Managing Innovation: Applying Theories to OLO's Product Development

This report explores the application of innovation theories, specifically the Blue Ocean Strategy, to analyze the historical development and potential future pathways of OLO, a New York-based B2B software service organization specializing in online food ordering. The report details the principles of the Blue Ocean Strategy and how OLO can leverage it to identify uncontested market spaces, reduce costs, and enhance its competitive advantage. It discusses OLO's historical evolution from GoMobo to its current focus on delivering food items through mobile applications, emphasizing the importance of building strong relationships with restaurants and consumers while maintaining cost-effectiveness and hygiene. Furthermore, the report recommends future development strategies for OLO based on the Blue Ocean framework, including expanding into new markets, innovating product offerings, and effectively utilizing resources to overcome organizational hurdles and achieve sustainable growth.

MANAGING
INNOVATION

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Describe in detail one or two innovation theories and explaining one theory in detail...............3
Processes for Blue Ocean Strategy..............................................................................................4
Apply your chosen theory to explain the historical development of one or more products
and/or services for your selected organisation.............................................................................7
Apply your chosen theory to recommend possible future development pathways of your
products or services for your selected organisation.....................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
This report help in understanding about importance of innovation in an organization and
this report also focuses on impact of innovation on organization productivity and profitability. In
current business environment innovation is considered as tool which is utilized for gaining
competitor advantage over competitors. Innovation also assist organization in boosting its profits
and assists in engaging new consumers with organization and retaining its existing consumers.
Organization focuses on innovation because it helps in modifying products and services
according to need and preference of consumer and it plays vital role in retaining consumers.
Innovation also helps in reaching out to more consumers and help in developing an effective
product portfolio of organization. It also helpful in bringing in new ideas and exploring new
insights of market which is helpful in improving processes, developing innovative products and
services and also helps in maximizing organization effectiveness and efficiency.
MAIN BODY
Describe in detail one or two innovation theories and explaining one theory in detail
Innovation is considered as important aspect for any organization and without innovation
organization development and growth is negligible. It is important for organization to explore
new ways of innovating their existing products and services. This part focuses on understanding
importance of innovation and focuses on how an organization can innovate its products and
services while ensuring effectiveness and efficiency during process. Innovation plays crucial role
in competing against its competitors and also helps organization in understanding need of
resources during process of innovation. Innovation helps organization in gaining competitor
advantage over competitors and it also helps organization in gaining upper hand over its
competitors. Innovation also assist organization in creating an effective brand image among
consumers which helps in boosting its profits and also building an effective and strong customer
base. This part focuses on understanding about theories of innovation and how these theories
help organization in innovating its products and services while ensuring effectiveness and
efficiency.
Blue Ocean theory is utilized by organisation during introduction of new products and services
into the market. Such strategy is utilized by organisation where competition is less and which can
help organisation in gaining competitor advantage over competitors. This strategy is used in

entire report and can be understood effectively by understanding its application on organisation
which is an B2B software service organisation based in New York.
Blue Ocean strategy would help organisation in placing its products and services in market
where there is less competition and also focuses on providing quality products and services.
OLO with the help of Blue Ocean Strategy could understand need of cost reduction and how it
can help organisation in improving organisation productivity and profitability. Blue Ocean
Strategy can be understood by the help of its strategys and its strategys are mentioned below:
This strategy focuses on understanding market where competition is low and in context to
organisation, OLO could develop their strategy according to market need and demands. There
are six different conventional boundaries of competition which helps organisation managers in
understanding how to compete effectively and focuses on alternatives, organisation buyers group
and services provided by organisation to its consumers.
In order to develop an effective strategic process and to achieve desired goals this
strategy is effective. This strategy focuses on understanding goals and objectives of organisation
and not distracting by increasing numbers. This strategy focuses on effective strategic planning
for organisation which can help organisation in effectively achieve their goals and objectives.
This strategy focuses on understanding need of consumers and innovate products and
services according to need of consumers and achieving desired goals. This strategy focuses on
increasing the demand of products and services while focusing on exploring new blue ocean
market for organisation growth and development.
This strategy focuses on building effective strategic plan for organisation OLO and
ensuring that it could help organisation in achieving its goals and objectives.
Processes for Blue Ocean Strategy
Expanding organisation business into new market is not easy as it require effective planning and
such strategic planning should be effective for organisation to achieve its goals and objectives.
OLO have to understand that organisation should focus on identifying products and services
which can help organisation in achieving its goals and objectives. OLO can focus on targetting
areas which can be captured by organisation by reaching out to potential consumers.
OLO have to focus on creating an effectively and clear strategic path for organisation which
could help in understanding need of organisation and would also help in motivating its
employees to work towards growth and development of organisation. Strategy effectiveness

would help OLO in differentiating from its consumers and gaining competitive advantage over
competitors.
OLO have to focus on identifying opportunities which can help organisation in its growth and
development. By identifying potential opportunities OLO can focus on capturing market and
engaging consumers with organisation products and services.
Organisation can focus on developing various options which helps in capturing blue ocean
market and gaining new market for boosting its revenues.
OLO have to initiate blue ocean strategy at correct time and focus on applying their strategies on
target market. OLO have to motivate its employees to work hard and focus on effectively
organisation goals and objectives.
Disruptive innovation is an process instead of understanding it as a product or service. Clayton
Christensen who gave disruptive innovation said that it takes effort and time to determine
success of business model success. Whenever there is an incumbent intentions on defending
organization market share and profits or some new organization is entering into market for
profits then disruptive innovation can help businesses in getting valuable insights about market
and also help in effectively implementing business plan of organization.
Theory which is going to be discussed in this part is Blue Ocean Strategy which focuses on
methodology of innovation that provides a disruptive approach towards strategy. Blue Ocean
Strategy has helped various organizations in getting success by providing them useful tools and
insights in order to create market which is uncontested and could help organization in
maximizing its productivity and profitability.
Blue Ocean is explained as term of entrepreneurship industry which helps in understanding a
new market and in which there is little competition and may have some barriers which can be
faced by organization at the time of innovation. The term blue ocean refers to ocean of market in
which there are various options and opportunities for businesses and it occurs when new type of
innovation is introduced. In a well established industry, several companies focuses on competing
with each other for every single consumer and focuses on gaining every piece of market share
which are available to organization. Gaining market share help organization in boosting its
profits and it is also helpful in maximizing organization productivity and profitability. In blue
ocean market businesses focuses on innovating their products and services while also focusing

on finding a blue ocean market with very less competition. Competing in blue ocean markets
help business in gaining market share while boosting its profits.
There are major principles of Blue Ocean Strategy and these principles are mentioned below:
Reconstruct office boundaries – This principle focuses on building as well as identifying the
paths which can be utilized by managers to develop an uncontested market space across various
industry domains and it would result in understanding the risk which is present in market. It
helps companies in understanding about competition and developing the competition among
businesses and making the competition irrelevant by looking towards different competition and
its boundaries and opening up blue oceans market commercially. There are six different paths
which focuses on looking across different industries, different strategic groups, different
consumer groups, different products and services etc.
Focusing on big picture – This principle focuses on designing company's strategic plan in order
to effectively implement improvements in order to develop effective and efficient innovation in
product. This provides an alternative to strategic planning of an organisation which is in place
and helps in developing effective plans which assists organisation in making substantial
improvements in strategic planning. Utilizing a approach which assists managers in focusing on
bigger picture despite focusing on numbers and profit for organisation. This principle focuses on
taking the risk and also this principle focuses on process of planning which assists organisation
in developing an effective strategy which helps in creating an d capturing blue ocean market.
Reach beyond existing demand – This principle focuses on understanding demand of new market
and focuses on innovating products and services according to need of consumer and target
market. Managers of organisation focuses on targetting small markets and focus on aiming
segmentation which should meet consumer preferences. This principle help in finding new
market and minimizing the risk.
Get strategic sequence right – This principle focuses on creating a value of products provided by
organisation and to build and implement effective business model which can help organisation in
achieving its goals and objectives. Effective business model also assist organisation in
maintaining its productivity and also boosting organisation profits. This principle also focuses on
addressing risk which are involved in development and implementation of business risk. This
principle focuses on sequence which should be used to develop an effective strategy that

organisation and consumers should be benefited from new business products and services.
Strategy focuses on effective utilization of resources.
Overcome key organisation hurdles – This principle focuses on developing an effective strategies
for organisation in order to overcome organisational hurdles that affect growth and development
of organisation. This principles basically focuses on hurdles that affect implementation of blue
ocean strategy. It focuses on how managers of organisation can overcome different types of
hurdles with limited resources and time while implementing blue ocean strategy.
Executing Strategy – This principles focuses on effectively implementing and executing blue
ocean strategy which is beneficial for organisation. This principle focuses on cooperation among
employees which is needed for execution and dealing with risks which are associated with it.
Apply your chosen theory to explain the historical development of one or more products and/or
services for your selected organisation.
This part of report focuses on Blue Ocean Theory in organisation which is selected to explain the
historical development for products and services. Organisation which is taken for this report is
OLO which is referred to online ordering and this organisation is based in New York and it
focuses on delivering the food items by the developing and implementing delivery programmes
for different restaurants and hotels. OLO is useful in delivering food items amid this pandemic as
hotels and restaurants are facing major issues in delivering orders and running their business
amid this pandemic. OLO focuses on delivering food products to consumers by the help of
mobile application where consumers can place their orders by the help of text messages.
Organisation vision and mission is to deliver products and services to consumers and develop an
effective relationship among consumers and organisation. OLO focuses on delivering quality
services to its consumer by delivering their orders on time and maintaining an long term
relationship with its consumers while retaining its existing consumers and engaging new
consumers with its brand image.
OLO focuses on developing their relationship with restaurants and consumers strong and
effective. Organisation focuses on expanding its consumer base while providing quality products
which are cost-effective and focuses on maintaining hygienic practices.
OLO was founded in 2005 as GoMobo application by Noah Glass in New Heaven and its
primary product was a mobile application by which consumers can make their food orders and it
was possible by text messages or consumers can pick up their products from hotels and

restaurants. In initial phase company changed its name to OLO and which is refereed to online
ordering. OLO then expanded its network as in the initial phase OLO was focusing on consumer
order but after 2010 managers of OLO changed their focus and shifted to B2B customer software
company. OLO was used by restaurants and hotel to take and manage food orders which can be
placed by the help of internet or text messages. In 2017, OLO developed an application by the
name of Shake Shack and OLO application was used by famous restaurant brands such as
Wingstop and Danny's. By the help of Blue ocean strategy, OLO has developed itself as one of
the effective business and by providing quality services it become effective online delivery brand
for food products. OLO also made its brand image as an effective software company which is
assisting hotels and restaurants in delivering their order within time and making consumer
delivering safe and fast.
OLO faced very little competition from some of its competitors but due to its brand image and
large consumer base it is very tough for its competitors to penetrate its market. OLO have
created a large demand for its services in the market which is enabling them to lead the market
and also assists in achieving its goals and objectives.
By effective execution of Blue Ocean Strategy OLO have gained upper hand over its competitors
which helped in boosting its profits and expanding its consumer base. Large consumer base have
helped OLO in developing its name in market and it also assisted them in engaging new
consumers and retaining its existing consumers. OLO managed to deliver food products amid
this pandemic which helped in developing its name in market and setting up high standards for
its competitors.
Apply your chosen theory to recommend possible future development pathways of your products
or services for your selected organisation
This part of report focuses on development which can be made by OLO in order to maximize
organisation productivity and profitability. Blue Ocean Strategy is utilized for entering into new
markets and developing and implementing new business model in order to boost profits. In
current scenario, OLO focuses on providing software based services to cafes, restaurants, hotels
etc. and such software is utilized by businesses to receive client orders and also focuses on
delivering orders safely and timely. OLO also focuses on delivering consumer orders on time in
order to maintain the existing relationship with them and such relationship help OLO in retaining
its consumers.

OLO is famous among its consumers due to its timely and reliable services while ensuring
quality. OLO can focus on delivering not only food services but also focusing on delivering
medicine as well as other services. OLO can be used by consumer to book a cab and other than
that OLO can introduce new features in its application such as finding hospitals, restaurants,
cafes etc. according to need of consumers. By introducing new services to its application OLO
can boost its profits and engage new consumers with organisation. Introducing new services also
provides OLO the chance of developing its brand image and expand its business into new
market.
CONCLUSION
This report concludes about the importance of innovation in organisation and also concludes
about impact of innovation on organisation productivity and profitability. This report concludes
about two different innovation theories which are disruptive innovation and blue ocean. It
concludes about utilization of Blue Ocean Strategy by OLO and what developments are made in
past by OLO by the help of Blue Ocean Strategy and development which can be made in future
by OLO to boost their profits. This report concludes about importance of using Blue Ocean
Strategy to enter into new markets and implementing effective business models which are useful
in expanding business in new market.

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