Innovation in Highly Restrictive Environments: Lessons
from Latin America and Emerging Markets. Springer.
Dürr and et. al., 2017, May. Incentive Provision and Optimal Team Size for Managing
Innovation. AAA.
Gaynor, G., 2017. Managing technology and innovation. IEEE Engineering Management
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Hinings and et. al., 2018. Digital innovation and transformation: An institutional
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Johansson, F., 2017. The Medici Effect, with a new preface and discussion guide: what elephants and
epidemics can teach us about innovation. Harvard Business Review Press.
Karlsson, A. and Björk, J., 2017. Establishing and managing a network for continuous
innovation: Invoking organizational pressure. Creativity and Innovation
Management, 26(2), pp.128-141.
Petkova, I., 2018. Fashion Companies: Organizational Responses to Managing Innovation in E-
Commerce Practice. In Engineering Legitimacy (pp. 49-84). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Sanchez-Herrero and et. al., 2019. Educational Innovation Techniques Based on Assessment and
Development of Student Potential. In Organizational Transformation and Managing
Innovation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (pp. 265-286). IGI Global.