Innovation and Commercialisation Analysis: M&S Company Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of innovation and commercialization strategies within Marks and Spencer (M&S). It begins by differentiating between invention and innovation, emphasizing the latter's importance for M&S's growth. The report explores how organizational vision, leadership, culture, and teamwork shape innovation and commercialization, highlighting the significance of a strong innovative culture. It then delves into the 4 P's of innovation (Price, Place, Promotion, People) and the innovation funnel, illustrating their application within M&S. The report further examines frugal innovation, its benefits, and its implementation in the context of M&S. It discusses the commercial funnel, the new product development (NPD) process, and their importance for commercializing innovations. The report also covers innovation business cases and funding access for organizations like M&S, concluding with a discussion on tools for knowledge development, retention, and intellectual property protection within the company. The report uses examples and case studies related to M&S's business.

INNOVATION
AND
COMMERCIALISATION

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................3
P1 Innovation and its importance to Marks and Spencer in comparison with invention ...........4
P3 The 4 P'S of innovation and innovation funnel.....................................................................6
P4 development in frugal innovation and its use in mark and Spencer company-.....................7
P5 importance of commercial funnel and the application of new product development (NPD) for
commercialization of innovation in (M & S)..............................................................................7
P6 Innovation business case for an organisation (M & S) and ways to access funding-............9
P7 Different tools that (M & S) can use to develop, retain and protect knowledge and intellectual
property-......................................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Marks and Spencer is the largest retailer company in UK. It was founded by Michael marks
and Thomas Spencer in 1884. It has 1463 stores across 53 countries. This company sales grocery
and foods, clothes, home and k\kitchen appliance, and many of the things. Report will discuss about
innovations and commercialization, their importance to Marks and Spencer in comparison with
invention, discuss about vision, culture and leadership of Marks and Spencer can shape innovation
and commercialisation. Report will discuss development in frugal innovations with examples,
importance of commercial funnel and new product development for commercialization. This file
also discuss different tools which Marks and Spencer can use to develop retain and protect
knowledge.
P1 Innovation and its importance to Marks and Spencer in comparison with invention
Invention- Invention refers to the new technology or machine which create by scientist or
developer. It totally depends on the new products. Marks and Spencer invent new machines and
technologies for product.
Innovation- Innovation refers to the development of existing product. The product which are
developed on the bases of customer demand and satisfaction. Marks and Spencer innovate the
existing products to recognise need of the customers.
Invention innovation
 It is overall process of engineering
and developing new product with the
new method by Marks and Spencer.
 It requires scientific skills.
 It is a single product based process.
 Limited to Research and
development department.
 It is an original idea and working in
theory.
 Introduction of creating new product is
called Innovation which can help Marks
and Spencer to achieve goals.
 It requires Marketing, strategic and
technical skill.
 It is variety of many processes and
product.
 It spread across the organisation
 It is practice implementation of new idea
 Innovation is about new idea to create

 It is all about the creation of a new
product.
 It is all about the new product which
introduced by Marks and Spencer.
something.
 Development in the existing product
which made by Marks and Spencer
Innovation can be define as new ideas, new thoughts, imagination which creates value and
for which customer will pay for the idea, Which creates goodwill for the Marks and Spence.
Difference sources of innovation are here that says that there is a hope between what is and what
should have to.
Process need involves the need of Marks and Spencer and what are the weakness of the
organisation and what should it do. That is innovation in existing products to know about its
weakness point and have to work on it and correct it.
Innovations are created on the bases of demography and the level of their need because
every day the perception and mood is changed and it is important to innovate on the bases of it.
New knowledge and technology increase day by day and in this competitive world number
of opportunities speed up day by day. Marks and Spencer have to focus on complaints and ideas of
consumers for an innovation in product and it is also called product development stage.
Importance of innovation-
 Make stability of Marks and Spencer in competitive market.
 Innovation is important to meet with need of customer.
 It is an opportunity to attract the best talent.
 Growth of business
 Increase in number of customer and shareholder.
comparison between innovation and invention-
Invention describes to creation of new product and innovation describes adding value of
existing products. Invention is a new idea and working in theory and innovation working is
practical. Invention makes a single product but innovation makes number of products. Invention is
totally new and innovation generate through need and wants of a consumer. Scientific skill is
required for an invention and other side innovation required for marketing skills, research analysis
of product and wants or need of consumer. Invention limited to research and development

department and an innovation has no limitation, it is spread across the organisation. Finally, on
comparing both innovation and invention it has been understood that there exist a slight difference
among these. This means that invention is when M &S introduces completely new products for
consumers. However, innovation is when M&S conducts intensive research in its market place to
identify customers changing needs and fulfil the same by ringing some change in its existing
products and services.
P2 organisational vision, leadership, culture and teamwork can shape innovation and
commercialisation.
For Marks and Spencer to be successful in the competitive world, they have clear vision for
their goal. The key elements like vision, leadership, culture, teamwork helps the Marks and Spencer
for commercialisation. If an employee has not technical skills and least of skills then it is okay but
they have to dedicate towards their work and high quality of work. It is necessary to work well with
the team and with self dedication to the team. Marks and Spencer have to work with opportunities
and have to give chance to employees to open their ideas between the organisation, allotment of
time, energy and resources to the employees for innovation. Culture of innovation is important part
of Marks and Spencer. For survive in the digital area, it is good time to switch business towards an
innovation.
Role of leadership, vision, culture in innovations
Leaders who are innovative, have a vision for goal and it is either in short-term or long-term
success. Leaders make trust in the employees and motivate them for sustainable development of
business and this thing reflect back with anew innovation. They know that where Marks and
Spencer organisation stands in technology and in other skills so innovations are created on the
bases of it.
Teamwork is important for Marks and Spencer to achieve goals and for creating a panel in
which ideas have easily put. Without any clear vision no one can go for achieve goal because vision
of Marks and Spencer have to clear in the mind of employees so that they move towards innovation
and commercialisation which help them to achieve the goal of an organisation.
The skills and relations, team work, leadership all these things help to employees in
innovation and commercialisation. Innovation comes to in mind of an individual but it can act when
this idea go through team work and implement with coordination of the employees. It is an
opportunity to attract the person towards organisation who have an idea and talent. Through
innovation the organisation would have to go for growth and it makes goodwill and created more of
the customers with it and also add numbers of shareholders and increasing in value of share. This

all profits achieve by Marks and Spencer when they use this theory in innovation and
commercialization.
P3 The 4 P'S of innovation and innovation funnel
The 4 P's helps to recognise the organisation that where it is and what efforts have to put to
innovate the product. It gives the direction where Marks and Spencer has to go. It explains about
the area in which need to innovate in an organisation. They are following-
Price: they can use marketing mix strategy for their portfolio. Company can follow dynamic pricing
strategy in seasonal time to compete with their competition. And at low time they can provide
discounts to their customers to increase sales.
place:marks and Spencer can start home delivery of all the products purchased from their website.
They can also provide international delivery option. They can also provide an option to buy
products online in their local currency.
promotion: They can do advertisements on social media, can advertise through digital marketing in
their stores. They can also promote their brand through videos, TV advertisements, print
media like newspaper.
People: They can provide special discounts to their employees, they can also provide flexible
working hours for all their employees. They can also start providing rewards to employees who
work exceptionally
Innovation funnel and its uses in the Marks and Spencer
It is the model in which a product is measured by some parameters and meet with need of
customer regarding to that specific product. It is the way of developing process of product.
For example there is a food product of Marks and Spencer organisation examine innovation funnel
by choosing to consult method. They invite the crowd for votes and comments about the food
product and people have given their votes. After it managing department of the organisation will
take decision on the bases of public demand. All ideas which are selected has to be implement.

P4 development in frugal innovation and its use in mark and Spencer company-
Frugal innovation discovers a new business model which explain value chain
reconfiguration, product redesigning, for the purpose to full fill the expectations of users. frugal is a
concept to discover the limitations of resources which relates to company whether it is financial, a
material management, product management, institutional and consider these in innovative ideas and
practical. overall the meaning of frugal innovation is it is process of reducing the complexity and
cost of products and production unit.
Need of frugal innovation in M & S-
frugal innovation is a platform for new technology which It can reduce the cost of some
forms and types of innovations, creating huge frugal innovation is required for durability in M & S.
because company is growing its business so it needs innovations. The company M & S can reduce
its cost by frugal innovation to reduce the cost of products. frugal innovation plays a role in the
company. By identify the factors which are affecting the company so these factors can be re
changed or redesign with the help or frugal innovation. for an example if company M & S is has
expanded its business in various countries every demand of products of M & S is so heigh in case of
this situation what company can do ? With the help of frugal innovations company can re-engineer
its process of production. With some innovative ideas. and the other profit of applying frugal
innovation is reduction in the cost of production unit. By using new techniques of production with
new machineries. So the frugal innovation is the re-engineering process to every company. And it
can because of maximum profits. there are many other example which can consider understanding
frugal innovations. Tata motors has made the cheapest car on the demand of Indians and that was
Tata nano was developed by Indian conglomerate.
P5 importance of commercial funnel and the application of new product development (NPD) for
commercialization of innovation in (M & S).
In general way funnel is a parameter to measure any business from its top to bottom. Funnel
takes matter in at top to archive an organisational goal. There are three levels of funnel top of the
funnel, middle of the funnel, bottom of the funnel. Let's take an example of marketing to understand
marketing funnel-the top of the funnel is all about centre of attraction means website of M & S have
its systematic approach to buyers to buy products and services. middle of the funnel is the first part
of the conversion process where company takes the leverage of the visitors of the site because of

good promotion sale and techniques on blogs and the last level is bottom of the funnel where site
visitor becomes qualified about the products and services an accepts the sales. So these above study
shows an importance of funnel in commercialization.
Company M & S has expanded its business worldwide. Because of the supply chain
management company has to maintain its standards and market image by developing new products.
And innovate new products. new product development (NPD) and commercialization are the part of
supply chain management because it provides structure to develop and bring to market new
products jointly with suppliers and customers. Effective new product development not only enables
the management but also assist supply chain management members to support in manufacturing,
logistics, marketing, and other activities of commercialization. From the implementation of new
product plan, here is the process of new product development strategy from idea to
commercialization.
 Idea generation.
 Idea screening.
 Concept development and testing.
 Business strategy analysis and development.
 Business and financial analysis.
 Product development.
 Test marketing.
 Commercialization
so, new product development and commercialization are somehow interrelates to each other in the
process of supply chain.
For example marks and Spencer look after proper development of waterproof plastic shoes and
other footwear. This will attract the customer towards the firm, increasing the productivity and
revenue generation of selected enterprise.
P6 Innovation business case for an organisation (M & S) and ways to access funding-
 A few months ago, senior HR of M & S called the employees and asked about that how they
could help the company to expand business and with their ideas of innovation. All the
functional units were there- accounts department, marketing department, production
department, technical department. The head of all the department (HOD) presents their ideas,
plans & process of implementation. That what are the ideas , what are the plans, how to take in

consider and implement. head of production unit had suggested HR to re-change the
production process. And take some new machineries in work. so production can be fast and
easy. google is one of the best example of innovations after started the research project annual
revenue is $50 billion. the process of innovation is not so easy. It takes a lot of risks and money.
Many ways are there of funding to implement any innovation. company can tie up with any
other company instead of stipulation of commercial support. And the second big source is bank
loan or venture capital. there are many techniques' innovation in business.
Be Always curious to know about different things and keep collection of informations. it is one of
the big quality which should have in a person for the purpose of innovations.
 Identify the innovation opportunities. analyse the opportunity that where you can put your
visions to innovate something.
 Keep thinking broader and beyond the company. Thinking should be broader and beyond the
company so you can gain other knowledge.
 Keep thinking for future and should have visionary attitude. Keep future vision and think like
same and build visionary attitude.
This is to specify the innovation that has been decided by Mark and Spencer to bring in the market
where it is bringing an innovation about food research and technical innovation. People are health
conscious and they want quality food so M&S going to deliver product safety, integrity and product
availability in balance. They will use the waste in recycling process with help of technology. This
aims to be an international multi channel retailer which lead on sustainability. It aims to provide
good quality products to its customer because they don't want to compromise with the quality in this
innovation.
Marks and Spencer company is bringing the ERP innovation. It is a software package that integrate
all the data and related process of an organisation. It is an integrated management system. which
provides a common platform to all the users. All the functional department inter related to each
other thorough the ERP system
Access of funding to support the fund
Venture capital for business- Venture capitals are managed funds who invest in the companies.
Venture capital easily help the organisation with funding. They usually invest in the business in
respect of equity.
Raise funds by winning contest- Nowadays a number of contest are in list which provide funds. It

encourages the businessman to launch new idea and technology and to invest in the innovation.
Bank loans- It is the easy way to take money. Banks provides two type of loan one is working
capital and other one is funding. Nowadays online loan also provides by banks. M&S can go
through it.
Among these three types of funding sources the source which will useful for M&S is the bank loan.
It will be suitable because it is easy to take loan from bank because M&S is a reputed company
with large scale. It has wide area in all around the world so M&S can easily take funds from loan.
Budget plan for innovation-
Research and development - $10000
Infrastructure - $20000
IT expenditure - $5000
TOTAL - $35000
Expected ROI - 5000 per annum
investment - 15%
profit - 10%
P7 Different tools that (M & S) can use to develop, retain and protect knowledge and intellectual
property-
When many ideas occurs in your mind about products and services there many people come
who want to create duplicate your success and there is a possibility that your ideas can be sell to
another as his own. it depends on the circumstance. In this situation person can use his intellectual
rights to save his ideas.
These are IP tools which are written below-:
patent- patent is right to keep safe your experiments or an idea from others, patent is some
kind of protections which government provides to an individual or group who has this innovative
ideas. For the new research and experiments Govt. provides safety with financial support for his
contribution. Same as in the case of an organisation no one can steal ideas or en experiment about
the products. For example M & S will develop new an innovative product and will file a patent

request in order to prevent its copying or stealing.
Advantage of patent
 It gives M&S the right to stop others for copying the product
 M&S get protection for a little time
 M&S can licensee the patent for other and it is the source of generate revenue
Disadvantage of patent
 Expensive
 Remember patent fee which has to paid annul basis other vice it will lapse
 Time consuming
Copyrights- this right says that if a person want to reuse or re innovate those things in which
someone has experimented already, in this situation permission would be necessary that means they
can not re innovate or reuse. Marks and Spencer will develop and get a copyright over its products
and designs which will give the firm a proper and unique identification and will protect its personal
intellectual property.
Advantage of copyrights
 It is public record
 Enforcement
Disadvantage of copyright
 Waste the time
 More expensive
 Registered design protect the appearance of products.
Knowledge retention include capturing the knowledge for the future purpose it is a part of
knowledge management (KM). It is all about the knowledge sharing and learning organisational
culture. Management of marks and Spencer will adopt certain IP tools for the proper knowledge
retention and safeguard the intellectual property or ideas developed by firm. Tools and techniques
which can be used for knowledge retention-

 Implement reward system for encouragement in (M & S).
 Use of different functional project teams.
 Reviews of actions.
 Interviews & exist interviews.
CONCLUSION
From the above study it has been summarised that use of innovation in product and service
has affect Marks and Spencer in different manner. Innovation and invention both were different in
invention a new technology has come and in innovation existing product were changed on the bases
of public demand. Culture, team work, leadership were affecting on the innovation part of Marks
and Spencer. This report discuss about P's of innovation which through Marks and Spencer used
different techniques for innovation.