Innovation Report: Analysis of Innovation at Unicorn Grocery

This report examines the concept of innovation and its significance, contrasting it with invention, and analyzes how company vision, leadership, and teamwork shape innovation and commercialization. The report focuses on Unicorn Grocery, a UK-based co-operative retail store, and explores its innovation strategies. It delves into the framework of the innovation mix, including product, process, position, and paradigm, and explains the use of the innovation funnel. Furthermore, it discusses the stages of frugal innovation and the concept of the commercial funnel, evaluating the application of new product development. A business case for Unicorn Grocery is presented, along with an overview of intellectual property rights tools. The report provides a comprehensive analysis of Unicorn Grocery's approach to innovation and its implications for business strategy and growth.

INNOVATION

Contents
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1.......................................................................................................................................................3
P1 Explain the term “Innovation’’ and its significance in comparison with invention............................3
P2 How company vision, leadership, team work can shape innovation and commercialization..............4
TASK 2.......................................................................................................................................................4
P3 Explain the framework of innovation mix and use of innovation funnel............................................4
P4 Stages of Frugal Innovation................................................................................................................5
TASK 3.......................................................................................................................................................6
P5 State the concept of commercial funnel and also evaluate application of new product development. 6
P6 Business Case for Unicorn Grocery....................................................................................................6
TASK 4.......................................................................................................................................................7
P7 Different intellectual property rights tools that help in protecting and retaining intellectual property 7
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Innovation refers to the process of making change in workflows, products or services
with an aim of making it more effective and efficient that fulfil customer requirement properly.
Innovation often results in businesses when ideas are executed by firm forefathers satisfying
needs and demands of consumers (Baldwin and Von Hippel, 2011). In context of society,
innovation facilities in creating new techniques for Alliance creation, flexible work hours, joint
venturing and creating purchasing power of buyers. The chosen organization for this report is
Unicorn Grocery which is a UK based co-operative retail store. The report include the main
difference between invention and innovation, application of new product development, frugal
innovation, commercial funnel, sources of funding and different intellectual property rights tools.
TASK 1
P1 Explain the term “Innovation’’ and its significance in comparison with invention
Innovation is a concept of translating an idea into product or service which generate some value
for customers. It is necessary that an idea should be innovative, replicable at economical cost as
well as should satisfy particular need. It includes deliberate implementation of imagination,
initiative and information driving distinct value from resources. It’s involved all such processes
switch a new idea is generated as well as transformed into useful good. It is categorized into two
broad types, that is, evolutionary and Revolutionary innovation
Innovation is an activity of organizations and people to change themselves as well as
environment. It means dominant thinking ways and breaking routines, introducing new
behaviour and things and launching new standards. In this similar things are doing by an
individual in different ways. An innovative and creative idea assist firm in yielding high profit
and revenues by selling innovative foods to customers.
It helps in accomplishing goals and targets of company in an effective and structured
manner. For attaining high growth and long-term sustainability in market, it is required by
managers to utilize the concept of innovation so that high quality goods and services can be
produced and offer to customers that provide some value to them for the money they will pay to
buy a product. It is the key success factor of every organization that leads it towards high growth
and long term sustainability in market. This concept helps in creating and promoting strategic
and creative thinking. Bringing innovation in constant manners provides a competitive edge to
company over the Rivals in market. Organizations with continuous innovation develop more
effective and efficient work processes. There is a high competition prevailed in market and in
order to beat it, a company requires to bring continuous innovation which helps them in coming
up with unique and creative ideas that are different from competitors.
Mobile application introduced by Unicorn grocery so that then able to sell their goods online in
effective way. This innovation differentiates from others and provide it competitive edge in
market over their Rivals. It helps in maintaining strong consumer base and attain loyalty of
customers by satisfying them with their offerings. Some advantages that is getting by Unicorn
grocery for building innovation in company are define below:
Its facilities in developing good brand image.
By bringing innovation in company, overall productivity and profitability is increase.
It helps company in acquiring large portion of market share and attaining competitive advantage
in overseas market (Boudreau and Lakhani, 2013).
It helps in satisfying customers in better way.

Unique selling proposition can easily be created by companies by using effective innovation.
High sells can be generated by company by offering unique products to customers
Difference between invention and innovation:
Innovation:
Innovation includes Novelty and modernization.
It is an idea that can be executed by company in existing situation.
Technical as well as managerial skills both are required in it (Drucker, 2014).
It is a consolidation of several goods and services.
Invention:
In Invention a completely new product is created to offer in market
Potential buyers are the only one who can evaluate and assess invention.
In invention, only scientific skills are required.
Only single good and services is introduced in invention
P2 How company vision, leadership, team work can shape innovation and commercialization
Vision: vision statement of uniform grocery is to offer good quality products at minimum prices that
assist mainly in satisfying customers and attend their loyalty for long term. As first this statement, it has
been observed that vision statement of a firm should be clear and easily understandable to others. Today,
from sir more concerned about fulfilling needs and requirements of their potential customers in an
effective manner so that high profitability can we attain and good market position can be maintained.
Company needs to keep in view changing needs of customers so that products can be manufactured at
accordingly which needs of customers in more effective manner.
Leadership: in past, leader of Unicorn grocery adopt autocratic leadership style but now they undertake
participative leadership in which they include all their employees in decision making process of company.
Involvement of work force help managers in making effective decisions regarding all the activities and
operations of company. This helps in increasing motivation level of staff members and they are more
encourage towards attainment of common goals and objectives of firm. This will create a sense of
belongingness among employees unable to gain high competitive advantage in market.
Culture and teamwork: all the activities and operations of company unsuccessfully carried out by the
help of work force. They are the essential part of company which contributes in growth and success. In
Unicorn grocery, there are only 70 employees which carried out all the operations of company in effective
manner. Strong organizational culture and teamwork at the two factors that helps in promoting innovation
within company (Goldberg, 2013). Enterprise needs to maintain healthy work environment and strong
culture within workplace so that their productivity and profitability can be enhanced by improving
performance of work force.
TASK 2
P3 Explain the framework of innovation mix and use of innovation funnel
The framework of innovation makes was given by Joe Tidd and John Bessant. It is mainly used
by company in order to evaluate the impact of innovation on product, process, position and
paradigm. Mentioned below are the brief description of all 4P's:
Product: It refers to the change in good or services that has been taking into account by company
in order to fulfill customer need in an effective manner. Basically this change is concerned with
innovating existing features of the product or launching new product or services in the market as
per customer requirement. In the given report, unicorn grocery is innovating their product line as
they started selling organic fruit and vegetable keeping in mind the current demand of the
customer (Frank, 2014).

Process: It refers to the way in which goods and services are delivered by company among target
audience. It can be through physical Store or online presence. Companies prefer to sell their
product through their physical outlet but nowadays with advanced technology, they are selling
their product through their online website. For example: Earlier unicorn grocery was selling their
product mainly through their outlets but now company has decided to launch its own mobile
application and company website that help in increasing their customer and market base. With
the introduction of online application, the company become the first one among other SMEs in
UK to launch own mobile application (Huizingh, 2011).
Position: It represents the manner in which product or services are communicated among
consumers or it can also be define as the manner in which products or services are actually being
professed by potential buyer. By launching its own very first online mobile application, the firm
has tries change the perception of customer regarding purchasing product.
Paradigm: It is the combination of all P's. Basically it refers to the change that takes place in
business model with the purpose of earning high profit and revenue. The company is gaining
high competitive advantage in UK market for launching online mobile application among other
small medium enterprises.
Innovation funnel: It includes series of steps that has been undertake by company in order to
embed innovation in business operation. It is mainly used measure the use of innovative product
and ideas. Along with this, it also help in controlling and managing the process of new product
development in structured and through manner. The main objective of innovation is to develop
such products or services that meet customer requirement in an economical manner. In today's
era, where nothing is constant everyday a change take place which creates an urge among firm in
terms of fulfilling customer needs and wants in an effective manner.
P4 Stages of Frugal Innovation
Organizations are using the concept of frugal innovation in order to eliminate the complexity
associated with cost of goods sold and production. There are number of opportunities they are
available in the market but it should be exploited well so as to be utilized fully in an effective
manner. Innovators are required to treat available resources as an asset not as a liability. Some of
the stages of fugal innovation are discussed below:
Find opportunity in adversity: This is the first stage where employees reframe the problem
prevailing in the work surrounding so that they can formulate better strategies in order to deal
with them and also to prepare themselves for future contingencies. For example: Unicorn
Grocery has already figured out that with the introduction of latest and advance technology,
customers often prefer to purchase goods or services online rather than going to physical stores.
As a result, the firm become the first one among other small medium enterprises for launching its
own mobile application.
Do more with less: Employees needs to identify available resources within the company and tries
to utilize it an effective and efficient manner.
Think and act flexible: At this stage, employees needs to be improvisational rather than being
rigid.
Keep it simple: It has been believe that working of any company gets disrupt because of any
complexity and which is not good for the company. Therefore it is recommended to have fewer
choices that are best or better instead of having multiple choices (Jain and et. al., 2013).
Include the margin: It is important for every organization to determine what the actual likes are
and dislikes of customer so that they provide goods or services accordingly. For doing this

promptly, they can start taking feedback or suggestion from the customer which further help
them in knowing them better.
TASK 3
P5 State the concept of commercial funnel and also evaluate application of new product
development
Commercial funnel: It is a cost effective funnel that has been used by organization in order to
determine various sources through which we can offer their innovative product or services to
customers in an effective manner (Jiménez-Jiménez and Sanz-Valle, 2011). Employees play key
role in selecting appropriate distribution channel help in generating maximum profit and
revenues. In case of Unicorn grocery, they are planning to launch its online mobile application
through which they can easily attract large number of customers simultaneously without
spending any additional cost on giving advertisement. With the help of this innovation, company
can gain high competitive advantage in the market.
Following are the application of new product development:
Idea generation: This is the first stage at which an idea originates. It can be develop anywhere.
Everyday company deals with ample number of Ideas and selecting best among them is the main
task.
Idea screening: As stated in first stage, everyday any deals with plethora of ideas but only few of
them are actually good or practically possible. So the company needs to screen each and every
idea in a critical manner so as to evaluate all positive and negative outcome related with
particular idea. Here the main role of employee is to best idea and eliminate the remaining.
Concept testing and development: This is the third stage, where small portion from target
customer is selected so that firm can test their product on them before finally launching it in the
market. Feedback and opinion of target customer at this stage matters a lot. It is mainly used by
companies in order to determine whether their product will be accepted by target customer or
not.
Market development and strategy: At this stage, after getting result from testing and development
department manager of the company formulate effective strategy regarding introducing their
innovative product in the market and to beat market competition effectively. Also, profitability
ratio of innovative product is anticipated along with other branding and marketing mix
strategies.
Analysis of Business and financials: At this stage, actual sales are compared with predetermined
sales so as have to figure out whether customers are liking their product or not.
Commercialization: This is the stage where product has actually been launched by the company
in the market so that customer can start using it.
P6 Business Case for Unicorn Grocery
Business Case is compromise of series of steps that are mentioned below:
Executive summary: This is the last stage that mainly outlines what all has been covered in the
business case.
They need: This is the first stage, where companies are required to identify the actual need for
innovation. An innovation can take place in product, process but first it is important to figure out
the reason behind innovation. For example: Employees of unicorn grocery have determine that
almost 35% of UK population prefer to purchase product via online platform. This has become
major reason for the company for launching its mobile application. With the help of this, firm
can easily enlarge their market share (Rosenbusch, Brinckmann and Bausch, 2011).

Your solution: Once the company is done with identifying what is the actual reason behind
innovation, the next step is to prepare solution accordingly. For example: Workers of unicorn
grocery have figured out the need for innovation and they are liable to develop solution
accordingly such as the company has decided to launch its own mobile application in order to
beat existing competition prevails in the market.
Why it is innovative: At this stage, company are required to formulate such that are innovative. It
help in getting high competitive advantage in the market. If the product is innovative it can easily
seize the attention of large customer and stimulate them to buy their product.
Customer research: Before launching product in the market the company needs to conduct mini
research where they are required to research about what are the current likes and dislikes of
customers, market trends so that they can start producing goods or services as per their
requirement. Research can be conducted through interview, focus group, questionnaire and
surveys (Strayer, 2012).
Investment required: In order to carry out all business operation in an effective manner, company
must have adequate fund. Funds can mainly generated through two sources one is Internal and
other is external. Internal means then adequate amount of funds are available within the
organization only such profits can be used, long term assets that are no longer in use, retained
earning etc. On the contrary, external means when funds are collected mainly through outside the
organization such as creditors, banks, angel investors, individual donor etc.
Expected benefit: At this stage, employees of respective company will determine the impact of
innovation on society and its member.
The Ask: This is the final stage where feedback and situations are taken from customer so as to
figure out the innovative product has been like to by them or not.
TASK 4
P7 Different intellectual property rights tools that help in protecting and retaining intellectual
property
There are different types of intellectual property tools that are available and used by
companies in order to protect and retain their intellectual property rights (Wolin, 2016).
Basically, these tools are normally used by creator or owner for their work. With the help of
these tool, they protect their invention from others who wants to use it without their consent. In
addition to that, it also helping gaining monetary benefit and recognition for their work or
invention. Some of the common intellectual property rights are discussed below:
Patent: These rights are mainly given to an individual for their discovery or invention. With the
help of this tool, patent holder gets exclusive rights for their invention and eliminated others for
using, making and selling their invention without even their consent.
Copyright: These rights are usually giving to creator for their literary, artistic, musical work.
This tool provide exclusive right concerning copy, distribute, perform or display their
inventions.
Trademark: It is usually in the form of symbol, sign, word or phrase that makes product
distinctive from other competitor’s brand who are also providing similar products. The main
objective is to develop brand image of the company in the minds of consumer so that they can
easily make comparison between one's product with that of competitor's one (Wilson, 2014).

CONCLUSION
According to the above mentioned report it can be concluded that innovation play key
role in organizational success and growth. It help the firm in gaining high competitive edge in
overseas market and also enable them to develop their market and customer base as well. There
are various aspects that needs to be taken into account while embedding innovation in business
operation and activities. With the help of innovation, companies are able meet customer
requirement in an effective and efficient manner.

REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Baldwin, C. and Von Hippel, E., 2011. Modeling a paradigm shift: From producer innovation to
user and open collaborative innovation. Organization Science. 22(6). pp.1399-1417.
Boudreau, K.J. and Lakhani, K.R., 2013. Using the crowd as an innovation partner. Harvard
business review. 91(4). pp.60-9.
Drucker, P., 2014. Innovation and entrepreneurship. Routledge.
Goldberg, D.E., 2013. The design of innovation: Lessons from and for competent genetic
algorithms (Vol. 7). Springer Science & Business Media.
Huizingh, E.K., 2011. Open innovation: State of the art and future perspectives. Technovation.
31(1). pp.2-9.
Jain, A., and et. al., 2013. Commentary: The Materials Project: A materials genome approach to
accelerating materials innovation. Apl Materials. 1(1). p.011002.
Jiménez-Jiménez, D. and Sanz-Valle, R., 2011. Innovation, organizational learning, and
performance. Journal of business research. 64(4). pp.408-417.
Manyika, J., and et. al., 2011. Big data: The next frontier for innovation, competition, and
productivity.
Rosenbusch, N., Brinckmann, J. and Bausch, A., 2011. Is innovation always beneficial? A meta-
analysis of the relationship between innovation and performance in SMEs. Journal of business
Venturing. 26(4). pp.441-457.
Strayer, J.F., 2012. How learning in an inverted classroom influences cooperation, innovation
and task orientation. Learning environments research. 15(2). pp.171-193.
Wolin, S.S., 2016. Politics and vision: Continuity and innovation in Western political thought.
Princeton University Press.